Author Topic: Bangladesh travel  (Read 2543 times)

Offline mid

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Bangladesh travel
« on: October 02, 2022, 11:38:52 PM »
I looked for informations about Bangladesh in the forums and except for a few stopovers, I couldn't find anything, so I hope to get some help here.

I need to travel to Dhaka for work in the next few months and would love to hear from anyone who has been there before.

Do i need to worry about walking around as a frum jew? Will they let me bring kosher food at customs? Any advice will be appreciated.

Offline Saulius

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Re: Bangladesh travel
« Reply #1 on: October 03, 2022, 06:11:07 AM »
I looked for informations about Bangladesh in the forums and except for a few stopovers, I couldn't find anything, so I hope to get some help here.

I need to travel to Dhaka for work in the next few months and would love to hear from anyone who has been there before.

Do i need to worry about walking around as a frum jew? Will they let me bring kosher food at customs? Any advice will be appreciated.

This is a country that till 2021, their passports were issued with the text on it stating: "This passport is valid for all the countries of the world except Israel.”,  their gov't claims they removed it, in order to comply with “international standards", and Bangladeshi citizens who visit Israel are charged with high treason on their return and imprisoned. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salah_Choudhury
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/bangladeshi-banned-from-home-country-for-visiting-israel-returns-to-jewish-state-515238

As far as bringing in kosher food at customs, see the list of what customs prohibits: https://www.visahq.com/bangladesh/customs/
See the US gov't travel advisory: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/bangladesh-travel-advisory.html

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Bangladesh.html

Offline Kobe Bryant

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Re: Bangladesh travel
« Reply #2 on: October 03, 2022, 07:03:28 AM »
This is a country that till 2021, their passports were issued with the text on it stating: "This passport is valid for all the countries of the world except Israel.”,  their gov't claims they removed it, in order to comply with “international standards", and Bangladeshi citizens who visit Israel are charged with high treason on their return and imprisoned. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salah_Choudhury
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/bangladeshi-banned-from-home-country-for-visiting-israel-returns-to-jewish-state-515238

As far as bringing in kosher food at customs, see the list of what customs prohibits: https://www.visahq.com/bangladesh/customs/
See the US gov't travel advisory: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/bangladesh-travel-advisory.html

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Bangladesh.html
Have you ever been or personally know someone who has? Sounds like FUD.

Offline mid

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Re: Bangladesh travel
« Reply #3 on: October 03, 2022, 07:21:02 AM »
This is a country that till 2021, their passports were issued with the text on it stating: "This passport is valid for all the countries of the world except Israel.”,  their gov't claims they removed it, in order to comply with “international standards", and Bangladeshi citizens who visit Israel are charged with high treason on their return and imprisoned. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salah_Choudhury
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/bangladeshi-banned-from-home-country-for-visiting-israel-returns-to-jewish-state-515238

As far as bringing in kosher food at customs, see the list of what customs prohibits: https://www.visahq.com/bangladesh/customs/
See the US gov't travel advisory: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/bangladesh-travel-advisory.html

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Bangladesh.html

Thank you for your reply, but I am aware of all of this, and this is precisely why I am asking for recommendations, as I am sure other people from here have been there before.

Offline Saulius

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Re: Bangladesh travel
« Reply #4 on: October 03, 2022, 08:56:35 AM »
Have you ever been or personally know someone who has? Sounds like FUD.

I never been, but many of the NYC taxi cab drivers I spoke to were from there.

Offline tmendy226

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Re: Bangladesh travel
« Reply #5 on: October 03, 2022, 06:55:01 PM »
This is a country that till 2021, their passports were issued with the text on it stating: "This passport is valid for all the countries of the world except Israel.”,  their gov't claims they removed it, in order to comply with “international standards", and Bangladeshi citizens who visit Israel are charged with high treason on their return and imprisoned. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salah_Choudhury
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/bangladeshi-banned-from-home-country-for-visiting-israel-returns-to-jewish-state-515238

As far as bringing in kosher food at customs, see the list of what customs prohibits: https://www.visahq.com/bangladesh/customs/
See the US gov't travel advisory: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/bangladesh-travel-advisory.html

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Bangladesh.html

That doesn’t mean anything. Malaysia has the same thing in their passport and they can even have anti Israel protests sometimes. I was there and I don’t see any reason for concern. You can cover your yarmulka if you want to be safer.

Regarding Bangladesh, I haven’t been there but here’s my 2 cents. Muslims in India don’t know what Jews are and what they look like. Having a beard and yarmulka I was often recognized as Muslim there.

Offline shwarmabob

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Re: Bangladesh travel
« Reply #6 on: October 03, 2022, 07:53:12 PM »
I looked for informations about Bangladesh in the forums and except for a few stopovers, I couldn't find anything, so I hope to get some help here.

I need to travel to Dhaka for work in the next few months and would love to hear from anyone who has been there before.

Do i need to worry about walking around as a frum jew? Will they let me bring kosher food at customs? Any advice will be appreciated.
I met someone a few years ago who goes to Bangladesh every couple of months for many years. He told me that years ago he would tell people that he is Jewish but in recent years the Muslims became more extreme so he is more under cover.
I would not make it obvious that you are a frum jew, tuck in your tzitzis and put on a different type of head covering. Try to bring food that doesn't have huge hebrew lettering on it.
Most people will have no idea what a yid looks like.

Offline mid

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Re: Bangladesh travel
« Reply #7 on: October 06, 2022, 10:34:10 AM »
I met someone a few years ago who goes to Bangladesh every couple of months for many years. He told me that years ago he would tell people that he is Jewish but in recent years the Muslims became more extreme so he is more under cover.
I would not make it obvious that you are a frum jew, tuck in your tzitzis and put on a different type of head covering. Try to bring food that doesn't have huge hebrew lettering on it.
Most people will have no idea what a yid looks like.

Thank you very much.

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Re: Bangladesh travel
« Reply #8 on: October 06, 2022, 10:38:59 AM »
That doesn’t mean anything. Malaysia has the same thing in their passport and they can even have anti Israel protests sometimes. I was there and I don’t see any reason for concern. You can cover your yarmulka if you want to be safer.

Regarding Bangladesh, I haven’t been there but here’s my 2 cents. Muslims in India don’t know what Jews are and what they look like. Having a beard and yarmulka I was often recognized as Muslim there.

I got called yahud a bunch of times in India, always with a smile and a happy wave, and often a request for selfies.

Regarding Malaysia, I didn't feel uncomfortable walking around looking very obviously Jewish. Kuala Lumpur at least is very cosmopolitan and nobody looked at me twice.
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