Life in Bangladesh: Big couple of weeks in Dhaka

The past couple of weeks have been very busy and full of surprises, some good, some not so good. The following is a quick run down on all the things that have occured in the space aof about 10 days:

Thursday 15th - Moved into my new apartment (not the best but it will do for now until Lett arrives). My Ayah (cook/house maid) Tonika also oficially started with me on the same day.
Friday 16th - My second driver (I sacked the first one) quit on me because I couldn't or rather wouldn't pay him the exorbident wage and benefits thaat he had become acustomed to after working with various Embassy staff for many years.
Saturday 17th - Woke up aand decided, Stuff It, I don't want to go through all the hassle yet again of hiring another driver, so I will bloody well drive myself (God help me, on the worst roads and worst drivers on the face of the earth). On the same day a young lady turned up at my door saying she was my Ayah (her services are included with the apartment), aand if I decided that I did not need her services, which I don't it would haave meant that she was out of a job and she became very upset at thaat prospect, so needless to say with me being a softie, I now haave 2 Ayahs working for me (every guys dream I guess).
Sunday 18th - Travelled down to Matlab to meeet with my staff there (approximately 30) and other senior icddr,b staff. Was meant to go down and baack by boat but due to heavy rain in the morning we had to go by car. It took us almost 3 hours to travel the 85 off km's down to Matlab, which isn't too bad by Bangladesh road travel standards, but it too 6 hours to get back. In fact we covered the 55 km's to outskirts of Dhaka in just over 2 hours, but it then took 4 hours to travel the last 30 or so km's. Bloody horrific, and to top it off, wheie we were waiting in one of the maany traffic jams, the were hit by the big (6.8) earthquake that hit the Himalaya's. However, it was lovely to be out in the countryside even for a few short hours. It is truly beautiful outside of big dirt Dhaka. I have included a couple of photos.
Monday 19th- I was acosted by 2 police officers in my car after having just driven out of the icddr,b gates, whom then proceeded to extort money from me. They were demanding 10,000 Taka for some crime that I supposedly committed, and in the end I paid them 2,000 Taka just to get them the hell out of my car.
Wednesdaay 21st - My first driver showed up on my doorstep saying that if I took him back he promised to serve me for the rest of his life and give his last drop of blood in doing so. Unfortunaately my soft touch was all used up by then and so I sent him away.
Thursday 22nd - I booked all of mine and Lett's flights and other travel arrangement for December when I will return to Darwwin to pick up my 3rd Ayah.
In between all of these other happenings, I haave met a lot of really great people, staarted learning Bangla, and finaally sorted out my membership with the BAGHA club.