Jhalokati, Barishal
A canal-side market where farmers sell guava and amra from small boats in the monsoon — the best known of the floating markets of southern Bangladesh.
The market runs on long relationships between orchard farmers, boatmen and the wholesalers (bepari) who buy by the boatload. Most of the small boats are paddled by the farmers themselves, and the canals are also how children reach school and families visit each other.
Bhimruli is a village in Kirtipasha union, west of Jhalokati town, at a meeting of canals in the middle of the guava country. Here, in the season, farmers row in from the surrounding orchards with boats full of guava and trade them on the water to wholesalers, whose bigger boats carry the fruit on to Barishal, Dhaka and beyond.
The orchards grow on long raised beds between narrow ditches, and the canals that run between them are shaded by fruit trees. Floating markets for guava, amra, lemons and vegetables have worked this way here for generations, and the same pattern continues across the border at Atghar-Kuriana in Pirojpur.
In recent years Bhimruli has become one of the most photographed places in the south, and on busy days the canal can be crowded with tourist boats. Come early, and you will see the market as the farmers know it.
Leave Jhalokati town by auto-rickshaw or boat at first light.
Watch the trading from a small boat while the market is at its busiest.
Row through the narrow canals between the guava orchards; stop at an orchard with the owner’s permission.
On the way back, stop at the old Kirtipasha zamindar house.
Back in Jhalokati for rice and river fish.
July to August, into September; early morning, when trading is busiest
From Jhalokati town, an auto-rickshaw or CNG reaches Bhimruli in Kirtipasha union in about 30–45 minutes; or hire an engine boat from the town ghat. From Barishal, add 30–45 minutes to reach Jhalokati first.
