Maximum – people, traffic, chaos, noise, heat, politics, religion, construction, kindness, opportunity…. The road was packed with cars, three-wheeled pedal rickshaws, motorbikes, motorized rickshaws, people, piles of dirt and other construction materials. Vehicles haphazardly inched their way forward, across or backwards – usually only centimeters from other people or vehicles. There appeared to be no traffic laws, no center lines, no turn signals and no one to stop cars from going down the wrong side of the road when the traffic got bad. At one point we watched a legless man, barely visible in the chaos, successfully scoot his way across a “three lane road” which held five lanes of traffic! The only certainty was the maximum pressure exerted on car horns and the maximum volume that resulted!
Sweat poured down our faces and drenched our clothes in the sweltering heat, and we just had to smile. What an amazing place! Different in so many ways from back home – making it our favorite type of country to travel in. Bangladesh was 4 days of intense learning and wonderful reconnecting with our friends Moushumi (Mou) Khan, her husband Munaf and their daughter Sarah.
Mou and Munaf ensured we saw and experienced everything possible during our brief visit to Dhaka. They hosted us for a tour of the city, a peaceful boat ride and village visit outside the city, spa treatments, shopping and of course, amazing food. Luckily, Mou encouraged us to visit during Bengali New Year so we were able to meet many of Mou and Munaf’s friends and crash all the big celebrations throughout the city. Mou can tell you funny stories about how her foreign friends were the only thing that got her past security into one exclusive neighborhood party! Funnily enough, we felt like minor celebrities in Bangladesh. It turns out people like to meet and be seen with foreigners. People even kept stopping Luke and Ryan to take pictures with them (and inviting us into private parties).
Now for a quick history and geography lesson! Bangladesh is the most densely populated country in the world (aside from city-states like Monaco and Singapore) and has the 7th largest population with over 160 million people. 87% of the country is Muslim with the rest predominantly Hindu. Bangladesh is a relatively new country, having gained their independence from Great Britain in 1947 (as part of the partition of India and Pakistan) and then achieving independence from Pakistan after a war in 1971. Today, the country is messily democratic in a dynastic sort of way (think Nehru/Ghandi, Kennedy, Bush) and is having political instability with frequent strikes that are shutting down commerce and hurting the economy. We loved learning from our friends and their community about what is occurring politically and what they aspire to achieve. A fair segment of the population live in less than ideal situations but there seems to be an agreement among the people (maybe not the politicians) that the country must work together to advance living standards for all. There is a lot of work to do in Bangladesh but also a lot of enthusiasm for a better future. We look forward to following Bangladesh’s path over the next few years and visiting again when we have more time.
