I reminisce

There is a smell of fried egg in the air. It is morning and the fog has disappeared. I pass a street food vendor on the way to the corner, where my rickshaw leaves. He is making breakfast - paratha with egg, daal and bhaji. And cha - one cannot forget the traditional milk tea in Bangladesh.

My rickshaw ride from Banani to Gulshan-2 is 30 Taka. I think it has rained last night as the street is partially wet. Dhaka is warm and dusty. The cold is gone. It is very sunny in the morning but I leave my sunglasses off.
It is supposed to be 28 degree Celsius today - in February. The rays of light shimmer through the trees and lots of little particles flow in the air. The fog has disappeared, Dhaka is dusty.

Here and there people are sweeping the streets. Someone is burning leaves, as the smoke surrounds me as I pass through. The green of the trees is obvious, all year long.

Today I decide not to put any headphones on - no Drake, Bastille, Imagine Dragons or Aloe Blacc. Dhaka is noisy. I don't pay any attention and my rickshaw driver goes straight although he is supposed to take a right, as I told him to drop me off in front of the Police Barrack at Gulshan-2. I give him 30 Taka and get off.

I cross the street and go up the elevator: Floor 11 with a view over the whole circle. Just a few weeks ago people used to march, protest, threw crude bombs and got into fights with the police. Now it seems like nothing has happened.

I arrive at work, switch on my computer but cannot focus; as I am thinking of my trip to Kuakata... I reminisce, I reminisce.

Pictures taken from the top of a bus (on top of a ferry)

My trip to Kuakata seems like forever ago. And it probably is, as so much has happened in the meantime and I didn't have the chance to tell you about it.

Two and a half weeks ago my two roomates, our italian neighbour and I went off to a trip to Kuakata in South Bangladesh. I will write another detailed post on this.

Commuting there is a combination of an overnight ferry, "batteries" (a CNG-type run on electricity), busses and rickshaws. After arriving in Barisal Division in the city of Patuakhali riding the ferry all night, we had to take busses to Kuakata. So somewhere about two hours before our final destination, we had to switch busses. The one we were supposed to go on was so crowded that we decided to join the "upstairs crowd" and rode along boxes, bags and lovely people who were up for a chat. Not only were they surprised that a female (our italian friend) climbed on top of a bus, she was white, too! So everywhere where there were people amongst the way in places we had to slow down, people stared at us, waved and sometimes had small conversations.

As we had to go on three tiny ferry rides to cross small rivers, here are pictures taken from the top of a bus (on top of a ferry):