Dhaka

Parliament

Dhaka – Bangladesh's capital - is a megacity and one of the major cities of South Asia with a population of over 12 million. This makes it the largest city in Bangladesh and the 9th largest city in the world – it is also among the most densely populated cities in the world.

Curzon Hall

In the morning we went go on a guided orientation tour which included some of the principal sights of the city including the Liberation War Museum which graphically illustrated the battle / genocide that led to East Pakistan breaking away from the larger / oppressive West Pakistan - including the blind-eye turned by most of the world to the bloody conflict. We also visited the Lalbagh Fort, the Curzon Hall in the University and the Parliament building.

In the afternoon we took a boat trip along the Buriganga River. In the distant past, the Ganges used to reach the Bay of Bengal through the Dhaleshwari river. This course gradually shifted and ultimately lost its link with the main channel of the Ganges and was renamed as the Buriganga.

We joined the myriad of other crafts from cargo vessels to small canoes. The country's rivers are its lifeblood, irrigating its fertile plains and providing transport connections. It's even a place to live for the Bhadja (river gypsies) who move as a clan in their houseboats from river to river – allegedly, it is one of the best places from which to observe the life of this. However, we saw no sign of this romantic bunch - just the local washing themselves and their clothing in the water running sluggishly past their hovels.

However, the river is unfortunately Dhaka's main outlet of sewage waste - newspaper articles in 2004 indicated that up to 80% of its sewage was untreated. A number of industries, including tanneries also discharge their chemical waste in to the river. Luckily, during the monsoon flood the river is "flushed" every year.

Almost Sinking

On the banks there were numerous shipyards building new vessels and mending older ones - the ring of heavy hammers on thick steel plate must have been like that on the banks of the Clyde and in Belfast in their prime. There was a constant stream of small-ish vessels loaded with enough sand to push the hull into the water until the gunnels were under water. Big passenger ferries backed with humanity surged past us and little row boats with one or two passengers being taken from one bank to another. Where there were no ship yards there was a myriad of activity : un/loading all manner of goods, sleeping, laundry, a naval minesweeper, a small floating dry dock. I think we could all have spent much longer observing the pulse of river life.

Pink Palace

Following this, we visited the Pink Palace – an old impressive building which has been turned into a museum with a good historical collection. There were impressive iron gates into this site - looking back as we walk in the bars of the big double gates were being grasped by a solid wall of males looking in at our party. The smaller gate for pedestrians was similarly lined by females - there is evidently a gender split even in rubbernecking !

From here we walked on through the narrow lanes of old Dhaka - squeezing into the sides to let the constant stream of cycle rickshaws to pass, fielding innumerable queries of "where are you from", getting an insight into local life and being importuned to take picture of or with locals.

There was very slow trip back to the hotel through the disappearing light and the grindlingly slow traffic. Sitting behind the driver, it was frightening to see how close some of the vehicles come to each other - and more importantly - to our bus. So close, o very close but no contact. However, many of the buses and trucks seem to be more filler than original metal and many of the newer cars have added metal nudge bars.
It was quite late when we eventually arrived back at the hotel. So about half elected to eat in and the remainder (including yours truly) went out to a local eatery for an excellent meal. Whilst we had taken our bus there, we had let our driver have an early night and took cycle rickshaws back home. All was going well until the frame of one broke and pitched one of us into the road. Luckily, she was only shaken but had a lucky escape the vehicle was just about to overtake.
 This has been written as I've watched the Irish beat England in the cricket World Cup and my Celtic roots came to the front !