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.

Cork-Ireland

A company had organized a factory visit to Cork, Ireland. The connecting flight to Cork is via Heathrow airport. Cork is a small town by the beach but housed famous companies in telecommunication and pharmaceticals. It is a historic town where the famous Titanic depart to New York.

After the visit, our host took us for a countryside tour. The roads are not fully developed unlike England. Our host rented a car and took us to Killarney which is 90km away. However it took us 1.5 hours to travel this stretch due to poor road condition.

I took lots of photos on my digital camera. But somehow the memory cards got corrupted and I lost all the photos collection. 

Cork Town

Cork

 

On the way back to Malaysia, we stopover in London. The next day we rented a car and drove north to Stoke on Trent to buy crystal wares. The town is filled-up with tens of shops selling branded wares. After filling-up the boot, we pack up and drove to Blackburn. Our plan was to visit Clark shops which sell used but still good shoes at 70% discount. Initially we plan to visit Old Trefford in Manchaster. However one of our colleague was worried since we had to catch our flight to KL same late evening.

On the way back to London we stopover at Oxford to visit the famous University & township.

 

Tijuana-Mexico

After the business trip in San Diego, we decide to spent the Saturday in Mexico. Tijuana is the border town of Mexico. It is about an hour drive from San Diego. We rented a car and drove to the border. 

The town is always full of Americans crossing the border to look for cheap branded items. From the immigration check point, we took the bus and spent the whole morning walking and window shopping. We spend most of the time indoors since the weather is rather hot.

Tijuana

San Diego USA

The 4th visit to US was in 2002, 3 months right after Sep 11 attack. Malaysia Airlines flight was full during the period and we had to take the American NorthWest from Singapore. A company had organized a yearly forum for its software customers in San Diego. Since we are one day early, we spend the weekend in San Francisco. 

On the Saturday, we took a bicycle ride across San Francisco Bridge and returning back using the ferry which overlook the Alcatraz. In the afternoon, we rented a car and drove to Pebble Beach - golfer heaven. 

On Sunday evening, we flew to San Diego. San Diego is famous for its zoo. In the evening we were taken to see the Sea World to watch the famous dolphin in action.

After the three days seminar, we rented a car and cross the Mexican border town of Tijuana. Macam Padang Besar lar tu. Took a bus to cross the border. There were plenty of branded & cheap stuff sold here.

Our last days were spent on LA. We rented a car in LA and went to Long Beach to look for a Volkswagen steering wheel. Someone has asked me to look for it while we are in LA.

Before the flight home we stop by to eat Briyani rice which we had missed for almost a week. The flight back to Kuala Lumpur was via Singapore.

San Francisco bridge

San Diego

San Diego

Preparing to cycle across the San Francisco Bridge

Madrid, Spain

Madrid

Arrived late evening on Malaysia Airlines. Next morning, visited a Telco in Madrid. Did not have time to see the bull fight since schedule was very tight and we have to fly to Helsinki the same evening. However, we manage to do some shopping.