a week ago i came to dhaka, just wanted to buy a ticket for the opening of the icc cricket world cup and the first match, which takes place today. but it was unfortunately impossible to buy tickets...it was sold out for weeks already. so i went to the trainstation, to buy a train ticket to the north west of bangladesh...but since there was (until today) a public holiday in bangladesh, all the trains were fully booked...and so were the buses. so i had no choice but to stay in dhaka, and to wait for my flight on the 20th. i wanted to do a lot of sightseeing, since i had a lot of time...but because of the public holiday all the museums etc. were closed...so i was not really lucky - and im happy to leave tomorrow!
when i came back from the trainstation i saw many people gathering in the streets, armed with sticks. the crowd got bigger, and then a lot of police arrived. i decided its better for me to leave there...a bit away i asked somebody, what had happened. it was an angry crowd of shareholders who had lost their money - there was/is a crisis in the stockmarket in bangladesh. just a few minutes later i saw police men beating up rickshaw drivers...not really beating them up, but beating their feet...really badly. i also decidet that thats not a good place for me to be either...especially if you follow what happens around the (arabic) world...and i am in a muslim country, and a very poor one as well (30% live with less then 1 US Dollar per day). i just hoped everything would stay carlm. and yesterday i went to see a garden...and suddenly many military cars appeared on the streets - it reminded me a lot on what i have seen the previous day from bahrain (i have a room with TV!!). but nothing else happened...so i think it should be safe.
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| the army in the backside of the picture...they had MANY trucks |
just a few more things worth telling from my last week:
i am always asked where i come from. and seriously two people asked me whether i was from korea or japan. that was no joke, they really thought i was from one of these countries (and i was totally sobber!)!!
when i came back to dhaka i went to the same hotel where i stayed on my previous stay. they showed me a room (which was obviously not cleaned, the bin was full, the floor dirty, the ashtrade full...) but they said it was clean. i got a little upset, told them to clean it and i would come back. i lfet the hotel and decidet to ask in some hotels close to mine if they have room. most of them had room - but they would not allow foreigners to stay in their hotel. so i had to go back to my old hotel, which is a littel expensive...but i just have no choice! and its not really a nice feeling, if you cant go to a hotel - "just" because you are a foreigner. and in the hotel where i life (and foreigners are obviously allowed) i was not able to make a reservation for the time i thought i would be back in dhaka. "because if something happens to me and i have a reservation in their hotel..." it did not even work when i wanted to pay in advance!! but in general most people are very welcoming towards me...even though on the street sometimes people talk to me in bangla (which i unfortunately dont speak), but you can guess from the way people talk (and react) what they are saying...and its not always nice...but i dont care about that!
so...some impressions from dhaka:
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| the daily newspaper...sticked to the wall...there are many places like this where people can read for free |
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| daily race! |
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| a house knocked down...and they reuse all the bricks |
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| cleaning windows |
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| construction site...eine strickleiter aus bambus...extrem hoch! and extremly dangerous work |
one day i made a tour on the river...it was really nice to see the city and life from this perspective. the water though is dirty...its black, and really dirty - and it stinks. never the less people are bathing in it, washing themselves as well as their clothes.
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| i was in a boat like this...there are hundreds of them |
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| my boat... |
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| ...and my "driver" |
he did not speak any english...but we had a good time. i bought some biscuits, which he happily shared with me. and so he was in a good mood - until the tour was over, and he wanted more money then on what we agreed in the beginning (i had help of a local man, so he knew the price!!). this is a thing that happens often...that my price is higher then the local price, and that a price is higher in the end then in the beginning (e.g. at a rickshaw ride). thats annoying, but understandable...they just see my coulour of skin (and hair!!) and immediately think im rich (which makes sence in a way...with golden hair!).
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| laundry, washed in the river...i wonder how the white shirts remain so white...i really wonder... |
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| house boat - people living in there. |
and the people "in" the river were also happy to see me. many wanted that i take a picture of them - even though they never even had a chance to have a look at it! but its nice how happy they can be with such little things!
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| the worldcup is present everywhere, and since i stayed quite a while in dhaka (and lived close to the stadium) i could see the change every day. it got cleaner and cleaner around the stadium - locals reassured that to me "it has never been so clean!" |
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| a mosque |
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| central court |
the guy who walked with me there said that this building has not really a meaning - since everybody is so currupt!
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| people are very proud that the worldcup will take place in their country |
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| thanks guys, it was nice to meet you! |
one day i was in the botanical garden. its really nice to be in the nature - especially if you life in a polluted and noisy city as dhaka. as i said earlier many people ask me about my nationality and my name. so it happened as well in the park. a small boy asked my about my name, i said "sevi" and continued to walk. after some time i heared somebody screaming "sevi, sevi" but made no conmnection to me...who shall call me here anyways?! then i turned around and saw him running towards me, gesturing for me to stop. so i stopped, and he introduced himself...and was very happy to get to know me. and he wanted to take a picture (it was 5 in the end i think!) with me. he always adressed me as "uncle", which the smaller children do in this country. and if you are the same age its "brother"...actually quite a nice way to adress people (it was the same in nepal and india...bhai=brother, didi=sister...). and i also met the guys on the picture and spend some time with them...it was nice to meet people who speak english and have more or less the same interests as me! we could talk about football, women,...but you have to know that their culture is very diffferent, mostly with arranged marriages and so on...but its really interesting!
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| on the day of the opening of the world cup, in front of the stadium |
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| my favourite waiter |
this boy is a waiter in a restaurant just opposite my hotel... i go there often, they have very good sobje (vegetables) and paratha (a thin bread, on the next picture). and since i stopped eating meat in nepal, its sometimes difficukt for e to find something good vegetarian to eat in bangladesh...thats the reason to go there so often. and its really fun wth the people in there...the small boy now finally learned that i am from austria (and not australia) and keeps telling all the guests - and correcting them when they say "ah...australia". also in the street where i live so many people have asked me where i was from...and even though i try to correct australia into austria all the time:if i walk town the street now i hear every few meters "australia..." "australia..." really a pitty i forgot to buy a "no cangaroos in austria" t-shirt before i left home!
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| making paratha...in "my" restaurant |
tomorrow i have my flight to kuala lumpur, where i will stay untill the 22nd. then i fly to bangkok, where i will meet flo again, and we will make the visa for myanmar toghther...hope that they dont get contagued (das soll angesteckt heisse...kein plan obs stimmt!) by what is happening in many arab countries...because in myanmar i think it would be a damn violent crack down...but you will hear from me again before i leave bangkok!!
