Dhaka Diary: Happy Thanksgiving!

Yikes. I can't believe it's been at least three weeks since my last post. That's a long time. But my lack of posts is due to lack of inspiration. I have not been up to much in Dhaka lately and I will admit, going to the gym and the spa can get a little old after a while. At the same time, I think my lack of inspiration is due to my own laziness. I could have easily organized a day trip outside of Dhaka or visited a museum or two (For example, I still need to visit the Liberation War Museum that depicts Dhaka's fight for independence.). But I didn't, so it's in part my own fault.

I should be feeling some more inspiration soon, however, as I am traveling to Kathmandu, Nepal tomorrow. I'm very excited to get out of Dhaka and explore a new country. I should have an interesting post, along with interesting pictures, when I return. In the meantime, I'll post some pictures that I've taken over the past few weeks to keep you entertained.

A Happy Thanksgiving to all! You can think of me trekking in the Himalayas while you're eating your turkey and stuffing. (Incidentally, I received about 6 invitations for Thanksgiving. Never fear, the Embassy community takes care of each other.)

My Commute to Work: The Traffic and the Garment Factory Workers

Say No to Drugs, Say Yes to Tacos: Outside El Toro, the only Mexican Restaurant in Dhaka (and I would bet all of Bangladesh). It's actually quite decent food for a Tex-Mex restaurant in Bangladesh.

Baskin Robbins in Banani: Baskin Robbins is my favorite kind of ice cream in the States. It wasn't exactly the same in Dhaka. If someone could explain what a "sublime and benignant" ice cream is that would be great. Also "artisan and aberrant" ice cream? I'm not really sure.

The Bull Outside my Hotel: I'm not quite sure what he's doing here.

The next few pictures are from a day trip I took to Gazipur. A colleague and I went to speak with various people about the upcoming Parliamentary elections, which have now been delayed until Decemebr 29th.

Traffic on the Way to Gazipur

The stuff people are able to put on a rickshaw--Amazing. I just feel bad for the poor rickshaw driver.

Narrow Roads: The roads were very narrow the further away from Dhaka we got. Thank goodness our drivers are great.

Crowds: This was a mass of people that surrounded my colleague and me. It doesn't take long before a crowd will surround me, especially in a smaller village.