Scenes that let you know you're in another country

After being in another country awhile, what was at first exotic and fascinating, just kind of fades into the background noise of everyday life. But every once in awhile, something comes along and just smacks you right in the nose until your eyes begin to tear up, just to let you know you're still a pilgrim in a foreign land.

Cream
I'll give you one guess what this is for (and you're going to be wrong)...

Give up? For stomach pains. What a great pharmacy, you can even pick up items for your boss. Let me know if you want me to bring back a tube.

Village balloons/chewing gum
Wait a minute... since when did balloons come ribbed with a tip?

I guess I can see the attraction, they're probably strawberry flavored or something, and I'm willing to bet they don't burst too easily, hah! Might as well let the little kids play with them, 'cause if there are little kids running around it's probably too late anyways. They also double as chewing gum...

Animal tagging
When I first saw florescent colored animals, I thought this was the Bangladesh way of graffiting or something. Turns out, if you let all your animals roam about, the hot pink goats make them easy to pick out in a crowd. And what the hey, spray paint is probably a lot easier than branding!





School bus
Nope, not a paddy wagon rickshaw, although it wouldn't suprise me if they have such a thing. Not exactly the yellow school bus going 'round and 'round, but it gets the job done.



Bangladesh movies

Well, one night in sleepy Noakhali, Robin suggested taking in the Bangladesh cinema to round out my experience. Bollywood films in India are kind of a cross between Mentos commercials and Grease (basically everyone is smiling and singing and dancing), so I figured, sure, why not? How could I not be entertained? Well, apparently the movies are made mostly for the uneducated rickshaw pullers, and there are 2 versions of the film. One for the censor board and another for the layman. Well, needless to say you don't go for the plot, the acting, or the special effects. It's more like a worse version of kung fu theater, minus the kungfu. And to top if off, they splice in blue clips in the middle. They basically go something like this...

Scene 1: Bangladesh smiling guy and slightly plumpish girl start dancing Bollywood style. (Ok, innocent enough)
Scene 2: Bangladesh smiling guy and slightly plumpish girl start doing the Bangladesh version of the lambada, you know, the "forbidden dance" (just for the record, the guy is still grinning from ear to ear while facing the camera... just creepy).
Scene 3: Bangladesh smiling guy and slightly plumpish girl move horizontal and start doing the hookie pookie (while fully clothed of course)
Scene 4: Slightly plumpish girl sari mysteriously has disappeared (and it becomes pretty obvious that they hired a slightly plumpish girl for her "attributes") and smiling Bangladesh guy proceeds to demonstrate how he turns on the hot/cold shower knobs. Hah! What a turn on. Bet you can't you wait to see the sequel.

More polio scenes / yep, no polio here

As part of routine investigations, surveillance medical officers will follow-up with paralysis cases to see if they remain paralyzed. Usually non-polio paralysis resolves itself in a couple of weeks.

This crying girl wouldn't standup to be evaluated...

...but chances are if she's running back to mommy at full speed, she's no longer paralyzed!

Feeding chicks, hah!


Cox's Bazar
Welcome to the beach, Bangladesh style! And umm... of course we have to check around here for polio.

I don't think I've seen so many fully-clothed bathers before. Just sitting in the waves.



Shell-selling kids were all over the place.

Cameramen with umbrellas were always present, ready to take photos of vacationers. For a fee of course.

Scenes from the Bangladesh cities

Various scenes from the Bangladesh cities outside of Dhaka. Actually I just realized, outside of the mosque photo, you really can't tell that any of these photos were taken in a Bangladesh city. Maybe that's all part of the uniqueness of Bangladesh. Life in the big city isn't too different than the countryside, and people are just as friendly.

From Chittagong, the second largest city.
Old broken rickshaws that were abandoned. Even if they weren't locked up with rusty chains, no one would have gotten very far biking on them.




These guys were so engrossed in their boardgame, they didn't even notice me standing right behind them snapping away.






Bangladesh has it's share of "holy" men as well. This is from one of the most sacred Islam sites in Bangladesh, which name escapes me at the moment. Right outside Sylhet, the 3rd largest city.

Scenes from rural Bangladesh

Some random snaps of village life.



This girl was actually walking alongside my rickshaw. She was an interesting subject to photograph, mainly because of her eyes. Don't see too many Bangladesh people with such light colored eyes.


I watched this boy chase his duck around. A pet? Dinner maybe?




Kids were a little bit more shy of getting their photo taken. Grandpa had to help out some with a firm hand. I had to take the photo after the forced photo posing of course, hah!




So long for now!

Roadside photography

One of my favorite things to do while traveling is to take roadside photographs. No, not the type where you actually stop and get out and take a photo (I do that too), but something closer to taking a photo from a moving vehicle. Usually I just end up wasting film on some random crappy blur, but since I've started using digital, rectifying mistakes is one touch of the delete button away. I'm just thankful that Bangladesh has so many traffic jams and we're moving slow enough to get a good shot so close to the action. That and my driver keeps the windows squeaky clean.

Buses in Bangladesh actually never stop. There isn't any such thing as a "bus stop" just a "bus moving slow enough so you have to do your best Carl Lewis and Jackie Joyner Kersee impression to make it on."


Lots of portraits from bus windows. Everyone likes looking out from the window seat I suppose.




Rickshaws galore. Yes, I still have that photographic infatuation with bikes and rickshaws.




Dried fish seller


Fruits galore- told you they were exotic, can't get apples, oranges, and grapes just anywhere.

Jackfruit galore!

After traveling around and seeing local markets, I thought I've seen all the varieties of exotic vegetables and fruit that the sub-Asian climate had to offer. Jackfruit caught me completely off guard, it's everywhere. On the streets, you can find shops filled floor to ceiling with jackfruit. I find it hard to believe that people can eat sooooo much jackfruit, you would think that something that weighs anywhere from 30-80 pounds with spikes couldn't possibly be edible. And how is it picked anyways? One of them will fill an entire fruit basket. I'm guessing you don't wait for it to fall on the ground, I'd hate to be the one catching it under the jackfruit tree.

Jackfruit truck-



Yes, believe it or not, these spiked fruit are edible. Although I have to admit, I've been in Bangladesh for 2 months eating in a lot of local places, and I've only eaten it once. It wasn't too bad, just fleshy and slightly fragant.

So I'm thinking that people must be doing something else with these jackfruit. I mean look at the size of them! What do they do, export them to Florida and advertise them to the AARP as the alternative to prunes? Load them onto a catapault and aim for India?


Actually, I found out that chips, chewing gum, pudding, jam, and curry all can be made from jackfruit. Hmm... maybe I've eaten more of it than I thought.

"Show me your best jackfruit!" Jackfruit-wallahs posing with their favorite fruit.

So, you're tired of your job?

Alright, I know that a lot of you are at work aimlessly surfing the Internet (yes, you government workers, hah!). I know all too well what it's like - too much time in front of the computer, no exercise, no fresh air, rat maze-like cubicles, florescent lighting, the office space routine. Have fantasies quitting and trying something different? Well, there are always opportunities. For instance...

File clerk

What happens when you're the new employee and the boss wants a copy of a report from 3 years ago ASAP? Or an errant cigarette butt gets tossed?

Wire-lifter

Wires are dangling everywhere so someone has to sit on the top of buses and large trucks to lift the wires over the vehicles. You wouldn't want someone to get electrocuted from a torn electric wire flopping around on the street, would you? Makes sense to me. This is a close second to electrician. Usually they stick these rickety bamboo ladders right on the powerlines.

Furniture mover

I have no idea how they manage to not only balance such huge loads on a rickety cart, but also pedal it down the road! I've seen entire sections of houses on these carts. I swear, any of these guys probably could win the Tour de France without breaking a sweat, those metal Chinese bikes alone probably weigh over 40 pounds.

Chicken stuffer/transporter


Yet another job involving balance. Not only do you have to stuff chickens in a big basket, but you have balance it on top of your head AND climb a ladder on a bus.


Brick breaker
There are soooooo many brick factories around Noakhali, each surrounded by enough bricks to rebuild any Bangladesh version of the Great Wall.

Breakers then take these perfectly well-formed bricks and then hammer them into tiny pieces to fill the roads with. I would have thought there'd be an easier way to skip straight to the tiny pieces stage instead. su


My interpreter



Meet my interpreter, Robin. Thankfully, he's the same age as me, has a sense of humor, thinks getting in a little bit of trouble is a fun time, and knows the ins and outs of Bangladesh. He goes everywhere I go, but I think he cringes a little bit everytime I say I want to go to the "hard to reach" areas of Bangladesh (which of course is my idea of a fun time). This means we're going to get dirty, and there's a very good chance he's going to fall in the mud and water again, hah!