Well today I decided to be brave and for the first time walk to the local supermarket (Agon), which is about 1/20th the size of a Woolies or Coles, but as close at it comes to a supermarket here in Bangladesh. The closest Agon is about 2km from the guest house where I am staying, and is located on Gulshan Ave which connects the city centre Mothajeel to the commercial area of Mohokhali and the residentail areas of Gushan 1 and 2. Traffic is bad (the best example I can think of is if you take Parramatta Rd in Sydney, multiply the number of cars, buses and traucks 50 fold, add in a couple of thousand rickshaws, take away all of the footpaths due to them being occupied by market stalls or piles of rubbish, which then means the thousands of pedestrians have to also walk on the road; then remove all semblence of road rules, especially the one about staying in your own lane; and you will have just aa fraction of an idea of what the traffic is like). Anyway, as I said I did manage to survuve the 4km round trip without being run over or mugged, so things are going well.
The supermarket experience is somewhat exasperating, as the choice is really limited, especially when you really don't know what half of the items are due to the labels being written in Bangla not english, and the few items that you do recognise, which wre mostly imported are expensive. The trick is to find local items that still taste good and arre a fraction of the price of the imported item. So far I have tried 3 types of fresh pasteurised milk, and finally I have found one that doesn't tastte like goat semen, so thaat's good. Can't say the same about my latest choice of Peanut Butter though, it truly is inedible - how can you stuff up something so basic.
The good news though is that an Aussie has set up a shop selling imported Australian and other selected western items (at a rreasonale price), and he will import anything that you want. I just need to find out where exactly his shop is. There is also an Australian butcher shop, not far from here, which sells fair dinkum beef, lamb and pork. The guy who owns it actually has his own feedlot not far from Dhaaka and so imports sheep, cattle and pigs from Australia, fattens them up, kills them in his own abortoir and the nsells them. The yanks and Ausssies that I have spoken to all say that he has ttransformed their lives, because good meat was the one thing that you really could not buy in Dhaka before he set up shop. My god I am missing having reall meat, and I am sooo sick of rice. Can't wait to get my own place so that I can cook whatever I want (or at least I can tell my cook what I want to eat), whenever I want. Don't get me wrong, the guest hose is great and the staff very friendly, but its just like living in a hotel - I need my own joint.
Well guy, the next time you pop down to Woolies to buy some bread and milk, give a thought to me.
Cheers shane
The supermarket experience is somewhat exasperating, as the choice is really limited, especially when you really don't know what half of the items are due to the labels being written in Bangla not english, and the few items that you do recognise, which wre mostly imported are expensive. The trick is to find local items that still taste good and arre a fraction of the price of the imported item. So far I have tried 3 types of fresh pasteurised milk, and finally I have found one that doesn't tastte like goat semen, so thaat's good. Can't say the same about my latest choice of Peanut Butter though, it truly is inedible - how can you stuff up something so basic.
The good news though is that an Aussie has set up a shop selling imported Australian and other selected western items (at a rreasonale price), and he will import anything that you want. I just need to find out where exactly his shop is. There is also an Australian butcher shop, not far from here, which sells fair dinkum beef, lamb and pork. The guy who owns it actually has his own feedlot not far from Dhaaka and so imports sheep, cattle and pigs from Australia, fattens them up, kills them in his own abortoir and the nsells them. The yanks and Ausssies that I have spoken to all say that he has ttransformed their lives, because good meat was the one thing that you really could not buy in Dhaka before he set up shop. My god I am missing having reall meat, and I am sooo sick of rice. Can't wait to get my own place so that I can cook whatever I want (or at least I can tell my cook what I want to eat), whenever I want. Don't get me wrong, the guest hose is great and the staff very friendly, but its just like living in a hotel - I need my own joint.
Well guy, the next time you pop down to Woolies to buy some bread and milk, give a thought to me.
Cheers shane
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