A sleepless transit town that thumps with the toot of traffic and the click of willow on wood from the nearby Shaheed Chandu Cricket Stadium, Bogra sits amidst the alluvial plains of Northern Bangladesh with its dusty conglomeration of metropolitan roadways, streams of creaky rickshaws and bubbling Sufi music stages. Most travellers pass through quickly, eager to explore the ramparts of Mahasthangarh, the historic nerve centre of the ancient Pundra Kingdom, or the mysterious Buddhist temple complexes of UNESCO-attested Paharpur. Those who linger a while though, can seek out the bustling marketplaces that thread their way through Bogra’s heart, clustering in lively displays of cumin beef curries and Bangladeshi trinketry along the edges of the city’s rickety railway and the meandering path of the Jamuna River. There are also plenty of Bogra tour guides at hand to help travellers explore the quaint hamlets that pepper the silt made islets of the waterways north and south of town, or to cross into India at the nearby checking station in Hili.