Scenes from a Bangladesh boat journey

Because of a nationwide strike, I actually went to some remote islands in Bangladesh to evaluate their immunizations program. Basically, if you drive 4 hours south from the capital of Dhaka to the middle of nowhere and then drive another hour, take a 3 hour boat ride, take a ambulance taxi (yep, exactly what it sounds like- no joke, they always have the cycle rickshaw ambulance as a backup if someone gets sick I guess) for another hour, then take another 3 hour boat ride... well you get the idea. No strike out there (or electricity, or television...), hah! Here are some scenes from the boat journey.

I can't believe how many people they crammed into this boat. One strong wave, and it's sunk for sure. I think they waterline was only about a foot and a half below.

The bigger boats weren't that much better.

Actually, the boat we took was quite a luxury, we had the bunks that the crew and captain normally get. When we left the docks, the captain misjudged the navigation and ended up hitting the dock twice which created 2 very large dents in the side. He came out to personally reassure me that I had nothing to worry about since the boat was "made in China." Yep, that was reassuring. I almost swam back to shore.

Even though no man is in island, everyman can HAVE an island.

Moving the boat

Loading cargo


Actually the boat above also loaded on goats, but the operator just stuffed them bleating into a box otherwise they'd fight with the cows. He didn't want to waste precious cargo space, you know? Kinda like playing tetris with livestock.

Fishing and more fishing are the two main occupations.



Lots of people spending most of their lives on boats.

Fisherboy working the boats. Not much time to enjoy a childhood I'm guessing.