Never leave home without it k
18 January 2007
What a day to forget my camera…. You never know what you’re going to come across during your time here, and today was no different…. My team was on the way to one of the villages, in between paddy fields (as usual), when we encountered a slow and lumbering obstacle in our way…..
This obstacle I’m referring to was an elephant, with his handler…. I’ve no idea where they were headed, but the elephant strode purposefully towards our vehicle, used his body to block our path and preventing us from moving forward, and thrust his trunk out onto my window….. Oh, and I was sitting in front too, I guess he can tell us foreigners from the locals….
I thought it was a pity I didn’t have any food to give….. so the driver took out some Bangladeshi money, for me to give to the elephant instead…. Right, what would the elephant do with the money anyway…. So I gave the 20 Taka bill to the handler instead…. And when the handler put it into the elephant’s trunk, the elephant blew the money back in his face!!! This happened twice more before the elephant finally received it graciously, returned it politely onto his handler’s hand…..
And then only did the elephant move out of our path, and we were allowed to continue our journey to the client’s place….. what a day to forget my camera…..
17 January 2007
Well, I have written about the trouble facing Bangladesh now, with all the political uncertainty and all…. As I was on my way to another village, our car were set upon by a mob, hurling missiles at our 4 wheel drive…. We were forced to stop, and I was quite worried about the damage that would be inflicted by these people….
Hehe, when I say a mob, I meant 3 little kids… when I say missiles, I mean pieces of wood :D It is quite usual for kids to come and run up to our car, and for the bolder ones, they would even chase our car…..
The oldest of the 3 yelled at the other 2 boys, or possibly his brothers that we were about to drive by…. The 2nd boy then threw something at us, which hit our window…. I was quite glad that the window did not shatter….. the youngest boy, upon seeing his older brother throw something at us then followed suit….. the object hit my door, and the driver jammed on his brakes and got out of the car to inspect the damage…. He picked up a piece of wood, and asked the boys sternly who threw it…. The 2 young boys started crying, and I thought he was really going to give them a shelling….. but being the nice man that he always is, he left them and got back into the car, and we continued on our journey….. kids……
Well, it is always an adventure in Bangladesh, and today was no different…. The roads soon got too small for us to travel by car, and I was told to get on a motorbike driven by the client….
It was quite fun actually, to have the cold wind in your face…. If we were on the main roads, it probably wouldn’t have been very safe due to the absence of a safety helmet for me, but as the path was winding and VERY bumpy, we were going very slowly….
We proceeded to go in between paddy fields, banana estates, fruit orchards, and the many residential huts…. We even crossed 2 streams, where the water was so clear, you could see the tadpoles swimming….. I must say though, I had my doubts as to whether the bridges could hold the weight of the motorbike with 2 grown men on it…. You see, the bridge was made of very flimsy looking bamboo trunks, which looked old and weary, after prolonged exposure to the weather….. But we made it through in one piece…..
Oh, if you had watched the Amazing Race Asia last week, where the participants were made to mix cow dung and stick it on a wall, which would later be used as fuel to cook their food etc….. This is a common sight during my trips to the village…. They not only put it up on their housewalls, but on their fences and trees…. I noticed a house which even had their dung skewered and hung out to dry….. hmm…. I’m glad we use gas to cook our food…..
From left to right: View from the hut of one of the programme participants; a programme participants with the livestock provided by the programme; the living quarters of a programme participant; and dung slapped on the fence of a resident
What a day to forget my camera…. You never know what you’re going to come across during your time here, and today was no different…. My team was on the way to one of the villages, in between paddy fields (as usual), when we encountered a slow and lumbering obstacle in our way…..
This obstacle I’m referring to was an elephant, with his handler…. I’ve no idea where they were headed, but the elephant strode purposefully towards our vehicle, used his body to block our path and preventing us from moving forward, and thrust his trunk out onto my window….. Oh, and I was sitting in front too, I guess he can tell us foreigners from the locals….
I thought it was a pity I didn’t have any food to give….. so the driver took out some Bangladeshi money, for me to give to the elephant instead…. Right, what would the elephant do with the money anyway…. So I gave the 20 Taka bill to the handler instead…. And when the handler put it into the elephant’s trunk, the elephant blew the money back in his face!!! This happened twice more before the elephant finally received it graciously, returned it politely onto his handler’s hand…..
And then only did the elephant move out of our path, and we were allowed to continue our journey to the client’s place….. what a day to forget my camera…..
17 January 2007
Well, I have written about the trouble facing Bangladesh now, with all the political uncertainty and all…. As I was on my way to another village, our car were set upon by a mob, hurling missiles at our 4 wheel drive…. We were forced to stop, and I was quite worried about the damage that would be inflicted by these people….
Hehe, when I say a mob, I meant 3 little kids… when I say missiles, I mean pieces of wood :D It is quite usual for kids to come and run up to our car, and for the bolder ones, they would even chase our car…..
The oldest of the 3 yelled at the other 2 boys, or possibly his brothers that we were about to drive by…. The 2nd boy then threw something at us, which hit our window…. I was quite glad that the window did not shatter….. the youngest boy, upon seeing his older brother throw something at us then followed suit….. the object hit my door, and the driver jammed on his brakes and got out of the car to inspect the damage…. He picked up a piece of wood, and asked the boys sternly who threw it…. The 2 young boys started crying, and I thought he was really going to give them a shelling….. but being the nice man that he always is, he left them and got back into the car, and we continued on our journey….. kids……
Well, it is always an adventure in Bangladesh, and today was no different…. The roads soon got too small for us to travel by car, and I was told to get on a motorbike driven by the client….
It was quite fun actually, to have the cold wind in your face…. If we were on the main roads, it probably wouldn’t have been very safe due to the absence of a safety helmet for me, but as the path was winding and VERY bumpy, we were going very slowly….
We proceeded to go in between paddy fields, banana estates, fruit orchards, and the many residential huts…. We even crossed 2 streams, where the water was so clear, you could see the tadpoles swimming….. I must say though, I had my doubts as to whether the bridges could hold the weight of the motorbike with 2 grown men on it…. You see, the bridge was made of very flimsy looking bamboo trunks, which looked old and weary, after prolonged exposure to the weather….. But we made it through in one piece…..
Oh, if you had watched the Amazing Race Asia last week, where the participants were made to mix cow dung and stick it on a wall, which would later be used as fuel to cook their food etc….. This is a common sight during my trips to the village…. They not only put it up on their housewalls, but on their fences and trees…. I noticed a house which even had their dung skewered and hung out to dry….. hmm…. I’m glad we use gas to cook our food…..
From left to right: View from the hut of one of the programme participants; a programme participants with the livestock provided by the programme; the living quarters of a programme participant; and dung slapped on the fence of a resident
posted by zufar | 12:54 AM
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