Bangladesh Birthday

in 100 years i would have never imagined celebrating a birthday in Bangladesh (well actually working), but that's what i did.
i had to go back to Dhaka, so off to the consulate again to get my hand-written visa. i enjoy going to the Bangladesh consulate here in Hong Kong only because there is a little cafe nearby which does a good coffee (so hard to find good coffee here!). the only bad part is having to deal with the extremely rude and unfriendly lady at the consulate office...hope she's reading this!

anyway, i was going alone to Dhaka this time and had a driver waiting to pick me up at Zia International Airport when i arrived. well, my flight was late landing due to a big thunder storm over Dhaka...after circulating overhead for an hour we finally touched down.
immigration was just as slow as last time. i then made my way to the totally pitch-black car park area (no lights on at night) to hopefully find my driver (who's face i had forgotten...)
the general public are not allowed into the airport, only those with an air ticket, so there are hordes of people standing behind a high prison-like fence outside the airport. when i walked into this crowd pretending to know what i was doing they parted like the ocean in one of those religious flicks. very strange feeling!! my driver was nowhere to be seen and i was beginning to wonder if he had gone without me when i saw a somewhat familiar grinning face in the darkness - my driver. now i could finally relax!

although i was here for work, i had some free time the following day so i was given a tour around Dhaka from a very generous man in our company.
before leaving on my tour the cook came up to me and said "do you want mum?".....
i was thinking "did i really look so sad in the morning!?" but instead i could only stare at him blankly not knowing how to answer. then he had me worried when he said "she in there" while pointing to the fridge!!
only now did my brain click when i remembered the name of the bottled water here..."mum".
wonder if it means something else here??.
on the bottle it says:

"mum. pure trusted taste"

i followed the cook into the kitchen to see what he was creating. he was in the throws of cutting up all the vegetables (onion, potatoes, okra, beans, garlic, carrot) and chicken (which i'm sure i saw running outside a few hours ago) using this knife-like instrument called a "boti" or "bothi"; a long curved blade on a platform held down by foot; both hands are used to hold whatever is being cut and move it against the blade. This method apparently gives excellent control over the cutting process, and can be used to cut anything.

the "boti"


first stop was Jatiyo Sangsad Bhaban (জাতীয় সংসদ ভবন) or the National Assembly Building of Bangladesh. it is here that all the parliamentary activities are held. built by the late architect Louis Kahn it is one of the largest legislative complexes in the world.
in the park in front of this building where lots of couples holding hands and gazing into each others eyes... obviously "the" date spot in Dhaka.

Jatiyo Sangsad Bhaban


then it was onto see a national monument called Shaheed Minar (শহীদ মিনার) which was created to commemorate those killed in the 1952 language movement demonstrations. dozens of students and political activists were killed when the Pakistani police force opened fire on Bengali protesters who were demanding equal status to their native tongue, Bangla. there is too much information to mention here regarding this, but if you are interested you can check it out here for more details. quite interesting.

Shaheed Minar


after a delicious lunch (curry; and yup, i ate with my right hand! i had to sit on my left hand as it's so natural to want to use both hands!) we then drove around the old area of town, which to me is the real Bangladesh. the backwards-ness of this area reminded me a bit of places in China, but unlike the China it was all so alive with color! from the ornately decorated rickshaws to the beautiful bright colors of women in saris, it was all too much to take in at once. again i would have loved to get out of the car in disguise (i think only a berka could disguise me!) and really have a good explore around. but instead i have great memories and a few shaky low-quality videos to share.



finally i spent my birthday working (on a sunday too!) but did manage to go out for a nice dinner (curry; naturally) and a birthday cake! well... it wasn't cake but "Mahlabia"; a sweet milk pudding infused with cardamom, and rose water and dusted with pistachios. definitely a birthday to remember!

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.

Dhaka (ঢাকা) Part I of II

some info:
Dhaka (ঢাকা) is known as the "city of mosques" is located on the banks of the Buriganga river and has a population of 15 million. the official language spoken is Bengali (বাংলা)
Dhaka has one of the highest rates of death from infectious disease of any city in Asia...

my flight to Dhaka was fine. seeing only 2 other westerners on the plane gave me the sense that I was heading for an adventure, and I was right!


interesting to see #3 on the disembarkation form... just goes to show the status between males and females here.
and who names their "fists"? lol


arriving at Dhaka's Zia International Airport I was firstly greeted with the very slow immigration staff. being in the "foreigners" lane there were not many of us, but it sure took a while to get through.

I was then whisked away by 3 guys to a mini-van that was to pick me up. little did I know that 2 of them were not with our group and then began to ask for a tip for helping me get to the mini-van. luckily the driver gave them a tip to let them go and find their next target.
the first thing that struck me was the amount of traffic on the road (I arrived at 11:30pm). there were all sorts of vehicles some going in the right direction, some going in the opposite flow to the traffic. in between this were people dodging the traffic crossing the roads. this was all happening on a pitch black road. lights were there... they just weren't switched on.

the second thing that caught my eye was how ornate the cars and trucks were decorated; painted in bright colors. at a closer look I could see this art work was hiding a lot of dents. panel-beaters paradise.

view of my accomodation (building on the left)
the streets were so alive with people and noise so I was a bit disappointed when we turned off into a guarded street in the Baridhara district (বারিধারা); home to the diplomats and foreign embassies; the Hollywood of Dhaka! the Hollywood feel didn't last too long... our accommodation was super-simple. a bed, an air con (that was luxury when we had power) and a shower with no hot water. I was told amenities would be supplied, but I only found a bar of used soap on the shower floor. thank god I bought my own stuff.
my guest house was in front of what was a river but now a stagnant lake after the flow was blocked off for development. apparently this is happening all over the city and causing a huge amount of environmental damage. only now are there some groups voicing their concerns about such problems.

after a glass of red wine (bought in Hong Kong) and an amazingly sweet Bangladesh dessert called Roshogolla (রসগোল্লা) which is a syrupy dessert made from cheese from cow or water buffalo milk, wheat, and then boiled in a sugar syrup, it was then off to bed.

next stop...

my hand-written 15-day visa for Bangladesh has been approved.
yes... hand-written.. with a stamp.

until now i've had visa's for Japan, England, Indonesia, China, and Hong Kong, all being printed stickers, so this is a first!


next entry may be from Dhaka, depending on how secure the internet is over there...

Star Ferry (天星小輪)

today I got to take most of the morning off work as I needed to go to Wan Chai and apply for a visa.
no, not a visa for shopping, but for Bangladesh.
i've been asked to go to Dhaka (capital of Bangladesh) with some Japanese customers. this time I will mainly be there for support, translating between English and Japanese.
i've never been to Bangladesh before so I checked my government's website.
this is what it states:

"A state of emergency has been declared in Bangladesh and a curfew imposed for Dhaka, other metropolitan cities and all district towns from 11pm to 5am every day until further notice. You should monitor local media for information on the current situation, follow the advice of local authorities and exercise a high degree of personal security awareness."

well, i'm sure it will be an experience!


so off I went to the Consulate of Bangladesh on the 40th floor of the China Resources Building.
a very small office as by the looks of it they don't get hordes of tourists applying for visa's in Hong Kong...
after filling out a few forms and producing all the documents needed (invitation from Bangladesh, letter from my company stating they will support me financially, air ticket proof etc...) I was told to come back next week to hopefully pick-up my visa. finger's crossed please!

after a quick coffee and toast at a cafe for breakfast I then took the famous Star Ferry (天星小輪) across Victoria Harbor to get back to the office.


OK, some info about the Star Ferry.
established in the mid 1870's it now carries around 70,000 passengers a day, or 26 million a year. even though it's not the fastest way to cross the harbor (fastest is by subway (MTR) or by car; yes there are a few tunnels under the harbor) it is still one of the most popular ways and I think one of the most relaxing.

entrance to the Star Ferry at Wan Chai and the Meridian Star (午星號)
there are 14 diesel-electric ferries all together with 12 of them in use today. they all have amazing names like "Morning Star" (曉星號), "Twinkling Star" (熒星號), and "Celestial Star" (天星號) ; which is currently the oldest in the fleet built in 1956. today I rode the "Meridian Star" (午星號) the 2nd oldest ferry.

most of the ferries can seat 576 and have 2 decks; the upper and lower with air-conditioned sections and those with just the sea breeze... hot sea breeze.
these are the 4 routes with the most popular being between Central and Tsim Sha Tsui.

• Central (中環) - Tsim Sha Tsui (尖沙咀) : upper deck HK$2.20/lower deck HK$1.70
• Wan Chai (湾仔) - Tsim Sha Tsui (尖沙咀) : HK$2.20
• Central (中環) - Hung Hom (紅磡) :HK$6
• Wan Chai (湾仔) - Hung Hom (紅磡) :HK$6

most tourists usually take the route from Tsim Sha Tsui to Central as that way you can get a great view of Hong Kong Island; especially at night.
you used to be able to pay by coins, but now you can only pay by Octopus Card or by purchasing a token at one of the vending machines.

view of Hong Kong Island from Star Ferry


star cruise ship at Tsim Sha Tsui dock