Lucy in Bangladesh

Happy Graduation Anna!!

2007-08-10T10:17:00.000-07:00

The 150 Million People Of Bangladesh say...

CONGRATULATIONS ANNA!!!

Here is a random sample....

The men from the paper shop at New Market...

...and the street kids near the bookshops....

and the salwar kameeze models...

...and the block printing man upstairs...

...the plastic flower boy...

and the new market crowds say...

Obhinondon Anna! (especially that boy waving excitedly in the background)...

...and some people say 'Congratulations for what??'
'Being so clever', I reply.... 'and writing a great PhD'...
'Oh, I see', they reply (with newfound respect for my dodgy sign-writing)...

In the veggie market, the aloo man is very pleased to say...

The pann man too, (with a mouthful of betel leaf) says...

Down a Saddarghat, Old Dhaka, on a rickety old boat, we call out to the anarosh men, who shout back...
(Amy, too, says...)

Our boat wallah, between oar strokes, says...
and my sundor sobuj chadda (that's pretty green umbrella to you!) thinks...

Down the river, at the Pink Palace, the cool boys on the steps call...

...and the hoads of people crowd around to say...
Is the little girl reading the English or the Bangla, I wonder? But she too, says...

The boy on the end asks 'What is an Anna?' But then he says...

Everyone wants a bit of the sign, so that they, too can say...

This guy wants to know all about you (you know, the usuals... your name and marital status) before HE says....

...and finally, after a meal of phuska by the lake surrounded by almost-touching couples, at Ramna park, the flowers say...

Congratulations - Obhinodon - Anna!

Happy Graduation Dr Anna!

...but one 'specially important person says congratulations...
a particular chotto bon...
ME!

Have a lovely, happy, squishy-hat-wearing, celebratory graduation day anna-p!

I wish I could be there!!!
xxxxxxxxx

The nine month mark... the coming of the monsoon and bangir chatha!

2007-06-12T08:50:00.000-07:00

With the arrival of the monsoon has come the realisation that I have only three months left of my Bangladesh adventure, and with this too, the guiltly realisation that my communication has been woefully inadequate, and I haven't put up a single photo or word in a very long time.

Excuses a-plenty, I think the best one - and the one that will garner most sympathy - is that I was (uncomfortably, unhappily, but not life threateningly) sick for about three months, which culminated in an exciting not-so emergency evacuation to Thailand to go to the luxuious Thai hospital for treatment, which comparitively, could have been a day spa or five star hotel...

So, a small update on the last few months' adventures:
It started with a trip to india in Feburary; progressed with a few internal Bangladeshi trips to Chittagong, Sitakundo, Mymensingh and Bogra;

a visit from Anna and Mutti and more trips to Srimongal tea fields and paddle steamer-ing to Khulna (see Anna's blog for nice pictures and a good story);

a Bangladeshi wedding - the best wedding I've been to; and culminated in the 'holiday' to Bangkok's Bunrungrad Hospital...

So now, back in Dhaka, fully recovered, I'm guiltity enjoying the rain that is causing flooding thrughout the country and stomping in puddles on my way to work...

Bangir chatha, you might ask?The significance of the random Bangla in the title?

My favourite Bangla word: frog's umbrella, which translates to...

MUSHROOM!

Could you get a better translation if you tried?

Chittagong

2007-06-11T09:24:00.000-07:00

I've been to Chittagong a few times now, but here are some photos from our first adventure there - on the way home from our epic Eid and St Martin's trip! Chittagong, for those of you not fortunate enough to have been there, is the second biggest city in Bangladesh, and is the port city for Bangladesh. It is also home to the biggest ship breaking industry in the world (yes, another claim for the biggest, best or longest from Bangladesh!) so navys and cargo companies and the like sell off their old ships, which are then torn apart and all parts salvaged for reuse. It makes for some interesting roadside sales points on the highway (from chandaliers to life jackets, you can get everything - in bulk, here) and some interesting human rights issues, but that's another story...

If I can remember rightly, that long ago, we went to the most important tourist destination in Bangladesh - mini Bangladesh! This excellent theme park has replicas of all the exciting tourist attractions in Bangladesh, so in about two hours, we managed to visit ruins in Bogra, the national monument in Savar, the sixty domed mosque near Khulna, and most exciting: the Chittagong Hill Tracts, to which we are forbidden by our programme to travel.... The sign on the right, if you can read it, is for a rollercoaster, and advises for the wearing of loose clothing .. like a sari on the rollercoater... bizarre.

We also went for a walk along the train track, along which there was an excellent food market, with heaps of spices, veggies, meat, fish - everything you could ever want for dinner!

We visited the turtle mosque, where people try to bop the sacred turtles on the head with bits of bread or meat, then wash themselves in the putrid water that comes off the turtles' mouldy backs... certainly an interesting experience!

We also visited the 'beach'- as one of Sarah's friends said, it would be hard work building a sand castle on that beach!

Bloody Eid (warning to vegetarians and small children - don't look at this post!)

2007-06-11T09:22:00.000-07:00

I know that it was a while ago now, but it has to be recorded...
Eid number two (around December/Jan) is the Eid of bloodiness in which people sacrifice a cow, buffallow, goat, or anything else that they can afford, and give a third of it to their poorer relatives, or the poor on the street.

As queasy as animal slaughter makes me, I was keen to see this bizarre event, so, on St Martin's Island (where we were at the time -I know, this happened 6 months ago now!) we settled in on our veranda for some spectator sport...
There were several simultaneously amusing and disturbing instances of people chasing goats (in order to catch and kill them) in which I'm pleased to say, the goat made the man look rather silly... Not having seen enough of the action, we ventured out onto the path to have a closer look... and I learnt a little more about the anatomy of cows. That night (new year's eve, actually), we hoped for a little beefy action in our curry, but alas! In the spirit of the day (?!) we heard our chicken being strangled in the kitchen on its way to the table...

Buses, beaches and Burmese beer

2007-03-09T03:11:00.000-08:00

I know it was a while ago, but I thought you might like to see some photos of my new year's trip with Sarah, Rich and Shelley, to St Martin's Island (the famous Bangladeshi tourist island at the bottom of Bangladesh, next to Burma); Cox's Bazaar (home to the longest beach in the world and great Burmese markets); and Chittagong (the location of the largest shipbreaking industry in the world)!
(yes, this is the bus we caught down - 12 hours of luxury....)

So... here goes!

A Buddhist temple in Cox's Bazaar

From Cox's Bazaar we went to a little island just off the coast called Moshkali. Getting there was an interesting experience - we walked along a rickety jetty over the mud, then on a path made of series of small boats laid over the mud...

Moshkali is where they make the famous regional dried fish (definitely an aquired taste!) and grow beetel.

Its a really mixed community, so we went to a buddhist temple, a hindu temple (below),

and went to see the indigenous people making traditional fabrics...

We also went to the beach and met some gorgeous kids, who work to collect firewood and mud from the beach...

St Martin's Island is in the channel between Bangladesh and Burma, so on the boat down, we could see Bangadesh on one side (above) and Burma on the other (below)! It was probably as close as I'm going to get to Burma for a while, so it was pretty exciting!

St Martin's Island - a prime tourist destination for Bangladeshis is a pretty interesting experience for Bideshis! There was lots of staring, lots of small children shouting hello and not much tourist infrastructure... we were 4 of 6 bideshis on the island, which was crowded with Bangladeshi people on their Eid holidays. Not quite a north Queensland tropical paradise, but it was pretty fun anyway!

Avioding the stares - Racks of Arabia...

and some small children on the beach

Rich and Sarah at the beach...

We did manage to fit in a swim at the island - though not quite as you might imagine! Even in salwar kamezes (minus ornas so that we didn't drown!) we got major stares....

The advantage of being near Burma was the great Burmese beer that 'floated' across the channel...
It made for a pretty fun new year's eve!

Rich dancing with the locals at a 'beach party' on new years... and 2007 in Bangladesh....

Back at Cox's Bazaar, for sunset over the longest beach in the world....

Next.... to Chittagong!

Breaking news: State of Emergency!

2007-01-11T08:41:00.000-08:00

Little did we know when we rocked up at the Aussie club tonight for a quiet drink, that the political situation was deteriorating so rapidly! Douggie (tonight recognisable as the high commissioner in a shirt and tie) rang the bell at the bar to announce that a state of emergency has ben declared by the president/chief election commissioner (we were hoping for a free round, but no such luck)! So, we had to chop down our drinks and head for home, as there is now a 11pm to 5am curfew every night, and rumours of impending army deployment/military rule (whichever sounds more dramatic)...

In reality, for us, this won't change things too much - although we all reckon that an sos james bond-style evaculation/holiday in Thailand would be good fun, it seems that life will go on as usual (ie, blockades, hartals, roits on the streets, you know, the usual).

For Bangladesh? Who knows?

At least Faker would be pleased - we're all singing their tune!

Christmas day...

2007-01-10T08:40:00.000-08:00

Christmas day was pretty fun - complete with illicit substances, a riot, paparazzi, and a visit from Bangladeshi Santa!

We started the day with a house champagne breakie for all the Dhanmondi -ites - except that Dhaka had run dry of champagne (i know it is a dry country, but there are usually ways...) so it turned into a white wine spritzer breakfast (you take what you can get here!)... It was a feast - illicit bacon and eggs (the eggs were legal, as far as I know), brioche, croissants - all the yummy christmas food you can imagine... AND there's a story to it!

On the day before Christmas eve, Brian (our car-owner-family-friend-friend, above) took Sarah and I on a mamoth illict-shopping trip to Gulshan, the home of all things dirty and Bideshi...starting with the duty paid shop and ending at the German butcher for some pork products! To our dismay, the duty paid shop was out of champagne, but we sent them on a mission to find us some kind of breakfast-suitable alcohol. Dissappointment struck again at the butcher, which was closed for the German owner's lunchtime nap, so we were forced to scour the town for booze while waiting for the butcher to open again! Luckily, the story ends happily, with bacon and white-wine-spritzer/champagne on Christmas morning!

Meanwhile, on Christmas day, outside the Dhanmondi house... AL supporters were rioting! There was a day-long protest/celebration (hard to tell sometimes) up and down our street to the AL headquarters that was worryingly close to prohibiting us from leaving the house to go across town to our afternoon engagement. Just as we thought it was safe to leave, the paparazzi jumped out to accost our car to try to get snaps of the Bideshis in the protest! As well behaved volunteers (who would get kicked out of the country if caught on camera in a protest), Shell, Sarah and I simultaneously covered our heads with our ornas to avoid the limelight... Didn't I tell you we were famous???

Christmas arvo we spent on the roof of some volunteer friends' house - bbq and lots of volunteer fun...

and we discovered that santa in Banlgadesh has a black beard... hmmm....he brought us lots of pressies! Plus, I made a new friend called Andrew bear...

Bangladeshi christmas eve

2006-12-26T08:34:00.000-08:00

Christmas was a pretty interesting time in Bangas! Rather than starting sometime after Easter as it does in Australia, things started to pop up in the odd westernised shop or two about a week before Chrissie. On Victory day, late december, Shell and I decided that it was time... so we jumped on a rickshaw and headed down to old Dhaka to find a christmas tree! We got some funny looks coming back in the rickshaw with the tree, but everyone was pretty pleased to see us celebrating our holiday... including our rickshaw driver! Good conversation starter at the stop sign - we were chatted up by many a neighbouring rickshaw full of boys...

Although Bangladesh is predominantly Muslim, the acceptance of other religions is amazing here. Coming from a country in which Islam is barely tollerated by our political leaders, Bangladeshi people's open and sincere interest in Christianity and christian traditions is so refreshing, even if it causes some problems for me when I can't answer the questions about the difference between churches and chapels, why we have hot cross buns, who the christian prophets are, and so on!

My flatmates got given Christmas presents at work, but I got an even better present - the boys that I work with came over on Christmas eve to decorate our appartment in Christmas lights and streamers! They took their interior decoration job very seriously - measuring the width between
streamer ends and balloons, and even brought snow-in-a-can to make us feel even more Christmas-y, in a European kind of a way (or maybe in a Tasmanian kind of way - sounded cold this Christmas!)! Pretty good for a Christmas-eve away from home!

Bridge (left) and Sarah (right) got nicely snow-covered during our white-Bangladeshi Christmas eve!
Moni bhai, Rubes and Munna bhai decorating the flat...

The boys with their finished product!

Bangladeshi gig

2006-12-26T08:10:00.000-08:00

A few weeks agoon a blockade day, Shell and I heard some cheering coming from the amphitheatre near the lake, so we jumped in a rickshaw and headed over to see what was happening. We stumbled into a Bangladeshi 'rock' concert, at which the 'original' LRB was playing. It was going off - there were thousands of sweaty guys (and about 4 girls) moshing and cheering for this little cover band, with the mosque just visible across the lake... just like a gig at home... well, almost!

UN Ball, December

2006-12-26T07:57:00.000-08:00

At what other time in my life am I going to be able to go to a UN ball? This was the rationale behind our foray into the world of UN balls and fancy hotels.... It turned out well - the ball was pretty sedate in comparison to the Glitterball (ie. no pink cat outfits), but we made friends with a waiter, who was pleased with our mastering of Bangla, and who supplied us with wine for the rest of the night...And it gets better yet! I won (for the first time in my life) the door prize - tickets to Bangkok! So chaps, I'm off on a holiday with my flatmate Shell....
Photos: me and Erin; Bridge Erin and me!

Dhaka streetkids

2006-12-26T07:47:00.000-08:00

These are some of my favourite streetkids who work on one of the corners on the way from Dhanmondi to Gulsan. We found them on the AIDS day rally, and were able to stop and chat. They are such lovely girls, and are happy with smiles and games instead of taka. The one in the pink dress and her little sister (in red, below) come and play every week when we drive past in CNGs...

World Aids Day, Dhaka

2006-12-20T08:41:00.000-08:00

Daily Star, 2 December 2006

Bideshi Girls Star in World Aids Day Rally

1 December 2006, Lucy and Shelley, anonymous in their native Australia, were made famous througout Dhaka for their staring role on the nightly news. The two Bideshis were supporting sex workers, Hijras, people living with HIV and their advocates in Dhaka's 10 000 person strong World Aids Day Rally....
True story! Shell and I went on the world Aids Day Rally with two of my work colleagues, and about 10 000 other people, were treated like celebreties by the other marchers, and made the nightly news!

I had met lots of the sex workers and Hijra at an HIV self help meeting that I observed, and so they were all keen to claim me as their friend, and to show us off to their friends and the media.

A friend's cook recently told us that he recognised us from television, and one of the kids that I work with told his w hole family that he knew me... so we really are famous here!

It was amazing to be amongst so many people who are passionate a bout their cause, and so many people who are usually so marginalised within Bangladeshi society being so vocal about their rights. Such a good day!

Photos: My colleagues Munna bhai and Moni bhai with me(left), and with Shell (above); participants in the rally...

Expat events: Aussie Glitterball and German Oktoberfest

2006-11-28T01:39:00.000-08:00

The expat community in Dhaka is small, but good at partying!
Said to be the expat event of the year, the Australian (and NZ) Glitterball was a good example of expat crazies... It was a fancy-dress ball, and all the other Aussie volunteers went as Aussie Icons. We got tickets at the very last minute, so were constume-less, but it was so much fun!

Flatmate Bridge was a beer fairy...

and there was a crazy koala popping up all of the time, who went by the name of Rich...

Yes, this is a giant Foster's kangaroo (!) with the 'Aussie icons'... things get a little over-patriotic when overseas...it is fabulous!

This koala just keeps turning up in all the photos!

This is Boony (aka Andy), the time he drank (insert ridiculous number here) of beers on a quantas flight(complete with lovely hostie, Nat) between London and Australia... oh how my cricket knowledge is improving in Bangladesh!
The ball started at 7, and people were on the dance-floor by 5 past... that's what happens when you are denied dancing fun for most of the year! And so is this....

All high commisioners processed into the ball as a Bangladeshi wedding. Douggie, the high commissioner for Aus is in there wearing a green turban.. And then there were the acts - these people are dressed as cats, but I can't remember for the life of me why!

In keeping with the theme of cross-cultural sensitivity, Oktoberfest was held (on Deshi time) in November in Dhaka... No so culturally sensitive were all the German pork products that were served, or the steins of beer, come to think of it, but it was so good - real beer! The acts were pretty good too - really good examples of German humour....

Nat and Andy (aka Boony and his Quantas stewardess) and Erin, Sarah, me and Shelley.
Yes, these are German men in tutus...Gotta love the expat events!

Bangladesh Blockades and booze

2006-11-28T00:39:00.000-08:00

As the political situation in Bangladesh continues to worsen, so too does our tolerance for being housebound. Let me explain...

It is election time soon in Bangladesh, and the political climate is not so good. Political agitation here happens through hartarls (a city- or country-wide strike that is called the day before, which means no cars on the streets, no CNGs, no work for many people and no shops open) or blockades (road blocks are set up all over the city, and no vehicles are allowed through. These are often violent, and combined with riots, marches and sit-ins).

To ensure free and fair elections, three months before the election is due to be held, a caretaker government is appointed who are supposed to be neutral. This time around, one of the major parties (Awami League) wasn't happy with the chosen head of the caretaker government, because they didn't think he was neutral (hartal (strike) number 1; 2 days long), then the president stepped in and took over the caretaker government, which also didn't make them happy, and they were also agitating for reforms to the electoral commission (blockade number 1; 4 days long). The president didn't seem too phased about the whole thing, so AL called another blockade (number 2, 5 days long). Now the chief electoral commissioner has been sent on leave, and some other reforms are happening, AL thought everything might be okay... but.... not so! Now the electoral commission is trying to use outdated/dodgy voter lists, so blockade number 3 is looming....

For us, the political situation means hours and hours of time inside, under lockdown... We are not allowed to go to work, and often it is not safe to go outside on the street (Bridge got stuck is a rally when she went across the road to get coke supplies), so, it is inside for us! What do we do? Well.... The week usually starts off a bit like this:

And ends up a bit like this....

the faces of old dhaka...and the crazy chicken man...

2006-11-12T10:23:00.000-08:00

The old dhaka family...

2006-11-12T03:11:00.000-08:00

While we were at Divali, Erin made friends with a boy, who became our tour guide-extraordinaire for the night. He took us to a great local restaurant, where we were the only Bideshis and some of very few women. He took us back to his house in the Hindu part of Old Dhaka to meet his family. We sat in a bedroom with his mother and father, his brother, brother's wife and another relative, and the boy from downstairs and watched the cricket (possibly the first cricket match I have ever watched)... until the power went out! Then we ate mishti (sweets) by candlelight with them, and our friend's neighbour gave us some of the paintings that he had done. It was so lovely to be invited into someone's home and share food with them...

Bicycle St, Old Dhaka by daylight...

2006-11-12T01:40:00.000-08:00

Bicycle Street is where all things rickshaw can be found, including the famous rickshaw art, and vans carrying tiny replica rickshaws... or plastic tricycles, as they are usually known in Australia.
Old Dhaka is also home to the meat man, the metal clasp man, and lots of gorgeous children! Once again, the camera was the best way to make friends with people - everyone wanted to talk to us ('your country madam?'... 'Apa, husband ache?') and have their photos taken....

We got trapped in a mass migration of people leaving for the Eid holidays in their villages.It seemed as though everyone in Dhaka was walking down the road carrying suitcases on their heads, and the cars and CNGs were all a complete standstill. A lovely man came to our rescue (?) and took us through the backstreets to find a CNG to take us back to Dhanmondi!

Old Dhaka

2006-11-08T05:26:00.000-08:00

Old Dhaka is fabulous! We went to Hindu Street in Old Dhaka a few weeks ago for Divali, the best Hindi festival of the year. Insence, dancing, drumming and heaps of great (and bizarre) statues filled the street. We were mobbed by heaps of people who thought us Bideshis were hilarious and followed by streams of kids wanting their photos taken!Much to the delight of our crowd, Erin and Danielle braved the dodgy-looking ferris wheel...

Rajshahi and the Eid moon

2006-11-08T05:05:00.000-08:00

Our first exciting trip for the year was to Rajshahi for Eid (the Muslim version of Christmas) at the end of October. It taught us a lot about Bangladesh (and ourselves), including:
- patience is required in Bangladesh: the Eid holiday was not confirmed until the night before Eid, when the moon-sighting commitee convened to search for the moon. This caused much confusion for the entire population, who were all heading back to their villages for the holiday. The moon-sighting commitee didn't see the moon until a day after the predicted date, throwing everything into dissaray...
- it is all about managing expectations: we went to Rajshahi to visit an AYAD friend who lives with her boss, a conservative Muslim man, and his family. As a result, all hopes of a week of intense sightseeing, village visiting, roadside cha stalls and boating on the Ganges were dashed, as we were prevented from leaving the house without a male escort...
We did, however, manage to see the Ganges (it is called the Padma on the Bangladesh side of the river) and catch sight of india across the other side...
We visited a silk factory, full of saris and ornas and ties. We didn't get to see any silk worms - they all went back to their villages for the Eid holidays...

We even caught sight of the famous Eid moon that the official government moon-sighting commitee (complete with official moon-sighting aircraft, which is very controversial) was waiting for.... beautiful! They were worried about missing it because of the smog in Dhaka, so were were lucky to be in the country to see it!

Despite the delay, our Eid day turned out to be great. We all dressed up in our Eid-day finery, and went to Svet's boss's brother's house for a sumptuous Bangladeshi meal, in which we all sat around a big table, and the family watched us eat and pressed more and more and more food on us... Then we were treated to mehendi (henna painting) on our hands... good fun!

Our last day was great - we managed to sneak out for a coconut water and chat with the locals, and visit a sleepy little market.On our way back to Dhaka, we stopped at
a Hindu ruin in a nearby town. The peaceful setting of the temple was contrasted with a nearby music promotion stand, playing modern Bangla pop... very strange, but exellent, of course!
Back in Dhaka, we were confronted with burning buses and riots as the protests against the caretaker government began! Oh for more village life!

Stand Up Against Poverty

2006-10-31T04:26:00.000-08:00

The organisation that I am working for here (bEARN) was involved in organising the Stand up against Poverty events in Bangladesh in late october.... this is a small event in our street, and a larger one in which lots of slum children came together to stand up against poverty. They were so gorgeous - I had a massive crowd of kids around me by the end of the event - I think I distracted from the main event a little too much... It was a great event though, and was part of an international Stand Up for Poverty world record attempt!

Iftar!

2006-10-30T04:36:00.000-08:00

One of the best things about Ramadan for us sacreligious Westerners is the fabulous Iftar parties that we were invited to!
Iftar is the meal that breaks the day's fast and it usually looks something like this... full of delicious fried goodness...

Village man with cow!

2006-10-30T04:32:00.000-08:00

2006-10-30T03:30:00.000-08:00

On the field trip we went to a pottery village, and met some fabulous kids, who all loved having their photos taken (this will become a recurring theme, I can see it now!). This one with the leaves was particularly cute!

And yes, that is a boy with a goose on his head!

Fishing nets outside the village.....

Field trip!

2006-10-28T11:21:00.000-07:00

At the end of our orientation week we went on our first field trip with the old AYADs. We met some local school children, who impressed us with their ace English skills and knowledge of Aussie cricket!

We went for a boat trip on the river (around and around and around in circles).

Danielle and Erin with the lovely school kids

There was a Bangla band on board to serenade us with excellent music...
and lots of staring Deshis on the shores...

Dhaka streets

2006-10-10T22:03:00.000-07:00

The potato carrying man with some AL slgans in the background

The huge fish markets on the edge of town...

On the streets of Dhaka

Rickshaw art at its finest!

2006-10-10T21:44:00.000-07:00

The view from the roof of our hotel in Dhanmondi on a quiet morning...

Our AYAD group at orientation

2006-10-10T20:26:00.000-07:00

Svet, Erin, Shell, Me, Naanki, Cate, Jane, Sarah and Danielle... on day 3 of training, and already outfitted...check out the kameezes!

2006-09-27T01:46:00.000-07:00

4 sleeps until I swap this for rickshaws and kameses!