Dhaka, Chittagong Bangladesh

I was posted to my office branch in Dhaka Bangladesh in June 2004. We stayed in Baridhara, an expatriate community in Dhaka state capital. We were provided with a car and driver. Our two kids went to International School Dhaka (ISD). They enjoy the school life very much.

Processed food are expensive since most of them are imported especially from Malaysia. Supermarket are plentiful. However, most of the time we went to the local wet market for fish and veggies. Bangladesh main activity is textile manufacturing. They export labour to foreign countries mostly to the Arab region and Malaysia.

Our two elderly children did not join us since they goes to college. The two younger ones goes to International School Dhaka.

Paksi

Paksi

Paksi

Eid prayers

Eid prayers

Eid prayers

Eid prayers

Ready for dinner Paksi

Paksi

Paksi

Paksi

Paksi

Paksi

Birthday party

Family day

Guest from Telekom Malaysia

Dinner at our home

Family day

Family day

Ready for class at ISD

Humaira n frien

Going to school

Eid prayers

Humaira n teacher ISD School

Hazim n teacher ISD School

After meeting in Chittagong

Rickshaw called CNG

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Tabligh Conference in Tonggi

Tabligh Conference in Tonggi

Paksi eid 

Paksi

Paksi

Paksi

Our weekly social activities are very limited since there are no reasonable place for family outing. Driving in Dhaka is a nightmare. Apart from the traffic jam, the drivers are very keen to blare their horn. Bus, train and boat are the main transport and for short haul, motorised rickshaws are used (photo above). The weather during the 2 months in Dec and Jan are cool especially night time.

In one of the outdoor trip, we went to a park. They use human labour to drive the ferries wheel since labour is cheap. They provide attraction such as roller coaster(simple ride for the 7 years old), pools, cable car ride... 
Most of construction are still laborious. There are limited construction tools. Kids as young as 7 years help their parents to complement their salary. It was a pity sight but life has to go on.

Bagladeshi are very friendly lot. They welcome friends to their home. On another occasion, we visited them during Eid celebration and weddings.

We used go back to Malaysia during summer school breaks. In one occasion, we travel to New Zealand during the holidays. 

Dhaka also host one of the largest annual Muslims congregation at Tongi outside Dhaka. There will be speeches and sermons during the 3 days session. It was normally hosted during cool months of February. They stayed in tents and take ablution along the river bank.

We also visits villages of my office colleague.

Aktel (the company I am attached with) provided us with a full time driver named Hussein. During ramadhan, he invited us to breakfast at his house in Gazipur.

Hussein n mother

Hussein family members

Dinner with Hussein's family

Hussein house in Gazipur

Hussein sister & nieces

Cormilla

Cormilla

Aktel has a guest house in Dhaka. Staff from Malaysia on short term stint at Aktel stays here. It employed a full time caretaker. On one weekend we visited his village in Cormilla. We were well received and had lunch at their place.

On one instant, we visited the home of our cook at the guest house in Cormilla. It was a 1.5 hours drive. They have houses built of palm leaves,corrugated zinc and sawn timber. That remind me of my village when I was still young back in the sixties. Children gather around us since they rarely received tourist in their village.


We return back to Malaysia after 1.5 years stay.

Beijing, Shanghai-China

I was in Shanghai in Jun 2004 attending a seminar organised by SUN. Being summer, the weather was mild. The seminar was only for 3 days. We extended our stay for another 2 days to tour Shanghai. 

Me and a colleague from Malaysia got a local guide to take us to places of interest. Visited the garment market and the Chinese Garden. Did a lot shopping here especially textiles & electronic stuffs.

Shanghai

Beijing

Beijing

 In another trip, we were on holiday in Beijing in 2005. We visited the Great Wall and shopped for clothing and foot-wear. We stayed at the self-service apartment and use the landlord service to travel in his van for shopping. Stayed there for a week.