Please come join me on by epic odyssey through former East Pakistan, now known to us all as Bangladesh. 17 days, 4438 snaps.
Now, 12 months later I can, as I am editing and writing, state categorically.... ......The best road trip I have ever taken.
FCDO advises against all but essential travel to parts of Bangladesh.
"Fuck the nanny state", we all agreed. There were six of us, new found friends, world travellers, sufferers of chronic wanderlust, like minded baby Boomers living life to the full. Anyways when needed, we had an armed guard. Well I say armed guard he was just some bloke in a uniform with a 12 bore shotgun.
I arrived in Dhaka, the capital city a day early, so I could wander on my own and soak it up. I had a plan.
My arrival into the country didn't start very well, "Visa on arrival" the blurb said, apparently all done in a matter of minutes.
So first you fill in a form, then you join a queue to pay for said visa, then you join another queue to have documents checked and visa issued.
Five potential customs desks, only two open. I always pick the wrong queue be it supermarkets, post offices or fucking Visa on arrival queues. So jumping onto the shortest queue what could go wrong? EVERYTHING,
As when the bloke in front of me got to the desk he called over his fucking family. That made 5 of them. Him his wife and three kids, typical middle class "Hey look at us taking our three under ten years old kids out of school to travel Asia man, all dressed in our tie dyed garments, don't we look super cool"
No Tristan and Francesca or Julian and Skyblue Moon, what ever your stupid names are you are not cool you are a bunch of twats.
40 minutes yes 40 minutes to get them through the visa process. Start to finish for me,"visa on arrival"? just under an hour and a half!
By which time the baggage carousel had emptied and I spent the next 20 minutes hunting down my suitcase. Found,
Of course my pre arranged taxi had fucked off. No data roaming, and of course as I had left the arrivals lounge the armed guards wouldn't let me back in.
Wandering around trying to engage with one of them if they could speak English all the while being pestered by hands out beggars and the like.
Brilliant, eventually found a man with a rifle who spoke English, had a phone and sorted it all out for me. Hotel taxi on its way. I hope he enjoyed spending the $20 I offered which in fairness he didn't want but eventually accepted.
Ya know what? I love, no I really fucking love travelling.
So the plan: I wanted to visit an old graveyard I had managed to find online, located in a suburb called Wari. It was allegedly only a 50 minute walk from my hotel, following a main highway.
But we don't want to do that. I wander, I get side tracked, I follow the lens and without wi-fi, just a paper map and my own intuition anything could happen?
I didn't get lost, mugged or murdered obviously.
I found and enjoyed walking with the dead and returned to my hotel.
C'mon, walk with me.
We are going to see a lot of people, a lot of street life, a riot of humanity, colour and atmosphere. Trust me this is like Dehli's Chandi Chowk on steroids!
First class bus travel anyone?
Dhaka, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh. a mega-city with an estimated population of just over 10 million, which rises to 24 million over the Dhaka metropolitan area. The eighth most densely populated city in the world. It is also the largest Bengali speaking city
Flyovers and underpasses
Would you like to be an electrical engineer with a maze of cables like that? I wonder how many illegal tap ins there are.
The stroll took me through differing environments , busy traffic filled highways to narrow alleyways, turning every corner looking left looking right there was so much to see
The greengrocer
The pot washers
The hairdresser
The men outside the mosque, no room inside.
The girl in the window
The sun sets early in these parts, it gets dark very quickly, but life goes on, the sellers sell, the beggars beg, and the old boy with a camera snaps away, as this path will never be trodden again.
I kinda guess it is the burning question on everyones lips:
NO!
I did not get the runny bum syndrome at all on the trip
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India is crazy world where the incredible happens
Bangladesh is not India 😳, that is next door to the left 😂
Too many people, too much noise, thankfully no runny gut!
Looking forward to the graveyard.Those cables are absolutely unbelievable @grindle! Imagine what it's going to look like 10 years from now, just crazy, guaranteed many illegal connections!
Cheers @lizelle I loved it the noise ( which with an 80% hearing loss I couldn't really hear 😂) the chaos everything! I hope you enjoy my journey
When I read about the plan to see an old graveyard, it made me think that you were really an adventurous person (Well, I guess only a few tourists would include that in their sightseeing list of activities). 😀 Strolling around, you showed us different facades of the place. You are perfectly fine after wandering; your adventurous spirit is high! The next day, your paper map and own intuition will take you to another scene.
Cheers @bettsmarie09 thanks for dropping in, I do enjoy graveyards LOL, coming up on Thursday I little walk with the dead.
I suppose your companions enjoy it, too hehhe... That's fine for me as long as it's daytime. 😀 Another adventure will unfold on Thursday.
LOl, cheers
The place is really amazing, I saw the beauty with the buildings and cables which are really amazing ❤️
Cheers @suarlex thanks for dropping in, an amazing city indeed thank you
It looks epic.
What an experience wandering those streets. Awesome.
Thanks for sharing… one get a real glimpse of their life.
Have a nice day.
!PIZZA
Cheers @littlebee4 epic is a good word!
have a great week ahead
Thanks, it will be a fun week. I hopefully finish renovating the livingroom by next week.
Enjoy yours!
Are you putting down roots now then?
I really like the places in my country. It is truly amazing to be able to get through everyday life despite facing various problems including traffic jams. Your photography is amazing, the photographs look wonderful. The pictures of people doing various activities look great. Especially the attractive singers. It is impossible to explain how much people like it in our country. I am also a Bangladeshi, I love this country with all my heart. Best wishes
Thank you @omor11 , I loved your country, the most amazing place I have visited, more people should visit it, the chaos the noise, everything is so atmospheric. Thank you for appreciating my photographs, I hope I do your country justice in my uploads.
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🤪👌🏻😅
The wires blew my mind. I don't want to miss everything you have photographed. My goodness what a noisy place 😱😂.
LOL, just means a shit load of editing !!!!! Noisy, hectic, dusty it was all there all amazing, stuck with it. LOL
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Wow, my hometown, birthplace Dhaka where I have spent 25 years of my life. My family still lives in Dhaka. Your post made me nostalgic and really made my heart cry because I left Dhaka in 2017 and never got the chance to go back or to visit for once...I think the Wari area we call Old Dhaka and you can find some nice food there (Hazi Biriyani). Are you still in Dhaka? By the way, if you need any help or particular information, let me know... Happy to help whatever I know...
thank you @priyanarc , thanks for dropping in,and your offer of help, no that trip is long finished, and I am just starting to upload my adventures, I loved Dhaka, I loved ypur Country, the people were so friendly warm and great to meet. The food wa amazing. of everywhere I have visited, Bangladesh is the best by far.
I hope you get to return one day.
Thank you for praising my country and presenting it in such a great way. I will be happy to see you again.
Thank you, it is important to me that my efforts are liked and that i am true to the beauty of your country
Great to hear that, Dhaka is crowded indeed but people are nice and welcoming. I am glad you enjoyed the food, we call ourselves a rice and fish nation. As I said, I saw Dhaka from your eyes yesterday, and filled my heart with joy. Thank you for showing Bangladesh especially Dhaka on the blockchain...
I hope so too...
thank you appreciate your input and views on my efforts
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