Interesting experience yesterday of walking the busy streets of Dhaka city, first time ever. We’re so used to being in cars all the time here, that during just a 10 minute walk, I was scared of being mugged the whole while. On the contrary, people didn’t even seem to care, which is a very different experience. Yes, you get a few stares from the general public because of the way one’s dressed (I was in a full-sleeved most conservative shalwar kameez, but still), but it’s not so bad. You get that everywhere. People just like looking at other people, especially Dhakaite men at women. Anyway, so I went and got a rickshaw to go to my dad’s office from where I was (it was too hot to walk all the way, even though I could have)…almost took one of those CNG scooters home, but decided that the gridlock would just not let up and it would take me forever to get back home, and probably cost me 100 taka or so. So I took a rickshaw to my dad’s office, had to pay him double what it costs, but these are poor people working really hard, especially during this month of Ramadan, so I didn’t mind at all. Personally, I’m not a fan of rickshaws, as environmentally friendly as they are…not just because I don’t like the idea of someone literally pulling my weight, but also because I fear for my life on those things. They’re treacherous drivers, and they don’t seem to be afraid of anything! So I may have looked a ridiculous clutching at the sides of the ‘hood’ for dear life, at the same time as trying to save my purse and also trying not to get my clothes tangled up in the wheels…but I don’t care :o)
Have to write about the rickshaw art some other day.
Interesting experience yesterday of walking the busy streets of Dhaka city, first time ever. We’re so used to being in cars all the time here, that during just a 10 minute walk, I was scared of being mugged the whole while. On the contrary, people didn’t even seem to care, which is a very different experience. Yes, you get a few stares from the general public because of the way one’s dressed (I was in a full-sleeved most conservative shalwar kameez, but still), but it’s not so bad. You get that everywhere. People just like looking at other people, especially Dhakaite men at women. Anyway, so I went and got a rickshaw to go to my dad’s office from where I was (it was too hot to walk all the way, even though I could have)…almost took one of those CNG scooters 
home, but decided that the gridlock would just not let up and it would take me forever to get back home, and probably cost me 100 taka or so. So I took a rickshaw to my dad’s office, had to pay him double what it costs, but these are poor people working really hard, especially during this month of Ramadan, so I didn’t mind at all. Personally, I’m not a fan of rickshaws, as environmentally friendly as they are…not just because I don’t like the idea of someone literally pulling my weight, but also because I fear for my life on those things. They’re treacherous drivers, and they don’t seem to be afraid of anything! So I may have looked a ridiculous clutching at the sides of the ‘hood’ for dear life, at the same time as trying to save my purse and also trying not to get my clothes tangled up in the wheels…but I don’t care :o)
Have to write about the rickshaw art some other day.
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