Brigid in Bangladesh

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I hate talking in the third person, I find it terribly pretentious but I like the alliteration. Has a nice ring to it, eh? So yeah, I'm in Bangers. Arrived midnight Bengali time, about 4am Australian time. As the plane was landing, the captain informed us that it was 39 degrees celsius outside...and it was midnight!! I had been worried about going through customs what with my year's supply of cockroach baits, anti-mould thingys and um...mooncakes given to me in Singapore, but it turns out there was none. Not for 'us'. We just got waived through, as the locals had to go through the process. I was glad, because I was tired and poopy with customs for confiscating my toothpaste, sunscreen (they aint got none in Bangers, and yeah its hot), and a few other 'liquids' that could have been used to make bombs. Is it just me, or is that crazy? That and the number of times I had to dredge my laptop and umbrella (the monsoon is just ending in Bangladesh) out of my bag and then put it all back in again was painful. But there was nothing of the kind in Bangers, I could even have taken Chinese apples through, hmmph.

I'm glad we arrived at night, and not in the day. Not as full on. Still, the traffic is psychotic...very hairy. I was trying to remember the brace position from the plane's safety procedure, because I didn't have a seatbelt to put on. Slept quite well last night and went for a walk this morning. The streets around this area remind me very much of Nepal. All sorts of cars and contraptions zooming about, people walking everywhere giving you a look - sometimes breaking out into a smile, others seemingly living on the sidewalk - women, children, the elderly. There was company for most of the walk from two larrikins saying "Baksheesh ... baksheesh". I'm sure you can guess the gist of it. But I thought they were pretty cool kids.

I tried my first Bengali out last night on the plane with a Bangladeshi woman sitting next to me. We didn't have a common word between us, and she seemed to just keep talking to me. Maybe my miming skills are out, but I'm pretty sure I do a good illiterate and confused expression. But she kept saying something. So I fished out my phrasebook and told her that I am from Australia, it is lovely to meet her, and that I don't speak Bengali. But I like to think that we briefly bonded as I offered her the food I had not eaten as she was taking whatever food she had left to save for another time, wrapping it up in plastic and storing it away in her bag.

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