Tour of Dhaka

We spent Monday 2/2 touring the depths of Dhaka reaching the poorest of communities. We wove through downtown to the outskirts of Dhaka on Embankment Road (basically a damn that protects the city from river flooding). What we witnessed was felt in the pit of our stomachs. This was the slums. Hard working Bangla digging through trash for recycling materials, meticulously separating in to large bundles they would be carrying on their heads or backs into town...some were piled on the back of rickshaws. There were pipes and bamboo shanks (30 feet long) being wheeled on rickshaw-like wagons. Nationals selling nuts, rice, bags of popcorn and small children running freely along the narrow road that somehow was accomodating pedestrian, rickshaw, car, bus, truck in practically the same space. No picture could do this justice.


Hard working faces, serious and fervently going about their business with purpose and pleasantry if you can believe it. There were shops with smiling nationals selling food, snack and later materials/clothing. We passed one structure that was decor for an upcoming wedding..in the middle of dust, trash and sweat were vibrant swags of cloth decorating a stage of sorts welcoming the upcoming joyous celebration.



We stopped and went down to the river used for commerce and transportation to ride for 30 minutes on a small boat. The smell was just tolerable as we toured this interstate of sorts. The water filled with oil and trash bubbled toxicity though we watched nationals bathing at the shore.

We proceeded to purchase textiles from the Bangla Bazaar to wear into the village this Friday. The boys have lungi (skirts, yes Rusty will have to pose in the village) and the girls our kameez (long tunic with trousers and scarf, we're still looking for one for Camille). This picture is of the road we were driving through, seriously. Faces pressed on our windows curious about where we were from. Jeremy got the most attention as children are adored here.

We were feeble with overwhelm as we entered our flat that evening. Our deepest appreciation for Zach and Tricia who were our tour guides along with their friend Mamud. I still can't fathom, how Zach was able to be sane after driving us around for 6 hours...yes 6 hours to travel the equivolent of a roundtrip venture from Boulder to Denver on the turnpike.

We are moving to a different place (like a hostel) called the HEED Language Center and most likely will not have internet access. We've been fortunate to be able to publish photos up to this point. Bhalo Thaken.