A boatride with criminals!
23 February, 2008
This past Thursday we got an extra day off, so Marc and I went to Bagerhat to get some photos printed for our village photo project. The 3 hour trip consists of a walk, a rowboat across a river, a bus, a walk through town, a trawler across a river, a bus, and a rickshaw.
While on the first bus, I enjoyed lovely panoramic views of the countryside while sitting bolt upright in my seat, which was built at straight 90 degree angle. Possibly even 88. It's not natural to sit so straight.
The fields are starting to bud with green, and I noticed a new addition to the neat rows of crops: scarecrows. In America, scarecrows wear jeans and straw hats. In Bangladesh, scarecrows wear long tunics and Muslim prayer caps.
Next we transferred to a trawler (a motorized fishing boat) to cross a large river. When both sides of the boat were filled with seated passengers, I naively thought we would be off. Silly me. A stampede of women then filled the deck, followed by some young men, students, and finally, two policemen leading two scowling young men who were handcuffed together. They balanced on the back edge of the boat, as we rocked and dipped wildly.
I wondered what they did to get handcuffed. Maybe they were dacoits! (I feel the need to use the word as much as possible while in Bangladesh, because I don't think it exists in the rest of the English-speaking world.) Then I got distracted by the man in front of me wearing a red and black tartan-print shirt, with a red and black tartan-covered planner tucked into this front chest pocket.
Bagerhat was good. It looks the same as everywhere else in Bangladesh, but I had real-ish ice cream. My first in 3 months!
This past Thursday we got an extra day off, so Marc and I went to Bagerhat to get some photos printed for our village photo project. The 3 hour trip consists of a walk, a rowboat across a river, a bus, a walk through town, a trawler across a river, a bus, and a rickshaw.
While on the first bus, I enjoyed lovely panoramic views of the countryside while sitting bolt upright in my seat, which was built at straight 90 degree angle. Possibly even 88. It's not natural to sit so straight.
The fields are starting to bud with green, and I noticed a new addition to the neat rows of crops: scarecrows. In America, scarecrows wear jeans and straw hats. In Bangladesh, scarecrows wear long tunics and Muslim prayer caps.
Next we transferred to a trawler (a motorized fishing boat) to cross a large river. When both sides of the boat were filled with seated passengers, I naively thought we would be off. Silly me. A stampede of women then filled the deck, followed by some young men, students, and finally, two policemen leading two scowling young men who were handcuffed together. They balanced on the back edge of the boat, as we rocked and dipped wildly.
I wondered what they did to get handcuffed. Maybe they were dacoits! (I feel the need to use the word as much as possible while in Bangladesh, because I don't think it exists in the rest of the English-speaking world.) Then I got distracted by the man in front of me wearing a red and black tartan-print shirt, with a red and black tartan-covered planner tucked into this front chest pocket.
Bagerhat was good. It looks the same as everywhere else in Bangladesh, but I had real-ish ice cream. My first in 3 months!
posted by Stefanie at 10:36 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home