A few days in Bangladesh

Recently we went with some friends of ours to Dhaka in Bangladesh. We were only there a few days unfortunately so only had a quick and, as you can no doubt understand, constrained view of the city and its people. What can I tell you about Bangladesh beyond what you read in the media? Yes it is predominately poor, crowded, noisy, dusty and chaotic. It is also friendly, open, welcoming, curious, happy, outgoing, shy, devout and interesting.

Tourism is not big yet, and the slogan for the tourist office is something along the lines of "Bangladesh, visit before the tourists" There aren't package groups, but there are individual travellers, mainly younger, and business people (Bangladesh is one of the worlds leading garment manufacturing locations).

I talked with all sorts of people, from families visiting a museum to students from a madrasa, self appointed tour guides to people just wanting to have their photograph taken with this big, hairy, white guy. All in all, I can't wait to go back for a longer visit.

Anyway, some pictures from the visit.



Dhaka is a city full of rickshaws and these are often beautifully and ornately decorated. They often show examples of religious and secular art and are still one of the main ways for a lot of people to get around.










There are mosques everywhere, Big, small and in-between. Some very beautiful, others, functional.







More will follow.