Pacific Garnet Hotel Dhaka City

... at the Kumundini hospital. CRP organised a bus for us and it was a great experience. The Puja is one of the biggest Hindu festivals and despite Bangladesh being so predominantly Muslim they were very accepting and supportive of the Hindu festivities. We were received by the director of the hospital and the Bangladeshi minister for Health! After introductions over a cup of tea we had a tour of the hospital and then were invited for a delicious meal of vegetarian ...

Why B*ngl*desh you m*y *sk? Well why not! Tr*veling *round Indi* I h*d not met *nother b*ckp*cker th*t h*d gone there or even w*nted to. Since it w*s right next door to C*lcutt* I figured wh*t the hell. Why not go to * country th*t is off the r*d*r for most people.... I knew from the internet th*t the guide books would be wrong, there w*s no b*ckp*cker tr*il, no m*jor sites *nd I would be const*ntly st*red *t. This just ...

... toward Laos got off to a flyer. We left at 5pm on the 2nd December and didn't stop until we had reached Bangladesh - only 48 hours later. Two border crossings in two days tired us out, so we were glad to receive the latest two examples in a long line of incredible hospitality. The first of these came from our Bangladeshi friend, Raj, who found us in the middle of a tough first day's hitching in Bangladesh, pulled us over for a cup of tea, then soon invited us to stay. During ...

... read the labels and find every kind of product that is familiar to me. O and cereal. Well, the cereal collection in this place is far better than most of your village grocers... So beware. They even carry craklin' oat bran. Heavenly. It is a very interesting and intellectually stimulating crowd here. A few medical students were over, a Bengali friend, fellow Fulbrighters, past Fulbrighters and other researchers who are all involved in very noble work... from infectious ...

... more positive and outgoing than I've ever been at a Hands On project. We arrive at the first house and I can't even remember what my first feelings were because they've since been eclipsed by the uncomfortable events that followed. So to install a latrine, first you take one of the concrete circles and trace it onto the ground-mud. The circle is removed and now using Bangladeshi tools (primarily a khunta), a deep hole must be dug. I'm eager to get involved. My muscles have ...

... a good move. Rather than book the Thai Airways flight, straight through from Kathmandu to Bangkok, no nonsense, just great friendly service, albeit at a price, I was told there was also the possibility of flying with Biman, the Bangladeshi carrier, with an overnight stop at Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. But Biman would arrange accommodation and food for the stay included in the price (which was only half that of Thai). So unwittingly, I opted for the latter. Alarm ...

... his face and nobody to watch after him.... And I just walked away... I like to think of myself as a pretty good person but that little boy's face will haunt me for the rest of my life I think and the fact that I didn't even offer to give him some water from my flask that was full... Jessyka was invited to see an operation today and she got to see 5 of them!!!! But I'll leave that for later ...

... closed and nobody speaks English, so we head of further to see the remains of the other mansion houses which originally belonged to wealthy Hindu merchants who have long since abandoned them. The main street is lovely and has the air of a ghost town with mansions crumbling on either side, mainly held together by twisting vines. On our last day in Old Dhaka we headed off with our rickshaw wallah for another tour. We visit the Baldha Gardens (also known, we ...

... Muslim to visit the shrine, if you like history you'll like this. 600 years old history is in the shrine, the holy saints Quran and robe are still displayed here. The catfish outside in the foyer were amazing, there's hundreds and hundreds of them in very shallow water. They all stay on the surface waiting to be fed by visitors, who can get a pot of food from the stall for 5 TAKA. I'd recommend everyone to visit this ...

... amp; Moaha; Delowar; Shown; and Moeiz.  But even outside of the Bangladeshi hoi polloi our daily interactions have been pleasant, helpful and stress-free.  Bangladeshi hospitality has even extended to letting England beat them at cricket (and pretty easily toboot).  There aren't many countries that serve as such gracious hosts.  There is a sense of wide-spread endevour here.   In our short time here we've had more business proposals than Soft Mick.  From ...