Tuesday, October 20, 2009
I'm ready to get back to Bangladesh
Our flight from Katmandhu to Dhaka got canceled yesterday after they forced us to wait in what is the most disgusting airport I've ever been in for about 4-5 hours. That really stinks (literally and figuratively). Oh and yesterday was my dad's birthday. Happy Birthday Dad, here's 7 hours in an airport that smells of BO and urine! I'll write more about the rest of the journey later but they put us up in a hotel for the night and are sending us on a different plane this afternoon.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
A Long Anticipated Day
Today was the day Steven and Dad arrived in Bangladesh. Thus begins almost 2 weeks of adventures together. Dad walked out of the Airport terminal this morning and had the exact same reaction I had almost a year ago. "Whoa!" This came out as his glasses quickly fogged up. Up until that point I had thought the morning was actually rather cool and pleasant. I'm going to chalk that up to adjusting. We quickly hopped into the car and started our drive to my place. They spent the next 3.5 hours fighting exhaustion from the flight and fear from the roads. It has been decided that my mother would absolutely hate this place and would not be able to handle the traffic. If she thought my driving in Chicago was bad...
I got a ton of goodies. There was more candy than I should eat in a month or two. (What my mother lacks in courage, she makes up for with love.) I'll definitely share. We all took naps after arriving. We all needed them. After our naps we went around and met the office staff. We probably should have taken a little more time doing this but it's a rough call when you are completely jet lagged. Dad and Steven got their first taste of Bangla food for lunch. They seemed to think that it didn't suit their taste buds all that well but felt better for having ate it. Then we went for a walk around town. We went to the stinky fish market. We took a riverside walk. Dad stopped and took pictures of goats every time he saw them. On our way back from our walk it started raining. We got stuck under an overhang for over half an hour. Finally, we grabbed some rickshaws and headed back to the office. Only when I looked back from my rickshaw, Steven's rickshaw was not behind us like I expected. He doesn't know a single word of Bangla, so I immediately started worrying. I told our driver to stop and pretty soon I saw Steven coming. "whew" I could exhale. I told our guy to go again, but Steven's guy managed to pass us before we got up to speed. Then of course our rickshaw's chain came off and we had to stop to put it back on. This meant that we had now lost Steven ahead of us! Luckily, I realized that the guy would just take him to the bus stand and then neither of them would know what to do or where to go because Steven doesn't have Taka (Bangladesh Currency) or know Bangla. Pretty soon we found them there and finally got back to the office.
All of us Ex-pat workers (non-bengali workers) got together with our boss Mokhles for dinner at a resturant. On the way there we made a side trip to Jodi's flat where Dad and Steven are spending the night in her spare bedroom. That means they get an actual soft bed rather than the boards covered with a hard mat that is available at the office. We road all three of us on one rickshaw to get there. We took this picture to commemorate the event and vowed never to attempt the stunt again. We are all too big to share a rickshaw.
Dad has considerable troubles getting in and out of rickshaws because of the giant first step you must take. I try to help him the best I can but you should probably pray that he doesn't fall and break a hip in his fragile old age. ;-) Ok, so maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration but he is about as graceful getting into a rickshaw as he is doing Wii bowling.
Dinner was good. We went to a chinese place. I almost accidentally ate shrimp. Now it's time for an early trip to bed for all of us. It's been a long day of travel and we need our beauty sleep.
I got a ton of goodies. There was more candy than I should eat in a month or two. (What my mother lacks in courage, she makes up for with love.) I'll definitely share. We all took naps after arriving. We all needed them. After our naps we went around and met the office staff. We probably should have taken a little more time doing this but it's a rough call when you are completely jet lagged. Dad and Steven got their first taste of Bangla food for lunch. They seemed to think that it didn't suit their taste buds all that well but felt better for having ate it. Then we went for a walk around town. We went to the stinky fish market. We took a riverside walk. Dad stopped and took pictures of goats every time he saw them. On our way back from our walk it started raining. We got stuck under an overhang for over half an hour. Finally, we grabbed some rickshaws and headed back to the office. Only when I looked back from my rickshaw, Steven's rickshaw was not behind us like I expected. He doesn't know a single word of Bangla, so I immediately started worrying. I told our driver to stop and pretty soon I saw Steven coming. "whew" I could exhale. I told our guy to go again, but Steven's guy managed to pass us before we got up to speed. Then of course our rickshaw's chain came off and we had to stop to put it back on. This meant that we had now lost Steven ahead of us! Luckily, I realized that the guy would just take him to the bus stand and then neither of them would know what to do or where to go because Steven doesn't have Taka (Bangladesh Currency) or know Bangla. Pretty soon we found them there and finally got back to the office.
All of us Ex-pat workers (non-bengali workers) got together with our boss Mokhles for dinner at a resturant. On the way there we made a side trip to Jodi's flat where Dad and Steven are spending the night in her spare bedroom. That means they get an actual soft bed rather than the boards covered with a hard mat that is available at the office. We road all three of us on one rickshaw to get there. We took this picture to commemorate the event and vowed never to attempt the stunt again. We are all too big to share a rickshaw.
Dad has considerable troubles getting in and out of rickshaws because of the giant first step you must take. I try to help him the best I can but you should probably pray that he doesn't fall and break a hip in his fragile old age. ;-) Ok, so maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration but he is about as graceful getting into a rickshaw as he is doing Wii bowling.
Dinner was good. We went to a chinese place. I almost accidentally ate shrimp. Now it's time for an early trip to bed for all of us. It's been a long day of travel and we need our beauty sleep.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Better late than never?
Life's been a little hectic around Bangladesh lately. That and since my camera was broken I had to get these from my housemate, they're a little late. I might add some more from housemate Nate as well at a later time. All the credit for the following pictures goes to Daniel Thomas.
In the background is probably Kangchenjunga which is the world's third highest mountain at 28,169 feet. If I am correct about this being Kangchenjunga (say that 3 times quickly, I dare you) then we are about 50 miles from it in this picture. The point being is that it's still absolutely huge.
We figure that the spot we were standing on for these views was right around 12,000 feet high. Not bad when you consider that the locals would call it a hill and not a mountain.
Yeah, it's the same mountain in 3 straight pictures, get over it.
I would just like to point out that there are still cows at 10,000 feet.
Sandakphu to Phalut ridge hike is definitely a recommended hike. The entire trip is one scenic view after another. (When you aren't in the clouds that is.) Also, we had several encounters with groups of 2 or 3 local shepherd boys playing soccer near very steep hills. One would have to be very careful not to lose a ball over the edge.
We all got sunburns and we all came up with our own way of trying to protect ourselves on our last day. We all also managed to look pretty silly doing this.
They buried me under about 5 or 6 blankets to help me warm back up when I had hypothermia. The bucket was for just in case I threw up because I was nauseous as well.
I also talked to Grandma B this morning. She's found the strength and steadiness of hand to start quilting again. It gives her something to do to pass the time but she's afraid she'll run out of quilting to do. It also seems like some of the treatments she has received are starting to work. She hasn't had to be given platelets for several days and has stopped having nose bleeds. I guess her doctor was even talking to her about what point things would have to reach for her to return to the nursing home. She's not out of the woods yet but she seems to be heading that direction. Thank you to anyone who might have seen my earlier post and prayed for her.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)