Return to the Desh

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This is my second year living in Dhaka and I have certainly settled into a routine here, but the city still surprises me. I have learned not to take anything for granted. I was away for two months this summer, but now after a couple weeks of getting back into life and work here, I went out on a little trip around the city.

Some of these photos are of markets in Dhaka, some are of rivers and areas near the city. All of them were taken in one day. We started at 8am and I didn't get home until 8 that night. It was quite a day.

This blog is also available on www.heatherjasper.com

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Photos

Pumpkins!
When we arrived at the market we had to skirt around the piles of pumpkins to get to anything.

Veggie Lovers
Everything at this market is sold in bulk. Most vendors won't sell anything less than five kilos.

Chichinga
Also called snake gourd, these can grow up to 2 meters long. They look like English cucumbers but have to be cooked and taste like a mild zucchini.

Bitter Gourd
The bumpy cucumber-like vegetable is the very aptly named bitter gourd. They're very good in spicy curries, especially with the hot green peppers sold with them.

Kakrul
From a distance you might mistake kakrul for limes, until you notice that they have spikes. Also called teasle gourd, they have a mild flavor a bit like a zucchini and very flavorful seeds. They taste like pumpkin seeds but are embedded like watermelon seeds and impossible to take out. They add an extra flavorful crunch.

Hot Chilis
Walking through the area with chilis my eyes and nose burned. Dozens of machines were grinding these full bags of peppers into powder.

Turmuric
In the spice area of the market were bags of spices, some to be sold whole and others awaiting the griders.

Spices
Most of these were imported spices, cloves from Zanzibar, black pepper from Vietnam, nutmeg from Malaysia and more.

Quid Pro Quo
When people take pictures of me I reciprocate.

People's Market
This area of the market is where people buy food for themselves, as opposed to the bulk area that only sells to restaurants and shops.

On the Fringe
Outside the market area were people selling what little they had.

Fresh Coconut Milk
Green coconuts are refreshing and we got quite a crowd when we stopped for a drink. Crowds gather here in the blink of an eye so we had kept moving through the market but now needed to pause for a break, no matter how many people stopped to stare at the foreigners.

Growing Pains
Dhaka is growing so fast that new shops and apartments just add their power lines to the existing ones.

Hindu Street
As with all big cities, Dhaka has distinct neighborhoods, like the Hindu neighborhood Shakhari Bazar. It's the place to go for incense and Shakha, the bangle bracelets made from conch shells.

It's the Simple Things
This woman was so talkative and friendly when I stopped for water that I really wished that I understood Bangla.

Behind the Scenes
Just off the lively action of the main street are the alleys where people live and work.

Sonargaon - the Golden City
Leaving Dhaka we drove 29 kilometers, which took two hours, to Sonargaon, the ancient capital of the Bengal Empire. It's pronounced Shonargun and is as quiet as Dhaka is loud. It was the eastern capital of Bengal for most of the empire's history.

In With the Old
Sonargaon has been mostly abandoned, but the name still means a lot here. It was the Hindu capital before the Muslim generals began arriving in the 13th century and took most of the political power.

Crumbling Capital
Sonargaon is still strategically located near the confluence of the Meghna and Jamuna (Brahmaputra) rivers but it's abandonment began in the 17th century and it doesn't look to me like glory will be restored here any time soon.

Back to Nature
The incessant heat and humidity of Bangladesh can make anything grow. Sonargaon will be fields again soon enough.

The End of Monsoon
The rains are slowing, but as we left Sonargaon and drove through the countryside we saw that most of the fields are still lakes.