Hotel Naz Garden Bogra

The Bangladeshi Tourist Board slogan in "Come to Bangladesh before the Tourist does..." We arrive at 2am which we were both a bit apprehensive about but especially me! Having been there 8 years ago and being terrified at the mass of people shouting and staring at me on arrival I didn't think it would be much fun after a late flight! However it was smoother than we expected and our bags arrived safely amongst the huge baggage being brought into the country by our fellow ...

... him. The performance went quite well and all of our troop sang and performed beautifully. When we returned home we found Jon still in bed as he was not taken to the hospital, however he was then administered an I.V. to re-hydrate his body and fight the virus with antibiotics. We slept a good nights sleep and woke in the morning, by that time Justin was feeling much better and Jon was stable and feeling a bit better. We had another performance ...

Grameen Fisheries manages over 600 fishery ponds in Bangladesh. In 1986 a high official of the Bangladesh government went to Professor Yunus asking that he and Grameen take over the fisheries that had become badly deteriorated and the government could not fix the problems due to corruption in the ...

I visited with Md. Imamus Sultan, Managing Director of Grameen Health Care Services Ltd in Dhaka and then went to the Grameen Eye Care Hospital in Bogra and was hosted by Mahbubul Haque the Manager of the Hospital. Located on the same piece of land as Grameen Danone, Grameen Eyecare Hospital is also a Social Business. Started in 2006 with the new facility opened in the last ...

One of the most important objectives of my trip was to get to know/study Grameen Danone which is the model of Social Business that Muhammad Yunus had written his last book on and he is currently traveling the world speaking about. Having participated in the creation of Silicon Valley I have been particularly drawn to this model of creating companies whose focus is to do good (while not loosing money) rather than to make profits.
Bogra, Bangladesh martysb

... for the Soldiers working to complete it. They were able to experience the food, culture and history of the Bangladesh people. The community made our Soldiers feel at home. The people were so supportive of what we were doing. People would gather to watch the combined teamwork and some even volunteered to help. It was a very rewarding experience.

... looking after the rajbari (palace) and temples in the area for many years, as his father and grandfather did before him. The rajbari was built in 1895 and is now falling into ruin, although there is still a college housed in the building. The temples behind the palace are in even worse condition, except for one - the Govinda temple, which somehow survived various invasions. The building has 5 domes and is covered in intricate ...

After a night in a small 'transit' town we headed (in trepidation) for the Bangladesh border (in the Northern part of Bangladesh). We got on the most trashed bus possible, then wait while the driver says his bus driver prayers to the bus driver god - and we bloody needed it! The bus was ridiculously overloaded by the time we finally sped out of town, after spending a good half an hour dawdling along the main road piling more and more people inside. Just ...

After a long drive back from Chitagong we have spent the day in a spa pampering ourselves. Tomorrow we will be preparing our saris for the two weddings. I can't believe out time here is nearly over, I'm exhausted but we have managed to see and experience so much of the Bengali culture. A lot of Aishah's family returned last night from Kashmir, we are all relieved taht they are safely back especially due to recent bombs. We are therefore spending this weekend meeing them all and eating!

Part I: Prologue - Smelly Melly Gets With The Times We would like to dedicate this e-mail to the smelliest doctor/best kisser in East London (... apparently) - MELISSA - who, after 2 years of Mr & Mrs R being On Tour, gets herself e-mail connected for the penultimate missive. Well done Melissa! And just for you, this is a particularly cricket-centric update. Part II: The First Group Stage - A ...