We arrived in Bangladesh on Thursday afternoon. Total travel time was just about 24 hours including the layover in China. All in all, it wasn't as bad as I had expected. I slept through most of the first 12-hour flight. I watched some Tom Cruise movie about the human race being forced to relocation to a moon of Saturn. Only minor plot holes. I also caught the first half of Slumdog Millionaire since I figured I should probably do some minimal research about what life in India is like before my trip in a couple weeks, and what better way then Slumdog Millionaire, right?
This will probably not be your typical trip to Bangladesh. My dad used to do business out here and he knows a handful of people in the upper echelons of the business world of Bangladesh, which means we will be well taken-care of throughout the trip. One of his friends in particular, RA, is basically providing everything for us while we are out here. Upon our arrival at the airport in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, we went and waited in the customs line. RA had sent a driver for us who was a couple minutes late and apologized profusely when he found us. We were then whisked out of the normal customs line and taken to an area labeled "VIP Arrival". This is where all of the diplomats and incredibly wealthy people go when they arrive here. And us, apparently. We handed our passports to the driver who took care of our immigration stuff while my dad and I waited in a posh airport lounge.
After customs, we were driven to the guest house RA provided for us while we are here. We were greeted by a Bangladeshi man and a well-dressed woman and sat with her in the living room. I didn't really understand who these people were at the time, but it turns out that this guest house is actually her house, she is an executive at RA's company, and the man is her full-time servant.
We are staying in a sector called Baridhara, which I would describe as akin to the Presidio in San Francisco. It's a relatively safe, relatively nice part of Dhaka and is also where all of the embassies are located. Conveniently the U.S. embassy (which is huge) is right down the street. I say relatively nice because compared to Bangladeshi standards, where we are staying is among the best of the best. Still, there's something that feels distinctly third world about it. I think it's the lights. They give off a somewhat sterile, while light rather than the warm yellows we have at home. Obviously there are a lot of other things (really old appliances, spotty hot water access, lack of ventilation) but I think it's really the lights that make the difference. Of course, this is juxtaposed against cable tv, beautiful furniture, and brightly-painted walls.
RA has provided us with a driver the entire time we are here. Having drivers and servants is standard practice among the well-to-do in Bangladesh and they are shockingly inexpensive by American standards, each getting paid $1-2/day for 24-hour service. Their families live in the suburbs and they only get to see them once or twice a year.
This afternoon our driver took us out for a tour of Dhaka. There isn't that much to see here. Bangladeshis get two weeks off for Eid and so the city was relatively empty compared to how is usually is. Everyone will return on Friday.
Poverty is pervasive in the streets of Bangladesh. I had been warned about this many, many times but I thought I'd still feel a deep sense of sorrow upon seeing it. It turns out... I didn't. It's sad to see, yes, but not the deep, painful sorrow one might feel for an entire class of impoverished people. Maybe it's because I've been desensitized to it from all of the homelessness in San Francisco, maybe it's because I don't feel that closely connected to these people, but it just didn't affect me like I thought it would. I think there is also something to be said for the fact that it's so omnipresent that no one scene of poverty really stands out from the rest.
After our drive, we went to one of the stomping grounds of high society in Bangladesh: Gloria Jean's Coffees. If that sounds familiar to you, it's because it is; Gloria Jean's is an Australian coffee company with over a thousand locations worldwide and it's really nothing different than your typical Starbucks. Prices are only slightly less than they would be in America, but that means that relative to Bangladesh, only the incredibly wealthy can afford to spend a few dollars on a cup of coffee and not think twice. The patrons of this place were distinctly different than what I had seen of Bangladesh thus far (aside from the airport VIP lounge). Well-dressed, many speaking English, and a handful of people who were clearly not native Bangladeshis.
We have no itinerary while we are here so we'll just be taking each day as it comes. I'm excited to see what this place has in store for me over the next week and a half.
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