Bangladesh is an incredibly beautiful country. As there are many lakes and rivers, the country is very tropical and green. There are palm trees and flowers in every direction and the slight humidity casts a haze over the country that makes it look somewhat magical. While the center of the towns are a little dirty, most of the country's land is very open, far-stretching beautiful farmland. As a new crop rotation for rice is beginning, many plots of land are flooded with water, a necessary step when cultivating rice. Despite being winter here, it is still quite warm and the evenings have a nice breeze that reminds me of the Caribbean.
On our second day in Bangladesh, S finally decided to get a haircut. We walked into a Bangla barber shop on Khulna's main avenue and S asked if he could get a haircut in English, also gesturing the cutting symbol with his fingers. They told us to sit and a man getting a shave in the shop told us in English that it would cost 100 takas, which was a dollar and fifty cents. The barber, without words, gestured his vision for S's new cut and, not knowing how to communicate anything otherwise, S shrugged and left his fate in the barber's hands. This haircut was the most elaborate I have ever seen- the man cut and styled for at least 40 minutes and then included a head massage, a full body massage, a shave and a beard trim. Since then, Steve has literally gotten 3 glowing compliments on his haircut every day.
All women here dress incredibly conservatively, with most women wearing head scarves and usually wearing a saree, which is 6 yards of fabric wrapped around the body several times and held with simple tucks in the fabric, or a salwar kameez, a loose fitting knee length tunic over baggy trousers. As not many tourists visit Bangladesh and the opinions of foreigners are still being formed, I purchased a bright pink and turuoise salwar kameez to fit right in here. While I still stick out like a sore thumb, many men and women have thanked me for wearing their clothing in their country.
Our day in the village with the BIWTC manager Firoz was absolutely amazing. We were the first Westerners in the village and we met all of his family, extended family and extended extended family. The village is 45 minutes outside of a town Gopalganj and a family of farmers on one plot of land generations ago has expanded to a whole village with hundred and hundreds of residents. As Firoz proudly paraded us around the town, he introduced us to every relative, explaining the web that connected them together. As we walked from house to house, we were followed by a group of about 15-20 children who continuously said hello to us, shook our hands, picked flowers for us and tried to jump into the foreground of every picture I tried to take. As immediate families normally have their homes built around a communal courtyard, when we walked in, the mothers ran to the kitchen while the grandparents smiled at us shyly and the children grabbed chairs for us to sit down. A minute of two later, the ladies emerged from the kitchen with a plate of snacks or a hot glass of milk and the family stood around us, commenting about us in Bengali. The women commented that I did not have a nose ring and asked if my dress was Bengali while the men played with S's hair and told him he looked great. At every house, our short-term hosts told us how happy they were that we came to their village and that we were enjoying their country. Firoz was also very happy that we were enjoying ourselves and his sister cooked us the best Bengali food we've had yet.
After we left the village that afternoon, Firoz arranged for us to take the 24- hour ferry ride from Khulna to Dhaka. We got on the ferry at 11PM and started moving around 11:30. When we woke up the next morning, we were back at the Khulna dock. The ferry manager explained that we were held back due to fog and that, as a certain part of the trip could not be done at night, there would be an additional 15-hour delay. That morning we were the only passengers in 1st class and Ashish, the 1st class supervisor, told us that passengers would not be getting on until the 2nd day. For the enitre first day, we had our own large private dining room, a spacious outdoor deck at the front of the boat and our own personal staff of 5, the last part being a little overwhelming at the end of the day. Ashish gave us a tour of the boat, took us to the control room to meet the captain, introduced us to the ship's engineers and called us from our rooms when there was great view.
Today, after a 55 hour ferry ride, we finally docked in Dhaka. We left with a pocketful of phone numbers and email addresses of people we had met on the boat that wanted to stay in touch and many more memories of incredibly kind, generous and welcoming people. A pair of sisters invited us to their home in Dhaka for lunch tomorrow and said they would also show us around the city. We are to call them in the morning tomorrow to make plans.
We got into Dhaka at 4PM and, as we were trying to get a rickshaw to our hotel, an English-speaking Bengali told us he would help, leading us through unfamiliar streets and finally bargaining with a rickshaw driver and telling him our desired destination in Bengali. The streets of Dhaka were very congested but not how you would think. There are not many personally owned vehicles so the streets of Dhaka and other Bengali cities are packed with rickshaws and 3-wheeled auto rickshaws. It is estimated that Dhaka has about 600,00 rickshaws on its city streets.
Today S also arranged a very nice belated birthday celebration for me. I am very lucky.
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| Khulna Division |
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