The Food

I pride myself on being a very adventurous eater. I often make the claim that I will eat just about anything, and I usually prove myself right. However, I have been much more timid as a result of strict warnings from the travel medicine nurse at Penn Medical who gave me my pre-trip vaccines. She told me not to eat any fruit that you can’t peel and to avoid vegetables. I think she said something about yogurt or eggs (or maybe it was yogurt and eggs), but since I can’t remember I’ve also been avoiding those.
However, when we stayed in the dorms with the students at the Asian University for Women, I tried to strike a balance between following the guidelines and being polite. I generally tried everything that they served, and really enjoyed most of it. My dad is a pretty well-travelled individual having been to over 70 countries (though, he has never been to Bangladesh so I am proud to say that I have traveled somewhere he has not) and he has all sorts of stories of the wild things he has eaten. He’s had goat eyes, warm sour yogurts, armadillos, you name it. I once asked if he ever got sick from eating such crazy things. He told me that he would eat whatever was put in front of him and then say a little prayer that he would not get sick. He did, however, get sick once in all his travels. He ate a Michael Jordan special at some deli in New York City and then thought he was going to die! With this in mind (the fact that the most dangerous food may actually be in NYC and not in Dhaka), I’ve tried to approach everything with a discerning open mind.

In general, I have REALLY enjoyed the food here! My favorite is daal. It is a spicy lentil stew usually served over rice or naan (a flat bread). However, leave it to me to travel all the way across the world to eat a hot dog!


My new dream is to have a travel channel show in which I travel all over the world taste-testing hotdogs everywhere I go! This one was pretty good. It was a pretty standard hotdog, but the bun was perfectly toasted and it had some interesting onion mayonaise sause.

Day 2: Seeing the sights

On Sunday, a fellow Bryn Mawr student and I took a hotel car to do some sightseeing in old Dhaka. We went to a Buddhist temple, but it was closed so we couldn’t see it. We also went to an old fort (Lalbagh fort) but, unfortunately, it was also closed. We weren’t disappointed, however, because just driving the around the city was an experience in and of itself. As mentioned, driving here is CRAZY! We weaved in and out of crowded market streets full of small venders selling fruit and beautiful textiles. The streets are loud and pretty dirty, with all sorts of animals roaming freely – cows, goats, monkeys, dogs, cats.

The power lines here are unbelievable. That is to say, they are an electrical engineer’s worst nightmare. They are tangled, wound, and strung in all different directions. Sellers in the street then hang with wares from the wires over the sidewalk! It is so wild to see!

After roaming through narrow crowded streets, we finally popped out into a wide open space to find Ahsan Manzil, the former palace of the old rulers. It is an absolutely stunning sight! The building is tremendous in size and appearance when compared to the surrounding area. It sits right on the river, and houses an interesting collection of historical artifacts and national treasures. Here is a picture of me and another Bryn Mawr student.

Day 1 (and 2?): Jellicles can and Jellicles do!

The car met us in the parking lot at 5:30am as promised and we made our way to JFK. We got there super early and our flight was delayed. So there was a lot of waiting around and people watching. As a child living in Japan, I’d jumped the pacific ocean numerous times, but I’ve never gone the other way. I was excited to fly over Europe and have a layover in Dubai, and I was flying on Emirites Air – one of the swankiest airlines I have ever been on! My seat was spacious enough to sleep comfortably (no more illegally slipping onto the floor under the seats to catch some zzz’s). Also, the food was top notch, and I had my own personal entertainment unit. All in Economy class!
Usually I never travel ten minutes from home without a good book and my trusty booklight. However, my dad wisely convinced me that a book light would be unnecessary as the plane would have overhead lighting and I probably wouldn’t be doing too much reading during the conference. Plus, it would save space in my luggage – leaving more room for books :)Unfortunately, my seat was the only one in the whole place whose overhead light was not working :( So, I wasn’t able to do much reading (my preferred way to pass the time), but I did watch some episodes of Mr. Bean, listen to CATS the musical, and play some online games! I could have even sent emails in-flight, but it costs a dollar and I am too cheap!
The flight from Dubai to Dhaka was a great introduction to Bangladesh. People had bought so much stuff at the Duty Free shops in the airport at Dubai that flight crews were having trouble accommodating all the bags in the cabin. People were sitting in the wrong seats and pretending not to notice, arguments and yelling broke out, and people were cramming past each other seemingly unaware of any laws of personal body space. We arrived at the airport and I was reminded of Okinawa. The air was thick and hot and smelled sort of musty sweet.
We took a quick van ride to the hotel, and I was struck by the mix of affluence and utter poverty. Air-conditioned Mercedes were cruising along right next to crammed buses that seemed to be made of duct tape. Interestingly enough, neither was given preferential right of way in the chaotic streets. Buses, cars, beat-up trucks, and luxury vehicles were all honking inches from each other whilst pedestrians casually strolled in between. I thought of America and how poverty is often compartmentalized. I wonder which is more jarring, having money and seeing poverty everywhere or having money and seeing poverty nowhere…

Pre-travel: God dated a queen?

The car driving us to JFK airport left Bryn Mawr ‘s Campus Center at 5:30am on Friday, January 14th. Instead of making the 45 minute drive from my house early that morning, I invited myself to stay with a good friend who is living at Bryn Mawr over winter break. She was kind enough to oblige, and we went out to dinner the night before to celebrate the new semester. We ate at a new restaurant in Ardmore called Hummus. It was DELICIOUS! It is a very reasonable priced Meditaranean café. (I’ll be going there quite often in the coming weeks before leaving Byn Mawr, to be sure! In fact, I’ve already invited my parents down next Sunday to take me there). During the course of our meal, we stumbled onto the topic of national anthems. Upon discussing Britain, I questioned, “why is it ‘God save the queen’ as opposed to ‘God saved the king’?” (that is the national anthem, right?). My friend misheard me, thinking I had asked “why is it God dated a queen?” Uncontrollable laughter ensued, and hence the title of this post.

Pre-travel always stresses me out. Do I have everything, am I prepared, am I forgetting anything? I must have checked to see if I had my passport and boarding pass at least 50 times. I almost made the driver pull over mid-trip to make sure I had my malaria medication (like I was going to be able to do anything if I didn't). In the midst of panic, the words of my good friend Roselyn ring in my ears, "The Lord will provide." She is right, but sometimes I forget.

I started this blog last spring when my sister told me she thought I would be a great blogger. I generally agreed until I sat down to write one. I found it odd, intrusive, and a bit narcissistic. But, I’ve been inspired by several blogs that I have been following authored by my friends Lia and Hanna. Also, this trip to Bangladesh has given me the needed excuse to get over it and start blogging without feeling like I’m just talking about myself for the sake of talking about myself. For those who don’t know, I’ll be spending ten days in Bangladesh attending the Asian University for Women’s conference on development in Asia. I am very excited as Bangladesh is seen as one of the birthplaces of microfinance. I am writing my senior thesis on the topic, and am hoping to be in touch with Grameen Bank while I am there. So, to the five or so people who will read this (that includes four members of my immediate family), I hope you enjoy some of my musings on my daily life in Bangladesh.