Young boy selling bananas at the market. Bananas usually sell for 2 taka each (4 cents).

An elephant or 'harti' working in Dhaka! My second spotting of elephants on my way to work.

Bangla bday

Last week I celebrated my bday by heading to VOOT restaurant. Little did we know that Voot was the bangla word for ghost. The ghosts were 6 dancing men in black costumes and halloween masks, not very scary but definitely very amusing, especially while they were singing happy birthday. My beautiful flatmates arranged a chocolate brownie pyramid using brownies from my favourite café. We even managed to arrange a private area so we could byo a few beers.

Tea for two in Srimangal!

My flatmate Jen and I headed for our first trip outside of Dhaka. We decided that we needed to see the countryside and breathe some fresh air! We headed to Srimangal, the tea growing area of Bangladesh. It was a small town with beautiful fields. We made some special new friends, Meghnad and his family, who live in a small village near one of the tea estates. We had a tour of the tea factory (it smelled fantastic!) where a chalkboard proudly displayed that there had been 1022 accident free days. We hired bikes and rode around this picturesque part of Bangladesh, greeting villagers (every child knows how to say "goodbye" in english) and the workers picking tea leaves. Meghnad took us on a tour of Ramnagar a small town that sells the world famous 5 layer tea. It is definitely our favourite place in Bangladesh so far.

Man picking tea leaves

Meghnad and his village

Bridge near Ramnagar

Jen and I drinking 5 layer tea

Trapped!
Two men are currently trapped in a mine in Tasmania. Reading about these guys as I sit behind my computer in Dhaka has reminded me of the 55 million Bangladeshi’s who are trapped here, not by rocks but by poverty. These people are trapped everyday for the rest of their very short lives. These two men will hopefully be free by Sunday but for all the people who live on less than $1 day here life will never get better. They will always live one day at a time, working for a minimal wage in extremely dangerous conditions, to feed themselves and their families.

I have been surprised at my concern and need for regular updates about these two miners. Maybe because I know in our part of the world, with our technology these two can and will be saved, unlike the many people I see here everyday.