Letter from Bangladesh .... December 2007- February 2008

Bride Saba on her mobile to get things moving?
 

The year 2007 was a busy year for travelling and my last trip in 2007 was to Bangladesh for my friend, Saba’s wedding. I arranged to fly on Xmas day just to have this unique experience of being up in the clouds on a day when all the Christians of the world (minus those who decided to fly with me, most of them were Muslim anyway) were busy with family meetings, feasting, drinking and feeling family united! In autumn 2007 Bangladesh’s floods caused yet more devastation in the country and I went there with a suitcase full of clothes and £1400 funds raised in Coventry for the needy; I really felt like I was on a mission similar to the one Santa Claus was on Xmas day.  

 Saba’s wedding took place in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Lots of other guests, mainly from Germany came to her wedding. As expected “the Wedding of the Century Part Two” was very much in Bangladeshi style, where the flights were late, accommodations for the guests were not available on time, the food was almost always served late and almost all the guests from aboard had suffered tummy problems and had to run to the loo during their stay! Besides all the set backs, (nothing new to the local Bangladeshis) the wedding was exceptionally colourful and beautiful occasion where all the Western guests were dressed in Bangladeshi costumes and looked like the maharajas and maharanis of the East.

 

After the wedding was over the, the wedding party had the pleasure of sailing on cruise liner, (hired for a week) heading towards Kuakata; quiet resort where the sun sets and sun rises over the Bay of Bengal. Even though the Capitan of the ship kept getting lost in his third class cruise liner, (most likely a reject from the West) we managed to survive the two sleepless noisy nights on the ship where meals, not always on time, were cooked for us. Kuakata was indeed an idyllic place to rest after a wedding but it had its own problems with the fishing industry after the devastation of 2007. When out on my daily walks, I was forever hearing about the tales of the floods which had destroyed most of their livelihood.

My final port of call was three days trip to the coral Island of St. Martin, (measuring only 3sq miles) which is in the north eastern part of Bangladesh. Not a very easy place to get to or get out by boat from the port of Teaknaf. On the Island there is no electricity, expect in large hotels, no cars and the Island is all about the sun, sea and palm trees for the rich Bangladeshi. Idyllic it may sound but there is always the darker side to life on this beautiful planet of mine. Here on the Island the young boys tended to follow the tourists around, trying to sell coral reef or shells which they are not allowed to (there are signs everywhere saying it is illegal to buy them) or they would  try to talk to the tourists into taking them out of the Island to employ them as servants. It seemed like that they were desperate to move away from their home on this paradise Island, where ironically many efforts are in place to preserve several endangered species on the Island but nothing done to make life happier for young children. While I was there on my return journey from the port of Teakarf  back to Chittagong, one little boy managed to find his way in to the coach full of tourists only to be thrown out on the road later by the bus driver! Sad but true.