I went to Bangladesh for 5 days and this is what I saw. Rickshaws. Millions of them. There are more rickshaws than there are people. So it seems. The traffic in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, is chaos at its best. No rules. From point A to point B, just go. When we were sitting in the car, scared shitless by all sorts of 'vehicles' coming towards you from all direction, I thought it was a miracle that these rickshaws weren't actually hitting each other. In fact, I've not seen any road accident the whole time I was in Bangladesh. The drive so close to each other, you can hear their breath from the other car. The passenger door can be locked and opened only from the driver's seat. I know it's crazy, but that's how it is. Some Japanese business dude I met, he said he would never get on the rickshaw because he's been told that the drivers will pull a gun on you. I said bull shit... There were lots of weird things in Bangladesh... and carrying a huge basketful of stuff on your head wasn't the weirdest thing... I've never liked cricket but now that I've seen them play EVEYRWHERE in Bangladesh, I think I can see the beauty of it, although only slightly... But I think in the future, GOLF will gain interest and the love of the people... While I was there, there was some sort of regional Olympics, and Bangladesh won TWO GOLD MEDALS from GOLF!! It was a big news in Bangladesh... I actually met the golfers who won the gold medals coz we stayed at the same hotel... Right after they won the first gold medal, I asked the front desk to introduce me to them, and while I was asking the front desk, the golfer was standing right next to me! He was so freaking thrilled... He beamed with pride and joy... introduced himself as the golfer who won the gold, and took me to their dinner table, where other team mates and their coach were having a light meal. I collected all their autographs, and one guy laughed and said this must be the first time anyone ever asked for their autograph. Lol... So I told them... "One of these days, one of you will become famous. And I already have your autograph! Thanks!" They laughed... I wished them good luck... and the next day, they went out and swept all THREE medals, GOLD, SILVER, and BRONZE. Historical moment for the history of Bangladeshi golf... No. I'm not going to show you their autographs... they are personal. The people in Bangladesh are friendly and very approachable. You just smile, and they smile ten times bigger. They are so eager to be noticed. They love it when someone pays attention to them. The above are the Bangladesh Street Boys. Someday they're going to make a platinum hit. These are Bangladeshi soldiers. Very cool. Streets of Bangladesh... To tell you the truth, it isn't the prettiest place in the world... It's got Korean restaurants... this one in particular is actually North Korean restaurants... Their taxis got really nice color. Since the streets of Dhaka is pretty much colorless, the blue really stands out. This guy is trying really hard to add some color to the city. Their rivers are black. It's actually black. It's not the reflection or my camera, the real color of the river is BLACK. But sometimes they have green parks... A typical street... At night... The above two pictures... Such a contrast... A Bangla disco? Night market. It was pretty cold in Bangladesh during the night... I had a jacket on, but I was only wearing a thin T-shirt inside... During the night, they sell vegitables... not much meat... very busy. And scary. I felt like an alien who has just landed in the middle of Guantanamo. People were staring at me like I was crazy or something. Earlier that evening, I booked a car from the hotel, to take me around for some sight seeing... I told them I wanted to take some pictures... night shots... And they wouldn't take me anywhere... They were circling the nice buildings... like the convention centers and parks and their Prime Minister's house... Who the fuck wants to see the Prime Minister's house? So I asked them to take me to a market. And they were trying to take me to some shopping center, so I told them I wanted to go to a fresh market. They finally took me to a market, and they told me to be VERY careful of my camera and other belongs... I could not have been warned more strongly. But they couldn't scare me... they thought I'd be mugged for sure, but I wasn't worried a bit. I walked around their market... to see what they were selling... and they were selling... Tomatoes. If there is one thing that I saw more than the number of rickshaws in Dhaka, it's the tomatoes. The people were laughing their ass off, seeing me taking the picture of their tomatoes... It was weird... I couldn't possibly point my camera at the people coz they were having such a hard life. In the sea of people, all I could see were tomatoes... It's ... pretty hard to explain... But like I said, it was pretty cold, so when I saw a ... the above establishment, I had to stop for a cup of hot tea... with milk, please. And while I was sipping on my cup of hot milk tea, the people surrounded me in double layers and shared names and hand shakes... I couldn't possibly pronounce their names correctly... and they did a terrible job of saying my name... But the hand shakes were the same... firm grip. Warm touch. Sweaty palms... Their hands were coarse as sandpaper... I'll bet they thought my hands were very soft. And this one boy, came to me and gave me a califlower. That was my only souvenir from Bangladesh... which I could not bring coz the stupid customs won't let me... Anyway... It was pretty hard 5 days... there were just too many hard stuff going on in Bangladesh... poverty... poor people... But what can I do? I can't give money to every woman and children who are tirelessly begging on the streets of Dhaka... Anyway... The tea was 5 TK, which is equivalent to say... 1 cent?... I gave the man 10 TK, and he gave me 5 TK change... And I asked the califlower boy how much do I owe him, and he said nothing. The califlower was a gift. I thanked him for the wonderful gift, and that's when my limo driver found me and dragged me back to the limo... For a while, it felt so good... These people... nice people. Poor but generous hearts... Look, they even gave me a califlower for free! But that pleasant sensation was short lived coz the boy who gave me the califlower ran to me and tugged my sleeves, and begged, no, asked for money. I refuse to think that he was begging. I would rather think that he wanted me to pay for the califlower. So I gave him 5 TK. That should cover a califlower. It's a very ... frustrating thing... hard to explain... My mind was all messed up by that breif stroll in the Bangladeshi market... And I needed a break from it all, so I told the driver to take me to a hotel. Any hotel. That sells beer. And we just happened to pass by the Westin Hotel, so I jumped off the car, and went straight up to the 23rd floor, where the bar was. It took a while for the waiter to come and ask me if I was here for a drink... So I said yes, and could you please hand me the menu? And he gave me the menu, and I ordered the beer. And as the waiter took my order, the bar tender giggled and said to the waiter, "You'll be responsible if he doesn't pay." LoL... I must've looked terrible... dusty... and ... poor... Not by any standard, did I look like I had anything more than a dollor in my pocket. In fact, when I walked in the bar, the lady guests were giggling at me. How rude... But especially by the Bangladeshi standard, I was... poor. No Armani or Gucci on me. And while I stared at the candle light that was colorlessly burning, I thought about Bangladesh I saw... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Oh... the waiter... He's the guy who took my order. And these are the guys who were giggling on the background... After all the guests have left, we stayed and talked and laughed for awhile... exchanging names and emails... Pretty nice guys. - After saying good bye to the nice fellows in the above picture, I went back to my hotel, and the next morning, I was nabbed by the Bangladeshi police because they thought I was an North Korean spy because I was taking pictures of the American embassy, but that's another story. http://forum.grasscity.com/real-life-stories/547682-am-i-trouble.html On the flight back home, despite getting in BIG trouble for taking pictures, I wanted to take one last shot at Bangladesh. The end.
These photos are very atmospheric.. The contrast between the poverty they live in and the smiling, hopeful faces of the children is amazing.. It makes you think about what's really important in life Lovely pictures
Thanks, Emily... Yes... It really makes you think... What's the thing that is REALLY important in life? And I think of my family and friends...
Great pictures man!!!!!! Its sad that they are so poor that they have to take advantage of humans sympathy but i feel like if he couldve afforded it he wouldve given it to you for free .
Lovely story man My parents are from B-desh, i went there a few years ago to see relatives, i really enjoyed my time there. It is crushing to see how large the gap is between the rich and the poor. I really have a love/hate relationship with the country