i am becoming more and more sure that upgrades to any applications cause more troubles than good.

Home again

Yesterday night I made it home from Dhaka. The trip was quite cool. We were to fly from Dhaka to Bahrain at 5am and I guess due to me being a girl, me and my collegue, got new boarding passes and ushered to the 1st class. Being foreigners probably meant that we were in 1st class and not business class were the rest of women and their partners were seated.

I pretended to sleep for some time... amaaaaaaaaazing amount of space for my long legs... and woke up just as our plane for approaching Dubai. I looked out of my window to see the city but the plam islands were on the other side so I slipped between the seats on the other side to see them... that was amazing view. I got to hear about it so many times and it was great to finally see it. The sun was out and no clouds around, thus the whole Saudi Arabia, or rather the sand, was clearly visible from the plane. Later we had the view of Israel, Cyprus, Turkey and finally Greece, where we landed before our final flight to Prauge.

Whenever I land in Prague with Czech airlines the first thing I hear is the Vltava symphony, the most beautiful piece of music ever created...

Hena

Hena is big in Bangladesh, both for men and women... Men die their hair, beards and nails mainly... women on the other hand paint palms, top of their fingers as well as nails, top of hands and feet... It is interesting to see how "make-up" can differ in each country.

Something you do not want to hear from the flight attendant in an old shabby bangladeshi plane... "we will land, inshallah, in 40minutes..."

The South Trip

Yesterday morning we departed to south. Gradually we could see how the amount of land under water was growing. The south was the most affected area and still is. The padi fields (rice fields) are pretty much non-existent any longer. There are people on boats all around, bamboo stick bridges are built to pass from houses to roads over the marsh lands.

We have been on the road for less than two hours when we approached the Padma (Ganges) river. Another really cool river if you ask me. Here there are no brigdes yet, there is thus ferry system (with Dannish boats from 1986). A bridge is planned to be build here starting from next year.

After two more hours we arrived at one boarding school. A great welcome was awating us. There was also this girl performing a tribal dance and it was amazing. She was really extremely skillfull and you could see the elegance in every move. Coming to this, I was very surprised to realize that the Bengal people do not have movement in blood. I used to hear about Latin Americans that as soon as they move one is thrilled watching them, as they are born to dance. I somehow expected the same about Bengal people. Many girls dancing though proved me wrong. The performace was nice but that was it. Thus seeing this girl made a real difference.

Anyways, after few hours we left for another place where we were to spend the night. It was the last school to visit during our trip here. Yet, the school outstanded all the previous ones in welcoming and the evening programme.

As we entered the gate, heavy rain was falling down and the sun set so it was complete darkness. We were asked to leave the car and suddenly could hear drums. There were girls and boys lined up with machetes, marching to the sound of the drums as we were walking between the two lines of students. On the side of the path there were more children performing traditional work, like fishing, milking a cow and boat racing.

The astonishing part was when we approached this "statue of liberty" as the principal called it. I came closer and saw three statues and could not believe that they actually were three real boys completely covered with mud. They were so still that in the night for a bit I could not tell if they are alive. It was amazing but I wonder how would I feel waiting for half an hour in rain all covered with mud. Amazing.

The evening programme was great as well. As the children tried to introduce to us as many tribal differences as possible through dances as well as little theather plays. All kids were laughing and seemed to have good fun.

As the night progressed, the rain became heavier as well as the wind got much stronger. A storm was coming, which eventually left several trees dropped down, several electricity posts were damaged and the whole campus (as well as the region) was without electricity. As we were told, if the storm continues and the waves hit the river, it is impossible to pass the Padma river on a ferry and we would have to go somewhere up north to use a brigde over the river. Fortunately, the rain eased as well as the wind and we made it safely to Dhaka the very next day.

Paharpur

Paharpur, the biggest buddhist monastery south of Himalaya. There was one Bengal family and us... usually lot more tourist come but probably due to Ramadan the place was deserted and we could enjoy the peacefullness of the place... and climb around as much as possible :o).

I think one thing makes children and youth happy here... if foreigner shakes their hand. I have never shaken so many hands in my whole life. Cute is that even four year old and younger come to you... :o)

Eid celebrations

End of Ramadan means that a week of holidays comes. Most families thus try to get reunited. It is estimated that 8 million people left the capital city, Dhaka, to travel to villages to visit relatives. Now it is pleasure to drive in Dhaka as the city is empty :o)))

Eid streets

Eid mubarak was heard all over tonight. We went out to eat with our Czech friends. Funnily enough we ended up eating at Pizza Hut (all other restaurants in the area were closed?!) and those who have been to developing countries do understanding that rather rich locals go to such places. That is why the eating turned into watching all the made up girls with stunning make-ups and expensive saries as well as men being all dressed up in their national clothes. Surprisingly enough the streets that usually were full of poor locals and riksha drivers completely changed and were filled with rather rich Bengali driving their expensive cars and enjoying the Eid with their friends. To be entirely honest i would have loved to just sit at some spot unnoticed and watch all what is going on. This is the side of Bangladesh that does not really get to be revealed much... the suffering, beggars, rikshas, that is what usually seems so typical for Bangladesh.

Alcohol

There is very strict policy about alcohol in Bangladesh. Once in a while police breaks into rich Bengali house and if alcohol is found there the family can be enjailed for more than 5 years. Sometimes the family may be asked to pay 8million of local currency for each member of the family to ensure they shall be released after 5 years from jail and not after 10 or 15 years. It is quite interesting to see such tough rules whilst during Ramadan one sees some restaurants open and even some people eat out visibly, as well as those of other religion who is not really restricted to eat out nor asked to follow the fast.

Rab-1

I was introduced tonight to Rab-1. And to be honest was quite surprised something like this exists here. There is no real government right now. I understood that the two female leaders of the two most popular political parties are in jail... and right now there is this temporary government which is supposed to lead the country to democratic elections and stabilize the country a bit. There is actually some sort of martial law over the country. And now back to Rab-1. Those are cars that carry soldiers who can kill anyone if they decide that the person is doing something wrong. They cannot kill foreigners but they can kill without a need to ask permission any Bengali on the spot...

The night

Pink pillow, pink sheets, pink blanket... all that would suggest I shall have pink dreams (whatever those are). The night though was far from pink. I woke up around 2am and my hands and arms were extremely itchy. It took me more than an hour to fall asleep again how uncomfortable I felt. When I woke up at 6am, there was light outside already. I looked around and I saw several mosquitoes. I sprayed to death all 12 of them... And if you wonder how come it was so easy to find all 12, then the answer is easy... having a mosquitoe net around me the mosquitoes had nowhere to run but were offered quite a feast the whole night. I really wonder what are the nets for... and I assure you there were no mosquitoes there when I went to sleep. After meeting cockroach in the bathroom, I was very carefull to check what other inhabitants are in the same room as I am...

The West Trip

Early in the morning we left for Joypurhat in the west. At one point we got into a line of tructs that has hardly moved. After some waiting our driver decided to overtake the line of the trucks and buses on the left (fortunately the drivers were very organized and left quite some space free there). When we approached the front of the line, the problem there seemed to be a broken road for some 100m where cars could pass only in one line. And thus the police was controlling the traffic. We have lost some 3hours in this jam. As we passed the narrow place and continued on the road, which was full of holes, I have counted that there were 570 trucks lined in the cue in the opposite direction. The trip usually takes 4 hours. It took us 8. We have arrived at night to another school where we were to stay the night. The accommodation is usually very good as foreigners usually do get the best available.

The next day we were on the road again visitting some more schools and were to come at night to the same school. The room was very nice but at some point I realized that there are way too many mosquitoes in the room and there was no mosquito net. I tried to kill some but realized that the three metres long was is covered by some 50 mosquitoes and I have no way to kill them all. Especially since I do not like to kill them. So through sms I managed to move to my collegues room where three more guys were staying. Fortunately I got my room and the two other guys went to sleep into a living room.

I get shivers imagining what would happen if I stayed in my room and turned off the light...

The Norht Trip II.

8.10.2007

The air was really nice and fresh in the morning as there was a rain storm the previous night. The more adventurous it was to sit back on the motorbike and drive through the muddy paths. We have taken a slightly different way, which meant passing three bamboo bridges. One was so old that one of the motorbikes wheels have fallen through the broken bamboo. This part of the trip was definitely the best, I wish we could travel more like that instead of being stuck for hours and hours in the van. That day we were passing from the Indian borders through Mymensignh and visitting schools around that area. It was raining some parts of the day and some roads were too bad to pass them. That was also the reason for having defect on the tire (already a second time within the two days and three more times were to come in the next two days :o)).

The night we spent at a hotel in Mymensignh.

The Norht Trip I.

7. 10. 2007
During ealry morning we have left for north region. The best part of this trip so far. For several hours were going norht in a van. Passed the Mymensignh city, as well as Havan national park. We were passing through forests, there were cotton fields, flooded fields, pedi (rice) fields and tens and tens of little villages filled with hundreds of people. The road was cramped. One truck was passing after another as well as row of buses was heading down south to Dhaka.

We have continued as far as possible by our van. At some point though the road become more of a path and cars could not access it. That is where motorbikes were waiting for us (with drivers) and we were to continue to our destination on them. In one word - AWESOME. I loved it. I was holding the driver with one hand and taking photos with the other. The path is narrow, you pass lots of little bridges, the air blows around and is refreshing. Simply amazing. Twice we had to get off the motorbike and cross a river on a small boat. When we arrived at the boarding school, we were 1km away from Indian border.

Dhaka area

4. 10. 2007
After some work programme in the morning which included some more visits to local schools we have visited the local bazar - Bongo bazar. It could be also called Bongo sauna, if you ask me. It is a huge place with hundreds of little stands and narrow paths where all sort of clothes can be bought for ridiculously low price. The clothes that are sold there are of great quality as they were intended for export but due to some slight many times unnoticible damage they did not pass the high quality check. T-shirt for half US dollar, shirts for 2 US dollars etc. can be found there.

Coming from a football country, it is funny to see little boys running around in the field playing cricket :o)).

Tribes and names

There are many tribes that speak local dialects. Many children thus do not speak Bangla. Most of the time when someone mentions a surname you straight away know what tribe he comes from. The locals of course may tell also by the look or accent of the locals.

One tribe I recognize a bit. That is the Garo tribe, they live in the north and most of them are on the Indian side of the border. The Garo tribe comes from Tibet (some 800 year ago) and they still have some traces in their nature that make them rather different from other local people. The very positive aspect of Garo people is that they are organized and on time. :o)

There is eg. one tribe in the North West called Santal. Then if your name is Marandi, Hembrom, Soren, Murmu, Kisku, Chorea, Tudu or Baski, you are from this tribve. On the other hand there are some other, probably smaller tribes, which means that your names is the name of the tribe such as Tripura or Chakma (these tribes come form the Chittagong area).

Garbage

Actually, I was thinking that there is hardly any garbage vissible along the way. Few years back it was forbidden to use plastic bags as the huge number of them kept on plugging up the canalization. Another reason for not much garbage in the streets is that everything has its price here. Plastic bottles, cans, the leaves of pineapple (for rugs), the skin of pineapple (for buttons)... simply everything can be resued and thus all kinds of rubbish are being collected which probably leaves the countryside look quite clean...

Railways

There are new railway tracks being build. But the reason why I want to mention the rail here is that they build broad and narrow gauge tracks together thus avoid the necessity to reload trains that would have broad gauge instead of narrow. So when you look at the track you will see three rails. How cool is that :o)

Roads and paths

Most of the roads and paths are about a meter higher above the surrounding fields thus if lucky at least the roads are saved from the floods. But that is not a rule and there are lots of heavily broken roads.

... :o)

Ladies first...

Riksha

One of the most frequent mean of transport is riksha. There are estimation that there are over million riksha men in Dhaka. It seems a lot. On the other hand there are rikshas anywhere you look. I have tried riksha yesterday for a short distance and I was happy it was the first day when the weather was nice and mildly cold.

The men bike everyday. You seem sometimes up to 4 people on a riksha and when they have a little carrige instead then they carry even 12 people. There are two extreme types of weather. Hot or rain. When it is hot, you see sweat running down the face of the men, their jaws are clenched, their muscles are outlined agains the clothes as they make a move at a time. During rain, many of them cover their heads with plastic bag, their clothes are soaked, the roads are slippery.

One wrong move, a slight touch of a car, and the wheels of riksha get twisted and the riksha falls down. Just yesterday I witnessed an accident. One riksha man turned on to a round and a car behind him did not manage to stop. The riksha straight away collapsed and a small girl with her grandma rolled out of it. The girl was obviously in shock but it seemed that excpet several scratches she was not seriously injured.

Fruits

there are banana fields, pineapple fields, as well as sugar cane and others. When the fruits are about to be ripe, they are cut off and brought to a local market from where most of it is send to Dhaka by truck. The fruits are brought to the local market by risha men. You will see tens of guys, young or old, driving riksha with a huge load. All this makes one think what work had to be done before a banana was put one´s plate.

Crops

The crops are harvested 2-3 times a year. The northwest areas sometimes even 4 times. The floods this year though have destroyed most of the crops which means the price of food has gone sharply up.

Rice

The colour of the countryside is green. It is the kind of vivid green that shines in the sun. And the green is everywhere. If you wonder what it is then those are the "padi" fileds (fields were rice is grown). I have seen the rice fields on photos but have never seen them in a real life. It is incredible. And I never knew that rice grows pretty much like wheat. Although the fields are filled with water I managed to get a stem with rice. :o)

The interesting part is that when you plant the rice, the little plant will grow pretty much on one spot and will become very bushy. So that is when the work comes, as you need to take the separate parts of the rice and plant them elswhere in the field, where they will again become very bushy and you will again have to replant some of them to a free place on a field.

Eventually the rice appears and the leaves turn yellow. Then once you harvest the rice you need to beat out the rice away from the stems. Then you steamboil the rice to remove the cover of the rice. And I guess only after that is the stage when you can sell the rice. This is how I understood the process...

I met one lady who used to work on a rice field. She said the water was reaching up to their chest sometimes while the worst was working during the winter time.

Floods

This year has been one of the worst for Bangladesh. There were two waves of floods which managed to damage lots of crops as well as flooded people´s houses. India and Nepal have both been affected by severe floods and the rivers when leaving these two countries enter Bangladesh. There are areas in the countryside which are still under the water.

Brahmaputra

I would have never dreamt that once I shall be crossing Brahmaputra river (in Bangladesh the river goes by the name of Jamuna). Brahmaputra is a river about what we have studied when we were in basic school and it is incredible to see such river. The bridge at the place where we crossed is around 5km long. The other bank of the river is not visible from where you start. No wonder Bangladesh suffers from so many floods annually.

Tourists

There seem to be no tourists at all. We have wondered the country a little and so far I have met 10 foreigners. 5 in the plane to Chittagong, they all seem as either businessmen or NGO workers. 3 of them in a hotel, again NGO workers and the 2 other were also working here.

I guess the reason is that there are other rather entertaining areas in Bangladesh where tourists might be found as well as we have quite few times entered areas where special authorization is required so I guess tourists might pick other places to go to.

You never know...

Btw, I think I know where Petr Navrat was playing tennis in Bangladesh. And I am just sitting in a place where he used to come quite often for visit those 3 or 4 years ago. Life is full of surprises as well as there are way too few Czech people in Bangladesh...

The religion

Religion seems very important here. And i think it makes complete sense. If you live life like this, I guess God is what makes it easier for you.

Bangladesh is Muslim country but not as strict. There are up to 10% of population that are either Christian, Hindu, Animist or some other kind. There also seems to be rather tolerance towards other religions. That is especially visible during Ramadan days.

The East Trip II.

Second day we have travelled to the north of Chittagong. We have visited several schools there. It is strange that seeing how poor the people are always makes me sad. There are things done to improve at least some condition in the lives of people, not all, of course. But the process is way too slow. And in Bangladesh there are way too many people. Imagine that Bangladesh has population nearing 150 million of people. Then you have a country like Iceland whose size is slightly smaller and the population is 300 thousand people.

The schools in this region are way worse than what I was about to see in the other parts of the country. At one place, the school was dark and the students could hardly see. And no electricity ALTHOUGH the electricity is available in this area and the school should have the money from sponzors or the organization to be able to pay for it. It is just the will to make it available there...

Anyways, the day passed by fast. It was hot which makes everything more tiring. By 5pm we have reached the airport and were heading back to Dhaka. The plane was an hour late. As we learnt the plane that we were to use broke down and new plane flew in from Dhaka. I was very happy to land. :o))

There are lots of bricks being made in Bangladesh. You can tell already from a distance by a tall chimney that indicates the place of brick production...

The incredible part is that as soon as you have holes in a road they use bricks to repair the roads. It looks really cool... Grey road with red patches... :o)

The East Trip I.

2. 10. 2007
As a regular monitor trip, three people from our organization has departed on a trip to Bangladesh. The project we run in this country is supporting the education of Bengal children. Since there are number of students sponzored in quite few schools, the first trip in the country was going eastwards.

Arriving on Sunday early morning to Dhaka, we had one day to relax a bit and do the few of compulsory visits and yet the very next early morning we headed again towards the airport. We took the domestic flight, with domestic plane to domestic destination of Chittagong. The second largest city of Banlgadesh.

The van that was awaiting us at the airport set for a three hour trip to the Hill Tracts. Expect for the completely new scenery of the country, the constant buzz and movement anywhere you look, the first really exciting moment (although I was extremely excited to land as well) was when we were crossing the river on a ferry with all those riksha men, trucks, locals and little students. The trip continued till we have reached our first school. It is a boarding school up on a hill, thus unaffected by flood. We have been greeted really warmly, got flowers, songs and dances were performed as well as we have a chance to watch the kids during classes.

The first visit pretty much set our minds on track of what has to be done and changed.

After local meal WHICH (to my utter dismay) has never really changed since and we are being constantly served exactly the same food at every new place, has been that time new and very tasty. Yet then I could not wait to try some other local specialities. Ilish... Ilish... Ilish... at each place, with excitement in the hosts eyes we are always told ... Ilish ... you know... Ilish is the national fish here.

In the afternoon we set on a long trip towards south. Using a shortcut we were to pass through some resctricted areas in the region of Bandarban which required a police authorization. Not sure why but at some point we were stopped and had to wait for confirmation from HQ, which meant half hour delay since the communication thanks to the hilly area did not work.

Anyways, continuing down south we have reached Cox´s Bazar. It was before 7pm when we arrived at one village school. The children were waiting there for us the whole day (whatever one might think). Btw, Bengal children are tiny. Some start school around the age of four...

The procedure at each schools usually looks the same... the difference is created by the teacher, the building (if there is any), the supply or no supply of electricity, the school equipment if any... etc...

The night was amazing though, as on our way away from the school we have stopped at the Bay of Bengal. Cox´s Bazar lies on a beach which is supposedly the longest beach in the world. Taking shoes off and feeling the sea was amazing... especially since this October is very hot in Bangladesh.

After a dinner we headed back to Chittagong. Arrived by midnight and seeing the hotel room was one of the most beautiful views ever. Although it was shabby and probably with lots of little animals hiding around...

Btw, no tigers, no sharks, nor other animals were around at the beach (the response to my sms).

I give 10 brand shirts for a service

... very quality and good looking shirts...

Making friends with lizards also brings sorrow to your life. Yesterday when in a bathroom I noticed something lying on the ground. It was a lizard.... hmm... it was a dead lizard. (this is the sad part)

The shirts goes to the one who will come and take the lizard away from the bathroom...

Bangladeshi news - 6

I live on the first floor of a brick colonial-looking guest house. I live here alone. My collegues live downstairs. It is beautiful place. Comfortable place and till yesterday if felt I am the only one living here.

Yesteday night I was proved wrong. I have a little zoo here but fortunately no cocroaches (yet). But to put it straight, there are animals I like to live with and animals I dont like to live with.

I have one inhabitant here who is a tiny 3cm long lizard. I dont mind living with him. He is cute and mostly stays on a wall away from me. I have my territory, he has his territory and we are both happy.

Then there are the rest of the animals who I do not like to share the appartment with. Mosquitoes and all sorts of insect. I dont like insect. And I kill insect (I apologize for hurting feelings of those who defend insect rights). But since I always have to look away when I kill, I need a big thing to kill the insect with. Yuck.

Now few tips. Pet bottle serves as a great weapon. And believe it or not, it is possible to kill a flying mosquito with it! I tried twice and both time it worked. Not sure if I only knocked them unconscious... as the second hit after the mosquito lies on its back on a ground is fatal.

5day plan against phan

Phan is some leaf that has tobacco and other spices and nuts roled into it and Bangladeshi people like to chew on it. It makes your teeth red and causes cancer.

It is addictive. Women are told that if they dont chew on it they wont get married.
How beautiful to have a set of red teeth.

When outside of city there are 6 types of transportation on the road... rikshas, threewheelers, jeeps, vans, trucks and buses. Vans and jeeps are boring... the rest is incredibly colourful.

Bangladeshi news - 5

Bangladeshi men are born with antisuicidal gene, otherwise I find no other explanation how they can survive the car driving every day.

I have experienced some crazy driving. I cant believe it can get even crazier. Many times there are milimetres dividing us from other transportation, other people. And both the people and the transportation are during the "encounter" somehow left unharmed. The two splendind views were, 5 rikshas next to each other on a road... all going in the same direction and no space on either side of the road to pass. The second situation was bit more disturbing three buses next to each other, passing one another, going in the direction toward us.

The drivers here are double crazy but incredibly skilled...

Bangladeshi news - 4

I realize one frustrating thing after few days here... being in a car and driving all around the place means, that you will miss hundreds of great photo shots... some views, some people, some situations are simply stunning and I hate knowing the glimpse of a moment is gone and it will never come back...

On tuesday night we were coming back from Cox´s Bazar. There was a sunset and the sun beams were falling upon the grass from such angle that the scenery was simply breathtaking. The car was going way too fast. How relaxing such moment must be if you have a chance to live through it...

one more comment to the airplane... Bangladeshi men are short... imagine how funny it is to see 100s of little men on their tiptoes reaching to the overhead cabins in the airplane for their luggage :o)))

Bangladeshi news - 3

Looking into the faces of Bangladeshi men, it is bit surprising to find traces of chinese descendents, as well as arabic, persian and turk. It creates an interesting mixture of faces. Women have extremely beautiful smile. (As long as they do not chew phan)

Bangladeshi news - 2

When boarding the plane in Bahrain, we have been passing many Bangla men that were flying with us to Dhaka. One thing caught my attention and coming to check an educational project made it the more real. Many of these men were looking with confusion on the seat number written on the air ticket and were helped by other passengers or flight attendants to find their seat. On the other hand, Bangladesh has its own alphabet...

Bangladeshi news - 1

Well, I thought I will have more chances to go on the internet. It is available here but there seems to be no time. We came to Dhaka early morning on Monday and had several meetings with local organizations. On Tuesday morning (I personally call it night) we flew to Chittagong, the second largest city of Bangladesh. The whole Tuesday and Wednesday we spent in a car driving through out the region. The cool part was passing through the restricted zones which meant getting out of car, signing ourselves into military books, waiting for aproval from 'higher' places (since the communications is problematic due to the hilly area of the region) for half hour or more and then reaching the Bay of Bengal and getting our feet soaked in the warm sea water.

The weather is really hot here and getting home by late nights is tiring. Plus the nights are kind of tough... but otherwise it is incredible. I hope I will get a chance to write more soon. As for now, back to work.