fredag 28 februari 2014

Welcome home...

We get home at around 1 am on Saturday morning and we have now been travelling for over 24 hours. Beat!
After a few hours of sleep this is what awaits...

So, back home again in a part of this world that is the complete opposite of where we've been. Today my family is coming and we will reunite with Alvar again. How we miss him at this point. I really can't wait to see him again. The Bonker!

And so begins the loooong trip home....

We come home at around 2:30 am from the unexpected turn of events that our last night in Dhaka gave us. At 5 am we had arranged for our driver to pick us up and take us to the airport. So this meant we would not get much sleep. Jahangir is punctual of course and he drop us off at the airport. So, it is time to really say goodbye to Dhaka and Bangladesh...

On our way back we had a 9 hour layover in Istanbul. Even though we are tired and jetlagged we decided to go into the city for lunch and a little trip as I have never been to Istanbul except for changing flights at the airport. We get on the subway and head to "Eminonu" for lunch under the bridge. We had an amazing and fragrant fresh seafood lunch.
Afterwards a stop at the Grand Bazaar for some shoppin before heading back to the airport for our final flight to Stockholm.
 

Goodbye Dhaka and Bangladesh...



Somewhere close to Kabul

                                      Istanbul subwaymap




                                     Breakfast, lunch, dinner or whatever it is at this point...







Grand Bazaar

We are sooooo jetlagged...

Vendor at Grand Bazar


Last night in Dhaka

So on our last night we were planning on having dinner with Martin. We picked him up at his office around 7pm. In the car we decided what to do for dinner. As we are planning and deciding AN ELEPHANT walks by us on the street- just like that! We stopped the car and it is amazing and quite strange to see this enormous animal. Martin and Steven asks if they can take a ride. The man says yes and off they go. I was not that brave so I stayed put on the ground but I dared to pose next to it.







Off we go to dinner. We end up at a crepes place which had really amazing milk shakes. The most memorable thing however I think was the lousy and terrible service. Five waitors standing around now knowing what to do really. It was hilarious!

Somehow we are not ready to go home yet. We decide to try to get in at the American Club as two of Martin's friends are there. We drive over there and even though Steven has his passport, Martin is a member at Nordic Club they refuse to let us in. Only a member at the American Club that sign in guests... So... we go to the Westin hotel as we really want to end the evening with a drink. The Westin is one of Dhaka's most exclusive places and they have a rooftop bar (see earlier post) and they have alcoholic drinks which you can't find anywhere else in Dhaka.

 
 

When we walk in... there is a band playing and it is a quite unexpected scene that awaits us. They are from the Fillipines and there are three girls in the front dancing and singing and one guy in the back playing keyboard. The girls are wearing some outfits which I am not sure where they belong and they sing covers of for example Britney Spears, Rihanna, Whitney Houston and they have their own coreography... Kind of karaokee feel to it... Yes, you can only imagine... Suddenly a guy comes up on stage and believe it or not sings "Gangnam style" and they do the whole dance and sheeebang! I am the only woman the bar as it is filled with men who sings along and dances as well. The whole thing feels quite overwhelmingly funny as this is the most exclusive place in Dhaka and then you walk into this!




 
FINALE:
The two friends of Martin are coming to join us, Magdalena and Marcus. Two Swedes who have lived in Dhaka for about 6 months now. He works for Telenor (Grameenphone) and she has her own business in Sweden but can work from here.

Suddenly a man starts talking to me. His name is Daniel and he is from Australia. Turns out he is the General Manager (big boss) The Westin Hotel. We talk a long time about the band, the hotel, our visit. We get to meet The Executive Manager (biggest boss) and the chef, who by the way is from Switzerland. Daniel tells us there is a Dhaka house party at The Radisson Hotel later that evening and asks us if we want to go. He says it is the coolest party ever with huge dancefloor, dj from New York, special invitation only, bar etc. We all say: YEAH! Let's go!
So he brings us special invitiaion gear, a NY baseball cap and a ticket in form of a passport. We take our car and go.
As we step into the Radisson Hotel our minds are blown away. Huge scene with people all dressed up for party. Dj, bar and dancefloor. Great set-up and very very very unexpected. We dance and have an almost sureal but really good time.



Daniel, The General Manager at The Westin Hotel















ONLY IN DHAKA!

 
 

Two very special people

Ratna:
She is the maid at Martin and Sabbi's house. She is a single mother as her husband died a few years ago. She has two boys and she struggles to be able to afford them to go to school. She also teaches other women to sowing so they are able to find a job. She is one of the few Christian people in Bangladesh and she goes to church every Sunday. I can't believe what it is like to be a single mother in Dhaka. Life must be very very hard. However, she is always smiling and she cooks the most amazing home cooked Bengali food which we have had the luck to taste a few times by now.




 
Jahangir:
We had our own driver for these two weeks. His name is Jahangir. He has what it takes to be a driver in Dhaka. He hunks all the time. It is the only way to get forward. His knows a few english words and it is sometimes a bit hard to have conversations with him. But whatever happens he always smiles and say "Thank you, thank you, thank you" or "Ok, ok, ok". He usually says one word at least three times :). He lives about an hour walk from where we stayed. He says cars can not go where he lives. He has two boys, one is 14 and one is 24 years old. The older one is 6 feet tall and just got his "power diploma" which I am not exactly sure what it is. He is very proud of them.