Understanding Bangladesh

18 July 2007 - On the Road Again, and Again, and Again

We left Rajshahi at 8 a.m. this morning for Dhaka via Kazipur, where a village had been displaced and rebuilt three kilometers from its original site because of flood waters. The first-hand look at the site was beneficial; at least six-miles of one-lane dirt road along a leg of that journey were unbelievably eroded.

We are having some fun together as a group, and today’s long 11-hour, 140-mile trip provided opportunity for continued window-gawking, small conversations between bus seatmates, and some uncontrollable laughter, too.

Sights along the roadside today kept us entertained — I especially enjoyed the new sight of water buffalo being led down the roadside.

Luke is enjoying riding in the front seat of our tour bus; he said he likes the large window and view of traffic, exclaiming it’s “like an Imax theater!”

We cheered this morning at Kay’s surprise distribution of small bags of chocolate M&Ms®, which we carefully shared; we developed a five-star rating system for pit stop facilities; and under the guidance of Kathy and Jill, we wrote our first stanzas to “My Bangladesh Things,” with thanks to Rogers & Hammerstein for the tune.

Kay took advantage of the time on our hands, too, and gave us an assignment, to which we quickly responded. For Kay, we generated a list of pre-test questions for our Bangladesh unit.

One of our leg-stretching stops today was at a hospital where an elderly woman inside a waiting room excitedly introduced herself to us and shared proudly that Americans had paid for her glasses. She was very pleased to meet us; that’s a meeting I won’t easily forget.

A second memorable stop was at a hand loom facility, where men and even young boys were making beautiful cloth with foot-powered clicking and clacking looms.



We haven’t tired of taking photos. Between us, I’m predicting we’ll end up having the largest single collection of Bangladesh photos currently available and eventually posted on the Internet.

As we turned the corner in Dhaka and saw the Best Western tonight, I felt like we had come home. At check-in, most of us were given the same rooms where we were comfortable last week. The service and attention we get from employees here is welcoming and over-the-top hospitable.

All travelers are still healthy. All are safe. More good things are to come.

-- Dawn   |    Login or Join to Post Comments