Bye Bye Bangladesh (for real this time)

My true departure from Bangladesh is just a bit anti-climactic. I feel like the real one was 2 weeks ago, and this one is just kind of an addendum.

I arrived back in Dhaka on Monday morning, after a truly terrible night spent a the Calcutta airport. I had an 8 hour layover from 11pm until 7AM, which even at a nice American or European airport still really sucks, but at a rundown Indian airport is nearly unbearable (especially with a bad cold).
The thing that really struck me the most about India was the contrast between the rich and poor. I would actually bet money that the gap between rich and poor in Bangladesh is greater than in India, and that the money here is held in much fewer hands, and there are a much higher percentage of really really poor people, but in India it is striking because there are really nice places whereas in Bangladesh even the fanciest places for the most part seem kind of run down by the standards of the developed world. In India there are places that feel almost like America or another rich country. The difference between the airport in Delhi and Calcutta really brought this point home. The Delhi airport (especially the international terminal) is incredibly nice and clean and modern and even has a KFC (yes... not exactly the stamp of modernity but I was impressed, you know how I feel about KFC). The Calcutta airport is kind of gross, really dingy, uncomfortable, filled with mosquitoes and barely had a working bathroom. Needless to say I did not get a lot of sleep that night and was completely exhausted when I arrived back in Dhaka.
The hotel picked me up, and the AC in their van was not working. For some reason they also didn't open the windows, so I honestly thought i was going to die of heat stroke. Welcome back to Bangladesh!

I spent the rest of Monday basically sleeping, completely exhausted and still feeling terrible from my cold. I managed to get up to go to dinner with Ravid, and some of his friends, which turned out to be a really nice evening. All 3 of his friends grew up in Bangladesh but went to college in the U.S.

Today was incredibly uneventful for it being my last day. I slept in really late, got a much needed pedicure, and managed to find an open restaurant to eat a late lunch (it's Ramadan, so almost every single restaurant in the city is closed).
Sayed picked me up from the hotel and drove me to the airport.
Now I am sitting here in the Dhaka airport and have a few more hours before my flight to Dubai departs. I expected to be feeling a lot more than I am. I think I'm just ready to get back to America. The 2 weeks in India were great, but completely exhausting, and they really reminded me how stressful it can be over here.
I think the thing I am the most excited about is going back to a place where I do not draw attention everywhere I go. I really think this above all else (the crazy traffic, language barrier etc.) is what has worn me out. It constantly makes me feel out of place, and self-conscious. The attention is for the most part not negative, but it is still very unwanted. Today while I was getting a pedicure the girl next to me kept staring at me, and would talk to the woman giving her a pedicure in Bangla and then they would both look at me. I have no idea what they were talking about (I imagined they were making fun of the terrible tan lines on my feet resulting from wearing my Chaco sandals every single day for the last 3 months).
I am also excited to get back to a place where I know what's going on, or I can at least fake it. Bangladesh is just so different in so many ways that it was really impossible for me to feel like i fully understood anything I witnessed.

Now this is definitely not to make it sound like I had a terrible time here,. All in all, I had an absolutely amazing summer that I wouldn't trade for anything. I think I gained a much needed and invaluable perspective on just how big and varied the world really is. I don't think I will realize how much I have learned until I get back home and experience reverse culture shock.

Although my adventure on the Indian subcontinent is nearly over, I am going to go back and write a few entries (as promised) about my 2 weeks in India, and maybe any other thoughts I have about returning home. I hope you enjoyed reading about my experience, I really enjoyed writing about it and I think it enriched my time here.

Alla hafeez Bangladesh, you will always have a special place in my heart.

Alive in India

Hello everyone. My Mom and I are alive and well in Rishikesh, India. Rishikesh is where new age spirituality meets old world Hinduism, so is filled with everything from hippies to holy men. It's also where Beatles discovered meditation and LSD. We have been without internet for the past week, so there is lots to write about.
Some highlights:

• The Taj Mahal lived up to expectations as the most beautiful building in the world.
• Taking a boat ride on the Ganges river through Varanasi and seeing a public crematorium where bodies are burned then the ashes are released in the river (long story)
• A train ride from hell that involved waiting in the Agra train station (AKA train platform) amidst the rats and pigeons for a few hours in the middle of the night, then to be on a train that was supposed to be only 8 hours and ended up taking 14!
•  A ceremony dedicated to the Lord Shiva in Varanasi.
• An elephant ride up to the Amber Fort in Jaipur.

 We only have a few more days and we are both completely exhausted. Tomorrow we drive back to Delhi and are both flying home Sunday night. I will have one more day in Bangladesh and will be returning to Ann Arbor on the 18th. I have enjoyed my time here in India and of course in Bangladesh, but am definitely ready to return to the States.
 

More from India

I am having an amazing time in India, and have just loved my time here so far. I am in Jaipur right now and spent the last 2 days in Pushkar. It is one of India's 7 holy cities (we are going to also visit Varanasi and Haridwar later in the trip) and legend has it that the Hindu God Brahma created the world from a lotus flower and Pushkar lake was the first part of the world he created. Needless to say it is old. I have much to write about, but the internet here is paid for by the hour, and so will post a more detailed blog later. (I've been keeping track of all the good stuff.)
One really weird thing is that I figured since we were hitting the very well traveled areas of India that I would not draw as much attention as in Bangladesh, I was wrong. The staring is the same, but here they are a bit more aggressive and every single time we have gone to any sort of tourist attraction (even in Delhi) I have been asked to be in countless pictures. Guys have asked me to be in photos with them, guys have asked me to take pictures with their wives, families have asked me to pose with them. It has actually gotten to be really overwhelming.

Mom is doing great! She really likes India so far and is adjusting really well. Things are pretty crazy here, but in a much more fun way than Bangladesh.