Week 51: Chittagong, second city of Bangladesh...save the best for last

51st-1st in Dhaka 8/20

Today was a stressing day. It started with me waiting for Moweena for 4 hours. I couldn’t go out to work as I needed to speak with her that I’ll be out of town for 4 days. But she didn’t show up, and now she’ll show up at some point in the next few days and find me not there, and get annoyed at me.

Talked to my landlord’s wife this morning about my moving out, and that a future Fulbright Tiffany will be moving in. Had to establish if I could leave all my stuff in the room if Tiffany is taking my place and buying my stuff. The landlord’s wife said she won’t get my place, but get the place the floor below next to the landlord’s. I also asked about the deposits and how I’ll get them back. Before leaving, the last thing she said was that she wants my fridge. I explained I promised it to the boys downstairs, and she said “No, you will give it to me” in her nice voice. Again I said it was promised, and then she said “I will talk to them, and then you will give to me” in her not so nice voice. Made me feel very uncomfortable. I just imagine her telling me if I don’t give her the fridge, then she won’t give me my deposit back.

After I finally got out of the house, I went to ride the Safety bus four times. Only two times would come of this. The first two buses got in big jams, and thus I knew I didn’t have time for a fourth before heading to my dinner invitation. So I boarded the third, glad to know I would at least get that one done. However this bus got a flat tire 2/3 of the way through the route, and that was the end of that. Had to scrap the route, and 1.5 hours wasted on it.

Headed to Shegufta’s home from there. I thought it was interesting that I took four modes of transportation to get there. First I took a tempo from where the bus had had a flat tire. I got off the tempo and walked from that point on the tempo’s route to Farmgate. There I got on a local bus to Bangla Motor, where I picked up a rickshaw to take to her home. I then proceeded to get lost and it took about 10 minutes to find her home. Oddly she lives in a really empty street, but it was the lack of businesses (that have addresses on their signs) made me get lost amongst the nothingness.
Dinner was great! But they stuffed me so full. So many delicious things, and her mother kept putting more on my plate. She had 20 items total for us that night. Her father knew a lot about the space programs of the world, a favorite for the retired mechanical engineer, and I enjoyed listening to what he had to say about that and other topics he has picked up in his numerous science magazines.

Random thing. While stuck in traffic tonight, our tempo conductor was chatting with the driver of someone’s SUV (the owner wasn’t inside.) The driver told him to hop in for a spin. So he did. He left us. Never came back.

51st-2nd in Chittagong 8/21

Auvi picked me up early to take me to the train station. Our train to Chittagong left at 7:40am. I was nausea this morning, and the train food options didn’t help. The only sanitary food on the train, according to Auvi, was the many bags of potato chips we ate. I did manage to buy some bananas and peanuts through the train window at a stop mid-route, and that was much more fulfilling.
The train itself was very clean. They had food servers coming down the aisle every few minutes serving sandwiches and chicken burgers (both which Auvi told me not to take), chips, cold drinks, and candy. The views out the window were great. It was neat to leave the city by the train, see its view of the traffic (which the train itself is causing.) Neat to pass by all the cities on the way to Chittagong. Its not a direct route, we first go north to go south because the Meghna River isn’t bridged on the most direct route. We stopped at about 15 stations along the way. At points we can see the hills of nearby India as we passed by the eastern border. The landscape as we got closer to Chittagong was of the hill tracts of Bangladesh, gorgeous. (pics: Dhaka's train station in the early morning, six ticket collectors came through the aisle at once swarming us checking our tickets and were out of the cabin before you realized what had happened (also a good shot of the inside of the train), our train sweeps through the Bangladesh countryside, someone else enjoying the view of the Chittagong Hill Tracts)






























We arrived, and headed to where we were staying. Ayon was staying at his cousin’s home, while Auvi had arranged for him and I to stay with his older sister and her husband. These two places were about 30-40 minutes apart by rickshaw.
Auvi’s sister Shubha and her husband Asif have a cute son named Arham, and he called me “Donny Mama” (Donny Uncle) from the start, at the direction of his parents. It was cute, and it quickly made me feel at home. They were extremely welcoming from the start, and Shubha cooked amazing food. The attitude around the dinner table was light, and we had several great laughs across the time we were there. I enjoyed playing games with Arham over the whole weekend. (pics: Auvi relaxing with his nephew Arham, Arham/Spiderman)

















Tonight, Auvi and I headed to what he called the Bashundara City of Chittagong. It was 6 floors high, but at least 10 times as small a floor plan for each level. Still, it is pretty nice and the best stores are there. A food court on the top floor had a small variety, and we got some fuchka covered in yogurt and then some ice cream. (pic: Sanmar Ocean City-Chittagong's Bashundara City says Auvi)





















I’ve been plowing through Freedom at Midnight. Incredible book. Read it at all my free chances. For the first time understanding the birth of all the nations in the subcontinent, and not just Bangladesh. Incredible history.

51st-3rd in Chittagong 8/22

I keep getting a hard time from people about the US having less gold medals than China in these Olympics. Although I defend my country and say we have more total medals (and that’s how my newspaper back home had always ranked countries) they said only gold medals matter, and thus the US is second for once. Everyone is rejoicing over this.

We set out this morning to the Chittagong Shipyards. I have known about these for years, but read more about them when I got the Fulbright, and really wanted to see them when I came. Today was finally the time. Although much controversy surrounds them in terms of safe working conditions, child labor, and where the profits go to, I’ve been told and read online that it is possible to go inside. You just have to try a few entrances until someone lets you in.
Well we weren’t that lucky. A bunch of us went: Auvi, Asif, Ayon, Ayon’s cousins Hridoy and Protoy, Auvi’s cousin, and even Arham! Two CNGs full of guys interested in boats being taken apart. We’d heard it was easier to go on Friday when things were less busy, and thus more likely for someone to be let in. Well maybe the opposite is true. The guard wouldn’t let us in at any of the three gates we tried, and two said that we could have a chance if the supervisor was there to grant us permission (on a weekday.)
We could only peer through the fences. It was still very impressive. Some of the biggest boats on earth just cut in half, and it’s all by hand labor. The ships just sit on the beach, and in front of them are all the metal taken from their hulls and decks. The streets to the shipyards are filled with things taken from the boats such as life preservers, toilets, cabinets, and sinks.
I really wish we could’ve gone in. It was a big “want” for me in Bangladesh, and I’ll leave without ever gong inside and seeing this wonder up close. (pics: materials collected from the ships at the Chittagong Shipyards, a view of a large ship being taken apart and lots of scrap material from outside the fence)





















We headed home, had lunch, and rested most of the rest of the day until we went to Foy’s Lake in the evening. From what I knew, Foy’s Lake sits amongst a few hills just next to Chittagong, and is a very beautiful area. Well apparently over time commercialism stepped in and now there’s an amusement park on the lakeside, as well as bungalow hotels. The natural beauty still exists, under concrete pathways, steps, rides, boats with ads pasted on them, etc. Oh well. Still a nice place to pass time with friends. The tickets were a bit expensive to get in. We went to the lake right away, and took a 20 minute boat ride on a small sized craft run by a loud engine. It putted us around the lake for awhile. (pics: Arham looking out on Foy's Lake, Shubha/Prottoy/Ayon on the boat ride around Foy's Lake)
















From there we took a short stroll along the paths. A few of us started climbing up one of the hills to get a better view of the lake. On the other side of the hill you could see all of Chittagong. (pics: Ayon/Arham/myself posing at Foy's Lake's walkpaths, Auvi and others below climbing one of the hills that form the rim of Foy's Lake)
















We rode some of the rides there. I got on the swinging pirate ship, the bumper cars, and the kids roller coaster. Arham loved the roller coaster, especially since it was the only one he was allowed on. He was crying when we rode the other rides without him. (pics: Auvi/Hridoy/Ayon thoroughly enjoying the swinging pirate ship, Prottoy/Hridoy/Auvi await the bumper cars in anticipation)
















Auvi and I were up late tonight hanging out around the home, and we felt an earthquake!! I’d never felt one before, and neither had Auvi. I was sitting on the bed and I started to feel it wobble. I didn’t understand what was happening at first, and Auvi didn’t either. He was standing, and the cabinet he was standing next to had been rocking. We looked at each other and he was the fist one to say “earthquake.” It lasted for about 30 seconds. We were both a bit scared, not sure what to do. It wasn’t very strong, just a bit of wobble, but it was our firsts. If we had been sleeping we wouldn’t have felt it.
His sister said in the morning that Chittagong gets lots of earthquakes like this.

51st-4th in Chittagong 8/23

This morning Auvi’s dad arrived from Dhaka to stay at his sister’s home too. He had come for the wedding tomorrow that we’ll be going to in his village.

Auvi, myself, Ayon, and Prottoy headed by CNG with Asif to his factory. He is the executive director of a garments factory. It was my first time getting to see a place like this, despite the many in Dhaka and across Bangladesh. He was a great tour guide showing us each part of the process. The factory makes sweaters, and we saw how they are put through the looms by hundreds of workers, how many more then put the pieces of the sweaters together, then inspect them, wash them, iron them, do quality control, add buttons and tags and details, and then pack them up for shipping. The factory was very clean, and seemed very well run. My favorite part was seeing the small part where the designer makes all his samples to send overseas to gather orders. Once a design is chosen, his group then creates a guide on how to make the clothes for all the loom workers. The worksheets for this were pretty cool, long procedures to follow filled with complex codes. (pics: looms at the garment factory, showing the data sheet that a worker follows to make the sweaters, Asif explains to Ayon/Auvi/Prottoy how a garment is made and put together at his factory, the linking section putting the sleeves and body together, the designer's office, the shipping box proudly announcing where the clothes were made)












































We later got a snack at a fried chicken restaurant, and then went to see the World War 2 cemetery. I saw a similar cemetery in Comilla in October, and found out here that there are eight total scattered across India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar from the Burmese front of the war against the Japanese. (pic: World War 2 cemetery in Chittagong)
















In the afternoon Auvi and I went over to Ayon’s cousins home, and we all headed out to Patenga Beach. From there you can watch the sunset. Well Auvi and I had arrived too slow, so by the time we all got to the beach, the sun had set. But still the views of the ships out on the water waiting to go to port with all their lights lit was beautiful. The place was packed with people, and this was after we saw many leaving after sunset. There were shops to buy sea-themed gifts. We had fresh cooked crabs from some guy with a pot. (pics: Auvi/Hridoy/Prottoy/Ayon at Patenga Beach at night, boats waiting outside Chittagong port to deliver their goods, the pot of crabs we ate from, craftsman at the beach market)






























51st-5th in Chittagong 8/24

We headed out to Auvi’s father’s village in the morning. We were to attend a wedding and see his family’s home. Ayon, Prottoy, Auvi, and I shared a CNG on the way out, and that meant Prottoy had to sit on Ayon’s lap the whole way. A bit squished.
We stayed in the village for about an hour, roaming around the old house, the nearby rice paddies, and just around in general. We got fed some snacks by his father’s brother's family, some juice, biscuits, samosas, and guava. From there it was to the wedding. What resulted there, or rather what didn’t, was far from what I expected. (pics: myself/Auvi/Ayon at Auvi's father's village, Prottoy/Auvi/Ayon on our visit with some of the oldest homes behind them)

















We arrived, and already there were about 200 people there, about one quarter standing outside. The whole wedding was split between men and women to maintain purdah. The groom had his own stage on the men’s side, the woman had her stage on the woman’s side, and a giant wall was between them. We sat down immediately to eat, and that lasted about 15 minutes. We then stood inside for about 3 minutes, and outside for five. Then we left. In total, we were at the wedding for about 25 minutes maximum. I asked Auvi, why we had come all this way, just to eat and leave. He explained that the majority of the people who come to the wedding do just that. They are there to be treated by the hosts to a free meal, and never intend to stay for any part of the wedding. I asked if anyone stays to see the actual marriage between the bride and groom, and he said a handful. (pics: myself/Auvi outside the wedding, the groom sits on his stage)
















We went back to Auvi’s place in the late afternoon, and were given snacks by his sister. This would be the first of five snacks that Auvi and I would enjoy this afternoon/evening. See below.
Before the line of homes we visited, we first headed to Battali Hills Park, which has an overlook over the city and out to the ocean. We arrived just after sunset, and thus only stayed for a bit. But the walk up the hill was neat as it was a gorgeous wooded park inside the hectic city. Dhaka’s parks do not have this feeling. The view from the top was spectacular. One forgets what views of Bangladesh are like as the whole country is mainly flat. (pics: Ayon and Prottoy climbing up Battali Hill, view of Chittagong out to the Bay of Bengal from the top of Battali Hill)
















Then started the evening of visiting and eating. In succession we visited three homes of Ayon’s family. As Auvi is a new member of the family, marrying in, he wanted to visit them all as he was in town. At each we were given a cold drink and a variety of snacks. it is expected of us to eat a fair share of these snacks, or else you disappoint your host. By the third home, we were stuffed. It was admittedly hard to finish off our last bit of sweets. Then for Auvi and I we had to go over to see his mom’s sister. There we were given our final snacks for the night, and luckily they were understating on why we didn’t take very much. (pics: Ayon/Prottoy/Amiyo at one of their relatives homes, Auvi/Ayon's cousin Bilu/Shreya/Prottoy's mother/Poulomi/Bilu's wife/Auhona/Prottoy on our visit to their home)
















At home, despite all our snacking on sweets and salty tings, we still had a small dinner his sister had prepared for us. The rice and dal were actually quite refreshing after eating so many sweet things for the last few hours.

51st-6th in Dhaka 8/25

We woke up early to catch the train back to Dhaka. It left at 7am. Five of us were going: Auvi, Ayon, and I and in addition Ayon’s cousin and his son Hridoy. Hridoy is starting university in Dhaka, so this was his trip to college.

The train was faster than the one we took to Chittagong. This particular one was considered express, and only stopped at a handful of stations. We got back in just 6 hours as compared to the 8 it took going out. It also had higher quality food, including better potato chips. Auvi approved of it being good, as opposed to the food on the way out. On the train I spent a lot of time drawing in Auvi’s notebook. I drew tons of maps, mostly of the US. I also drew my family tree as well as Ayon’s family tree. (pics: myself drawing maps and family trees/Chittagong Hill Tracts as seen from the Dhaka-Chittagong train)
















Upon getting back, I headed home, and rushed around the afternoon getting ready for Altaf’s wedding reception tonight.
I had wanted to wear my new French cuffed shirt and cuff links tonight, but my tailor still wasn’t done with my stuff. I picked up my cuff links at the jeweler though, and I’m happy with them.
While out, I stopped to weigh myself at a streetside scale. I hopped on in anticipation: 143 lbs. I’ve lost a bit more from the last times I was weighing myself. In total now, about 25 pounds since arriving in Bangladesh.
Also bought a toothbrush from the street. Despite always being shown these on the bus and the street, I had yet to buy one from there. I can now say I’ve done that.
I also went to FedEx near my home and confirmed prices with them, the procedure for shipping, and got a box that I’ll start packing things into to bring back to them. For the box I want to use, I can’t take it from their office, so I have to pack my things in one box, bring it to their office, and repack it in another box.

I end up walking through the remnants of a political demonstration today, or perhaps a riot. Dhaka College students, near New Market, had taken to the streets in protest of actions by the government. I saw remnants of what looked to be a burned car, and there was broken glass all over the streets. The street itself was closed to vehicles, and I didn’t know why until I reached Dhaka college. All the buses and cars were being rerouted down Elephant Road, what a mess! A lot of the New Market stores had closed up shop, locked their doors in worry. The police presence was incredible, all in their riot gear. But still pedestrians were just walking by on their daily duties. Some groups of people still seemed to be in protesting mode, gathering in large groups to yell about something, but the police weren’t minding them too much. I did avoid the crowd just in case. The police, by the time I left, were less interested in what had happened and more interested in the hawkers selling hand towels, children’s masks, and guavas.
When I got home I saw I had received an email notice from the US Embassy to avoid this area, ooops.

Tonight was Altaf’s wedding reception. I was very excited as it was the first time I would meet his older brother Anwar (who is the reason I met so many people in Bangladesh) and his wife, Jayita’s older sister, Sanjana. The reception was at the Officer’s Club on Baily Road. I was wearing a suit, and because it was so hot, I decided to take an AC taxi to the wedding. Expensive, but as I only take buses, I’m felt I can splurge this one time (it is about 10 more times expensive to take that taxi than a bus.)
Upon walking in I immediately got to meet Sanjana, and no less than 2 minutes later Anwar came by to introduce himself. Finally met them. I talked to Sanjana a little bit as she was not as busy as Anwar. As the groom’s brother, he was running around saying hello to everyone and making sure they were happy. We chatted a little bit before I left, and I arranged to see him and his wife before they leave to go back to the US. (pics: myself/Ayon at Altaf's wedding, Ayon/Annita/Hridoy and other cousins at the wedding, the reception hall)






























I went up on stage to take a photo with Altaf and his wife like everyone else. Congratualted him, and we had as long a chat as a wedding reception allows a groom to have…a few seconds.

51st-7th in Dhaka 8/26

Today I grabbed a photo of the recycling place that I had talked about last week. It is here where they will collect your trash and give you money for it. (pic: recycling center or the place they will pay you for your reusable trash)

















I spent some time today packing up my cabinet’s drawers. Emptying out everything, and putting it into the box, to bring to FedEx next week. Choosing what to take and what not is tough. I’m trying to create a pile of junk, but also don’t want to miss out on things that meant a lot to me here.

Selling my furniture has been easier but at the same time more stressful than I imagined. Although I have buyers for everything pretty much, everyday I feel I’m getting hounded by people insisting I sell them something, as opposed to the people I’ve already promised it too. Everyone feels they deserve it more, and are stubborn when I tell them “no,” and they get a bit angry. And others feel I should give it to them for free using the foolproof argument “you very rich American, I so poor Bangladeshi.”

Headed out to ride the buses. I did the #1 bus from Gulistan to Mirpur-12, and then the Safety bus between Mirpur-12 and Azimpur twice. Jams were bad, but not hair pulling. I almost dosed off on the second route. I had lunch up in Mirpur at a place I’d been looking at for awhile, and it was less than impressive.

Been trying to capture photos of all the “_FC” restaurants in Dhaka and around Bangladesh. To my knowledge there is AFC, BFC, CFC, DFC, FFC, GFC, HFC, KFC, MFC, and TFC. I’ll try to post a collage of them if I can get them all.

At night I had to meet the DHL van in front of Dhanmondi 8/A, because they didn’t want to find my home. I also feel this was easier, and was glad to do it.

Week 50: I went to Rangpur, but it is in Dhaka where you'll find the 'Rajdhanir Raja'

50th-1st in Dhaka 8/13

I bought more pineapples last night. I asked Moweena to cut them up this morning. But this time without using a chili! Last time she added a chili to my pineapple, as that is what is typically done in Bangladesh. Spicy!
Also had a discussion with her this morning about what the different words to describe fruits and vegetables are after she told me my pineapple was unripe. There were three words we were throwing around, and I was trying to find out which was which. One seemed to be for when it was on the tree and unripe, one for when its off the tree and unripe, and one when its rip. And for when its bad: she just said “throw it away” but never gave me a vocabulary word.

I then headed out to work, but first stopped by New Market to pick up my cuff links. I found the guy, and after waiting there about 5 minutes as they dealt with two other customers, he turns to me and says the didn’t make my cuff links. He told me he went to ten jewelers and no one wanted to make them. So he handed me my pearls back, and gave me my deposit back. I was frustrated.
Stormed upstairs to find that elusive jeweler who could help me. I had talked to another guy in the past and went to him. This guy said he could do it, with a confident voice, and I trusted him. We arranged a design, and even decided to add another pearl to the design, and he says it’ll be ready in a week. I’m paying him a bit more, new pearls excluded.

I then hopped on four bus routes on a bus I had never ever ridden before, the #36. I’d heard about it in fables: it only allows sitting, and is very strict about it, and provides very quick service. Nafisa used to ride it to work and back. It was my finally my turn. I boarded it in Azimpur, and was a bit confused about the boarding. There was a line, but not everyone was allowed to board. Confused. So I got in line. It only allowed 10 of us on. At the next stop, with 50 people waiting in line, only another 10. Same at the next! And at the last, 10 more, filling all 40 seats of the bus, no more no less. And we were off, straight to our destination, no stops mid-route.
I rode the route four times, and it wasn’t until the last time that the bus got caught in a jam. And what a jam! Took us one hour to go about 3 km. it was horrible. When I got off, instead of taking a bus home through the jam. I walked. It was faster. All the buses I passed walking never passed me back. I got home, grabbed my India travel book and brought it to dinner where Erin wanted to copy pages from it for her trip to India next week. In all, I must’ve power walked for 40 minutes!
Dinner with Erin was great. We haven’t seen each other in a long time. And thus could talk for hours catching up on stuff. We ate at Korai Gost, and she enjoyed their quality Bangladeshi food.

50th-2nd in Dhaka 8/14

Today was a successful day. I did a morning data collection at Tejgaon, standard curbside stuff. Then I waited for Shegufta and another guy who would help us collect survey data on passengers. I was nervous for this, wondered how it would go. I had only recently decided to go forward with this, thanks to some prodding by my dad.

Was out there doing a bus count before they arrived. Realized before they came that I really don't have the best Bengali to be asking these questions quickly to bus passengers rushing to get on the bus. So I figured if both of them came, I could ask them to take on the interviews, and I would be there collecting data on the buses passing and the rough male/female split of the survey group.
The site I chose for the surveying I realized was good for many reasons. One, the local and ticket bus crowds are separated by a distance, so we could survey them separately and know our survey groups. As well, the buses, due to traffic control, come in waves. So we had large time gaps to interview people without them being distracted by arriving buses.
I had crafted three questions that I felt could clearly help understand what passengers are thinking. Simply: Do crowded buses frustrate you? Do you try to avoid crowded buses? Would you pay more for no crowding?They arrived, we went over the questions, and I asked them to translate them into Bengali. I listened to see if I liked how it was being translated. Making sure they interpreted what I wanted correctly. I then told the boy to stand near the local bus riders and interview them, and I told Shegufta to take on the ticket bus riders.Shegfuta did amazing. She had no issue walking up to each person and demanding an interview. I thought being a girl would be detrimental, but instead, I think it helps her. The women will talk to her without worry, and the boys all take up the chance to talk to a girl! On the other hand, the guy she brought to help had a harder time, I can’t imagine what I’d experience. (pics: Shegufta interviewing passengers, Shihab interviewing passengers, Shegufta gets swarmed by young guys hoping she'll interview them, myself/Shegufta after collecting data)






























We collected almost 300 responses to my questions! About 50/50 ticket and local. Incredible. I couldn't have done it without them, and told them that.

I then went and rode the #3 bus twice. Some jams. Nothing spectacular. Got a bit sleepy but didn’t nod off.
One old man who sat next to me talked to me about Michael Phelps and how impressive his gold medals are. That was cool. Glad Mr. Phelps is being a good ambassador for my country. The Bangladeshis have 6 athletes in the game, in shooting sports and swimming, but none performed very well. In fact, Bangladesh’s best shooter is currently in jail, and it was clearly disappointing to my friends.

I collected data in the evening at Kakoli bus stand. It started raining a bit, and it made it a bit uncomfortable for awhile. but it stopped after a bit, and the crowd under the overhang I was at dispersed, and then counting became a bit easier. After my work I went to a nearby stall to get some popcorn. One of the guys selling recognized me from another time I’d been working at Kakoli, and asked how I was. This prompted another guy to ask me if I had popcorn in my country. I said of course. And he explained how popcorn only came to Bangladesh just two years ago. I confirmed this later with a friend. Popcorn in Bangladesh for only two years! (pic: Kakoli bus stand at night...the bright light in front is the popcorn stall)
















50th-3rd in Dhaka 8/15

Found this article this morning through one of the blogs I read, The City Fix. It touches on so many topics that I had wanted to cover in my initial project: the analysis of the Jatrabari flyover. But due to its cancellation because of corruption, I switched to the bus project. But the article also talks about the pedestrian issue, which had been my second project choice to the crowded bus study. It’s so cool that the issues I’m interested in are written up in one article! I feel like I would’ve been able to write this, I should be the expert by now!
It talks about pedestrians not using over bridges or tunnels, but I’ve seen police easily solve this problem at several locations, namely Kakoli and Bangla Motor. Although there is still some non-usage, the police have really gotten people onto the bridge. The bridges though don’t seem ready for it though. The Bangla motor bridge for example ALWAYS has lines to get up the stairs, because the pathway isn’t large enough to handle the volumes.

Went to see a movie at Bolaka Cinema tonight. Toma and I had talked about going to see a Bangladeshi movie for a few months, and finally we upped and did it. We arrived at 6:45, and the ticket seller said the movie had started at 6:30. But knowing that I wouldn’t understand much anyway, that most Bangladeshi movies’ plots really don’t need much to understand, and we were just going for pure entertainment, we didn’t mind being 15 minutes late. Actually, we walked in and the movie was just starting, perfect timing.
The only other time I’ve seen a movie was Pirates of the Caribbean 3 at the nice theater at Bashundara City. Bolaka’s actual theater was bigger and much older. It had three seating sections separated by price: those closest to the screen were the cheapest, in back were the middle range seats, and the balcony had the most expensive seats. The cheap seats were packed, Toma said with rickshaw wallahs (others have told me this too.) but I was also told this theater is popular with Dhaka University students (but they are out of session right now.)
The movie was a riot. I’d seen Bangladeshi movies before, but live was much better. At least 12 characters with speaking parts were killed in the in same scene in which they were introduced, and of course scores of cronies of the bad and good guys were killed off in every scene. So much blood. If this was real life, Bangladesh would be the least densely populated country in the world in less than a year.
The movie itself was blurry at points, and the whole time had scratches on the film.
People got up to pee continuously, and it seemed people walked out to pee more often during the movie’s songs. People could be heard talking somewhere in the theater the entire time. Phones rang frequently and people always picked up. People cheered when the hero did something great, and roared with laughter at parts (at some parts why they laughed Toma didn’t even know.)
The movie had so many characters! I couldn’t keep track with who was who, who was bad, who was good, who loved who. It felt the many plot lines wouldn’t even connect, but apparently they did…and I don’t know how. The hero was in the first scene of the movie, and I swear he then didn’t show up for another 35 minutes while a million other things happened which I didn’t understand how they related to the hero.
After the unannounced intermission, placed at the end of a random scene, there were more previews for more movies coming soon, some English.
Toma said most people come just to see the movies’ actresses, or starlettes, because of the slightly revealing clothing they wear.
Although an action movie, the movie is clearly intentionally a bit silly. The reactions and facial expressions are priceless. The bloodshed unstoppable. The songs full of love amidst falling bodies. fun to dance to. The best part was the crowd who cheered and booed and laughed, and I only wished they did it more!
Oh and the movie was called “Rajdhanir Raja” or “King of the Capital.” The plot was roughly about our hero who decides to leave one side of a city’s rivaling big wigs to the other side. He cuts his wild hair and falls in love with his new boss’ daughter. In the end he kills off everyone from his old side. There were so many other fighting parts and mini plots that I don’t even understand, but this was the gist of it. Swords and guns should really be given the leading roles. (pics: Bolaka theater's advertisement for 'Rajdhanir Raja', Bolaka's main lobby, Bolaka's theater during intermission, movie poster for 'Rajdhanir Raja')



































50th-4th in Rangpur 8/16

This morning I headed to the Hanif bus station to meet Ayon and his Dhaka University friend Turzo. We were heading up to Turzo’s home in Rangpur to spend a few days relaxing and hanging out. Turzo had invited me about two months prior, and I was glad to come along.

The bus ride up was 6 hours long, and Turzo and I sat together. We chatted almost the whole way, getting to know each other. Turzo’s mother was also on the bus with us, as she had been in Dhaka for the wedding of two of Turzo’s cousins (I am told it is legal in Islam for two cousins to marry.) The girl cousin, the new bride, was on the way back to Rangpur for a few days before coming back to be with her new husband.
I asked Turzo on the way up how many brothers and sisters he had. One younger brother and one younger sister he told me. I asked their ages, and he said his brother was 13, and in fact, his sister was a twin. I laughed that he calls her his younger sister, not his twin. He told me he is 30 minutes older than his sister, but purposely refers to her as a younger sister! I asked if it is just to tease her that he came out first, and he said of course. And he insisted in childhood that she call him the respectful title of “paiya” and not by his name, because he was older.

We arrived in the late afternoon, and after freshening up at his home, we headed over to Carmichael College. This was very close by to Turzo’s home. It is a large expanse of land that has a prominent college in Bangladesh, from which Turzo’s father graduated.. The buildings are from the early 1900s. We roamed the grounds a bit, but it was already getting dark, so we didn’t stay long. Instead we headed into town, ate some chotputi, sat on the steps of a Shahid Minar and chatted. Took some tea which Turzo was proud to say was made with fresh milk. (pics: Ayon walking by Carmichael College, Ayon/Turzo in front of Carmichael College's main building)




















We enjoy a lot of guavas from Turzo’s guava tree behind his house. After not having guava my whole life up until last week, I’ve now eaten a bunch in just a few short days. (pics: Turzo climbing his guava tree to find some good guavas, a mostly-eaten guava)





















Got to play carrom today for the first time. I have the game on my phone, and although I’ve seen people playing it in storefronts, I’ve never gotten the chance to play. The game is played on a board covered in a bit of sand. You flick disks at each other in a fashion similar to billiards. The goal is to get the smaller disks into the holes for points. It was hard to get used to, and I never really was having much luck in aiming by the end. Flicking the disks with the fingers was incredibly hard. Turzo showed us two different types of games that can be played, they both were enjoyable. (pics: Ayon/Turzo/Turzo's brother playing carrom, myself playing carrom)
















50th-5th in Rangpur 8/17

Today is a major holiday, Shab-e-Bara'at. Also known as Mid-Sha’ban in most of the Muslim world, one is to spend all night praying. On this day Allah is chooses the destiny of all people on earth for the coming year. It earns its name in South Asia from this, the night of emancipation. When I got up to use the toilet in the middle of the night, I could hear people nearby reciting prayers. Kids like to pop firecrackers on this holiday too says Turzo, and I heard a few pop in the evening and one in the morning.

After breakfast, we headed first to a cold storage building, that his father has a part in owning. We were given a tour of the refrigeration equipment, power supply, and then actually into the storage holds where 110,000 bags of potatoes are being held. It was pretty cold in there, but not unbearable. There were five floors of potatoes, all sitting there staying fresh.
We then climbed up some rickety metal ladders to the roof and took a view of the surrounding landscape. (pics: cold storage employee/Ayon/Turzo roaming the cold storage and stacks of potatoes, myself amongst the potatoes in cold storage, Turzo climbing on the ladder of the cold storage facility, the view over the land from the top of the cold storage facility)






























From there Turzo took us to a rajbari called Tajhat Palace, built during the 19th century. Today the museum inside just happened to be closed. We walked around it, looked at its exterior, played around, and took pictures. After we sat under a tree in the grass. Was a bit hot out. (pics: Ayon/Turzo in front of Tajhat Palace, Ayon so upset over the museum being closed that he takes it out on me while I was napping)
















We headed home for lunch. His mom made some excellent hilsa fish. We showered and then headed out to Carmichael College again. We wandered the grounds until it started pouring. We sat under the main hall’s overhang for about 45 minutes, meanwhile we played Shollo Guti. (pic: myself/Ayon playing shollo guti)
















We headed over to the weekly market, known as a “hat [hot]” in Bengali. We were planning to buy a duck for dinner. We thought to explore the rest of the market, but due to the rain, the area was flooded, so we skipped it, but I got this shot of the cow part of the market. Then headed to the ducks. There was a giant basket of baby ducks. We looked at the ducks, and chose the one we wanted. Turzo had me carry it, grasping it tightly by its wings pulled behind its back. It didn’t squirm at all; it’s feet were tied already by the man whole sold it to us. (pics: the cows at the weekly market, baby ducks in a basket, Turzo choosing our duck for dinner, myself carrying the duck home)






























At home, we had to slaughter the duck for his mother so she could cook dinner. I held the neck and body while Turzo held the head, and sliced the neck’s main vein. He explained we were slaughtering it in a prescribed way to ensure the food was halal under Islamic law. This is the first time in my life I have played a role in preparing meat beyond the cooking. (pic: Turzo/myself slaughtering the duck for dinner)
















We went after this to go buy my bus ticket for tomorrow. As well, we headed by rickshaw across town to see the gate of Turzo’s old school. We couldn’t go inside as it was night, but even in the day, random visitors aren’t allowed. So he just pointed to things over the fence.

50th-6th in Rangpur 8/18

We headed out this morning to visit the birthplace of Begum Rokeya, famous for her works for getting women’s education accepted in Bengal, and pioneering many women’s rights ideas. She is a native of Rangpur, and her place of birth was relatively close to Turzo’s home. The house is now just a foundation, but it’s also an ornamented garden. Since there was no information about the woman there, I asked Turzo to tell me more about her. He told me a detailed history of her life and the struggles she went through. It is incredible the effort she had to put into convincing women themselves they deserved an education. He explained how many Bengali women were superstitious about even talking to her, and would shut the door on her, and then pour water over her from an upstairs window as she turned to leave. She was also an accomplished writer having many of her essays, poems, and stories published. Her biggest impacts may have been her fight against the injustices she saw for Muslim women in Bengal, fighting against the restrictions that hurt their physical and emotional growth. (pic: Ayon at the home in which Begum Rokeya was born)
















After lunch, I headed home. The bus ride home was fun. I started reading “Freedom at Midnight” and was flying through the pages. Another book which my father left behind for me. Very thankful he did. Once it got dark, I put on my CDs. Despite all my traveling in Bangladesh, this is only my second bus ride alone. Guess I’ll have a lot more in India next month.

The ride was fine, but as usual, after the snack break, I had to pee. Yes I peed at the stop, and I had not been drinking any water. But suddenly at the Jamuna Bridge, 2 hours at least from Dhaka, I had to go. It just got worse and worse. I decided that I would get off the bus outside of Dhaka when they let off some passengers, but close enough that I could still board a Dhaka city bus to finish the journey in. Then it stared raining, and everyone shut the windows. So now it was hot and stuffy, we were going slower because of the rain, and I had to pee still. We hit the stretch of road where I could get off the next time the bus stopped and then a miracle happened. We hit a really bad traffic jam. Our bus stopped, and it looked like we wouldn’t move for an hour. I got off the bus and went to the side of the road and had the most relieving pee of my recent memory.

The jam was bad. We didn’t move at all. Then to make things worse, cars and buses behind us decided they’d use the opposing traffics lane to scoot to the front of the line when no vehicles were coming. Then that lane got backed up! This made things worse obviously, because the opposing traffic now had nowhere to move, and thus whatever was causing the jam ahead was not being solved. (pic: stuck in a jam in the rain at night coming back to Dhaka)
















50th-7th in Dhaka 8/19

Erin called me this morning. She had denied an Indian visa, and although I couldn’t do anything to help, she was just calling to express her anger and annoyance. Why, they wouldn’t say. But now all her travel plans to India have to be scrapped. It’s such a shame. I can’t see why she would be denied. Everyone seems to leave the Indian Embassy in Dhaka with a horror story of some sort. She waited there to get an answer but as given none. She tried calling, and was hung up on several times and until she was screamed at for repeatedly calling.

I rode four buses today, the jams were incredible, especially on the first route. An hour just to go a few blocks. It rained pretty bad today, and that’s what was causing the jams I guess. In front of my house it was flooded, meaning I had to wade through ankle deep gray water. Gross, but what else can you do. Long after the rain was gone, the jams persisted. I said it before, I think the traffic has gotten worse since I’ve arrived.

People always seem to point out that I have a few “red dots” on my face. They comment saying that I have mosquito bites. Nope, sorry I have to say, they are called pimples, and only because of my fair skin they stand out as opposed to someone with a darker complexion. It’s a bit embarrassing since they are pointing out pimples I have, but not so much since they don’t realize that is what it is. They seem quite concerned that I’m getting too many mosquito bites. This has happened over ten times at least.

Tonight I went to get my hair cut. I went to a new place that I’d seen recently open up. It looked really nice inside. I walked in, and they were playing a song by the Bangladeshi rock band Artcell, one of my favorites. So I figured the place was perfect: great music, great décor, and that would surely translate to a great haircut. Well the great haircut was good, but I had to backtrack on my statement of good music. I should just say “good song.” They played that same song almost the entire time I had a haircut. On the sixth play, I asked if they had anything else. They let the song play once more before they changed it.

Week 49: After being on these buses so long, I can't wait to ride my lifelong love again soon: TRAIN!

49th-1st in Dhaka 8/6

Spent part of the day updating my paper for the conference. I had gotten some comments from Dr. Rahman, and some others from when my dad had read through the paper. I worked through what were issues, discussed some of it with Saket and Samantha online, and produced a piece which I’m very proud to submit. I went out to get the copyright form and registration form printed out.

In the afternoon, after spending the majority of the day doing all this, I went out and rode two buses. I did the #13 two times, and the ride back was the most I’d ever seen the bus get crowded. It was great data! I had a good time collecting despite it being really uncomfortable on the bus…it’s crowded remember?

49th-2nd in Dhaka 8/7

I woke up with a bit of heartburn, and a pain in my stomach. Didn’t want to do the morning data collection. Somehow I convinced myself to get up and go to Kalabagan though. It was only one hour, and I thought I could handle it. I did, it wasn’t fun, but now it’s out of the way. At home, I rested. Was not feeling good. Had some breakfast, despite the heartburn, of rice and fish.
I then organized myself to go submit my paper to the conference. I got the paper printed out three times somewhere, burned the CD, and got the materials to send to India. I went to Sundarbans Courier Service last night and they said they send to India. So I went back today to send. I wrote the envelope out, and put everything inside. They then picked it up, looked inside, and told me they can’t send CDs. While they were discussing amongst each other why they can’t do this, I grabbed my stuff and walked out.

I ended up having to take all these things to DHL. They were willing to ship it, but it is expensive. Had to pay, no other choice as far as I can tell. While there, I asked them again about prices to ship things to the US. It is also very expensive. I really need to figure out what I’m doing about all this stuff I want to bring home. Especially since it costs so much just to bring it on the planes.

I saw these guys on the street in Azimpur. Always tried to get a shot of the guys with the bees! (pic: these men sell honeycomb, but they keep it fresh with lots of bees...and then walk around with this bowl full of honey and bees on their head) [and I have to add that I have been singing this song since I saw these guys because of the second line "I've got bees on my head, but don't call me a bee head": the theme song from the Andy Milonakis Show (didn't post this originally but my friend Ben sent me the youtube link so I decided to post)]
















I then rode the #9 bus, and boy did it fly through its route. The bus got super packed too! Buses like this are exact reasons why my original hypothesis was wrong.
During and after I was feeling sick still. Perhaps it was lunch, maybe stuff lingering from the morning. But although I wanted to ride one more bus, I couldn’t bring myself to do it, and instead took a bus straight home.

At home I was sick, maybe the worst of all my times. I drank saline and ate crackers, but that only helped so much. I tried watching movies, but all I had were boring, and I ended up falling asleep.

49th-3rd in Dhaka 8/8

Still not feeling too good today when I woke up. Stomach pain. Hungry, but afraid to eat. I had enough energy though to make it over to Auvi’s place. We had been planning for me to come back over for lunch sometime, as he wanted to serve me the beef I loved when I ate there last time. We also had plans to discuss our trip to Chittagong sometime in the coming month.
I had lunch there, which his mother encouraged me to eat. I took rice and some vegetables on my plate, and she also insisted I eat some beef and chicken. Nothing spicy, nothing oily. Just foods to fill me and get me back to a normal diet.
After lunch we hung out in Auvi’s room. His friend Zarif was over too. They are in the middle of their final exams of their last semester at university. Zarif was studying for an exam. They also have a final project due next week, they have to build a line following robot. And they haven’t even started. Auvi tried explaining to me why, and what they’re going to do, but I still never really understood how there was any way anything was going to happen.
We worked out our Chittagong trip dates. We’re going to travel two weekends from now. Next weekend I’ll be in Rangpur with Ayon and his university friends. I’m excited.

After spending the afternoon there, Zarif and I headed back to Dhanmondi together. I watched “Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay” I liked it a lot, enough to go back and watch the original afterward. I ate dinner at home of crackers and soup as my stomach still wasn’t 100%

49th-4th in Dhaka 8/9

Moweena took a giant bag of recyclables today. She said she’ll get Tk15 per kg at the scrap junk place. Bottles and paper and plastic, she’ll get money for all of this. The bag was half her size! She collects all the stuff in the kitchen. When I realized what she was doing, I stopped throwing things away and put them in the kitchen instead, so she wouldn't have to go through the garbage later. (pics: Moweena with the bag of recyclables, all the items we've saved over the past two months)

The places in which you sell this stuff confused me for the first few months. Even when my father asked me what it was on my parents’ visit, I didn’t know at the time. The places look like stores selling garbage, or perhaps nothing at all.

I’m feeling a bit better today, but rice and fish for breakfast wasn’t very appetizing.

Diya picked me up in her father’s car and we went to a movie screening in Gulshan. Her friend Adnan had produced with his friends a film about historical sites and history of Bangladesh. They called it “Finding Bangladesh” and they were motivated by their lack of knowledge about their own country. They had the Westin’s ballroom reserved, with lots of chairs set up in front of a giant screen.
Geared to students, and light on the seriousness, it had them exploring the best sites of Bangladesh, in an effort to educate kids about what is really out there. The film was funny, they did a great job editing, and although there were points where it was a tad awkward, it was a good production. If I had to make recommendations to them, it’d be to remove some of their personal sentiments. Their input about repainting Ahsan Manzil pink as disheartening, or that the government isn’t doing a good job maintaining certain sites, made the film lose a bit of credibility as an educational tool. Also, I would recommend them to get all their facts straight. They dated some buildings several centuries too early, especially in Sonargaon where they labeled a group of 18th century buildings 13th century. As well, they said one old temple was 100 meters tall! That would make it the tallest building in Bangladesh! It looked more about 10 meters tall. I’ll forgive them for their spelling mistakes that showed up on film.
The best parts were definitely recognizing that this is the first film of its kind by students in Bangladesh. Very impressive. They have no budget, yet took the time to visit the places and see all the sites. Then edit and make an hour plus long film. And then get it out to the public so well!
They have two more films to go, as they split the country up into thirds, covering two divisions in each film. Was very glad Diya invited me along to this. (pics: Diya and the invitation to the movie screening, the giant screen and stage before the screening of "Finding Bangladesh")
















Diya’s mom picked us up to go home. On the way back we stopped at the BDR shop, a supermarket of sorts, her mom needed to get eggs. Diya wanted to wait in the car, but I was glad to go in with her mom. Being there, looking at the few shelves, and watching her with the shopping cart, made me think of being with my own mother at Foodtown. I just looked at the shelves and bought some things too: spring rolls, chocolate chip cookies, juice. Diya came in as we were checking out. I had wanted to help bag, but there were many gentlemen there to do that for us. The resulting outcome: I miss helping my mother shop for food, and look forward to it when I get home! (pic: Diya and her mother at the BDR shop)

I watched a movie tonight, and was eating dinner during. But the audio and visual tracking lost each other, and it was annoying to watch after that. Turned it off and went to bed.

49th-5th in Dhaka 8/10

I went to Auvi’s around lunchtime as we were going to go to Kamalapur Station to buy our train tickets. We had lunch there as well. But things didn’t turn out so well when we went to the station. The tickets aren’t on sale until two days from now, which is surprising as the trip is only 11 days away. It seemed a bit ridiculous to both of us.

Had raw guava for the first time today. Didn’t know the things that everyone were eating like an apple were guavas! Probably never would’ve tried it if Auvi hadn’t handed me a piece. I’ve only had it in juice form, and I think I recall it being pink then, while this was entirely white.

After this, I went to Tejgaon where I did two evening data collections, one on either side of the road. It was raining, and so I had to stand underneath an umbrella the entire time. Luckily I had something to rest my clipboard on so I could still write and hold the umbrella at the same time. No one bothered to talk to me tonight because no one wanted to be in the rain, of course if they wanted to stand under my umbrella, I would’ve been totally fine with it.

After I went and got a snack, which ended up being my dinner, at a bakery. I found a fried roll with pasta inside! Very interesting, that I ordered an extra. However, despite its tastiness, what I really wanted tonight was a Grease Trucks’ Fat Sandwich, the wonderful food sold at Rutgers University. So filling, so tasty. Texted Chris, an RU alumnus, to let him know.

49th-6th in Dhaka 8/11

I left my house early to head to Tejgaon again for the morning data collection. For some reason it was really hard to get there! A pain! Took a half hour to cross to Dhanmondi. My first rickshaw went a bizarre way and I had to leave him and take another as we were stuck. Then the bus was stuck in a massive jam, and I was crushed like never before inside.
I honestly feel the jams have gotten worse in Dhaka since I arrived. More frequent and longer waits.

I did the first data collection. The ticket guy near me recognized me from another place another day.
After that I headed up to Gulshan. Got breakfast at Coffee World, and had a waffle.
Saw that A&W got closed down. Asked a guard across the street what happened and when. He said it was one week ago, and it was because they had not paid their rent in 3 years! I guess I won’t be having Iftar there this year.
Went to the Jet Airways office to check out airfares. Decided against flying them, I’d only be doing it for flight miles, and it’s too much for what I’d be earning. Will fly budget airlines for sure.
Went by UPS and FedEx today, and very surprisingly they are much much cheaper than DHL! 3 times as cheap. My calculations tell me that for a 25kg package through DHL, it would cost $650 to ship to the US. UPS is only $260 and FedEx is $198! Bizarre a little. Both UPS and FedEx have a 25kg box special that is a great deal, the prices above. I pick up the box from then, fill it up, and ship it, up to 25kg. So I’ll be doing that for sure. Only catch is the box is a fixed size that isn’t too big, so I want to make sure I put my heaviest things in it, to make sure it hits the 25kg.

Went back to Tejgaon to do two more midday data collections, one on either side of the road. Nothing exciting, it started to rain a bit again and I had to use the umbrella. (pics: my simple tools for counting buses, the best picture I've caputred of a crowded bus and people running to the door and cramming every last spot)
















Later I went to Ferdous tailors to pick up my tuxedo! I was very excited to see the final product. I got there and they gave me piece by piece to try on, starting with the pants, then the jacket then the shirt and then the cummerbund. It all looked great. Fit perfectly. Was very impressed. Now I just need an occasion to wear it!

At my evening data collection tonight at Banani bus stand I saw a foreigner buying a bus ticket! I never have before seen this. I’ve always been the only one, unless I’m dragging someone else on the bus with me. I kind of wanted to talk to him.

After I met with Toma at Bella Italia, where we had great pizza (kind of like Federici’s in Freehold) and seafood pasta. Had been craving it for awhile. Then we went across the street to Andersen’s Ice Cream for a sundae. Her driver picked us up, and he dropped me off at Sat Rasta, from there I took a rickshaw to Farmgate. This was much faster than taking the #6 to Farmgate. The driver said I went through a “dangerous” place, but I feel like people would say that about half the places I go or do here. (pics: Toma having seafood pasta at Bella Italia, myeslf and a delicious ice cream sundae)
















49th-7th in Dhaka 8/12

Worked on planning my India trip this morning. I’m throwing around different itineraries to see what best fits what I want to see. My friend Megan has been giving me advice on Kolkata, but for the rest I’m searching internet sites and books to see how much time I should spend in each spot. The train times I want never seem to exist, so I have to work within what is there.
I think I have a schedule I think I like, now that I’ve decided to take the train from Dhaka to Kolkata on the 7th. Emailed the conference organizers to affirm that I need to be there on the 12th, so I don’t show up for something unimportant. They confirmed that I really should be there.

Went to Rampura bus stand to do a midday data collection. The ticket collectors there were the most interested about my work than any others before. They didn’t leave my side, except to sell a ticket or two on their infrequent buses, the entire hour. They asked lots of questions, and I had no issue entertaining them as long as I could still work. The road was easy to count as traffic moves so slow there.

After this I took a bus down to Kamalapur Railway Station to wait for Auvi so we could buy our train tickets to Chittagong next week. I was also going to buy my train ticket to Kolkata. I had lunch at the station. After lunch, I headed to the Kolkata ticket counter. The ticket buying requires a passport and visa, and I got stuck behind a guy registering his whole family of 15 people. A long wait. I filled out the form meanwhile, and then just stood there. He at least provided me good conversation. Auvi showed up during this time, and after I finally got to buy my ticket to Kolkata, we headed to the window to buy our Chittagong ticket. It took less than a minute. I felt a bit bad that Auvi had come all the way down there. But he didn’t mind, nothing else to do he said….coming from a guy in the middle of exams!
We also talked about our itinerary too, and how I have a fantasy football draft that Sunday! He has a wedding that day too. We’ll try to arrange both. I’ll be brining my laptop for sure.
Buying the tickets to both these places made me more excited to go there. Especially India.

I then rode two #6 buses from Kamalapur to Gulshan. I didn’t get off in between, and it took about 3.5 hours to do them. Both had lots of crowding and a few interesting people to talk to me. Conductors always talk to me after they see me stay on the bus between routes.

At night I bought the plan ticket from Kolkata to Chennai in September. I will fly the budget airline SpiceJet.
Ayon called, and we chatted about our trip to Rangpur this weekend. He told me all about his past trip to Sylhet, sounded like a blast. Lastly, he told me he’ll be coming to Chittagong. Uh oh, we bought our tickets today though, he better go soon and get his.

Week 48: Fish drop, faluda, friendship, fire truck (say it 5 times fast)

48th-1st in Dhaka 7/30

Not feeling too great today. Went to get breakfast and could only nibble on my food. Just no appetite.
Started a movie at home. Kind of worked on my data, doing some data pre-processing. Went out for lunch and had some soup and a desert called faluda, which is tasty and an array of various items: vermicelli, apples, raisins, pistachios, honey, sugar, and bananas. The wikipedia article calls it a drink, but here in Bangladesh its certainly a dessert and needs a spoon. Other sites call the version I ate Sheer-e-faluda

I feel like I’ve been taking more CNGs and taxis recently. Mostly it’s late at night and I’m coming home from Gulshan, or I’m hanging out with someone who doesn’t really want to ride buses.

To supplement the lack of text, here are some random things I’ve snapped photos of recently:
I found some Bangladeshi karaoke thing being sold at Rifles Square. (pic: "World's First Bangla Karaoke" on display at Rifles Square with a customer belting out a song in front of his friends as the Bengali words flash on the screen)















Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” translated into Bengali. I had stopped to consider buying Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time, which was not translated into Bengali (pic: Mein Kampf translated into Bengali being sold at Nilkhet Market)















Vin Diesel’s Triple X movie at a Bengali cinema, not sure if it’s dubbed or not. (pic: Triple X in theaters now...or as they called it, Triple Cross)















A fire station with some ancient looking fire trucks. (pic: fire station in Dhaka)

People getting Tahitian apples (Bengali: amra) ready to sell for the day, they’re enjoyed with salts on top and are quite sour, but are refreshing in the heat. The centers have thick fibers that aren't eaten. They are very popular for selling to bus riders. (pics: peeling and cutting the Tahitian apples for the day, a bowl full of Tahitian apples ready for selling)

Speaking of fruits. I'm beginning to see the fruits that were out when I first arrived. Mangoes are being seen less and less, while pineapples have been out for awhile and pomelos are hitting stands, although small ones.

48th-2nd in Dhaka 7/31

Work was good. I collected data at Kalabagan for the AM peak period. I then was able to get four buses done. It was a feeling of success. I’m blasting through this data collection, and will be glad to be done at the end. I’m still not taking long breaks on the buses, and it’s definitely showing in my efficiency. I could’ve done a 5th bus today if I had really felt up to it.

I don’t put enough pictures of the traffic or buses up here. So here are a few shots I’ve taken recently under bad conditions. (pics: Mirpur Road at Science Laboratory during the early evening, rickshaws backed up at Science Laboratory in the early evening and also note the silly looking billboard in the top left which I chuckle at every time I pass by, Airport Road at Banani/Kakoli bus stands in the middle of the day)





























And here are some photos I’ve taken recently for stock footage I’ll need for future reports on this. (pics: alighting from a moving bus in a sharee cannot be easy, boarding a moving bus can leave you struggling for your balance not to fall out, a beggar begs for change at Gulshan-1's west side bus stand as a Winner bus pulls up behind him, typical ticket counter)


































Instead of doing a 5th bus, I went to a goodbye dinner for my friend Luke. I wish I could’ve hung out with him more, but I had so many vacations while he was here. We had sushi at a Japanese restaurant, my first time having sushi since being in Raleigh! Not even close to as good as Sushi Blues, but still tasty. After we went to the Bagha Club and toasted him off with a few beers.

48th-3rd in Dhaka 8/1

I went over Ayon’s for the day. His mother served a great lunch to us. His sister and her husband were also there visiting. Her husband told me he will be in Chennai for the next three months, so I’ll be able to meet up with him when I go there for my conference. Later his aunts came by, to talk to their niece, so Ayon, her husband, and I were left hanging out in Ayon’s bedroom. I left after sharing tea with everyone.
I came home and finished watching a movie I’d started the other day and then went and got dinner.

After coming home, the guys who live downstairs and invited me in. We chatted for awhile at their place, about random topics. I then mentioned to them that I’ll be selling my furniture, and that if they’d like to take a look, they are very welcome. So they came up, and I showed them my place. They were interested in the TV, DVD player, fridge, and kitchen set. They’ll be living here, the five of them in one flat as big as mine, for 4 more years so buying this stuff is quite a good investment for them.

48th-4th in Dhaka 8/2

I posted my blog, and backed up my photos. The 4 GB flash drive I’d bought for that purpose is now full! Meaning I’ve taken that many photos in just this year! Incredible.

Moweena returned today. I was wondering if she had gone back to her village for good. She could easily do that and I’d never ever know. But after a week of being gone, she came today and cooked and cleaned.

For lunch I visited Jen and Ben. They leave this week, their last in Bangladesh. It’s amazing that within my time here, they came and will leave. They are great friends, and I’ll miss having them here. We’ve had many great times together. Today they had offered to share macaroni and cheese with me. They do a great job cooking up amazing meals. When I got there, Ben was purchasing tickets online, and we discussed the nuances of purchasing online fares. We chatted a lot over cooking and then eating. The afternoon finished with Ben telling me an incredible story. I had mentioned how my friend Peyton had recently climbed El Capitan again at Yosemite (see Saket's posts on it 1 2), so Ben jumped into an epic tale about his climb up El Capitan and how he funded his way there. It took over an hour to tell, but it was the best story I’ve heard in awhile. Knowing Jen has heard it scores of times, I wonder what her version would sound like.

I went to buy fish this afternoon. Stopped by my favorite supermarket and chose a fish from their fish department. They asked if they should cut it up, and I said sure, why not. So I watched him slice it, and another employee held open a bag to put the pieces in. the first employee grabbed this first piece, the fish’s head, and dropped it into the bag. And it went straight through! A hole opened up, or was already there, not sure, but the fish head fell right to the ground. SPLAT, BOUNCE! It was hilarious, I started cracking up, I couldn’t stop. They started laughing too. We all thought it was the funniest thing all day. Glad great moments like this happen.

48th-5th in Dhaka 8/3

Rode three buses today. Had limited time as I couldn’t work into the evening as I was meeting up with my friends at Pizza Hut. Although, I’m starting to get very tired of riding the buses. It is draining, especially these local buses, but I’m trying to get all this data collected before I leave. And I feel I’m having problems breathing these days, maybe it is because of all the fumes I inhale.

For dinner, a bunch of us met at Pizza Hut to celebrate today’s holiday: World Friendship Day. These past few days I’ve signs for dances and celebrations all over town. Places that people like to spend time at were all packed with people hanging out with friends. It was crazy to see the passion with which the holiday is celebrated.
So my friends and I had pizza. We all showed up late as the roads were jammed, maybe in part due to the holiday. We were there for two hours. They brought us the wrong size pizzas, too large. We would have to pay for it, and yet not be able to eat it all. Well we all braved it, and put pizza down our throats like we’d never done before. I felt sick by the end. (pics: Saquib/Ayon/myself at Pizza Hut for World Friendship Day even though I'm the only one looking, Farhan/Nipu laughing at Pizza Hut, Opu appears to have been a victim of someone's cruel "untwist the cap of the pepper just enough so that the next person has it spill out all over their food" trick, Opu/Faisal/myself/Ayon/Nipu posing in front of Pizza Hut after dinner)


































It was a nice time with the guys. With all of our schedules, these times are too spaced out.

48th-6th in Dhaka 8/4

I did a morning data collection in Banani, then did two #3 bus routes. They took longer than I thought they would. Jams seem to be bigger these days than ever before. It rained at points today, and it made being on a bus pretty bad, as everyone closes the windows on an already hot bus. When it rained during the morning data collection, I was under a shelter, and everyone came under when it rained, packing it, and making it hard to see the buses going by. I was squished.

I picked up my visa from the Vietnam embassy. The guard said I was a very lucky man to be receiving a second visa. I felt so too. I was actually worried they’d deny me just because it was my second. But now it’s nicely in my passport, and despite the double fee, I’ll be able to go to Vietnam in October.

Also went by the tailor who is making my tuxedo. They had it ready to be tried on, although not close to finished. Just the structure is there so they can see how it looks on me before finishing it up. It was weird to put on pants that didn’t even have a waistband yet, just a cloth strip. And a jacket with pieces of fabric sticking out everywhere. But i really liked it. It fit very well, and the shape was looking sharp. I’ll be excited to see the finished product, and then sport it in the US.

When I came home, there was a gigantic spider in my room. I was not going to bed with it by my bed. I had to kill it, I usually don’t enjoy killing bugs, but it was the biggest spider I’d seen, maybe ever. At least in the presence of my bed. I felt bad.

48th-7th in Dhaka 8/5

Today is 11 months.

I did a data collection at Kalabagan. Towards the end, a young guy came up to me and started talking to me. He asked if I had remembered him, he’s a guy who saw me last week at a nearby bus stop and tried to chat but it was dark out and I was having problems working, so didn’t talk then. Well now, midday, we talked. He was a real neat guy doing a lot of work in media in Bangladesh, but still a college student (in his third university, having a bit of grade issues.) I ended spending the afternoon with him. We walked back to his university, hung out where the students grab snacks, and chatted. One of his friends came by, a guy who’s from Kathmandu, so we were able to chat about my recent trip there, plus his thoughts on his country’s future now that it’s a democracy. It was a great afternoon. We headed over to Goethhe Institute, also known as the German Cultural Center, where they like to hang out. I’d heard the name before, but never had been. Well its being renovated right now, so none of the food items were available, which are supposed to be amazing. I stayed a bit before going to do another data collection.

After the data collection I met up with my friend Toma at a café nearby to the data collection. We chilled there for awhile, had dinner, then chilled at Dhanmondi Lake for awhile. I was exhausted from the day though, and was real glad to be home when I finally got there.

Week 47: If only visas were sold at places like Bashundara City

47th-1st in Dhaka 7/23

Saw workers chip sealing parts of the roads today. The process was intense. Giant barrels over burning fires to heat the asphalt cement! The workers face some intense hot conditions! (pic: workers chip sealing a part of Sat Masjid Road by heating the asphalt cement over giant fires)
















Today I went to BUET to work, but found out the hard way that all the computer labs I use were restricted to only students registering for courses. In fact the computer labs are all reserved for registering students for the next 4 days! When I went by one time, it was empty, and still they wouldn’t let me in.
To kill the many hours until my evening meeting with Dr. Rahman, Shegufta and I went out and took the measurements of three buses that start nearby to BUET in Azimpur. She was bothered by the heat and the sun, but she was still a great sport and stuck with me the whole way.
I finally was told to go to a computer lab I’d never been in before, and had to ask the moderator there how to log in, as it’s a whole other system from the other labs I use (each lab seems to require its own log ins, no central network.) They just let me log in as an administrator after I complained saying I need to do some work today! (pics: myself in front of one of the buses I ride, my assistant Shegufta helping me collect data)





















Met with Dr. Rahman today about my paper. He had a few comments that I should make sure I clean up for the final submission. It was good to hear that he thought the paper was looking good, and that I should be proud to have it at the conference.

On the street today I found bite-size fuchka! This really excited me for some reason. (pic: bite size fuchka)















I sent an email to all the new Fulbrights letting them know I’m selling my furniture, and also to let them know about my flat in case they are interested in moving in.

Tonight my store owner and the guy who fed me jackfruit came by my place. The jackfruit guy wanted to check out my fridge. He also looked at my DVD player and my ceiling fan. He was very insulted that I wouldn’t just give them to him at whatever price he named. He complained that he’s a poor man and can’t afford so much, and I told him my prices stand as I like, and I’m not going to lose tons of money just because he wants to tell me he’s poor. He doesn’t have to own a DVD player. My store owner also guilt tripped me to try and give him my bed. Although I’m supposed to be getting 75% back for it from the store I bought it at, the store owner told me give it to him because he’s a friend and actually knows me. The cost of this friendship, 50% less for the bed! I wasn’t falling for these tricks.

47th-2nd in Dhaka 7/24

Recently I’ve also been plowing through the Southeast Asia guide book. That trip is one I’m very much less ready for, and don’t even know what I want to see and do. But the book is extremely helpful for helping me pick my highlights and my modes of transport.

Today was my first time collecting data on buses for a long time, and for my return I did a hard day of four local buses! By the end I didn’t want to be on them at all anymore! I rode the #13 route four times in a row, breaking for two tea breaks and a lunch break in between, none of which were very long. The buses all got very crowded, the last one the most because it was during the post-rush hour period. But it felt very good to accomplish so much. So many people talked to me today, and I realized if it wasn’t for these strangers, I might go all day without talking to someone.

No real highlights from the day’s work. One man stayed to talk to me after the route because he was so excited to meet a foreigner. I also had my photo snapped, and I walked up and asked him to see it, and his friends teased him.

47th-3rd in Dhaka 7/25

I visited Bashundara City with Santa for some lunch and shopping. The place was very empty. We had Taco Bell, which was the best Mexican food I’ve had in Bangladesh. Please take note that this is not a real Taco Bell, they just stole the name, menu, and pictures. They gave plenty of cheese and sour cream, and even gave it attractive displays for only being in a mall’s fast food court. Santa also liked it, it being her first time eating it. (pics: the best taco I've had in Bangladesh at the Taco Bell in Bashundara City, Santa eating her first ever Mexican food)
















We shopped at Bashundara for awhile looking at shoes. I ended up buying two new pairs, and even bargaining one down immensely. The other was from a fixed price shop with low prices. She bought two pairs of sandals. (pics: shopping at Bashundara City, buying shoes)
















Remembering the clothing under my bed, seeing the cockroaches in my boots a few weeks ago, and always seeing cockroaches scurrying for the safety to the nether regions of my bed, I decided it was time to check out what was under there. I looked through my things and checked for new cockroach civilizations. Well I pulled out a few bags of clothes, and although there was some cockroach poop here and there, nothing look infested. Then I came to the boxes of shoes. Well it seems cockroaches have their preferences when it comes to inhabiting things. One of the pairs of shoes I’d bought months ago had many cockroaches living inside. They were pretty good at finding the shoe, it was pretty buried in the stack and piles of things. After dumping them out, killing some, and sweeping the poop and eggs into the garbage, I put all the clean good stuff in my suitcase to stay safe from cockroaches (and the mold which seems to be getting everything.)

47th-4th in Dhaka 7/26

This morning I spent time trying to organize my trip to India. Choosing between airlines and trains, and when to actually take these between city trips. In my searching around at flights, I stumbled on that Air India Express has a flight form Dhaka to Bangkok, and its cheaper than what I bought on Best Air last week, although I’d have to quickly switch planes in Kolkata. $60 cheaper is a lot of money though.

Went to Bashundara City to meet with a girl who had contacted me through email and had wanted to know more about my work. She had found my blog from NC State Engineering’s main page, and contacted me to learn more about what I was doing here. She graduated from BUET earlier this year, and has since been working for an engineering design firm, but is thinking of switching careers to transportation from structures. We had a good conversation ranging from my work, transportation issues in Dhaka, traffic management ideas around the world, and the application process of American graduate schools.

After I went to New Market to get the last of clothing ordered. I bought the fabric for a camel sport coat, and three more shirts, two with French cuffs for the cuff links I just had ordered to be made. Will have all this finished in a few weeks. While leaving, I found a snack called pakora, which was fried balls of spinach. Was delicious and had gathered a huge crowd who were getting it while it was hot!

Tonight my mom called me to tell me that they had to put my cat Archie down this morning. Over the past week his health had deteriorated, and today it reached a point that was causing him immense pain. They made the choice to put him down. I cried when mom told me. Archie was only two years old, and very sweet, very friendly.
My boua came after mom called. She was telling me she was going back to her village for the week. Her sister is sick. She saw I was crying. Her advice to me, “Don’t cry. Pray to Allah and ask for good healthy and safety. He will provide. Don’t cry.” It was very sweet of her.

47th-5th in Dhaka 7/27

Today might have been my most successful day of bus riding. Although a new record for number of buses was not set, I rode a bus four times straight, with only a short break for a lunch and a quick hop off for a tea and an ice cream later. I rode the same bus all day long, so I was with the same group of employees for all four routes. Essentially, I got to see how life is like for them, as I was only taking the breaks they took. Well, they stayed on the bus except for the lunch break.
On one of the routes, I struck up a conversation with one of the workers. He told me about their work schedule, apparently it is a 24 hour work day, and they work alternating days. They have a breakfast, lunch, and dinner break, and then a four hour nap break from midnight to 4am when the buses don’t run. Otherwise, it is continuous work, at least 17 hours of actual work! Every other day.
The day was tiring, but I only dozed off shortly on the second bus ride. Was fine for the third and fourth. The guys were helpful, not annoying, and didn’t bother me when I was working. The routes were long. This is the most bus riding I’ve done in a period of time. In 9.5 hours I rode a bus for 8.5 hours. Rear end was sore at the end.

Apparently there was an earthquake last night. I can’t lie, I didn’t even know about it until I read about it in the news tonight at home on the internet. Apparently it was bad enough it shook people out of bed. I was to find out later that even some of my friends had felt it. I slept right through it I guess. I am also the boy who when I was younger slept through the smoke alarms in my house. However, I would still call myself a light sleeper, as I wake up several times every night.

47th-6th in Dhaka 7/28

I went to Gulshan today to pick up my visa from the Vietnam Embassy, but to also do work at the bus stops on Airport Road near Banani.
The working went fine. I found a good spot for observing where I could sit. I had to develop a new system for counting, as there were many buses passing by. In fact it was 350 per hour I’d found out! I resorted to only recording arrival and departure times for the buses on my research list, and simply counting the other buses as non-crowded or crowded, without recording their names. It worked out well, and I enjoyed it a lot. Glad to have a system for these busier stops established now. I collected at Kakoli in the AM peak period, and at Kakoli and Banani during the midday period. I meant to collect at night, but after the issue with my visa, see below, I decided to postpone for a day I wasn’t so frustrated.

In the morning I went with Farabi to Ferdous tailors, where he got a tuxedo made a while back. He was there to help me out, let me know what he chose, and to maybe ask about why the price was so much higher for me than him. It appears that prices had just gone up. They are one of the most renowned tailors in town, and they know people will pay for their work. But it wasn’t too high compared to other places I’d looked into, so I went ahead. We chose the fabric for the shirt and the tuxedo. I chose which details I wanted, declined a bowtie because they would only make it pre-tied, and I want to have one where I can tie it myself. But did get a cumberbund. I get to see the sample within the week. It’ll be nice to have my own tailored tuxedo. I’ll never have to pay expensive rental fees again, and never have to use a tuxedo that hundreds of other guys have worn before me. I even think the price to get this made is equal if not less than just one tuxedo rental in the US!

In the afternoon, Farabi was with me, and he came with me to the Vietnam Embassy to pick up my visa. I remember telling him beforehand, “I hope nothing is wrong, and I can just get it and go.” I think I say this little thought to myself every time I pick up something, from clothes to visas.
Well I got the visa after submitting my receipt, the guard brought it down from the Vietnamese Embassy (apartment) and I checked it out. It looked great, wait, no, the dates are wrong. They gave me all of September until October 1, but I’m traveling in October! Uh oh! I point out the mistake to the guard, and he looks at me and says this is what I receive. The only thing he would do for me is give me the phone number I can call to complain.
I called the number, and a nice woman picked it up, and I started describing my problem. She listened, and asked me to tell her again. After repeating, she asked who I was looking for. I said who is this? She told me it wasn’t an embassy, it was a home number.
I told the unhelping guard he’d given me the wrong number. He looked at the paper, and realized he’d written an “8” instead of a “4” somewhere in the number (despite my anger for wasting my time, I can’t blame him because a Bengali “4” looks like an English “8” and I’m sure that was the mistake he made in his head.)
Called the number, the ambassador himself picked up. I described the problem, and told him I was still downstairs. He told me I had asked for those dates, and that’s what he gave me. Said they even sent the application to Hanoi to verify everything. He then sent down my application to show to me that there had been confusion over what I wanted. I could tell why, because over the “10” I had written for October, a giant “9” was scribbled over it. I didn’t remember doing that, and can’t imagine why I would. I told the guard, who told me to call the number again, and explained it to the ambassador. I told him I didn’t do that, but he insisted I did…and I realized that no matter what I said, whether they did it or not, I was stuck. The “no I didn’t” “yes you did” would go on until I angered him. So instead I asked him what I had to do to get the dates I’d wanted, how we could change it. He said the only way was to buy a whole new visa, and re-apply with a new application. Luckily I didn’t have to submit all my bank statements and photos again.
During this whole time, Farabi was fighting with the guard about the application, fighting for me, saying this isn’t fair, you can’t just give an incorrect visa time and again just so you get more money.
I put in a new application. After waiting and waiting for the ambassador to get out of a meeting, the guard finally brought the application up. And came back down to collect my new visa fee, an additional Tk3700.

Here is how I broke down the situation, and why I did what I did. I had 3 choices.
Refuse to get a new visa and pay an additional visa fee. This means I would never travel to Vietnam as I would not be able to make it to Vietnam before the visa ended on October 1. I’d be out my first Tk3700. It’d be paying that much money to NOT travel there, seems pretty silly. Plus, Amy, my travel partner, already successful got her visa, and I couldn’t put her out like that.
Get very angry on the phone and fight with the ambassador about who really wrote the 9 over my 10. This would put me in bad favor, and he’d likely just say “don’t call again” and I’d never get a new visa, and I’d still be out my first Tk3700. And still put Amy in a bad situation.
I could just accept it and put in a new application and pay the additional Tk3700. At least I’d still get to go to Vietnam (pending approval of course)
Another way to reason it out was: pay Tk3700 to not go to Vietnam, or pay tk7400 to still get to go. This stuff happens, whether at my own fault or someone else’s. I’m not the only person ever to have these kinds of problems, so I’m just dealing with it. If you want to read about worse problems, my friends Jen and Ben have spent tons of money and lots of time trying to extend their visas to stay in Bangladesh.

47th-7th in Dhaka 7/29

I skyped with Sandee in the morning. Been a bit since I talked to her, and we had plenty to talk about.

Our area is without water today. They said with the heat we are having, the water lines are dry since everyone has used all the water up.

I met with Dr. Rahman, and we went over some graphs that I had produced recently. He provided comments, and we discussed what the results are saying. Before and after this I did curbside data collections at Kalabagan.

I also dropped by Aziz Super Market midday, and looked at the selection of Bengali t-shirts. Some have long poems on them, but others have short sayings, and I wanted to pick some up before I leave. This proved to be easier said than done. There was so many choices, and I couldn’t choose. I’ll have to come back, I only bought one today.