Rising from the waterways of Southern Bangladesh, the urban kernel of the Barisal region clings to the meanders of the Bishkhali River amidst a sea of rushes and wetlands teeming with salt-smelling prawn farms and pretty rice paddies. The city itself is a conglomeration of mohallas (neighbourhoods) that ticks over to the click of kids and their cricket bats and the crack of cork on willow from the town’s proud Divisional Stadium. Today it plays host to prestigious universities, and book-touting students can often be seen weaving between the diversity of Mughal mosques, English churches and Nawab fortresses that stands as a testimony to the city’s historic multiculturalism; mingling with the earthy farmer’s huts and floating markets that pepper the estuary lands all around. For view-seekers this is also the perfect gateway to the southern coast of the country, and Barisal tour guides are at hand to point out spots like Kuakata Beach, where the glowing sunset lights up the waters on the Bay of Bengal every night.