We stayed in a Tea Resort in Srimongol. The resort was very nice--you could rent your own "bungalow"--a two-bedroom house with a kitchen, dining room, living room, and patio. Here's a picture of our bungalow:
During the two days we stayed at the resort we were the only guests, so we had the whole place to ourselves! More than anything, it was so nice to have some peace and quiet for a few days--such a refreshing change from the chaos of Dhaka. The climate there is quite a bit different from the Dhaka region--actually, it reminds me of the Pacific Northwest. It's got lots of trees and thick luscious undergrowth, and the weather is generally misty and cool. Here's a scenery shot from the Tea Resort:
There are also many rice paddy fields in the area like this one below. As we were riding on the bus, we saw workers picking the rice and maintaining the fields.
There are a bunch of tea gardens and tea estates around Srimongol--the whole Sylhet region is famous for its tea. (And thus this area is one of the oldest outposts of British colonialism, via the East India Company.) We visited some of the tea gardens--there are at least 150 tea gardens in the area. A few of them are some of the largest tea gardens in the world in terms of size and production. There are about 300,000 workers are employed on the tea estates, and most of them are women (according to the owners' sexist assumptions, they think the women do a better job picking the leaves and the women are of course paid less). Here's some workers on one of the tea estates:
Most of the workers are Hindus. When the British began growing tea in the Sylhet region, they brought their own workers with them from India. So today, most of the workers are descendents of these original Indian Hindus. Here's a shot of a tea garden, below. The sign tells you what kind of tea is growing there and how long it's been established (this plot has been there since 1956). 
We also visited the Bangladesh Tea Research Institute, which was established in 1957. We went there after working hours, so we couldn't see inside, but I found it fascinating that there was a whole room with a sign over the door that read "Tea Tasting Room"--they take their tea tasting seriously! One of the highlights of the trip was having a "panch rong cha" (five color tea). This is most definitely the most amazing tea I have ever tasted! You can actually look at the glass and see the five layers of different types of tea. I'm not sure how they keep the five types of tea separated, but they do. I tasted mint tea, milk tea, black tea, green tea, and...well, another kind of tea! I'm sure if Starbucks got ahold of the recipe they would make a fortune off it. Here we are having our panch rong cha:
One of the biggest highlights for Salma, however, was THE POOL! She was a big fan of swimming in the pool. Also, she made friends with a dog that was hanging out at the resort. Here she is with her buddy:
Overall, it was a very enjoyable trip and nice to get a bit of peace and quiet and a breath of fresh air before the hectic schedule of the school semester starts up again (summer session starts for us next week).
