CRASH / I'm Home!!!

CRASH

26 August 2006
No, no, don’t worry, I didn’t get into an accident…. But I have fallen sick though, yes, again…. Well, I don’t think it really went away, whatever I had when I was still in Bangladesh, because I never really took any time off to rest and fully recover, due to the heavy workload…. Now that I’m on leave, its really come out in full force…..

I woke up this morning, with a temperature of 37.1oC, coupled with a slight sore throat…. No cough or running nose, so I could still handle it…. By lunch time, I was struggling to cope with the fever, as it had risen to 38.2oC….. By late evening, my body was a burning 38.9oC, and I could hardly keep my eyes open, watching football on the telly later that night didn’t lift my spirits, I couldn’t even watch Man Utd play Watford till the end…. To make things worse, the diarrhoea also made its return…. So an early night it was for me…..

I was so dehydrated, the fever was punishing, as was the headache that accompanied it, which pounded at my head relentlessly…. The panadol and other drugs that I took didn’t seem to have any effect…..

I suppose its all due to the fact I pushed myself too hard over the previous 7 weeks in Bangladesh, and my body is simply telling me that its payback time for all the neglect, in the name of work…. So my weekend has been wrecked, with me being bedridden and spending most my time resting….. instead of playing badminton and football….. instead of salsa-ing with my friends….

Well, I do hope to make a quick recovery, as I don’t want to waste next week, when I’ll be on leave…..

I’m Home!!!

24 August 2006
The flight home was uneventful, as usual, being the lousy traveller that I am, I hardly slept on the flight….. we took off at around 1.30am local time (3.30am Malaysian time) and arrived on Malaysian soil 4 hours later….

It feels great to be home again…. My colleagues and I are already planning what to do when we get back home…. What we are going to eat first when we get back….

One of the first few things I noticed, was the eerie silence when we were making our way home from the airport…. In Bangladesh, blaring horns are the norm, so much so its part of the background…. But here in KL, its just silence…. And I don’t notice vehicles swerving crazily in between lanes here…. Well, not on a regular basis anyway…..

And it isn’t as hot here either…. Which is a good thing….. though the heat had become tolerable when we left Bangladesh…. But it was really hot when we first arrived nearly 2 months ago…. How hot you may ask….. well, in the middle of the shower, you already feel the heat when your shoulder is no longer under the shower….. and you get all hot and sticky within 10 minutes of stepping out of the bathroom after your shower….. and no, I don’t have an air-conditioner when I was out at the villages, where it seemed as if Bangladesh was at its hottest…..

Its also nice that I don’t have to eat the same food day in day out…. Why that happened at the villages, was simply because the ‘chef’ was only able to cook those 3 same dishes, and nothing else, hence the absence of variety in the villages…. It’s a good thing I don’t have the same problem back home :)

Time to Head Home

23 August 2006
Today’s the day we go home…. Its also the day we print out the reports, and get the partners from both Ernst & Young and SF Ahmed, our Bangladeshi audit counterparts to sign off on the accounts and the report….. we said our goodbyes to the Bangladeshi auditors, the client, and the drivers that served us so well in getting us from place to place…..

It’s a huge relief to finally be going home…. My colleague has this theory that we start to change after spending 40 days in Bangladesh…. I have to agree with him, I had started losing it after breaching the 40 day mark….. so its with great relief that I get to say farewell to Bangladesh after 45 long days in Bangladesh…..

I’m looking forward to claiming my life back, being reunited with family and friends, being able to do all the things I enjoy back home….. nothing could possibly spoil today…. Well, unless they cancel the flight, or I get held back in Bangladesh for visa problems, or….. well, touch wood nothing like that happens….. what happened to those 2 unfortunate KPMG auditors comes to mind…..

Well, below are 2 lists I compiled from the things I noted during our time in Bangladesh….


5 Most Favourite Lines Uttered by the Locals in Bangladesh

5. It is a fact, nothing to do. (“That’s the way things are over here, there’s nothing we can do about it”)

4. Problem? You have problem? (“Is there something bothering you?”)

3. One more piece, one more piece

2. Boshen boshen!!! (“sit down, sit down!!!”)

1. Shama Sha Nair!! (“No problem!!”)

In Bangladesh, Things That Make You Go EEEwwww, Yuuuuccckkkk, GAAAASSPPPP!!!!!

1. You’re in conversation with someone…. they suddenly feel the urge to pick their noses, right in front of you, in the middle of your conversation….. they then proceed to examine their findings with 2-3 fingers, spreading the lurve…. If that’s not enough, at the end of the conversation, its Bangladeshi culture that they MUST shake your hands….

2. People around you clear their throats….. and then spit out their contents in the spot right next to you….

3. On the roads of Dhaka…..you’re sitting in a car….. you approach a junction, a car shoots out of nowhere….. your car swerves out of the way….. you jump back in your seat….. you curse and swear, then you sigh in relief….. an accident is avoided by mere inches…. you’ve just suffered one of many heart attacks on the roads of Dhaka….

4. After a meal, the guy next to you drinks his glass of water…. then gargles….. loudly…. And then swallows it in…..

5. You’re in your room, doing your thing, you hear a knock, a quarter of a second later the door bursts open, another quarter of a second later, a Bangladeshi walks right in….

6. You’re in the shower, and then from the corner of your eye, you see a black patch moving….. turns out to be your friendly cockroach…..

7. You’re again in the shower….. the lights then go out……

8. You’re lying on your bed….. the lights go out….. so does the fan…… and its bloody summer…..

9. Body odour…. Need I say more?

10. In relation to body odour, the locals here actually wear the same shirt for 2 or more consecutive days…. Urgh…..

2 More Voted Off!!!

Saturday, 19 August 2006

Yes, that’s right, another 2 team members were sent back home today…. Obviously they were quite delighted to be flying home, though they did claim it was weird that we were not going back together as a team like we did in January this year…. Hopefully they’ll get upgraded to Business Class…..

I think this place is beginning to get to me…. I’m losing patience at a much quicker rate than usual…. I’m now very much annoyed everytime I have my meals at the hotel café…. I think its down to the fact that my food takes so long to arrive, coupled with the lack of urgency shown by the waiters (and probably chefs)….. I felt like throwing the vase, and whatever I could lay my hands on earlier to chuck at the waiter during breakfast today, because he didn’t bring me what I had ordered……

I also got irritated during dinner today when I was made to wait for nearly an hour before I got my food…. It didn’t feel so long because I was in good company, but that doesn’t prevent me from getting hungry, and boy am I grumpy when I’m deprived of food…. I was timing them today, so when my dinner finally did arrive, I promptly cancelled my dessert, and curtly told the shocked waiter that I was no longer interested in my fruit platter….. after a certain hour, I don’t want to eat anymore, and we had gone beyond that hour…. If I was alone, I would have probably walked out of the café….. I’m not sure if today’s show of petulance will make a difference, but I do intend to tell them tomorrow night that I will wait for half an hour for my food….

Maybe I’m impatient because I’m tired of this country, and that I want to get the hell out of here…. Or maybe its due to the fact that I’m not well, being feverish and feeling nauseous wouldn’t leave anyone in a good mood….. Being grumpy for being kept apart from my dinner was definitely a contributing factor to me reacting the way I did tonight…. I’m a little surprised at myself, but I don’t feel the least bit sorry though, as I don’t see why I should put up with such shoddy service…. I have better things to do with my time, time which I will not get back, because some moron in the kitchen is unable to prepare meals promptly….. waiting an hour for my dinner is simply UNACCEPTABLE!!! We’ll see how it goes for the remaining time that I have left here….

Send Off

Thursday, 17 August 2006

We sent one of our team members home tonight, as he’s due to go to China next week for another engagement…. So we’ll be down to 4, not inclusive of our managers of course…. We held a farewell dinner for him at Chicken King, with dessert at Andersen’s Ice Cream….. hehe, we forced our 2 drivers, Mirren and Jahangir to join us…..

Fast food joints in Bangladesh are a little bit different from the ones back home….. well, it looks the same, smells the same….. but the prices are sky high, for the locals here anyway….. you can get cheaper alternatives elsewhere, so it was no surprise that the type of people you find patronising these places are of the higher educated and more privileged….. So it was quite a treat for Mirren and Jahangir to join us, they were very shy at first before settling in….

We reckon if you're a Bangladeshi, this is the place you’d bring your girlfriend to, just to impress her…. Of course it wont impress our girls much if we were to take them out to KFC or McDonalds on our first date…. But we saw many couples, we observed the couple next to our table was just moving closer and closer to his girl, his arm over her chair, while he kept on positioning himself closer, till their legs were nearly touching…..

Foodwise, it was just like what you’d get back home, for just one night, we felt as if we were back home again…. We had 2 pieces of fried chicken each, with some fries and coleslaw…. 2 of us were adventurous enough to order mango juice, a drink which we wouldn’t find back home….. it was a mixture of young mangoes,and other local spices….. it wasn’t for the faint hearted, and the 2 of them eventually only took a little sip before abandoning it…. Even Jahangir could not stomach the drink….. but it proved not to be a problem for Mirren, but being the tough guy that he is, why am I not surprised….

Danish nougat….. that’s the ice cream flavour that I picked, together with Belgian Chocolate at Anderson's Ice Cream…. Everyone had a cone to go with their ice cream, though our Senior Manager decided to go for the ice cream milkshake…..

2 hours later, it was time to send LLW off, he was happily dressed in his t-shirts, shorts and cap, looking like a school kid with his backpack….. it was sad to see him go, one of us commented its like he got voted off our little reality show…. In another 2 days, 2 more team members will leave for home…. As for me, its another 7 more days till I get on that plane, and I just can’t wait!!!!

I Got Hit Again!!

Wednesday, 16 August 2006

Yes, not even a week has gone by, and I’m down with food poisoning again…. My body had barely recovered from the last bout of diarrhoea, my stomach had shrunken considerably and I was just about to regain my appetite…..

While the food at the village was the cause of my last bout of food poisoning, the food at the hotel proved to be the culprit this time around…. The chicken ala kiev to be exact…. You would have thought that my troubles with food would be over now that I’m back in Dhaka and eating only hotel food…. This experience has proved that this is not the case….

Yes, I’m tired of falling sick, having to deal with a tummy in distress, fighting my sinuses and coping with a fever….. I’m looking forward to going home and eating without worry and sleeping without worrying about power cuts….

It doesn’t help that I’m feeling heavy and bloated…. It doesn’t help that I’m unable to get any form of exercise…. I have to do away with my badminton and futsal sessions…. I don’t get to go for salsa anymore….. instead we stay cooped up in the hotel building, if we’re not in our hotel rooms, or in the café for meals, or in the Finance Department doing work….

So when we get the chance to go out, we do….. my manager who just flew in early this morning wanted to explore a shopping mall called Eastern Plaza, which was about a 20 minute drive away from the hotel….. it turned out to be something like Pertama Complex…. We spent a small fortune on Indian bangles on the 1st floor, found that the 2nd floor was dedicated to saris, the third floor had lots of materials and handicraft while the 4th floor was filled with lots of electrical goods….

On the way back, we decided to have dinner at La Vinci, which served Indian and Western food…. Hehe, despite the weak stomach, I was tired of being so careful over what I eat…. Though I did avoid ordering Indian food, I thought grilled chicken was the safest option for me to take…. So far so good….

On the way back, we had to pass by a street filled with people…. Homeless people, who live on the street…. The pavement was filled with people, in tattered clothes, while some were just lying down on the pavement, others were “fortunate” enough to be sleeping in round rattan baskets….. These are the homeless people of Dhaka, who have nowhere else to go, with nothing much to live for….It does make you count your blessings…..

Our Drivers in Banglaland

Some drivers are more attentive than others…. That is a general observation that I’ve made….. I’ve come across quite a few in my short lifetime…. From the drivers assigned to my dad during his time with the Ministry of Health and now with the International Medical University…. I must say that all of them, with the exception of one, were quite hopeless….. To them, their sole purpose is to drive the car, and nothing else…..

Then there are the drivers who work for my relatives in Bangkok…. Now these fellas were good, they were attentive to your needs, they would never allow you to carry anything, they’ll open doors for you….. You feel assured whenever they drive you….

So it was to my surprise that the Bangladeshi drivers assigned to us are also very helpful, and even on par with the Thai drivers employed by my relatives in Bangkok…. And they are amazingly good drivers, after all, we are delivered safely to our destinations in one piece!!!
I was driven by someone called Rauf for my first trip out to the villages, who is a small man, who reminds me of a mouse, but possesses a huge voice, especially when he gets excited….. There’s also Mirren, who is built like a tank ….. He can easily get a job as a bouncer in a night club in KL, such are his imposing looks, we always feel safe and secure knowing that he’s there…. But I rate Jahangir as the best of the lot who took me out for my second trip, as he is perceptive as he is attentive….. As he had also driven me during my first visit to Bangladesh in January, I was already quite comfortable having him around.....

Jahangir, sitting on the railing, alongside Alum, one of our Bangladeshi auditors

Jahangir is the type who would watch you, identify what your habits are and remember them…. He will also watch you to see what type of food you like and how much food you usually take at a time….. he’ll make sure you have everything you need, from the the use of multiplugs as the source of power for our laptops, to our working room, tea time(s), the menu of our meals, etc….. And he doesn’t litter like your typical Bangladeshi either!!! I find him quite extraordinary, as a driver who would take so much initiative to ensure that things run as smoothly as possible for the people under his care…. And not to forget the fact that he’s a fantastic driver, with an impressive knowledge of all the village branches in Bangladesh, we have never ever gotten lost finding our way to any of the branches…. Which cannot be said for Rauf, who needed a couple of days before remembering where our Regional Office was :)

Trip Back from the Villages.....

Thursday, 10 August 2006

I guess sometimes when things get really unbearable, something happens to lighten my mood and make me smile again…. Even if its just for a short while, its a relief nevertheless…. Today’s my last day at the villages, we will be going back after lunch, taking a 1 ½ hour ferry ride across the Ganges River and a 2 hour drive back to Dhaka….. And with this trip being our last trip to the villages, it is something to be happy about…. During the course of my 5 day outing in the Madaripur region, I’ll categorise some of my experiences into the following categories….

The Good….
After work yesterday, we set off to the riverbank of the Ganges River…. We saw the locals setting up their stalls, selling fish and prawns (they were still jumping around!!), and food…. We then got on a huge sampan, well, it also had a motor, so we went off on a 30 minute “cruise” along the river, and floating in the middle of the river, watching bigger ships and ferries go by, getting swamped by the waves as they go by…. It was very peaceful, and having the breeze in our faces was a huge relief after a stressful day at work…..

The Bad….
The bus drivers are as arrogant as usual, hogging the roads, and even preventing us from overtaking at times…. It can be scary sometimes to be behind such vehicles, but even more so if you’re a passenger of one of these crazy drivers…..


An example of a bossy and arrogant bus driver (if you look real hard, you can see the bus conductor hanging out the door)








The Ugly….
I noticed human faeces floating on the surface of the Ganges River as I boarded the ferry on the way home from the Madaripur region…. Urgh, I wouldn’t be buying any fish or prawns from the Ganges River anywhere near that region…..
The geese that were left at the top of the bus on the ferry mentioned above…. In the sweltering summer heat exceeding 35oC, the poor geese which were clearly distressed and dehydrated were left on the top a bus with the owner nowhere in sight….




The poor neglected geese







The bus that crashed into a ditch as we were on our back to Dhaka…. We must have arrived soon after the accident as there was no traffic jam, and I could see the bus driver struggling to get out of his seat….

The Irritating…..
The ants that invaded my computer bag and their attempt to conquer yours truly….. I was working on my computer, when I suddenly felt something (in this case, many things) crawling all over my left arm… to my horror, I found it filled with ants, going all the way back to my left shoulder, across my th left side of my chair, and my computer bag….. it looked as if it was alive due to the number of ants on it….. I miss MM and its lack of ants!!!!

The Funny….
We were very tickled when we noticed a village boy in his lungi (sarong), as he ran along the road in our direction….. what made us laugh was that he was pulling his lungi upwards as he ran, sometimes pulling it up too high…. He wasn’t wearing any underwear…. Enough said…..

The Beauty…..
We were trying to overtake one of those crazy buses I wrote about earlier, when we were forced to duck behind a bicycle with a cart due to an approaching bus….. the cart contained 4 to 5 girls, and we teased our driver for purposely doing so….. one of the girls noticed us laughing, and proceeded to give us the sweetest smile I’ve seen in Bangladesh…. That’s enough to make my day….. for today anyway :)

Things aren't going so well....

Wednesday, 09 August 2006

I’m just tired…….
We’ve been in this country for a bit over 4 weeks now, time seems to be going by more slowly too…. I’m down with diarrhoea, and feeling very weak… It’s a lot hotter today compared to yesterday….. Thankfully the electricity is back at the Shibchar village branch, making it bearable for work, though not quite comfortable….. its good that people around me are in high spirits, which is in contrast to me, I’m feeling quite miserable…..

I’m tired….. tired from being sick….. from the low grade fever, to the diarrhoea, which prevents me from sleeping….. I’m tired from sleep deprivation, as due to being a light sleeper, I’m awaken at night from unfamiliar sounds outside our rooms….. I’m tired from the amount of work that we do at the villages…. I’m tired from the worry of the hygiene of the food (I’ve fallen sick because of it after all)…. I’m tired from having to cope with all the dust, and with the heat, which affects my sinuses, resulting in watering eyes and a leaking nose…… I’m tired of altering my speech to make myself understood by the locals here….. I’m tired of having to listen and think so hard to interpret what they are trying to tell me….I’m tired of having to tolerate such low levels of hygiene maintained by the locals here….. I’m tired of shaking hands with nose diggers….

Most of all, I’m tired of missing home, missing my family and friends…. I’m tired of not being able to play futsal (its been 5 months now since my last game due to work commitments) and badminton…. I miss my salsa as well, from going for classes, to the clubs and hanging out with my classmates….. I wish I could see my friends leaving for a new life overseas for the last time before they depart…..

I wish I didn’t have to be in this country for such a long period, and to think that there is another 3 more weeks to go doesn’t help…. I don’t see why we could not be flown home at least once during this 7 week ordeal…. Its as if we are being punished for something that we did, and while I’m sure that it is not the case, it sure feels like it….

Most of all, I’m just tired of being tired, and while I try to look for the nice things about Bangladesh, I’m too tired for that now…. We seem to be limping in the direction of the finishing line…. I ….. just …… want ….. to ….. go …… home…….


Tuesday, 08 August 2006

Today was tough…. We had our closing meeting at one village in the morning, before proceeding to the next village called Shibchar, arriving only at 1pm…. To our dismay, there was no electricity…. Apparently, it had been that way since morning….. And as it turned out, the power failed to resume even after our departure at 7.30pm…. Thankfully, it was a cloudy day, yet it was hot enough to be very uncomfortable….. We were making futile attempts at cooling us down, such as fanning ourselves, drinking plenty of water and taking lots of fruits….. The feeling of beads of sweat dripping across your brow, and feeling your soaked t-shirt sticking to your body proved very distractive throughout the day as we struggled to maintain our working pace of the last 2 days….. As a result, we will not be able to depart for Dhaka tomorrow as we hoped…. But I suppose going back on Thursday isn’t too bad, as we would still be a day earlier than scheduled……

Stock Counts

Stock counts are not very pleasant to carry out….. That’s because the store room is usually the most basic room around in the whole building…. In some cases, there are no lights, and the fans don’t work (that’s if there are any fans in the first place)…. Big items are usually stored outside, and knowing how hot our country is, its not a very pleasant experience….. hehe, the external auditors would especially know all about this……

So what about performing stock counts in Bangladesh? I’d say the experience is even worse….. The air in the store rooms are usually stale, the items are arranged haphazardly, its back-breaking work retrieving some of these items for the pesky auditors to count….. If I were a staff in the branch, I’d hate it everytime the auditors come around….

Today, I performed a stock count on medical items stored. As the Health Programme is handled by 2 female Programme Organisers, they were the ones assisting us in locating and counting the stock items…. What was embarrassing were the presence of 2 other men from the village branch management who didn’t lift a finger to help the 2 women move boxes in their effort to locate the stock….. I guess its the culture here, that the women do all the work, while the men smoke, read the papers and drink tea….. I’m sure its not true for all men, but in some places, men would have volunteered to help…. I have offered in the past to assist during the process, but have always been stopped by the men, presumably that it is not a common practice for outsiders to get involved, together with the fact that being a guest, I should merely observe and not get physically involved in any of the counting here…..

Monday, 07 August 2006

In Bangadesh, its really difficult to sleep in .… The sun rises so early in this country, 6am here is more like 8.30am back home…. Because its summer here, the day starts a lot earlier than what I’m used to at home….. I try to turn away from the sunlight pouring into the room, but resistance is futile…. So I end up tossing and turning, waiting for my alarm clock to go off, I refuse to get out of bed until I really have to….. After all, I have a long day ahead….. Actually, every day in Bangladesh is a long day for me….. So what do I see in the early mornings, on the way to the village branch? I see people walking around while brushing their teeth, and chatting with other people, mouths still foaming…..

I see mothers bathing their kids as we drive by….. I also see kids of a similar age in uniforms walking in groups, chatting happily, presumably on their way to school…. I see older girls, also in uniform, in rickshaws, who are also probably going to school…. I see bus drivers washing their buses…. Let me correct myself there, they wash the rims of their buses, but its still a lot more than what some of the car owners back in KL would do, where you see a 3 inch layer of dust on their cars…..

I also see people walking their livestocks, I would presume the cows are being sent to plough the fields, the goats and sheep are probably being sent to the markets to be sold…. I see people opening up their stalls, selling food and everyday items….. I see other people chasing after buses, some walking, some taking rickshaws….. I see rickshaws carrying other types of cargo aside from people, including bricks, jute, hay, sacks of rice, bamboo, metal rods, just about anything really….. I hear bells of the rickshaws and bicycles ringing, horns of trucks and buses…. I also see women processing their jute, soaking them in the water, stripping the jute of the bark and leaves….. I see men drying the jute on the roadside….. (by the way, jute are the plants used to make rope, its apparently a very big thing here in Bangladesh….



Men processing the jute

Harvest of the jute

I witness a hive of activity on my way to the village branch, it would be wise not to just sleep in the car, as you’d miss out on a lot of things…. I’m glad though that I don’t lead such a lifestyle, as among other things, I would just hate having to brush my teeth out in the open…..

PS: Another startling observation was made here in Bangladesh, most men here wear collared shirts!!! From rickshaw riders to stall sellers to bus drivers, all the common people, 9 out of 10 men would be wearing a collared shirt/t-shirt, of which probably 7 of then would be wearing a shirt (usually long sleeved)….. makes our people back home look really shabby!!!

Sunday, 06 August 2006

I feel a lot better today, looks like the fever has died down….. but the bumpy roads out of Dhaka made me feel sick though, the contents of my tummy seems to be swirling, so it didn’t help that we had to take a 30 minute ferry trip across the Ganges River on the way to the villages I’m visiting…..

I’ve been on this ferry in January, I elected to go right up to the top, and sat quietly on my own, dozing on and off….. I think the rest were a little concerned about my quietness, but they left me alone….. but the strong breeze, no, the strong wind seemed to make me feel a lot better…. You had to squint your eyes to see what’s ahead due to the wind….. even the crows were struggling against the wind…. I noticed two of them landing on the ferry roof, slid off the roof, and then had to fight the wind to reclaim their place on the roof…..

There was also a lot of activity going on in the ferry…. Lots of traders were selling fruits and drinks at the bottom floor of the ferry…. The top floor of the ferry on the other hand had people selling snacks, similar to the Indian cookies like murukku, hard-boiled eggs in salt and pepper, and peanuts….. There were even two cobblers, who were polishing people’s shoes for a nominal fee….. You’d also find the odd beggar or two, whom you’d have to ignore, or you’d be swamped by his fellow beggars if you’d give any money to any of them…..

We encountered an interesting event once we reached the village branch…. There was a middle aged man, sitting in a room as we walked past….. My Malaysian colleague was curious, and requested one of our Bangladeshi counterparts on why the man was there…. It turns out that this man had defaulted on his Microfinance loan and moved to Dhaka without paying his instalments…. Today, he had decided to pay part of his loan, and found himself locked up in that room for 30 minutes as punishment for moving away without paying off his loan…. I find it quite bizarre actually, can you imagine if that’s what we do to people back home who default on their bank loans…. It was quite amusing at the time, but it makes you wonder….. I came all the way back to pay off part of my loans, and I end up getting locked up in a room, with no where to go…. He was eventually released after we had queried the Branch Manager on the rationale behind the idea of holding him….. but we do wonder, if we didn’t come across him on our way to the documents storage room, how long would he have remained in that room?



The man locked in the room, flanked by the Bangadeshi auditor (left) and Village Branch Manager (right)

Funny isn’t it, how things are done in different countries….

Saturday, 05 August 2006

I’ve fallen sick…. Which is just great, considering I go out to the villages again early tomorrow morning…. The fever which I thought would surface after my last trip finally materialised…. I hate taking panadols, but I had to take two tonight….. and getting an early night would be a good idea….. as I needed to be up by 6.30am, going to sleep at 10pm sounded just about right…..

The only thing is, despite not feeling too well, I ended up watching the telly…. And sleeping an hour later….. I couldn’t help it…. Fast & Furious III, Tokyo Drift was showing….. yeah, they were showing a lousy DVD copy on the telly, so it slowed me down while I packed….. there’s this thing about cars which just fascinates the male population, or most of it anyway….. of course having girls in the show also doesn’t hurt :)

I wish I could make my car drift…. Apparently, my 22 year old Accord should be able to drift, as in theory, all rear wheel cars will be able to drift…. But the thought of punishing my dear Accord, I don’t think I’ll be attempting it anytime soon….. but it looks sooo cool, and if I could drift, I’d be drifting my way out of the MM carpark everyday, just to show how desperate I am to get out of the office….

When that movie ended, I thought I’d go to sleep….. but I needed to check what’s on BBC for the latest news before I went to bed….. and lo and behold, Top Gear was on…. This show is about the review of all sorts of cars…. They will put the car through its paces, just to prove the facts and characteristics of the car…. The only difference between Top Gear and Tokyo Drift are the absence of women…..

The cars under review were the CCX and Porsche Caryenne? What I enjoy about the show is the presentation of the review, the English humour that is part of the show, and their innovative ways of showcasing the capabilities of the cars under review…. The CCX sports car was test driven by Jeremy Clarkson, famous for his dry English humour, you can read his reviews in your Sunday Times….. he was pushing the car on a straight track till it reached 192 miles per hour….. that’s more than 300 km per hour!!! Then he lost control of the car….. not surprisingly, he looked quite sick as he got out of the car…

To show how fast the Porsche is, a race was designed over 2.6 miles….. the Porsche was to drive through the winding rough terrain, and pitted against an army parachutist, who would dive diagonally across 2.6 miles…. Who would ever have thought of pitting a car, against a man dressed like a flying squirrel diving down from an airplane….. the amazing thing was, the Porsche was actually the underdog, as it had to average 100km/hr in order to beat the parachutist….. so who won the race you ask? Why, despite the spirited drive of the Porsche, the flying squirrel prevailed by a good 5 metres or so……

So was it all worth it staying up, delaying my bedtime by a good hour knowing I had to be up early the next day? Hehe, you bet it was!!!

The Roads of Bangladesh.....

Friday, 04 August 2006

I get nervous everytime I’m out on the roads in Bangladesh…… its not so bad when you’re in Dhaka, as we don’t really go out very far from our hotel…. What worries me is when I have to go out onto the main highways of Bangladesh, travelling from region to region for hours at a time….
The view along the way to our destination is very different from urban Kuala Lumpur..... the paddy and jute fields, cows ploughing the fields, harvested paddy being dried on the roads, the never ending rivers, the rickshaws transporting various types of goods….

Now, I’d be able to enjoy all of this, if only I didn’t feel I was taking a risk every time I take a roadtrip out of Dhaka…. The drivers here are just mad, everyone thinks they’re a Schumacher, from the drivers of their little kancil-like cars, to the 4 wheel drives (inclusive of my driver at times), the public buses and the huge trucks, who incidentally are carrying twice the load they’re permitted to…..

Here’s how it goes….. we’re doing 100km/hr, and all of a sudden, we hear this blaring horn from behind, I look outside, and to my sheer astonishment, I see this bus overtaking us, with the bus conductor hanging outside like a broken branch of a tree blowing in the wind, yelling at us, and gesturing wildly for us to move out of the bus’s way…..

Here’s another terrifying picture….. as we’re driving merrily down the road, we notice a line of trucks on the opposite side…. Then one truck driver gets impatient and overtakes another, totally oblivious to our approach…. or ignoring our presence, it doesn't matter..... Our bleating horns go unheeded, and my driver has to get us off the road to avoid getting squashed like a roach…..

Everyday, I read in the newspapers that there has been accidents on the roads, involving many fatalities…. You wonder whether you'll be another statistic who has suffered the same fate.....Considering that we will be using the same route to our destination, how can one not worry…. The notion of queuing and waiting your turn is as foreign to these people as I, a Malaysian am to all the villages and the people I visit…. A silent prayer is always uttered before stepping into our vehicle, thankfully our drivers are good, no, actually they’re very good, so far, we’ve always arrived safely and in one piece….. still, I cant help but feel nervous come Sunday when its time for me to go back out to the villages again…..

Thursday, 03 August 2006

It doesn’t matter where you are, people are all still the same…. You’re talking to someone, but they don’t let you know when they don’t understand the message you’re trying to convey to them…. You even ask them, “is there anything you don’t understand?”, and they’ll just nod their heads and say no everything is fine….. and at the next instant, as proven by the way they answer your question, or by their subsequent actions to your instructions, you know your message didn’t get through…..

That explains why the waiter didnt bring me the food I ordered.... or why something was not done the way I wanted it...... or why I was brought to the wrong place…. It would also explain why I get the wrong documents when speaking to clients, or in Bangladesh, to my fellow auditors from Bangladesh….. I ask one question, it gets translated to Bengali and delivered to the villagers, the answer is given by the villagers to the bangladeshi auditors, translated back into English and delivered to me….. gee, that answer didn’t make sense..... sigh…. now, let’s try again…. That’s how it goes, over and over again in a day, for every working day I’m at the villages….

Many things make it difficult when working in the villages…. The working conditions are hard, it’s a lot dirtier, filthier and dustier and I’m accustomed to, its also a lot hotter than I would like it to be (the cold is the only thing I miss from my days in the UK), the amount of work facing us in the short time-span that we have at each branch is overwhelming….. But communicating with people here is definitely the biggest challenge facing us Malaysians here in Bangladesh…..

So what is required during our time in Bangladesh is a huge amount of patience, something that I’m told I have an abundance of, but even I have my limitations…. You explain again, you use illustrations, make comparisons…. Basically you use your imagination on how to deliver your message across effectively to the people here.…. All the aggravation I go through cant be good for my health, not to mention the heat, dirt and dust…..

But sometimes, its not because they are not able to understand….. instead, its due to the lack of effort made on their part…. What really irritates me is when the people don’t listen…. They’re too busy talking, they do not do enough listening, because they think they know what you’re going to say…. So they switch off, and in the end, the message is lost….. what’s even more annoying is when these same people get impatient and angry, and blame you for not relaying the message more clearly….

No, its not easy working with people, regardless of where you are….. more so when you have to work with people who don’t share the same language as you do…. It has been a long 3 weeks, and it will be another long 4 weeks till I go home….. I guess I’ll just have to persevere on when dealing with people…. As they say, when at first you don’t succeed, try, try, and try again!!!

Back in Dhaka, and happier for it too!!!

Wednesday, 02 August 2006

Its been a while since my last entry, which coincided with my return to Dhaka…. The trip back was uneventful, yet I was relieved to be back at the hotel and reunited with the rest of our Malaysian team…. Am not looking forward to going back out to the villages this Sunday, but until then I might as well enjoy it while it lasts…..

While I have been busy in the office, documenting the results of our work at the villages, I am definitely more relaxed and at ease as compared to the past 2 weeks…. I have been able to catch up with the world news, and I found it distressing to read and watch what is going on in Lebanon, sad that Ruud Van Nistelrooy has left Man United but pleased that Michael Carrick has finally been signed by Ferguson…. Its so nice to be able to catch up with all the football going-ons as the new season approaches…..

Then there’s the internet, I found my mail inbox filled to the brim, not that it was a problem…. I was delighted to find myself connected to the internet (somehow there’s wireless connection in the office, slow as it may be, but its better than no internet at all :) ), hence I was able to catch up with what has been happening at home…. I was also able to chat with friends from home, Penang, Australia, Singapore and even Senegal…. Hopefully I’ll be able to get hold of my friends in India and the UK in the near future…..

Of course, let’s not forget the hot showers I’m now able to enjoy again after a hard day at work…. Nothing washes away the tiredness as well as a nice hot shower….. and then to step into a cool and air conditioned room, where I wont have to worry about any power cuts…. No more hot, sweaty and uncomfortable nights as I toss and turn in our mosquito infested bedroom…. While I was at the villages, I had a frog, a rat and plenty of roaches as room mates….. how I managed to get enough sleep I will never know, but I guess when you’re so tired, after a while, you just push it to the furthest corner of your mind, you close your eyes and drift away to sleep…..

Of course, being able to watch reruns of Friends, Will & Grace, new episodes of Joey, the OC Season II, lots of ESPN and Star Sports does wonders to one’s morale…. We had a shock though when we returned, as the Ministry of Culture or something like that had banned the sports channels and the Z series channels, which had all my Friends and Will & Grace’s so we were not happy…. As one of us said, what’s a country without a sports channel, hehe, something that I am in total agreement with…. But its all good now, all the channels have been reinstated, and I’m happy again…..

Anyway, I’m off to watch more Friends and Joey, so till the next entry then!!!