Landed in Dhaka!

Well, my flight didn't actually land until a few minutes before midnight. Customs wasn't a long line (there were very few foreigners on the flight so the wait was tiny). A couple of young Korean businessmen kept me company in line (we'd chatted a bit on the plane at one point) making me feel a bit like less of a strange commodity (people stared less for awhile), and I caught up with them again while we awaited our luggage. Going through cutoms, the border guard was very nice, his hair was hennaed and he reminded me of someone famous that seems old and sweet (that I can't remember now). He took as long as the next guard did to get three people through, lol, but I was *not going to be impatient, no matter how late it was.


It was no big deal to get my bag, though it did take more than 40 minutes for the conveyor to start... I dont know what took them so long to bring the bags over from the plane, but things slowwwwwwly trickled in as we waited and chatted. I hadn't made arrangements to be met at the airport since I was staying with a person and not at a hotel, but I had tried to figure out the most a taxi would cost before I tried to find one.  I was waiting with the two young businessmen (who actually turned out to be engineers) because I was going to ask their driver about the best way to get a taxi, but they got held up at Customs at the point I had been just waved through and I just didn't want to wait, so out I went!


The Dhaka airport keeps vendors out in layers so there weren't a zillion peole vying for attention/business when I finally passed the last customs station. The guards waved me past the last stand of xray machines so I was out ahead of a few people, but like I said, very few tourists were on the plane so I still had all the help I needed (and then some!) when I cleared those final security doors. Canada is well-enough loved over here, and apparently we play cricket, which also ups our standing in the eyes of many young Banglaeshisis.

In the airport there was a taxi stand (well, it's a driver service, really). Behind the counter there were about 8 young Bangladeshi men talking and laughing and shoving one another and trying to be helpful. They gave me a rate that was higher than the most my host said it would cost, I countered, and they accepted too quickly, so I know the price had been high: BUT, at 1 in the morning in a strange place I really just wanted to get there, I didn't care!
All over the airport I saw a lot of young people dressed in camouflage, I think it's the Bangladesh police, but as of yet I'm not sure. There were scades of them and they weren't military looking, but hey - what the heck do I know in this country!! :) The car (which looked to me like a gypsy cab) pulled up about 5 minutes after I'd hit the street, and the dude from the car service gave instructions to the driver. I'd paid the fare at the window before we'd left so I just had to settle in for the ride.

The first thing I noticed was that even though it was almost 1 there were scads of people standing outside the gates of the airport - scads! I was happy to have hired the car inside and not had to have made my way through them, I can tell you that much! The World Cricket Championships are here now so there are signs and things everywhere, and I couldn't help but wonder if the city had been somewhat 'cleaned up' in anticipation of the games, the way India had been for the Commonwealth games. It was very dark so it was hard to see much more than the roads, but 2 things come to mind...

1. There are some CRAZY drivers in this city, I am so glad I don't have to drive! Many of the cars look like they are duct taped together and then coloured in with markers, it's insane (pictures to come!).

2. The pollution here is worse than any other city I've been in (including Ho Chi Minh and Beijing), and I have NO idea what it's actually going to look like in the light of day!

The driver got ALL KINDS of lost on the was to the apartment, and spoke NO English. He stopped several times to ask for instructions, and finally figured it out once we stopped at a hotel and I called Kassandra for help. Funny enough, every man he stopped and asked for directions replied like he knew EXACTLY where we were headed, and NOT ONE of them did, lol.


We stopped by a hotel (The Bengal Inn) and they finally made the driver pull in (he tried to avoid it, but their security insisted and he relented) so I could call Kassandra from the front desk. They were very kind and very helpful, and at that point VERY much appreciated. From there we got the right area of the city, and then went from person to person (there were an awful LOT of people out even nearing 1:30 in the morning!) until we got to the right road, and then I kept my eyes peeled for the address because I think my poor young befuddled driver was still very much befuddled after driving round lost for nearly 45 minutes.

I got to Kassandra's (after making the driver come to a scratching halt on the dirt road - he hadn't noticed the poorly lit roadsign and I had so I yelled "There! Stop please!") just before 2am, and I was *so* happy to finally be there. She had waited up (she and her kitty Phoebe!) and was SO ready for bed, but she showed me around her apartment later (pictures later!)... this is my bedroom though, for a start!
I am going to make myself go to bed because it's late and suddenly I'm having trouble keeping my eyes open and I don't want to sleep tomorrow away, my first day in a new country!! I hope wherever you are that life is bringing you your own brand of adventure, because I am already loving mine!