Walking through some Dhaka suburbs

Yesterday I took Benny the Wonderdog for a stroll through three different suburbs, Gulshan2 (where our new apartment is), the back of Baridhara where Shane's first apartment was, and down the main shopping district of Bashundhara. On the weekend, Shane had driven me down a narrow back street at the back of Baridhara where small shops, street stalls, rickshaws, cars, CNGs and pedestrians all mingled together to the point of bursting. The scene really captured my imagination and I resolved to go back there.

So, on the first day of the working week (Sunday) I packed lunch for me and Benny, added two bottles of water and set off on a fabulous excursion that took us just under four hours. The locals were very curious about Benny and I was often surrounded by firstly; a bolder Bangladeshi (always the men that approach, not women), then another shyer one would approach because the first person had, and then more would come, until finally there would be half a dozen or more Bangladeshi men and children asking where I was from, where Benny was from, at one point, how much did it cost to get him over to Bandgladesh (!). Then we put on the 'Benny show' of 'sit' and 'shake' followed by pats if any of the locals were game enough. Benny handled all the attention with aplomb and having him with me meant that the focus of the men was not entirely on me, for once. It was a really enjoyable afternoon. Here is how I spent the day via photos...

The colourful washing caught me eye...

These kids were trying to get my
attention as I
walked by their apartment
block.




Richshaws are colourful and quant but also one of the

biggest traffic problems. There are just thousands of them and the drivers are not exactly conversant of road rules (there aren't any..what am I saying?)


 





This little goat wanted to make friends with Benny but Benny was not sure of what it was and what to do. I had a crowd of locals surrounding us, laughing at Benny's reaction. I had a hard time holding onto Benny whilst  trying to take photos and this was the only picture that turned out.




Selling chooks (spatchock size!) and ducks


 

CNGs

  

I want to buy our veges from here rather than
the 'supermarket'

   

See! Bata Shoe store...lots of them; really cheap
shoes and none of them fit! Dohh!



The Bangladeshis just LOVE their chicken so there are
  fast food chook shops like this one, everywhere.

  

There are hundreds of these tiny little 'sell everything
and anything' shops.


 
 
 

Cooking sweet deep fried dessert thing...I know not what yet, but it looked so nice...




Have to get a bedding maker like this one to make us a
'topping' mattress as our bed is like sleeping  on concrete. Apparently the Bangladeshi beds are all like this
and mattresses are the one thing that Expats
say to 'bring your own'


 

The man in the robe out the front didn't mind having
his photo taken a couple of times over

  

Where's the room to build furniture in this?



This is a Bangla dog (wild dogs and they all look the same and they are everywhere). There is no bite behind their bark and they put on a show of toughness...I don't think they really have the energy to fight another dog, really...

These men were expecting me to ask them to take their photo, so I kind of had to as they looked disappointed when I was about to just go past after having just taken shots of someone else across the street!

Another bedding place...

 
 

This is the mosque near Shane's old place where the first call to prayer occurs over the public address system every morning at 5am. I was going to go in and lodge a  formal noise complaint, but was too busy and had to
get going. Lucky for them... :) 

 

Here's a couple of apartments near our old place
that are atypical of the effort they go to in keeping the
frontages nice with gardens and a tad of grass occasionally

  



I then walked through the park near our old apartment which runs alongside the Gulshan Lake. Benny and I sat down and rested (we were absolutely knackered) and ate our lunch. The shade was beautiful, the scenery unreal; I really appreciated the nice shade of green of the water in particular as it matched the trees (hee hee). Here's the pathway lined with trees. Unfortunately, I was kicked out of the park by a guard who said dogs were not allowed but Shane and I are going to take him there again as we did not see any signs and remain unconvinced. 

United Hospital across the other side of the lake
( a private hospital which actually
looks very impressive all lit up at night)



Just apartments across the other side


   

This little bird looks like some sort of Kingfisher. It hung
around for a while. It had striking blue feathers on its back
but everytime I approached it would face me head on so I couldn't photograph the blue feathers  




Here's one of the many sewerage outlets helping to turn the
lake water such a pretty shade of green....



Another 'hole in the road' but
luckily, this one is marked with a funny looking pole (?)
 to warn drivers and pedestrians of how dangerous it is.

  

Couldn't resist photographing the hole's 'ínnards'...
Beeeuutiful! Bit of sewerage, bit of rubbish! Just love to accidently put my foot in that least of all if you are walking down the street at night...!



Just another example of prettying up an apartment