A little about the people

I've talked about the country but I haven't really introduced the people. Making generalizations about people from a specific country is always shaky ground. There are distinct cultures and of course distinct people within this massively populated country (This is the most densely populated country in the world.150million people are not all going to be alike) but I will try to make a few generalizations based on my experiences non the less. Hopefully, I will not insult anyone or put my foot in my mouth.

The people we have me are very excited about Bedieshi's (foreigners). Because this is not a tourist country (the tourist industry is almost non existent) foreigners are still quite the novelty. This means we get a load of attention. People surround us taking photos of us. At the Hindu festival of Purja (soooo much fun) we were ushered to the front of every temple. Every big business man creates his own temple, so we saw many temples. The actual Hindus and jointly celebrating Muslims had to wait in line, or at the very crowded temples, stay at the back while we were brought forward. This despite our best attempts at declining the privilege. 

At the Embassy, we do not have to wait in line like the Bangali's. Again we are ushered to the front. We receive top notch service where ever we go.

We do pay more than the locals for most things, but being that the people here aren't used to ripping off Bedeshis like other countries (Thailand was one rip off after another) the price increases are reasonable. (and still outrageously affordable).

We were discussing how this is quite embarrassing, this constant preferential treatment and Mizan, a Bangali man explained that we are the guest, and that is how you should treat the guest. I said, but were not all these other people's guests. He replied, you are the guest of all Bangladesh, that is how we treat you. What an amazing concept!

So, other than a few isolated occasions, the people treat us here as if we are an honoured guest of all of Bangladesh. The few occassions of rudeness come from men who are terrified we might sit beside them on the bus, or the CNG (three wheel baby taxi) drivers who seem to be in a foul mood most of the time and do not, will not  and have never turned on the meter.

Initially, my view of Bangladesh was one of shock. Dhaka is shocking, I stand by that, but I enjoy so many parts of it now. The people are a massive reason for my enjoyment.

I'm on my tea break (I drink a lot of tea now) and so don't have time to proof read this post. I apologize for  what, I'm sure is hurrendous grammar and loads and loads of spelling mistakes.

L