Saying Good byes and flying back home.

And so the adventure has come to an end!

My past nine weeks has been amazing, heartbreaking, crazy fun, exhausting, beautiful, dirty, lovely and awful. I've met awesome people, some who will be my friends for life. I've heard the stories and the destiny of women living through hell but keeping their head up high. I've lost some of my hearing due to car horns and traffic ;) I've experienced the colorful and vibrant culture of the bangladeshis.

I had mixed emotions about saying good bye to everyone. It's a strange feeling not knowing when I'll see a person again. I was also very ready to go home and see my family and friends again. 

Good bye flat mates!

Bye bye co-workers of ASK!

The flight home went smooth (except for some annoyances by the customs as it turned out my visa had expired) and I slept most of the way. The last two hours thou seemed to last forever.

It felt surreal walking down the stairs from the airport into the crisp air and the snowy landscapes. I was probably the happiest girl in the whole country when I walked through the gates and saw Andreas.

The next few weeks will be spent processing all my experiences from the past two months as well as (hopefully) finishing my thesis.

So, good bye for now Bangladesh!

 Take care.

A weekend of contrast!

It has been unreal to be able to hang out with amazing Anna again! I Especially here, in Bangladesh! I was so happy to see the awesome girl walk through the gates at the airport on thursday!

Happyness! :)

We had a very cruisy friday in Gulshan with coffee, shopping, dinner and just enjoying spending time together after not seeing eachother for a year.

Happy shopper!

On saturday morning we decided to go to the Shadharghat Boat Terminal to see if we could get a boat ride on the Baringara River.  We had no idea what a great decision it would turn out to be!! When we arrived we were lucky to meet Polash, a guide who takes tourists around the river in one of the wooden boats. We got in and cruised around the river and even got to try and row the boat ourselves! SO difficult! 

 row row row your boat...

Polash then asked us if we wanted to go and have a look at one of the markets in the slum area on the other side of the river. We hesitated for a few seconds but then said Yes, and WOW. It turned into a full on two hour tour covering the market, the slum living areas, the ship construction areas and a tour through some of the garment factories. Amazing.

The contrast from the day before could not be any bigger!

After checking out the food market we had a peek into one of the classrooms in the school next door and totally interrupted class. 

We then walked through the narrow streets of the slum and got to see the houses there. Most of the tin sheds are about 2x3 meters and sometimes up to 8-10 people live in there. People smiled curiously as we walked past and some came up and to practice their english skills. 

Street life

Hungry?

We soon arrived to the ship construction area and got go on one of the ships that were under construction. We also walked through the industrial area where they were making chains, tools and propellers for ships.

Next was the garment factory area. We walked into a seven storey buliding where each floor had a different factory. The garment workers on the first floor were making pants for the western market. Women were sitting on the floor in a pile of pants cutting off loose threads and men and boys were sitting by sewing machines. The youngest child in there was probably abround 7-8 years old. The next floor was a factory for John Langdon suits that were ”Made in England”. The staff manager laughed when we pointed to the brand and said ”-Well, there was no room to write Bangladesh! Too long!”

Garment workers

A little boy making pants.

We went back to my house so happy and totally overwhelmed by all our new impressions.

So stoked I got to do it with Anna!! :)

Srimongal road trip!

What a great weekend!

It started on thursday night with Fina & I having some lovely people over for dinner. Great food (by master chef Fina) and great people!

Win, Fina, Frida, Eva, Vanessa, Jemma & Hasan.

On friday I got up at 4.30am to get ready for the Srimongal Road Trip with Hasan, Riyadh, Jemma & Vanessa! We left Dhaka around 6 am and headed north for some weekend adventures.

On the road! :)

The road between Dhaka- Srimongal was in surprisingly good shape and the 5 hr drive there went quick. We arrived to our home for the night at the Amtali Tea Estate and fell in love with it straight away- a nice little cottage in the middle of one of the many lush green tea gardens along the way. It was surrounded by a beautiful garden filled with plants and flowers and just around the corner was a magical rubber tree forrest and grazing deers.

The cottage at Amtali Tea Estate.

Our neighbors..

We unpacked and then got in the car again to explore the Lawachara National Park, just outside of Srimongal town. The serene rainforest was beautiful and felt very far away from the busy streets of Dhaka. Our biggest hope coming there was seeing one of the endangered Gibbon monkeys that inhibit the forrest, so imagine our excitement when our guide suddenly pointed to some trees and a whole family of them! So amazing!

A Gibbon!!

After our hike through the park we had some delicious lunch in Srimongal before going back to the cottage where we spent the evening talking, drinking tea and later sharing a nice dinner.

On saturday we once again got up bright and early to go to the Baikka Beel Bird Reserve. It was a bit of an adventure getting there through the bangladeshi countryside with a very narrow and bumpy road filled with cows and buffalos. We ( = Riyadh!) had to get out of the car pretty much every 500m to wake some sleepy cows up and try to convince them to move!

Our morning drive to Baikka Beel

Slight bumps in the road.

When we eventually arrived a friendly local man helped us to find the different species of birds hiding in the swamp.

The bird master himself!

Pretty white birds.

Kids at a mosque along the way.

Kids & puppies! <3

After coming back to the cottage we had breakfast and then went to the tea plantations to learn more about the process of tea-making. We had a chat with some of pickers and then went to have a look at the factory.

The shining green Tea gardens

One of the tea pickers getting ready to go for lunch.

 We then went to Srimongal to have some of the very famous seven layer tea! Competing tea stalls have not yet managed to copy the drink and we were all amazed by the distinct different flavors between the different layers- Cinnamon, ginger, cardamon, lemon, honey, black tea and green tea.

The seven layer tea of Nilkantha Tea Cabin!

After this one of a kind cup of tea, it was time for us to head back to Dhaka and I think we all wished we were able to stay longer!
Thank you Hasan, Riyadh, Vanessa & Jemma for a great weekend!! :)

"Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living."

- Miriam Beard

A Mosque, a Church and a Fort!

Yesterday was another adventurous friday!

I met up for a coffee at Gloria Jean's with Hasan and two aussie girls I met at dinner the night before; Jemma & Vanessa, and then headed towards Old Dhaka!

We wanted to see the Lalbagh Fort, but realized on the way there that it didn't open until 2.30 pm because of friday prayers. This only gave us the chance to do some more sightseeing while waiting.

Our first stop was Sitara Mosque-  a shining pearl in the middle of Old Dhaka. The building is covered in really gorgeous mosaique. We got there half an hour before the prayers and there was a steady stream of dressed up men arriving for mass.

Our next stop was the Armenian Church. Although there are only nine armenian families left in Dhaka the 400 yr old church is very well kept and looked after by its friendly janitor. He has cared for it for the past 13 yrs and before him his father cared for it for 55 years.

We also had time to check out parts of the massive Dhaka University Campus. I loved the combination of the lush green gardens and the red brick buildings.

Lalbagh Fort was a true oasis! Big laws with bright flowers, birds singing and children running around playing. Prince Mohammed Azam started building the fort in 1677 and handed over the Shaista Khan for completion. Before it was finished, the Khan's favorite daughter, Pari Bibi, died and because this was considered a bad omen, the fort was never completed. In the middle of the Fort's premises is her grave. There is also a mosque, a hammam (bath house) and the Hall of audience.

After a late lunch in a restaurant over looking the fort we made our way to New Market for some shopping.

Today Fina & I went to a big garment sale in Baridhara, followed by some fabric shopping and a visit to the tailor in Banani. On our way home I had to get some penicillin because of my throat which is killing me. (Yes swedes, it seems you also get the autumn flu in warm countries!)

A bangladeshi feast and a last minute shopping spree!

We came back on saturday afternoon from our remote and quiet little get-away in Cox's Bazaar to the traffic jams, car horns and endless stream of people in Dhaka. Phew!

On a colorful rickshaw in bangladeshi november rain.

Yesterday I had another heart wrenching interview and got an abrupt wake up to reality and the actual reason I am here. I feel grateful for the opportunity of getting a break and process everything from my first five interviews and now feel a little bit better equipped to truly listen to the stories of the next five women.

On sunday Andreas was eager to do some shopping before going back to Sweden again on tuesday and so we decided to walk up Gulshan Avenue to see if we could find any good stores. We found one. All the other shops in Gulshan are closed on sundays. Lucky the only open one was a really nice one!

In the evening Hasan came to pick me, Andreas and Fina up and drove us to his house in Mirpur and a true bangladeshi feast! His mother had made a whole buffet of delicious bangladeshi food and we ate until our bellies were about to burst! ;) It was so nice to get to meet his family.

Hasan with parts of his family;
Hasan 3, Farial, Hasans Mother, Hasan 1! :)

After dinner we had a yummy desert and a chat and Hasans cousin gave us beautiful Mehndi designs on our hands.

Mehndi!

I had work between 9-15 yesterday and when I finished Andreas came to the office so that I could introduce my lovely co-workers to him! We couldn't stay long enough so that he could meet all of them unfortunately because of all the errands we had to go through before Andreas is leaving for the airport tomorrow morning at 5am. We (He!! ;) ) managed to squeeze in a bit of a shopping spree and I was very impressed with his NewMarket- bargaining-skills! It was like he'd done it his whole life! We ended the day with a really nice thai-dinner.

Right now Andreas is up in the air on his way to Istanbul and then Sweden. Two weeks has gone WAY to fast. <3

A slice of Paradise!

It's hard to describe with words the paradise we are in right now!

My man arrived 5am on friday morning and made this little swede the happiest girl in the world. We spent the day with a little bit of shopping and checking out my Niketon neighborhood. On saturday we got a taxi to the airport and on our way there witnessed a mass slaughter of cows going on along the high way because of Eid Celebrations! After a one hour flight we arrived in Cox's Bazaar, caught a CNG to Mermaid Resort and arrived to PARADISE!

Arrived at the airport!

First view when we got to Mermaid Resort

Paradise!

Delicious lobster!

We got a very warm welcome by the lovely staff and a short boat ride to our Ashram. And WOW. We couldn't believe our eyes! Endless beaches in both directions and, except for some fisher men and a few kids playing here and there, we had it ALL to our selves! The Ashram only has two cottages and is cared for by an indigenous family of 7. We settled in and had our first lunch- Lobster delivered to our house. We then enjoyed a few drinks in the sunset and when we sat there on the beach our neighbors from the other cottage, Bob & Nathalie, walked pass. Imagine our surprise when we realized that Nathalie actually grew up in the same town that we are from in Sweden!!! Insane! :) We shared a drink with them and went swimming in the sunset together.

Sunset swin!

We had a very lazy morning on our second day. Breakfast by the beach and some hammock-hang-out before we went walking along the beach down to another Mermaid Café about a kilometer away. Delicious food and the best milkshakes we ever tasted. After that we went for a walk with one of the staff- the artist Mr. Englishman :) - who showed us a private beach where we went swimming, chasing crabs and watching the sunset.

Today we went into Cox's Bazaar so that Andreas could get a massage and I managed to donate my Visa card to one of the ATM's. BUMMER. I'll (hopefully) get it back tomorrow thou!!

Puja preparations in Shakhari Bazaar!

Today was a colorful adventure! Fina, Sean, Frida & I went with The Urban Study Group (USG) to Shakhari Bazaar in Old Dhaka to look at the preparations for the hindu "Puja celebrations" together with some other foreigners. We arrived at 8.30 and were walking around Hindu Street and its connecting streets for about 3,5 hrs. It was SO fun, but also very hot and humid and therefore exhausting.

A woman making flower decorations for the puja.

Hindu Street in Old Dhaka

For Durga Puja, the 24th of october, the hindus decorate the streets with lights, flowers and stages with statues especially made for the celebrations. On the 24th they carry all the statues in a parade down to the river, where they sink them. The story is that the Godess Durga is coming home to earth to visit her family, and therefore the people celebrate, and on the 24th when Durga is going back they help her with this by carrying her down to the river.

We went to the temples, watched people decorate the stages, looked at historical buildings and enjoyed the happy spirits of the locals.

Stage with hindu statues built over the street.

Decorations and statues in a temple.

One of the temples.

After a yummy lunch in a local restaurant, the four of us squeezed into a CNG and made our way home through the steaming hot city.