There are not many places to escape to from the sheer hordes of Dhaka; but Srimangal, a five-hour car ride away, is a good place to go. Just make sure your driver knows the road or, like us, the journey could take eight hours instead of five. It is best to set out early to miss the traffic and arrive in time for lunch.

Nestled in the green tea gardens, the town itself is no great shakes but make sure to book at the DFID estate, 3 km away. Bungalows and rooms are available, surrounded by trees and lawns. There is a swimming pool and tennis courts as well as a restaurant. The bungalows have cooking facilities but our stove was out of order and there was no crockery, cutlery or cooking pans, so make sure to take everything, including a small stove, if you intend to cook for yourselves.

The restaurant food is good but rather bland if you are looking for spice and variety. Bengali food is served on request but otherwise it is roast chicken, fried fish, crème caramel and the like.

Since it is tea growing country, one would expect hills but it seems that Bangladeshi tea is grown on flat land or small hillocks, with plenty of shade trees. In addition to tea, we saw pineapple plantations and lemon groves.

Tea production in Bangladesh started in 1857 just north of Sylhet, introduced by the British. Since independence, 48 percent of the 150 tea estates are British owned. The rest belong to wealthy Bangladeshis and the government’s Tea Board. Some are managed but not owned by British companies.

Bangladeshi tea is black and of ordinary quality. Most is combined with other teas for blending. It is sold by auction in Chittagong and shipped to Europe to be mixed, ending up in the cheaper markets of Eastern Europe, Russia and the Middle East.

There are several tea estates to visit. The female tea pluckers are a colourful sight and a tour of a factory is interesting. The best time to go is during the picking season from early March to early December.

We went to Madabpore Tea Garden, about 1.75 km beyond the DFID estate, which has a pretty lake with purple water lilies. At the manager’s bungalow, an old wooden place with a white verandah, you can ask for a boat to take you for a ride on the lake.

Other estates to visit are Deanston and Rajghat to the south and Balisera, managed by Finlays. You can also see the Bangladesh Tea Research Institute that has a guesthouse, although a rather run-down one.

It is essential to get clear directions to these places because there are many roads connecting the estates and the highways.

After doing the tea gardens, take a trip to Lowacherra Forest Reserve, 8 km east of Srimangal. It extends for only a few kilometers but the vegetation is thick and there are many trails to follow. Gaze up at the tall trees to catch a glimpse of wild orchids and to see the gibbons, which make a lot of noise but are not easy to spot. There are a variety of interesting birds and butterflies including the blue-bearded bee-eater and the red-breasted trogon.

Other places to visit while in Srimangal are some of the Khashia and Monipuri tribal villages in the tea gardens. Khashia villages are usually on hilltops surrounded by betel nut trees. When visiting, you should first call on the village chief to get his permission.

We visited the Monipuri village of Ramnagar, near the Tea Research Institute. There we met a traditional Monipuri weaver and his family who wove beautiful saris and shawls with vivid colours and intricate designs on handlooms. He proudly showed us photographs of his jeans-clad daughter studying in Canada, a far cry from her tribal roots. The Hindu village, which receives aid from an Australian Rotary Club, consists of neat mud dwellings with clean courtyards and sacred trees kept as shrines.

If you have time, it may be worth visiting Sylhet, a three-hour journey north on a bad road. After our eight-hour journey to Srimangal, we decided to give it a miss but there are some interesting sights including the shrine of Hazrat Shah Jalal, Rama Raja’s Tilla and Osmani Museum, as well as Bandar Bazar for smuggled Indian goods.