Down to the River.

I spent a traditional Thanksgiving this year – traditional from both the Bangladeshi and American perspectives.  My friend Rick and I woke up early and headed to the riverside.  I wanted to see the spice and fruit markets, as well as the docks.  If you watched The Amazing Race, you saw part of this area when they did the brick or lunch challenges.  I thought the show did a pretty good job of showing Dhaka as it is.  It appears the show was filmed in June or July, which would explain the heat.  I was a little surprised that the contestants complained about the smell – I really don’t think it’s any worse than many places in Asia.  The show didn’t really capture the chaos of trying to navigate in Dhaka, nor did it show the amazing colors you see everywhere.  Nevertheless, overall it gave a favorable impression of Bangladesh.

Here are some images of the docks and riverside.  I’m not sure why the river is burning.  It’s interesting that the river is as crowded with small ferries as the streets are crowded with rickshaws.

My friend and I picked a boat with only two other people in it to cross the river.  Of course, it then immediately filled with ten others.  You take your shoes off when you board.  Have you ever tried to take off and put on shoes in a canoe?  It's a wonder I didn't end up in the river.  Doesn't this almost remind you of Venice?!

 

And this was shot not on the river, but beside it.  The kids here love to be photographed, and have such infectious smiles.

Entrepreneurs

So many Bangladeshis seem to work for themselves – as day laborers, rickshaw drivers, ferry operators, vendors, etc.  Here are some that I saw on my Thanksgiving travels.  By the way, you can click on any image and enlarge it.

Barbers:

 

Bearers:

 

It's amazing how much weight they can bear, and how well they can balance it.  They guy in front is carrying two big boxes of apples and three wooden crates of dates on his head.

Broom makers:

Chai sellers:

Delivery men:

Fruit vendors:

 

The building in the background is the Pink Palace; I have yet to see inside it.

 

The baby was actually moving the fruit from the bowl to the scale for his father.

Laundries:

 

Even though they were washing the clothes in the river, each item had a white tag on it.

Rickshaw drivers.

Spice merchants:

Vegetable sellers:

Chiang Mai

I just returned from a long weekend in Chiang Mai, Thailand.  I enjoy Chiang Mai because it is in Northern Thailand and is much more relaxed  than Bangkok – much like the Florida Keys and Miami.  To maximize my peace, I decided to stay outside town at Butterfly Resort on the river.  Probably won’t do this again.  The resort was really beautiful, and had a fantastic restaurant.  They had the best Tom Kha Gai (coconut soup with chicken and mushrooms) that I’ve ever had.  The rooms were all wood, and had fun features like Jacuzzi tubs and outdoor showers – which unfortunately could be seen by the rooms adjacent to yours.  They ran a shuttle into town every two hours, but it took about ½ hour each way.  The one time I decided to risk a cab home rather than wait for the shuttle and the driver got totally lost and we ended up somewhere far north of the hotel (but eventually made it back).  I used the time to try to catch up on work – it was somehow easier to grade papers looking out at a pond and the river than looking out from my office at home onto the construction site next door.

Here are pictures of the building I stayed in (upstairs), the inside of a room and the main building.

It is good to be home again.  Much like the last Eid in September, Dhaka has been deserted this week after Eid.  So many people return home to their villages that the city is a ghost town.  For a few glorious days we have had no power outages or traffic.  I suspect the masses will return by the weekend. 

Oh, the Amazing Race episode this week was filmed in Dhaka.  Try to watch it and see what you think.  I’ll be very interested to see if it shows the chaos of the place and the friendliness of the people.

Happy (American) Thanksgiving everyone!!

Eid al-Adha Market

Don’t come to expect this, but I’m actually posting this blog on the day it occurred.  After spending the morning at the Buddhist school teaching English, a friend and I headed out to take pictures.  As I mentioned earlier, Eid al-Hada is the festival of sacrifice.  Muslims buy an animal (goat, cow, camel), sacrifice it and split the meat three ways – retaining one-third, giving one-third to friends and giving one-third to the poor.  This will all happen next Wednesday.  I wanted to go to the cow market this weekend to see the animals for sale.

We started at a smaller market near the school.  It was all cows, and primarily the same breed.  This is the first time in Dhaka that I have been concerned that I might be injured.  My friend and I quickly attracted a huge crowd of cow herder children who followed us in a large crowd.  Although they were totally friendly, they were a little too excited to see us and we started getting pushed ahead of the mob.  When we were pushed into bulls, they would try to swing their horns at us.  I also kept slipping in the cow piles, and was afraid I’d fall down and get trampled.  I finally convinced all of them to climb a sand pile for a photo, which gave me a short break to breathe and relax.  At this point I realized it was not a good idea to be here and we headed out.

Here they are bringing the cows to market.

The entire market.

The mob of boys.

Force feeding a bull.

Another breed.

Eid al-Adha Market 2

We next went to the main animal market.  This did not have many children, and also had a much larger variety of animals – goats, many breeds of cows, water buffalo and camels.  It was also a little dangerous because, being a real market, people would be herding bulls through the “roads” and you’d have to jump out of the way to avoid being gored or trampled.  A local TV crew was there and filmed us diving for cover.  They were quite curious as to why tourists would be visiting this market and interviewed us.  We were the only non-Bangladeshi out of thousands of people there.

Here, you had your choice of goats,

 cows,

and even camels.

You can't forget your knife

or the feed for the week until Eid.

 
A large bull cost about $2,000 - or almost a year's wages for a well-paid person like my driver, several year's wages for someone working in the garment factories and impossible to purchase for the average Bangladeshi.  Camels are the most expensive, and we only saw that one group at the market.  A local friend said her family no longer celebrates the holiday.  At one time it was a way for the wealthy members of a village to share with those less fortunate; now, she thinks, it has become something different.  Once you've bought your large animal, you keep it tied up outside your house until Eid to let everyone know how rich you are.  At least everyone does still give one-third to the poor, who circulate through the rich areas of town on the day of sacrifice, so even if the motives aren't totally pure the benefit is real. 


Now that I've seen all of these animals, I'm very glad I'm leaving town next week.  Walking through the markets felt like walking through death row.  You knew that every animal would be dead in a week.