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1 of 1 people found this review helpful
I never did get to see much more of Bangladesh. I had hoped to go to the seaside resort known as Cox's Bazaar which boasts the longest beach in the world but the only water I saw was that which trickled down the walls in my room.
The next day I was off to Pakistan. Don't change...
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risngdamp
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0 of 1 people found this review helpful
Driving through the city I had observed hundreds of buiiding sites. Two things caught my eye here. Firstly they were the only places where I saw women working - digging holes, breaking rocks and carrying rubble, all fully-clothed in 40 degrees of heat. What really struck me however was the...
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hot
veryhot
construction
woman39slot
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful
At every junction one is inundated by a veritable armada of beggars and salesmen, all trying to make the most of their temporarily captive audience. The beggars will wave their disability in your face - be it a severed appendage, withered stump or a CV from Northern Rock. The sales guys are...
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beggarsbelief
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Next up in the traffic food cham were the ’baby taxis’ or tuk tuk which were Indian-made 3 wheeled motorbike taxis. Travelling slightly faster than the rickshaws, they offered only marginally better comfort. Again, it was always amazing to see just how many passengers or goods they could...
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Breakfast and news digested, it was back into tbe seething mass of vehicles on the way to visit my clients. I tried to analyse the root of the traffic problem. The basic cause of the congestion were the bicycle rickshaws, which due to their sheer numbers and snail's pace slowed everything else...
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pedalpower
morechaos
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful
I offloaded my plate full of victuals on to my table and propped up my newspaper against the ketchup bottle. The papers in Bangladesh were a depressing read. There was always so much crime, violence and disaster…and that was just the sports page! Trains were being derailed daily, buses were...
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badnews
men39slib
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful
I was rudely awoken at 4.30 the next morning by the local muezzin calling me to prayer. I stuffed my ears full of fruit and went back to sleep. I awoke 3 hours later, refreshed and ready to face whatever the day might bring.
Breakfast brought the first challenge. The restaurant was...
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breakfast
smoke
smells
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful
The hotel boasted satellite TV so I began surfing through the channels. The only international programmes were CNN and BBC and everything else was Bangladeshi or Hindi. So I was 0K for news but somewhat short on the entertainment side. Or so I thought. In fact, the Indian pop videos were some of...
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music
dance
tv
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful
At first glance my room seemed like any other... until I opened the mini bar and found only soft drinks. There was a little note informing me that if I was non-Muslim then I could obtain my demon-alcohol by ringing a secret phone no. between 03.00 and 03.05 and order some booze to be consumed in...
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I stayed in a hotel belonging to the Pan Pacific chain, which was rather strange as Dhaka is 3,500 miles from the Pacific as the crow flies (and plenty of them did). It had its own system for avoiding traffic jams. This consisted of several uniformed individuals armed with baseball bats, very...
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noparking
waiting
stopping
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Nothing can quite prepare you for the sights and sounds you encounter when you first arrive in Bangladesh. Your senses are immediately assailed by the pandemonium that is called everyday life there.
As my taxi left the relative safety of Dhaka international airport and sped along...
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chaos
traffic
noise
gridlock
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I was leaving Dhaka by the evening flight. As my taxi driver raced me to the airport, one hand pressed against the horn, it was that magical moment of the day when day meets night. We paused at a...
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partitionindia
displacedpeople
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Banani Street has a bewildering line up of boutiques to choose from. I was on the look out for fine Dhaka muslin. This cloth is what made Dhaka an important port during the Mughal rule. The weave...
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dhakamuslin
fineweave
shopping
dhakasarees
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It had just stopped raining. Puddles of water lay everywhere. I entered the quite deserted but serene Armenian Church in Armanitola, built in 1791 by the Armenian colony. The walls were...
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armeniamchurch
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While I was strolling along looking at the Tara mosque, I noticed how dark the sky had become with dense rain clouds. In these parts rain doesn’t creep in silently. A prelude of thunder and...
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darkclouds
monsoon
bengalipoet
kazinazrulislam
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