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A cup of tea, a monkey and me
Entry 11 of 39 | show all | print this entry |
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Dhaka has treated me well- so far. I moved in the beginning of December and right away I had many meetings and things to do. Then a couple of days later I went on an In-Country Retreat. There were 5 MCCers that went. We took a 4 day trip to the Sylhet Division (like a province in Canada) in B'desh. This area is known for its tea estates, pineapple plantations and rolling hills. Interesting fact: The Sylhet division produces over 30 million kg of tea annually with more than 150 tea estates spread over 40,000 hectares! Tea gardens were brought over by the British, but now most of the owners are Bangla people.
So we decided to travel in style! We went by train to the city of Srimongal- it's about a 5 hour train ride in the northeaster corner of B'desh. The train was hilarious! You know when you go to the Forks in Winnipeg and there is an old stationary train in the parking lot? That old train is there for a reason- its 100 years old! Just imagine that old rickety train actually moving with millions of people in and on top!
We stayed at a tea resort right in a tea estate! It was pretty much the coolest thing ever! We had 2 full days of exploration. The first day we saw a lake, some tea gardens and a forest reserve. We attempted to rent bikes in the morning to go to the lake but the bikes were as ancient as the train and were not suitable for us. Why someone would try to rent out a bike with a flat tire is beyond me! Instead we rented a van for the day and that was better. However we took the scenic route to the lake and went right through the Lowacherra Forest Reserve. What is wrong with going through a forest to get to a lake? Well, check out the picture I took of the sign before we entered! The sign says: "ATTENTION FOR FOREIGNERS PLEASE DO NOT ENTER IN THE NATIONAL PARK AREA WITHOUT INFORMING FOREST DEPARTMENT"
What do you think we did? That's right, we kept on going! I decided that if we got pulled over I was going to speak a different language- not all foreigners know English! Had that occurred, I am not really sure what language I would have tried to speak because well I only know a few random words in a couple of languages! D'oh! Anyways the forest was awesome! Thick vegetation, massive trees, great vines to swing on and seeing a monkey (keep reading to hear the monkey story) was well worth the trip through the forest! The lake was unfortunately a disappointment. It was really just a big pond. Not at all like the lakes in Canada. But the tea garden with its rolling hills surrounding the lake was very beautiful. We saw women picking tea and putting the leaves in their bags that hung by their heads. The tea gardens stretch far and wide and in and amongst the tea bushes and trees you can see women picking tea leaves. Of course I took a billion pictures! Then we went to a tea factory and saw how tea was made. There are lots of machines in the making of tea! Who knew?!
As we were driving back, through the forest (of course), Patrick from the back seat said "I just saw a monkey!" Those words rang in my ear and without thinking I grabbed the door handle and yelled "STOP!!!!!!!" but the driver was a Bangladeshi so I had to yell stop again in Bangla. We all got out and ran to where Patrick saw the monkey. At first we thought that it might have run away but then we spotted it. I was so excited! High above it was swinging on the tops of the trees. The trees are tall and thick and make an arch over the road, so the monkey was swinging back and forth over the road. I had my camera with zoom lens and was taking pictures of the monkey. I kept following it while the others made monkey sounds to keep its attention. It was a very curious monkey and kept looking at us. So, Curious George could have taken off any time but it stayed and watched us, while we watched him. He would swing from one side of the road to the other and I would follow, it was a fun little game until.... Curious George positioned himself right above me and didn't move. Ahhhh isn't that cute, he's right above me. But as he sat there looking down on me about 3 stories high, I noticed something falling. What the heck?
I moved out of the way and at the exact spot that I was standing just seconds ago, something brown hit the pavement with a splat! Curious George tried to poo on me! I couldn't believe it! A monkey purposefully tried to dump on me! How hilarious is that! We all laughed about that for a good couple of days! "Carolyn almost got dumped on by a monkey!" I wasn't sure if I was impressed with Curious George or not. He did try to poo on me but then again he was really high up, thus he had an impressive aim! Had I not moved it would have hit me right on the head! And to be able to poo on command like that, man that is talent! So that is my monkey poo story!
The next day was another eventful day, minus the poo. We wandered around Srimongal and the outskirts of town. We found a tribal village and met some of the Manipuri Indigenous people. 2 young men were kind enough to show us around their town! It was really neat! We went to two handcraft stores and I bought a shawl for winter and 2 scarves (see pictures), not that I will need it, I am always sweating! Then they took us to 2 Hindu temples! It was so incredibly awesome! One of the temples was over 100 years old! It was such a privilege to see inside the temples, to see statues of their gods and goddesses like Krishna. Another cool thing we saw was a tribal dance. First a lady was dancing with a clay jar on her head. Then she put gold plates on her hands and danced around, moving her hands and her body with the jar on her head and the plates in her hands. I was really impressed, but then she stood up on another clay jar! I couldn't believe it! It was the craziest thing I ever did see! I think she may have had to practice a little!
So the retreat was very relaxing and a lot of fun. We saw many things and were able to fellowship together. Now it's back to city life but next week I will be traveling again- but this time it's for work! Anybody jealous yet? Shall I also rub in that the weather is not cold! The forecast for today is 27 degrees! Now are you jealous? I guess I shouldn't rub it in too much because in a couple of months it will be so hot I probably will either want to leave B'desh or die! More thumbnails ...
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