Well it's been almost 3 months now since I arrived in Dhaka, and more than 1 month since my last blog update. I have seen and experienced so much in the short time that I have been here, much of which has been a real struggle. Dhaka is a hard place to live, and I have had lots of ups, but a lot of downs as well, One thing that I know for sure is that Dhaka would be impossible to survive for any length of time if you don't regularly get out of the city, even if it's only for a couple of days at a time every month or so. Otherwise Dhaka is like a huge whirlpool that will suck you in and drown you in a sea of humanity, poverty, and muck. Once you venture outside Dhaka however, it is a whole different world, the countryside is beautiful, the people are happy, smiling and friendly, and life happens at a slower pace and in keeping with the seasons.
The USA
Last month I spent a week in the USA, where I visited the Carrier factory in Charlotte, North Carolina for the purpose of witnessing the final performance testing of 2 of our new Air Conditiong chillers for the Dhaka hospital extension. Charlotte is a very beautiful city with a huge amount of history. It was a very important place during the American civil war, and the old graave yard in the centre of the city contains the graves of many famous Confederate Army soldiers. It is also the USA's banking capital with both the Bank of America and Wells Fargo Bank having their corporate headquarters there. In fact the Bank of America owns almost 50% of the CBD properties, with Wells fargo and Duke Energy owning most of the remaining 50%. Duke Energy which is the US's third largest electricity company, is owned by the Duke family who have lived in the area since the late 1700's, and were the inspiration for the Duke's of Hazard TV series (just a bit of useless information there). Charlotte is also home to NASCAR and has the NASCAR Hall of Fame, which I was lucky enough to spend a half day visiting. It was great, they even have a race caar simulator, that you can have a go at driving (you can select from about a dozen different tracks), I chose the Daytona track, but spun and rolled on about my 5th lap.
After Chaarlotte I spent a couple of days in New York, where I visited so many plaaces that I haave always wanted to see, including the World Trade Centre site, Central park, the Museum of Naturaal Hisstory, the State Empire Building, Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn, Manhatten (Imy hotel was in central Manhatten), Broadway, and the USS Intrepid (a WW2 aircraft carrier that has been turned into a museum). New York is an amazing place, and I was amazed at how little traffic there is, although in comparison to Dhaka, anywhere would probably seem good, it is also amazingly quiet, mostly because they have a $350 on the spot fine for honking your horn (God I wish Dhaka had this). The food is also incredible, not just in quality, but in the size of the servings - an entree in New York is as big as a main meal in Australia, and their main servings are ridiculous.
CHARLOTTE
Looking across the Hudson River to New Jersey and the Statue of Liberty
SR-71 Blackbird - over 40 years old and still the fastest manned aircraft ever built. This one was operated by the CIA
Two different styles of luxury transportIn and Around Dhaka
In the past month I haave done a lot of travelling both in and around Dhaka, including a couple of trips down to Matlab, which is where we have our second largest hospital and is also from where we run our population studies project, which is the largest and oldest study of its type in the world. For the past 50 years we have been maintaining statistics on almost 250,000 people including birth rates, diseases and illnesses, health, genetic disorders etc. These statistics are then used by us and ur partner organisations such as the World Health Organisation, the UN and UNICEF to get a better understanding of what factors contribute to poor health, malnutrition, diabetes (a huge problem in the sub continent), poverty, birth raates and deformities etc. Getting to and from Dhaka is a major headache though, because even though it is less than 60km from Dhaka, it will take at least 3 1/2 hours to get there (so llong as you leave by 6:30 am before the traffic gets bad), and at least 5 hours to come home so long as you leave Matlab by 2:00pm so thaat you reach Dhaka befor ethe trucks staart entering the city (no trucks are allowed to drive into the city until 6:00pm), which means that it takes between 8 and 10 hours of driving to do a round trip of less than 120km. Going by boat cuts this time almost in half, but because of it costs more thaan driving (the boats are based in Matlab, which means that they actually have to do 4 trips), we don't often take this option, which is a pity because it is much more pleasant than being cooped up in a vehicle for hours on end crawling along or stuck in traffic jams, and it is also more picturesque.
Most of my travelling around Dhaka has been done with me at the wheel, which is definately not for the fient hearted and not something that you should try at home (unless under the supervision of a psychotic maniac). A drunk epileptic wombat would have more road sense than Bangladesh drivers. Stupidity doesn't even come close to describing the manner in which people over here drive, and then of course there are the bus drivers and rickshaaw pushers, who take things to a whole new level of stupid; oh and of course there are the pedestriaans who think it is quite OK to wander across a 4 lane major road at peak hour and expect everyone to miss them, or think nothing of walking down the middle of the road while chatting on their mobile and get pissed off when you nearly hit them or yell at them to get the hell out of the way. Yes, driving in Dhaka is such a relaxing past time, but it does provide a new adventure every day. It also gives you something to be grateful for every day (arriving at your destination in one piece). The other aamazing thing with Bangladesh people and drivers in particular is that they take no responsibility whatsoever for anything - it doesn't maatter what they have done, or how utterly stupid they have been - when iit all goes wrong which it frequently does; it is always the other persons fault e.g., driving the wrong way up a major road and then cutting across an intersection and diving into a 1 metre wide gap, and being hit by another car in the process is not my fault because it was you that ran into me, why did you do that, I beeped my horn loudly and flashed you with my high beam?Right of way here is aall based on size and who manages to get their nose in front first, so if you are a bus, you can do anything you want, and if you have even a little bit of your nose stuck into a gap or out into a road, then everyone must stop and give way to you or go around you. It really is a place where the only way that you can appreciated how dangerous and chaotic the roads are, is to be in amongst it. The other rule for all no Bangladesh drivers is thaat if you hit something or someone, get the hell out of there as fast as possible, regardless of whether it was a car, rickshaw and child involved. The reason for this is because over here they have a real mob mentality and arre always eager to apply street justice, which means thaat if you are involved in an accident and are foolish enough to stick around to assist or talk, you will probably be dragged out of your car and beaten to death, beacsue it must have been your fault.
On weekends, I have been ttrying to get out and go exploring by driving to different parts of the city, but it is very hard because it is extreemely hard to navigate around Dhaka due to a combination of the incredible amount of traffic, no traffic rules, which means you literally get shunted all over the place, almost no street or road signs, and GPS's very raarely work in Dhaka (if there was just one place on earth where you reaally want a GPS to work it would be Dhaka). I have found that the best day to go driving is Friday, beacause it is prayer day which means that there is a lot less traffic, but at the same time it is also the one day that you can guaraantee that your GPS will not work, but anyway, it is the day when I do most of my exploring.
Dhaka is full of wierd and unusual scuptures. This one is my favourite, which I found in front of a Service Station not far from the icddr,b hospital. It is made completely of old car and motor cycle parts, mostly motor cycle chains.............
The first week in November is the second of the rwo Muslim Eid festivals. This one is celebrated by slaughtering cattle in honour of Allah, which is fine except that all animals must be killed Hallal stype (throats are cut and the beast os then bled out), which I can also cope with. The problem is that in a city of 15 million peoples, it means that tens of thousands of cattle are brought into Dhaka and then slaughtered in the streets, literally creating rivers of blood in the streets, plus they then have no where to dispose of the offal and all the other bits that are not eaten, so this all gets tossed out into the streets - not a nice thought. I am told that the stench in the older pasrts of the city is pretty much unbearable, so I reckon it is definately a good time to get out of Dhaka, so I am off to Chiang Mai in Thailand (riding elephants, being pampered, eating great food, and trekking to see the mountain tribes - can't wait). After that I have to travel to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia for work, and then down Chittagong in the southern part of Bangladesh (Chittaging has the worlds largest ship breaking yard, where hundreds of huge old ships are dragged up on to the beach by men on ropes, where they are then broken up for scrap - they say it is an incredible sight, especially from the air when you are flying into Chittagong). Then after that, it will be time for me to fly home to Darwin to pack up the house and say our goodbyes, before returning to Dhaka with Lett. The next 6 or so weeks are going to be very busy, but hopefully I will still have time to post some more updates on the Blog.
The USA
Last month I spent a week in the USA, where I visited the Carrier factory in Charlotte, North Carolina for the purpose of witnessing the final performance testing of 2 of our new Air Conditiong chillers for the Dhaka hospital extension. Charlotte is a very beautiful city with a huge amount of history. It was a very important place during the American civil war, and the old graave yard in the centre of the city contains the graves of many famous Confederate Army soldiers. It is also the USA's banking capital with both the Bank of America and Wells Fargo Bank having their corporate headquarters there. In fact the Bank of America owns almost 50% of the CBD properties, with Wells fargo and Duke Energy owning most of the remaining 50%. Duke Energy which is the US's third largest electricity company, is owned by the Duke family who have lived in the area since the late 1700's, and were the inspiration for the Duke's of Hazard TV series (just a bit of useless information there). Charlotte is also home to NASCAR and has the NASCAR Hall of Fame, which I was lucky enough to spend a half day visiting. It was great, they even have a race caar simulator, that you can have a go at driving (you can select from about a dozen different tracks), I chose the Daytona track, but spun and rolled on about my 5th lap.
After Chaarlotte I spent a couple of days in New York, where I visited so many plaaces that I haave always wanted to see, including the World Trade Centre site, Central park, the Museum of Naturaal Hisstory, the State Empire Building, Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn, Manhatten (Imy hotel was in central Manhatten), Broadway, and the USS Intrepid (a WW2 aircraft carrier that has been turned into a museum). New York is an amazing place, and I was amazed at how little traffic there is, although in comparison to Dhaka, anywhere would probably seem good, it is also amazingly quiet, mostly because they have a $350 on the spot fine for honking your horn (God I wish Dhaka had this). The food is also incredible, not just in quality, but in the size of the servings - an entree in New York is as big as a main meal in Australia, and their main servings are ridiculous.
CHARLOTTE
Bank of America Headquarters
NASCAR Hall of Fame
Some old Classics
NEW YORK
Full of strange sights
The leafy streets of mid town Manhatten - very pretty
(note the sign saying ''No Honking" sure makes for a quiet city)
Car parking in NYC - ridiculously expensive , $100 per day and more
For such a huge city, New York has parks and gardens everywhere, and heaps of sporting facilities tthat everyone can use. This park is beside the Hudson River and has football filelds, tennis and basket ball courts, skating rinks, mini golf, a swimming pool and a host of other recraaetion facilities.
World Trade Centre site - new Tower 1 nearing completion (102 floors).
St Pauls Chapel and grave yard beside the WTC site
View from the Empire State Building - looking towards downtown Manhatten, Brooklyn and Sttten Island.
The Statue of Liberty and Manhatten viewed from the statten Island ferry.
Times Square
View from my hotel window - Empire State Building (pretty spectacular having this as a backdrop when going to sleep).
Another Ausie in the Big Apple
(Commodore GTS rebadged as a Pontiac)
CentraL Park
(Commodore GTS rebadged as a Pontiac)
CentraL Park
Museum of Natural History
Some words of Wisdom
Estimated to be over 1500 years old when cut down, and still with many yaers of life remaining (over 4 metres in diameter)
USS Intrepid
A veteran of 2 wars (WW2, Cold War and Vietnam), hit by 2 torpedoes and 6 Kamakazee pilots, but still survived. One very large ship, but still 100 metres smaller than todays Nuclear carriers.
Intrepid replica made from over one hundred thousand leggo bricks.
A4 Skyhawk flown by John McCain in Vietnam
In the past month I haave done a lot of travelling both in and around Dhaka, including a couple of trips down to Matlab, which is where we have our second largest hospital and is also from where we run our population studies project, which is the largest and oldest study of its type in the world. For the past 50 years we have been maintaining statistics on almost 250,000 people including birth rates, diseases and illnesses, health, genetic disorders etc. These statistics are then used by us and ur partner organisations such as the World Health Organisation, the UN and UNICEF to get a better understanding of what factors contribute to poor health, malnutrition, diabetes (a huge problem in the sub continent), poverty, birth raates and deformities etc. Getting to and from Dhaka is a major headache though, because even though it is less than 60km from Dhaka, it will take at least 3 1/2 hours to get there (so llong as you leave by 6:30 am before the traffic gets bad), and at least 5 hours to come home so long as you leave Matlab by 2:00pm so thaat you reach Dhaka befor ethe trucks staart entering the city (no trucks are allowed to drive into the city until 6:00pm), which means that it takes between 8 and 10 hours of driving to do a round trip of less than 120km. Going by boat cuts this time almost in half, but because of it costs more thaan driving (the boats are based in Matlab, which means that they actually have to do 4 trips), we don't often take this option, which is a pity because it is much more pleasant than being cooped up in a vehicle for hours on end crawling along or stuck in traffic jams, and it is also more picturesque.
Most of my travelling around Dhaka has been done with me at the wheel, which is definately not for the fient hearted and not something that you should try at home (unless under the supervision of a psychotic maniac). A drunk epileptic wombat would have more road sense than Bangladesh drivers. Stupidity doesn't even come close to describing the manner in which people over here drive, and then of course there are the bus drivers and rickshaaw pushers, who take things to a whole new level of stupid; oh and of course there are the pedestriaans who think it is quite OK to wander across a 4 lane major road at peak hour and expect everyone to miss them, or think nothing of walking down the middle of the road while chatting on their mobile and get pissed off when you nearly hit them or yell at them to get the hell out of the way. Yes, driving in Dhaka is such a relaxing past time, but it does provide a new adventure every day. It also gives you something to be grateful for every day (arriving at your destination in one piece). The other aamazing thing with Bangladesh people and drivers in particular is that they take no responsibility whatsoever for anything - it doesn't maatter what they have done, or how utterly stupid they have been - when iit all goes wrong which it frequently does; it is always the other persons fault e.g., driving the wrong way up a major road and then cutting across an intersection and diving into a 1 metre wide gap, and being hit by another car in the process is not my fault because it was you that ran into me, why did you do that, I beeped my horn loudly and flashed you with my high beam?Right of way here is aall based on size and who manages to get their nose in front first, so if you are a bus, you can do anything you want, and if you have even a little bit of your nose stuck into a gap or out into a road, then everyone must stop and give way to you or go around you. It really is a place where the only way that you can appreciated how dangerous and chaotic the roads are, is to be in amongst it. The other rule for all no Bangladesh drivers is thaat if you hit something or someone, get the hell out of there as fast as possible, regardless of whether it was a car, rickshaw and child involved. The reason for this is because over here they have a real mob mentality and arre always eager to apply street justice, which means thaat if you are involved in an accident and are foolish enough to stick around to assist or talk, you will probably be dragged out of your car and beaten to death, beacsue it must have been your fault.
On weekends, I have been ttrying to get out and go exploring by driving to different parts of the city, but it is very hard because it is extreemely hard to navigate around Dhaka due to a combination of the incredible amount of traffic, no traffic rules, which means you literally get shunted all over the place, almost no street or road signs, and GPS's very raarely work in Dhaka (if there was just one place on earth where you reaally want a GPS to work it would be Dhaka). I have found that the best day to go driving is Friday, beacause it is prayer day which means that there is a lot less traffic, but at the same time it is also the one day that you can guaraantee that your GPS will not work, but anyway, it is the day when I do most of my exploring.
River life at Matlab
Dhaka is full of wierd and unusual scuptures. This one is my favourite, which I found in front of a Service Station not far from the icddr,b hospital. It is made completely of old car and motor cycle parts, mostly motor cycle chains.............
The first week in November is the second of the rwo Muslim Eid festivals. This one is celebrated by slaughtering cattle in honour of Allah, which is fine except that all animals must be killed Hallal stype (throats are cut and the beast os then bled out), which I can also cope with. The problem is that in a city of 15 million peoples, it means that tens of thousands of cattle are brought into Dhaka and then slaughtered in the streets, literally creating rivers of blood in the streets, plus they then have no where to dispose of the offal and all the other bits that are not eaten, so this all gets tossed out into the streets - not a nice thought. I am told that the stench in the older pasrts of the city is pretty much unbearable, so I reckon it is definately a good time to get out of Dhaka, so I am off to Chiang Mai in Thailand (riding elephants, being pampered, eating great food, and trekking to see the mountain tribes - can't wait). After that I have to travel to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia for work, and then down Chittagong in the southern part of Bangladesh (Chittaging has the worlds largest ship breaking yard, where hundreds of huge old ships are dragged up on to the beach by men on ropes, where they are then broken up for scrap - they say it is an incredible sight, especially from the air when you are flying into Chittagong). Then after that, it will be time for me to fly home to Darwin to pack up the house and say our goodbyes, before returning to Dhaka with Lett. The next 6 or so weeks are going to be very busy, but hopefully I will still have time to post some more updates on the Blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment