Family and friends told me how much they enjoyed reading my blog Highland Fling based on our time spent in South East Asia namely Vietnam and looked forward to reading my updates so the intention of this blog is to stay in touch and maybe stitch together a picture of Bangladesh for anyone who may be interested.

The decision to come to Bangladesh was based on Garth being offered a contract to look at sustainable markets in agriculture, and although we of course miss the family and the familiarity of New Zealand we are not ones to pass up an opportunity to travel and experience life in the ‘developing’ world. This is old hat to G who has spent a lifetime working in Asia but for me its a relatively new experience. Other people and cultures have always captivated me and I love to travel, learn and experience as much as I can while I’m still able. I know that a lot of people questioned whether we should be going to a part of the world that had experienced a nasty terrorist attack on expats very recently here in the Gulshan district of Dhaka so it is reassuring to see security at a premium here and it is in no way going to put me off making the most of my time here.

Dhaka – The Capital of Bangladesh

Just when I thought that 2 plus years in Vietnam had prepared me for life in Asia arriving in Dhaka was to prove me wrong, Patience is a virtue which very quickly kicks in. On first arrival Dhaka seems calamitous, the traffic, the crowds, and the pollution are all an immediate assault on the senses. First impressions of the traffic for one is mayhem, cars, trucks, rickshaws and CNG’s crowd the streets all vying for a space, Pedestrians going about their business weaving in and out of the constant traffic jams, small children knocking on the car windows trying to sell smiley stickers, begging  women with babies, men with limbs missing all an assault on the senses.The west, myself for sure have a natural inbred impatience, it would seem so far that Bangladesh operates on a softer, slower mode where you WILL get there…….. in the end. After spending 40 minutes in the car and moving 400 metres and noticing that your driver is calm and collected and practically asleep you have no choice but to go with the flow. Dhaka is home to 20 million people, its in the top 20 of the most populous cities in the world the fastest growing of the mega cities. There is a raw energy, a frenzy of activity wherever you look.