Chittagong: Where My Student Wallet Screamed & Stomach Celebrated

so i just got back from chittagong and man oh man, my bank account's weeping but my belly’s grinning like a cheshire cat. spent two weeks basically living on *pani puri and rickshaw rides that cost less than my morning coffee back home. here’s the messy truth about surviving this city on a shoestring budget.

first things first: weather’s doing that weird thing where it’s not quite warm enough for shorts but too chilly for real pants. i just checked and it’s hovering around that it’s fine, maybe temperature outside right now, hope you packed something you can layer. because mornings are misty ghosts and afternoons are sweaty nightmares.


the port area looks like a sci-fi movie set - giant cranes clawing at the sky and ships stacked like LEGOs. took a wrong turn near the docks and ended up in a maze of alleys where old grandmas were frying fish in woks bigger than my dorm room. no english, just pointing and smiling. ended up with the best hilsa curry of my life for 50 cents. score.

someone told me the best jhal muri stall is hidden behind the blue mosque, but only after 4pm. they weren’t kidding. my tastebuds did backflips.

i heard that the $3/night hostel near the university has bedbugs but the rooftop view of sunset over the bay makes it worth it. brought my sleeping bag just in case.

if you get bored of honking rickshaws and tea stall gossip, the tea plantations of srimangal are just a chaotic bus ride away. like 4 hours of winding roads and locals staring at the foreigner with the giant backpack. but the misty green hills? totally worth it. especially when you find a tea shop where they pour the good stuff for free if you look thirsty enough.

survival tips for broke students: skip the fancy restaurants and hunt for food carts* near colleges. seriously. the college canteens serve samosas cheaper than my campus vending machine. also, this cheap eats guide saved me from starvation multiple times. for more chaos, check out this hostel review thread - the comments are wild. and if you need proof that street food is life, this Yelp list has receipts.

so yeah, chittagong’s not pretty. it’s loud and sticky and smells like diesel and frying fish. but there’s something real here. like when that rickshaw driver refused to take my extra taka because it was ‘allah’s will’. or when i got lost and ended up at a wedding where they made me eat biryani like family. my student ID never felt so useless, and my belly never felt so full. trade-offs, man.