Hitting the Road
It's taken 2 1/3 months, but the time has finally come to step outside the smoggy walls of Dhaka city and explore what the rest of Bangladesh has to offer.
The month of Ramadan is coming to a close, and for non-Muslims like me that means one thing: time for a genuine holiday. Our offices are closed from tomorrow through next Sunday for Eid, symbolizing the end of Ramadan, so everyone's heading outside the city and back to their home villages. While we were invited to accompany a couple colleagues to stay in their home villages for a few days, bus tickets proved impossible to find. This is what happens when you're only told about your 10 day holiday three days before it starts. In a country with a GDP/capita of only 380 USD/day, it's no surprise that the cheapest mode of transportation was sold out; turning to the next best alternative, we decided to book one-way tickets on GMG Air to Cox's Bazar and will be flying out tomorrow morning. The one hour flight, (only 30 of which are in the air), will take us south through Chittagong, Bangladesh's largest port city, and then on to the "vacationer's dream" town of Cox's Bazar sandwiched between the Bay of Bengal and the Myanmar border.
We're planning on staying six to eight days, during which we'll also be making a trip to the southernmost point of the country, Teknaf, where we'll catch a ferry to St. Martin's Island for a day or two. The agenda for the week includes: booking a ticket for the 7 hour bus ride back to Dhaka; checking out all the Buddhist monastaries in this religiously plurastic region; soaking up the sun on the longest beach in the world (indoor fluorescent lighting isn't good for one's tan...); not getting attacked by pirates; riding an elephant down the coast; making a few purchases from local artisans; and enjoying a few brilliant sunsets.
The plan is to return sometime between Thursday the 18th and Saturday the 20th, then it's back to work (and 10-5 workdays). In the meantime, I'll be thinking of those of you enjoying the chilling cold of Montreal, the snow in Belgrade and Sarajevo, and the brisk autumn wind of Vancouver.
Until next week, Eid Mubarak!
The month of Ramadan is coming to a close, and for non-Muslims like me that means one thing: time for a genuine holiday. Our offices are closed from tomorrow through next Sunday for Eid, symbolizing the end of Ramadan, so everyone's heading outside the city and back to their home villages. While we were invited to accompany a couple colleagues to stay in their home villages for a few days, bus tickets proved impossible to find. This is what happens when you're only told about your 10 day holiday three days before it starts. In a country with a GDP/capita of only 380 USD/day, it's no surprise that the cheapest mode of transportation was sold out; turning to the next best alternative, we decided to book one-way tickets on GMG Air to Cox's Bazar and will be flying out tomorrow morning. The one hour flight, (only 30 of which are in the air), will take us south through Chittagong, Bangladesh's largest port city, and then on to the "vacationer's dream" town of Cox's Bazar sandwiched between the Bay of Bengal and the Myanmar border.
We're planning on staying six to eight days, during which we'll also be making a trip to the southernmost point of the country, Teknaf, where we'll catch a ferry to St. Martin's Island for a day or two. The agenda for the week includes: booking a ticket for the 7 hour bus ride back to Dhaka; checking out all the Buddhist monastaries in this religiously plurastic region; soaking up the sun on the longest beach in the world (indoor fluorescent lighting isn't good for one's tan...); not getting attacked by pirates; riding an elephant down the coast; making a few purchases from local artisans; and enjoying a few brilliant sunsets.
The plan is to return sometime between Thursday the 18th and Saturday the 20th, then it's back to work (and 10-5 workdays). In the meantime, I'll be thinking of those of you enjoying the chilling cold of Montreal, the snow in Belgrade and Sarajevo, and the brisk autumn wind of Vancouver.
Until next week, Eid Mubarak!
posted by Per at 8:57 a.m.
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