Bangladesh Experience Images (2018)

Hey Guys!

You will probably see this post once I return from my current social media break. It is a long story and I will definitely dedicate a separate blog post with full details of my experience. You may thank the challenge of temporarily going off social media that I am able to produce this blog post.

As you may see in the title, it is another Bangladesh post!

Recently, I asked my Instagram followers in a poll whether they wanted a blog post dedicated to a compilation of images I captured while I was in Bangladesh last summer. The majority said "YES" (maybe one may have said NO but who cares). So... I listened to you and here it is! These are snippets of my tour with a variety of my favourite and special places and moments, and maybe some are just general images to show you how my "mother country" (for a lack of better term) looks like Not here to keep you reading for long... Anyway enjoy!

This is what I have grown up to seeing my whole life, which is my grandparents' house

This is the building I keep on raving about to everyone, which was made by my parents over 10 years ago

This is what exactly my city looks like at night. To clear the misunderstanding, I am not from Dhaka and there isn't only 2 cities in Bangladesh. My city is called Khulna and it's the second well established city in Bangladesh, after Dhaka. To be exact, it is on the South West, almost next to Kolkata (West Bengal, India)

I was fortunate enough to experience Eid-ul Adha this year in Bangladesh after 10 or so years and it is absolutely different from what we experience in the UK or other European countries (wherever you are from in the West). These are our cows that were sacrificed for Qurbani.

If you are unfamiliar, this is an Islamic festival where families with enough wealth sacrifice cattle or sheep/goat and divide everything in 3 even sections: one to keep for themselves, one to distribute within family and one to distribute for the poor who cannot afford meat. In Bangladesh, everything is done in front of your eyes and it is your responsibility to make the 3 divisions and distribute them yourself.

Views of sunrise/sunset at different days from the balcony of the flat I was provided to stay

Without fail, as a family we have to go our village and capture the best moments. My village is called Gopalgonj and as I like to describe it, the PM of Bangladesh and I share villages since we are from the same place. This is more or less how it looks like

These are still part of the village. However, this site specifically is the newly built train station and railway connecting paths with majority of Bangladesh and apparently parts of India. It's called Gopalgonj Railway Station. More than that, it has become one of the most common site of attraction for the locals to visit and pass time with a variety of stalls and sightseeing

It's never enough when it comes down to appreciating the beauty of the sky from anywhere in the world!

They had Korean Aloe Vera canned drinks in a restaurant within the village!

Maybe it's just me but I found that amusing as it was the last place I could think of that had foreign objects

There were multiple weddings going on at the time we went to visit Gopalgonj and coincidentally one of them appeared to be the neighbourhood behind where we were staying. I've been told by my cousin that this particular girl's family were too poor to have any proper wedding functions and my uncle was apparently kind enough to let them use his space to hold some functions which are part of the wedding. So... I got dragged forcefully to this one. They are celebrating the turmeric ceremony or what we call the "gaye holud" or "haldi" in Hindi/Urdu. Gaye holud is basically smearing turmeric (yellow substance used in curry) on the bride or the groom and feeding them some sweet along with it, preferably being dressed nicely in yellow/red/orange. This event came with the music festival, where family and friends blast music and everyone dance for fun and celebrate joy.

I had to face Dhaka one day or another since it is the only place that has an international airport and your girl had to return to the UK at some point to continue living her standard life. These are just parts of Dhaka, maybe around Savar, which is mainly the edge of Dhaka. Dhaka is basically the capital of Bangladesh if you were unaware (unlikely) and it is the well populated city and super congested with a high rating of pollution.

And lastly... Here is a glimpse of one of the famous hotels in Dhaka, where apparently well-known international guests come to stay over. It is also an appreciated place to gather rich people for their societies as it is one of the best places, providing the highest quality of service. I will keep the name anonymous due to some risk I was told of sharing images online. 

I hope you enjoyed the images. I would kindly like to request to give some credit if you intend to use any of the images above, especially the last couple of images.

Let me know what you would like to read and hold tight for my next exciting post (hints around this post).

Till next time!

Yours, Nafiza