Dhaka, Bangladesh

Driving Around Bangladesh
December 2 - 7, 2008

Getting to Bangladesh is not an easy thing to do... from airport to hotel room in Dhaka was 31 hours non-stop. Originally, we were supposed to have an overnight layover in Bangkok, Thailand (Dulles to Tokyo to Bangkok to Dhaka), but they had a bit of an airport takeover by protesters and a government meltdown soooo we were rerouted through Hong Kong (Reagan to Chicago to Hong Kong to Dhaka) and did not have any long layovers. I was lucky enough to score an exit row seat (no one in front of me) during the 14 hour flight to Hong Kong, but it was still fairly brutal.

Recent (2005-2007) estimates of Bangladesh's population range from 142 to 159 million, making it the 7th most populous nation in the world. A striking comparison is offered by the fact that Russia's population is slightly smaller even though Russia has a land area at least 120 times bigger than Bangladesh.

So on to the pictures. I did not take good pictures. I just couldn't get anything in focus and I couldn't roll down the car window due to the beggars. The situation in Dhaka is difficult when it comes to beggars- probably not unlike several other cities in developing regions like this- people (mainly women with their babies/children and deformed people/children with missing limbs etc.) crowd cars stuck in traffic (which you ALWAYS are) and tap on the windows... tap tap tap... On my first day in Dhaka as we left the hotel I immediately rolled down my car window to take photos and within seconds there was a woman just standing there at my window with her baby. The driver rolled up my window for me. I turned to take a photo out the opposite window and there was a person standing there tapping with his one arm.

Most of these pictures are obviously taken from my moving car. It was the best I could do. So just consider this set of photos to be your driving tour of Bangladesh.

These photos were taken on our way to Gazipur about an hour and a half outside Dhaka. Gazipur is a small dirt road village/district and I would have taken great photos if I didn't get severely car sick on the drive there. It was so bad that I told the car to pull over and we walked some of the way once we entered the village.