Monthly Archives: April 2014

Dressing like a local in Bangladesh

As a woman travelling in Bangladesh, it’s a good idea to pay attention to local customs in terms of dress. Ladies here usually wear either a sari, a long dress, or a salwar kameez (a long tunic worn over trousers with a scarf/shawl) and as a visitor loose fitting clothes which cover the legs and shoulders are the best bet – you will get a lot of stares as a foreigner anyway, there’s no need to attract even more by wearing tight T-shirts or shorts.

My original kit included a couple of shirts but that wasn’t going to be enough for a month in a hot and dusty country so it was time to go shopping! Tempted by the bright colours (and relative similarity to my usual trousers and shirt) of the salwar kameez I decided to try one for myself and Andrew and I ventured into the chaos of Khulna market. With dozens of small shops all displaying a wide variety of patterns and colours and all seemingly different from each other it was quite overwhelming at first and we did a full circuit without approaching a shop.

20140330-161752.jpgColourful salwar kameezes for sale in Mymensingh market

Eventually I spied one that I liked and pointed it out to the shopkeeper who promptly pulled out three more colours in the same style, but I preferred the green one which he had on display. I’d heard in the past that it is common to have clothes tailor made in Asia but I’d naively assumed that buying from a market I would choose my style, be offered a choice of small, medium or large and be ready to go. So I was alarmed when he unpinned the tunic from the dummy and it was huge and obviously unfinished at the neckline. As we agreed on the price (about £10), I tried to ask him about the finishing and if it was included. His English was only slightly better than my Bengali but eventually he understood my question and indicated that I had to take it to a tailor to be finished and directed us to a shop around the corner.

The tailor was a little less intimidating than the shops and he quickly started taking measurements and making cryptic notes on a piece of paper, asking how long I wanted the tunic and showing me a couple of different options for the finish on the hem of the trousers. Within ten minutes we were on our way with the receipt. Two days and an incredibly low £2 later we excitedly collected the adjusted clothes and scurried back to the hotel to try them on!

20140322-170832.jpgThe finished article!

The salwar (trousers) look like baggy clown pants and I wasn’t sure how I’d feel wearing them, but actually I’m really pleased with the result and it’s cool and comfortable in the heat of the day although I don’t think I’ll be wearing them after we leave Bangladesh. The only bit that I can’t get used to is the scarf which seems to fall off my shoulders every other minute. I assumed that local women must have some kind of trick to keep it on but when I asked a lady who we met on the train, she laughed and replied ‘habit’ so I guess it’s just practice… Another upside is that practically every time I’ve worn it locals have commented approvingly asking where I bought my outfit or saying ‘nice dress ‘ or ‘Bangla dress’.

Village life and ancient mosques in Bagerhat, Bangladesh

The area around the small town of Bagerhat in southwestern Bangladesh is home to more ancient mosques and mausoleums than anywhere else in the country apart from Dhaka. We visited as a day trip from the Division capital of Khulna and after an hour on the cramped bus we got off beside the centrepiece, Shait Gumbad Mosque, which dates from the 15th century. Its name is misleading, it means ‘Temple with 60 Domes’ but actually there are 77. We arrived just after it opened at 9am so there were few people about and we had the shady columned interior almost to ourselves.

20140322-170030.jpgShait Gumbad Mosque

20140322-170055.jpgUs inside the columned interior of Shait Gumbad Mosque

After a quick pitstop at a nearby tea stand, we followed the path around the pond behind the mosque, passing through a small village with locals calling out hello and children following behind (this is normal if you’re a foreigner in Bangladesh…). There are two more ancient mosques hidden away in this village. We could only get into one, but the exteriors were both beautifully decorated with bricks patterned with plants and trees.

20140322-170121.jpgVillage mosques (clockwise from top left): Bibi Begni Mosque hidden in the trees, village kids in a doorway of Bibi Begni Mosque, Chunakhola Mosque, decorative brickwork on the exterior of Chunakhola Mosque

The walk between them passed by a small patch of open ground where in the UK you might find kids playing football, but in Bangladesh cricket is the national obsession so here there were a group of boys with bat and ball. Andrew was persuaded to go in to bat much to the boys’ delight, but after knocking the ball into a nearby pond (a boy jumped in to retrieve it) and then shouting ‘England vs Bangladesh‘ they brought out their best spin bowler and Andrew didn’t stand a chance!

20140322-170202.jpgSpin bowler, Andrew as batsman

A short walk down the road brought us to the Mausoleum of Khan Jahan Ali, the man who decided to make his capital at Bagerhat and who is behind the creation of most of the historical monuments still there today. His tomb was busy with local pilgrims and women weren’t allowed inside the building (Andrew went in alone and reported that it wasn’t anything very exciting although he wasn’t allowed to leave until he’d made a ‘donation’). The large nearby pond is the home of a 100 year old crocodile who, according to the Lonely Planet, has become a bit of a tourist attraction. Unfortunately he didn’t put in an appearance for us although we got to see the taxidermied remains of his companion which died in 2011 and is preserved in the small Bagerhat Museum in the grounds of Shait Gumbad Mosque.

20140322-170237.jpgClockwise from top left: Mausoleum of Khan Jahan Ali, decorated gateway in the mausoleum’s perimeter wall, there were a lot of people bathing in the pond considering it has a crocodile in it, there’s a handy picture on a wall beside the pond so you know what to look for…

Near the mausoleum are a couple more mosques, the Nine Domed Mosque which is a pleasant walk along the side of the pond, and Zinda Pir Mosque which has a number of tombs in its grounds.

20140322-170412.jpgZinda Pir Mosque and old tomb

20140322-170522.jpgNine Domed Mosque: from the front, mihrab (niche facing Mecca indicating direction of prayer), and domed ceiling

The final mosque that we visited was Ronvijoypur Mosque. Again away from the main road, this one took a little more finding as a crucial signpost was missing but eventually, after enquiring ‘masjid? masjid?’ to several bemused locals, we got there. The 11m wide dome is the largest in Bangladesh and is supported by 3m thick brick walls.

20140322-170556.jpgRonvijoypur Mosque and its impressive dome

After the chaos of Dhaka it was great to see a little of what rural life in Bangladesh is like by wandering the narrow roads and villages between the mosques. Bagerhat was also our first taste of the rich history of Bangladesh and definitely whetted our appetite for more with its well preserved buildings and lack of tourists.

Dhaka, Bangladesh

While resting in Thailand, we pondered where to go next.. Thailand is a fantastic place to visit, and that’s why so many people do, but as a consequence, Thailand is just a bit too, well, easy. It’s not that we’re some kind of backpacking masochists trying to rough it through the hardest adventures on the planet, but we started looking for a change of pace, a change of culture, and a change of food. That’s why we chose Bangladesh..

Dhaka Old Town

Old Town, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Chaotic, noisy and dirty. Brilliant.

We got our first impression of the chaos that was waiting for us on the flight from Kuala Lumpur to Dhaka, which was almost exclusively Bangladeshi businessmen. It’s the first flight I’ve been on where the pilot saw fit to “test” the brakes on the way to the terminal to get the recalcitrant passengers to sit back down and stop emptying the overhead lockers – and even that didn’t work! We really felt for the poor flight attendants forced to run crowd control.

The taxi ride from the airport into downtown Dhaka was much the same as I remember the taxi ride into downtown Mumbai on a previous trip to India back in 2008.. our taxi pulls up.. its windscreen is cracked from one side to the other and I swear there’s not a single panel without a dint, a scratch and paint from another manufacturer’s catalogue. There aren’t any seatbelts, and it’s obvious that the little money spent on this vehicle goes into the massive CNG tank in the boot and the maintenance of the horn. As we set off and crawl over the speed bumps, the suspension creaks like an attic door in a horror movie, and the grinding sound of the brakes suggests the callipers are cutting a musical groove into the discs much like a gramophone record – if you played it back you’d hear fingernails down a blackboard. Then we meet the traffic. It’s mayhem. Buses, trucks, cars, 3-wheeled tuk-tuks, motorcycles, cycle-rickshaws and bicycles compress into each junction filling every gap, like different sized flakes of glitter in a snow globe settling on the bottom. For a brief moment there’s calm, then the lights change and it’s all shaken up again to the deafening sound of acceleration and electric horns. To say we get comfortable with the situation is too generous, we sink into our seats and just accept the apparent anarchy around us. Right now at least, we’re still alive. Then we reach the motorway and everyone adds speed. That’s it, we’re definitely going to die.

Half an hour later we hear the sound of fingernails scratching down a blackboard in an attic, which means we’ve arrived at our hotel. Welcome to Bangladesh.

The next morning we headed out.. Dhaka is crowded, noisy, dirty, and hot. We love it immediately.

The first thing that stands out is the staring. Now, you’ve seen photos of us here on this blog, and yep, we can be pretty funny looking, but unlike China where people stopped what they were doing and gawped, Bangladeshis are a whole other level of curious. They will go out of their way to get a prime staring spot by walking up to us as if to start or join a conversation, but instead they’ll just stand there, right in front of us, maybe a step away, and gawk in wonder. Often with a blank facial expression and their mouth agape too. We realise that as Bangladesh doesn’t get many foreign tourists, we could well be the first white people they’ve seen in person. That’s quite a thrill for them and for us, and also quite a responsibility to behave as befits our home nation.. it makes one feel like an ambassador!

Staring in Old Dhaka

Everyone’s looking.. :o)

But I can tell you, smiling solidly for 3 days, meeting, greeting and nodding to everyone we saw as we walked through Dhaka is pretty darn exhausting. The muscles in our faces ached. We started looking forward to the solitude and respite of our private hotel room.

Old Dhaka

Pots piled high in Old Dhaka's tight and bustling streets

Pots piled high in Old Dhaka’s tight and bustling streets


Just wandering through the crowded, organically twisting streets of Old Dhaka is our kind of adventure. With no pavement on which to pause for breath, we become part of the city as we are carried through the streets by its unrelenting rhythm. The businesses and shops of Old Dhaka are organised as we’ve grown accustomed to in much of Asia – plastic tubing street, metal working street, bicycle street, etc.

Boxed shoe deliveries in Old Dhaka

Boxed shoe deliveries in Old Dhaka

Lalbagh Fort

Lalbagh Fort, Dhaka

Lalbagh Fort, Dhaka, in the early morning light

Construction of Lalbagh Fort began in 1677 under the direction of Prince Mohammed Azam, the third son of Emperor Aurangzeb, although he handed it over to Shaista Khan for completion. However, the death of Khan’s daughter, Bibi Pari (Fair Lady), was considered such a bad omen that the fort was never finished. Bibi Pari’s body now lies entombed – her life cut short, in a fort incomplete.

Grave of Bibi Pari, Lalbagh Fort, Dhaka

Grave of Bibi Pari, Lalbagh Fort, Dhaka

We got up early and as a result we had the place pretty much to ourselves, despite our rickshaw driver insisting all the way there that it didn’t open for another 2 hours – suggesting we take a tour of Old Dhaka in the meantime – only to find the gates open when we arrived and the first (Bangladeshi) tourists just leaving.

Lalbagh Fort, Dhaka. Bibi Pari's tomb in the foreground and the Lalbagh Mosque to the left

Lalbagh Fort, Dhaka. Bibi Pari’s tomb in the foreground and the Lalbagh Mosque to the left

We loved the early morning light on the beautiful pink buildings, the beautiful gardens and the fantastic sense of calm and space given its surroundings at the edge of the bustling, busy narrow streets of Old Dhaka.

Ahsan Manzil – aka the Pink Palace

Ahsan Manzil (Pink Palace). The grounds are a popular picnic spot for Bangladeshis

Ahsan Manzil (Pink Palace). The grounds are a popular picnic spot for Bangladeshis


With the major reconstruction works completed, the Ahsan Manzil or Pink Palace looks very impressive from the outside and overlooks the main Buriganga river, which spreads out into a delta, and then the Bay of Bengal.

The first hall’s exhibit shows the dilapidation they started from after years of abandonment, and it’s an astonishing feat of repair. Attention is now being given to recreating the various rooms and their decor from a collection of old photographs taken by a visiting guest when the Palace was at its most splendid.

The billiard room, one of only a handful of restored rooms in the Pink Palace

The billiard room, one of only a handful of restored rooms in the Pink Palace

They’ve only completed a handful of rooms so far, but the dining and billiard rooms have been done to a very high standard – they look exactly like the photographs on display!

Star Mosque

Sitara Masjid (Star Mosque), redecorated in the 1960's with china tiles from England and Japan

Sitara Masjid (Star Mosque), redecorated in the 1960’s with china tiles from England and Japan

The Star Mosque is not as big as we thought it was going to be, but it is more beautiful than we had imagined, given the scant description in our guidebook.

Star Mosque. Clockwise from the top: Gorgeous star-studded domed roof; two young Muslims eager to have their photograph taken; Close-up of the crescent moon and stars

Star Mosque. Clockwise from the top: Gorgeous star-studded domed roof; two young Muslims eager to have their photograph taken; Close-up of the crescent moon and stars

This is a working mosque, and as we admired it from the courtyard, we were approached by a worshipper with excellent English who was visiting Bangladesh from Indonesia. After a round of handshakes (and many questions), he scolded the local boys for attempting to shake Julie’s hand as in strict Islamic teachings, it is forbidden for men to touch a woman who is not permissible to him (i.e. those other than his Wife, Mother, Sister, Daughter, etc)..

“It is better for you to be stabbed in the head with an iron needle than to touch the hand of a woman who is not permissible to you.” – Hadith from Ma’qil ibn Yasar

Buriganga Riverside Market

The markets in Bangladesh are like no others we’ve visited for two reasons: firstly, everything is on show, from the live descaling and gutting of fish to the beheading of chickens in a barrel, to cows heads on the floor with their meat hanging above covered in flies; and secondly, and the thing we’ve found most delightfully astonishing, the stallkeepers actively want their photograph taken. Here are just a few of the great shots from the riverside market near the ferry terminals – I think we might do a post solely of market photos from around Bangladesh..

Lime sellers

Fruit sellers

The nonchalant butcher

The nonchalant butcher

Spice merchant

Spice merchant..

Spice grinding merchant

..and next-door a spice grinding merchant

Liberation War Museum

Bangladesh Liberation War Museum

Bangladesh Liberation War Museum. Surrounded by so much barbed wire we thought we were entering a Prisoner of War camp..


Hidden down a backstreet in what looks like a tenement area of high-rise non-descript concrete flats, Bangladesh’s Liberation War Museum is chock-full of artefacts and information about the bloody birth of the nation we now know as Bangladesh. Sadly, we weren’t allowed to take pictures inside the museum.

Among the exhibits is a nice tribute to my Mum’s favourite Beatle, George Harrison, who sang about the Liberation conflict which resulted in over 7 million refugees fleeing to India. George, together with Ravi Shankar organised the first major music event to raise awareness and financial aid “The Concert for Bangla Desh“, which was the inspiration for Live Aid, some 14 years later.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EJvizCVEyc]

To summarise Dhaka, here’s the introduction from our guidebook:

“Dhaka is more than just a city; it’s a giant whirlpool that sucks in anything and anyone that comes within its furious grasp. Around and around it sends them, like some wildly spinning fairground ride bursting with energy. Millions of individual pursuits constantly churn together into a frenzy of collective activity – an urban melting pot forever bubbling over.” – Lonely Planet, Bangladesh (Dec 2012)

Dhaka is sensory overload turned up to 11, and it’s exactly what we were looking for.