Dhaka Sightseeing: Year One Review

[This is a post that I wrote last June and apparently never published. Oops. Here it is...]

We have officially made it through our whole first school year in Dhaka! Going back through our photos from the year, I realized that we, somehwat surprisingly, never wrote a single post about any of our excursions around the city. Believe it or not, we did make an effort to see the sights (such as they are). As evidence -- and for anyone who is planning a vacation to Dhaka -- here are some of the places we visited last year:

• Lalbagh Fort/Pink Palace: Not very exciting compared to the forts and palaces of India, but you kind of have to make the trip once to see them.

• Boat trip on the Buriganga River: I don't know if this actually counts as a boat -- maybe a canoe? or raft? -- but it was certainly an experience.
  

• Walking tours of Old Dhaka with the Urban Studies Group: We have done tours of Shakhari Bazaar (a predominantly Hindu neighborhood) and Sutrapur Farashganj (which used to be a French colony and includes a wholesale spice market). There are more, and they are always good.

• Gallery-hopping in Dhanmondi: We have been to the Drik Gallery and Bengal Gallery, and there are more on our list for this year.

• Paddle boating on Dhanmondi Lake: This was probably Kaya's favorite outing, especially since it ended with ice cream at the lakeside cafe.


• Bangabondhu Museum: This can be combined with the galleries or paddle boating in Dhanmondi. It is where independence was declared and where the first leader of Bangladesh was assassinated. (Warning: Blood stains and more have been preserved on the walls, making it a bit macabre, which is maybe why I didn't take any pictures?)

• Exploring the markets of Old Dhaka: New Market, Gausia Market, Chandni Chowk, the Hawkers' Market, Bango Bazaar... there are many, many old markets, each with their own specialities and flavor.

• Dhaka University, the Central Shaheed Minar, and the National Assembly Building: All places of historical importance for Bangladeshis, though somewhat unexciting for the casual tourist.

• Savar and Dhamrai: Savar has the National Martyrs' Memorial (again, not that exciting, but it does have some well-maintained open spaces), and Dhamrai has metal artisans who will invite you into their workshops and show you the process of lost wax casting that they use to create lovely brass sculptures.

• Nandan Water Park: Chris and Kaya went and loved the water slides and pools. Apparently they also have a wave pool and even some amusement park-type rides.

It was certainly a memorable year. There are more places on our list for this year... and maybe we'll even post about them before the end of the year!

Dhaka Cooking, Season One: Season Finale

Before we leave town for the summer, I thought I'd post one more of the recipes that we've discovered while living in Dhaka. This chickpea salad was delicious, but beware of the yogurt sauce. Some curry powders are spicier than others, and the amount of curry powder in the recipe is clearly meant for a mild, non-Bangladeshi version (or for masochists and fire eaters). Proceed with caution!

For Kaya, we mixed the chickpeas with couscous and spooned plain yogurt over the top, and he seemed to like it fine. For ourselves, we had the salad with this green bean dish. The green beans are kind of cheating: there are no proper green beans here, only Chinese yard long beans, and no pine nuts either (ours came back with us from Malaysia). At this point, I am willing to bend the rules a bit.

Next up, I am considering doing a special summer series of recipes that I will call, "Things you can only make in America." First on this list: chocolate chip cookie dough brownies. I am already thinking about how I can bring the ingredients for this back to Dhaka in August.

Moving up in the world :: by mama

My dad just sent me this article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which excitedly announces the news that Pittsburgh has been ranked the most liveable city in the US by The Economist magazine. This happens pretty regularly: Pittsburgh has made itself into a really nice little city, and journalists occasionally notice that and write articles about it. It's good publicity, but not really surprising anymore, at least for those of us who spend time there on a regular basis.

What was of more interest to us was the rest of the list, which was actually a list of the 140 most -- and least -- liveable cities in the world, on which Pittsburgh ranked 29th. At the bottom, tied with Algiers, Algeria for next-to-last place out of 140, was Dhaka. The only city to rank lower was Harare, Zimbabwe. (The magazine did note that cities in Iraq and Afghanistan were excluded from consideration, if that's any consolation.)

So is it really that bad? Living in Dhaka certainly has its frustrations -- the pollution, the traffic, the dirt and the unavailability of tater tots come to mind -- but it's not intolerable by any means. Of course, as expats we have a much better standard of living than the vast majority of the population. Maybe if we were ordinary Bangladeshis then, yes, it would be that bad. Ultimately, I think nearly any place is what you make it, barring war or natural disaster, and for us, Dhaka is liveable, at least for a while.

More generally, I've noticed that just as Pittsburgh gets good press pretty regularly, Bangladesh gets some pretty terrible press. Foreign Policy magazine ranked Bangladesh 12th on its Failed States Index for 2008. Somalia was no.1, Iraq was no.5, Pakistan was no.9, and Haiti was no.14, to give you an idea of the kind of company we keep. Granted, Bangladesh had a military government at the time and has since held elections, but it's not a good sign. Aside from Lonely Planet's completely random inclusion of Bangladesh in its top 10 countries to visit for 2009 (after Algeria... anyone else notice a theme?), there is not much positive being said about Bangladesh out there.

So, what is the take-home message from this? Maybe we should move back to Pittsburgh. Then again, if the best city in the US is only ranked 29th overall, that would suggest that there are a whole bunch of other countries that are more liveable than the US. Our Australian friends were quick to point out that they have three cities in the top 10: Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. They had four in the top 10 last year, when Adelaide was ranked no.7. Surely there is an American School in Australia...?

We {heart} fabric :: by mama

One of the many, many wonderful things about Kaya is that he actually enjoys sitting on my lap from time to time to look at fabric online. He tells me which fabrics he likes and doesn't like, and we have discussions about colors and prints. Good times.

In our fabric browsing, Kaya had spotted a rocket print fabric a couple of times and said that he wanted it, so, partly to encourage his interest in fabric, and partly to give myself an excuse to make something for him, I finally gave in and ordered it. Kaya's suggestion was that I should make him an outfit -- a shirt and shorts, to be specific -- to wear out and about. [He calls shorts, t-shirts, etc. "morning clothes" because, of course, you put them on in the morning, so his request was for "morning clothes."] Not wanting to hear complaints in 20 years about how I made him look ridiculous by dressing him in matching outfits, I vetoed his idea. Instead, we compromised on these pajamas. The pattern was pretty simple, he likes them, and I think he looks pretty darn cute!





Apologies for the awful pictures... the kid does not like to be photographed, so this is the best I could do. I will try to sneak some better shots to replace these ones, but it may never happen. Better to have something than nothing!