Dhaka (ঢাকা) Part II of II

after a breakfast of fried eggs, naan bread, and curried potato (the same every morning... but at least it tasted good!) I had some free time before I needed to go to the office, so I borrowed a bike with no brakes and decided to do some exploring of the area.

image from britannica

first I biked around the secured area where I was staying, but once I got to the gun-guarded gate I couldn't resist the urge to explore more. as soon as I exited the gate I was bombarded with hundreds of people going about their daily life. there were people hanging on to the side of buses that were so overloaded i'm surprised the bus could even move, and the rickshaws! they were everywhere!!
it is said that Dhaka has over 400,000 rickshaws on the streets every day (with only 80,000 of them being registered ones). the ornately painted rickshaws really give the city character, but as I was told, although they are environmentally friendly, they are the cause of the horrific road congestion.
I would have loved to jumped onto one of these rickshaws for a real explore but instead I decided to do a loop around the stagnant lake.

along the way I came across a women with her set-up store. she was happy to have her photo taken so I didn't waste the opportunity. i'm not sure what to categorize her store as, but she was selling half-filled bottles of water, bananas, bread and a few other bits and pieces.

I was getting a lot of stares from people, but I continued on my way taking in all smells and bustling of the narrow streets.

this is what I saw:

man selling women's hair accessories


man with an itch


street 1


street 2


butcher


portable bakery


food for sale on a fence


men & women working at a construction site


unfortunately the rest of my time in Dhaka was all work...
hopefully one day I can come back to explore some more of this fascinating country.