Apparently, Lotus Lake is very hyped in my locality but I never got the chance to visit it!
It's a huge lake covered with beautiful pink lotus and massive green lotus leaves. You can imagine how wonderful it must be in the middle of the rain. We couldn't make it at the perfect time as the lake looks almost dried out during that time. But the lotus didn't fail to amaze us.
Let me share my experience.
The lake is called 'Asurar Bil'/ 'Lake Asura' and is located in Nobabgonj - Dinajpur, Bangladesh. It was a 3-hour car ride from my hometown. We went there with some of my family members.
The lake is about 857 acres and covered with greenery/Forest. This is called the 'Amazan' of Bangladesh as well because of its green forestry.
You can see both sides of the lake are covered with Sal Trees (Shorea robusta Gaertn). Yes, the crop in the middle which looks like a field is the lake itself. It's because last month the season was pretty dry. But if you visit this place now, you will see the actual lake.
There is this wooden bridge that connects the two sides of the lake. I have heard that during pick time, you can ride boats, and swim in the lake as well.
We went to the other side, there were some small rides for kids like any other parks, and some food & toy stalls as well. Then we walk inside the Sal forest which I will share later.
The place may look pale in the photos. But believe me, the green was so astonishing, my eyes were pleased to see them.
Moreover, there were water hyacinth flowers. The beautiful purple color of the flower was also adding a different attractiveness to the place.
We have heard that it's risky to go near the water because there could be snacks in nearby. But all of us were saying the same thing, seeing the lotus from a little closer would be much better. Unfortunately, that is not possible.
That's why our mobile zoom camera was our only option!
I have heard that the experience of riding a boat by passing the lotus flowers brings a magnificent experience, during the rainy season. Also, the full moon from the forest looks wonderful. We couldn't have t this time but I will sure try to make it happen next.
There's a tale about this lake and that seemed very fascinating to me.
The name Ashura came from the Hundu mythical name 'Ashura'. They had a fight with the Hindu God and got defeated. The ground became a lake with the pressure of Ashur's foot. And their blood made this a red lake. From then, it was named after the lake of Ashura.
As I have said, the lake would be much more beautiful if we visited it during the rainy season. You can see from the photos that it was a sunny day and we couldn't enjoy much of the hot weather. But the greenery around the lake and the lotus flower sure amazed me.
There were some vendors who were selling the lotus on the side of the streets. But I knew that once you cut the stem of the lotus, no water can travel up the stem to the flower. Since the flower cannot receive moisture, it will begin to wilt shortly after it is cut from the plant. So we didn't buy any.
The experience was good and I would definitely try to revisit this place during the rainy season.