Holly in Bangladesh: Dhaka Zoo and Korail

Some how it has been another week. Time is really going by quickly and I think I am starting to get into the groove of living in Dhaka, or at least as close to a groove as is possible given that it is Dhaka. First off, thanks to everyone for the comments and emails for my blog. I really appreciate all of the feedback and have been trying to incorporate. Also, please email me or comment if you have any questions about Dhaka, Bangladesh, Me, Bangla school or if you have anything you would like me to blog about.

As for my weekend, it started off like any other weekend, not too different from those spent in DC. My language partner and I decided to practice my animal vocab and go check out the zoo (I had heard they had a Bengal tiger which I was interested in seeing). The zoo is all the way in the northwest part of town and a little bit of a trek from where we live so we hopped on a city bus that would get us most of the way there. Everything was going pretty smoothly and we actually got lucky by getting on a bus that was a sitting bus only, meaning the bus would only take enough people as there are seats for.

About fifteen minutes into the ride, our bus driver pulls over to stop at a gas station but there was a very long line, so we decided to keep going. Unfortunately, the next gas station was closed and promptly after that our bus ran out of gas and came to a stop. Every passenger got off the bus and about 2 minutes later a new bus came and picked us up. Once we were resettled on the new bus though, my stomach dropped as we started heading straight for the gas-less bus that is only a few feet in front of us. I soon realize that this is happening intentionally. The bus driver is now not only driving our new bus, but he was also pushing the gas-less bus down the road. This goes on for about 10 minutes until our caravan pulls off the road at the next gas station. Unfortunately, our new bus would not restart, so after the original bus was refueled, we got back on and eventually made it to the zoo.

Dhaka city bus driving passengers while at the same time pushing the bus
that ran out of gas down the road.

This was my very first city bus experience and it was definitely memorable. Many people here will not use the public buses because of stories similar to mine. So, no, I would not take a bus to an important meeting that I had to be on time for. But, for a day with few plans and no time schedule, I think the bus is the way to go. Not because it is extremely cheap (which it is) but because of the adventures and people you can meet on the bus.

I have to say, the bus ride was my favorite part of the entire day, but I will briefly go over the zoo. I knew the zoo was going to be incredibly depressing, which it was, but what I did not expect was the number of people talking, staring and taking photos of me. I am pretty sure that the majority of the people who went to the zoo that day said the best exhibit was me!

Outside the Dhaka Zoo.

I have really been struggling with all of the attention I draw, at the zoo and more generally, and I have been trying to figure out how I want to respond to this. Sometimes, women will ask me to take a picture with them, or kids will ask me questions about myself and I am happy to talk with them for a few minutes and share about myself and the U.S. Part of being a Fulbrighter is to be a cultural ambassador, which I interpret as sharing about myself and the U.S. and having positive experiences with other Bangladeshis. I take this pretty seriously, so I like being able to talk and share. However, about half the time I will get people running up to me and yelling in rude tones "Hello! Where are you from? What are you doing?" and this I find somewhat annoying. Like most of the time, the zoo was about 50% positive interactions.

For the other 50% of the time, I use various techniques to be left alone. Most of the time, I will not make eye contact and not respond at all. While at the zoo, though, I was walking around with my language partner who is very obviously Bangladeshi. This also tends to draw some weird looks because it is not very common to see a foreigner (or Bideshi in Bangla) and a Bangladesh together hanging out. So sometimes, people will come up and ask her questions. She always has very clever responses which always make me laugh. While at the zoo, I was talking with a family who at first started off nice, but would not seem to leave us alone. After a while, she told them that we were sister-in-laws and this quickly got them to leave us alone. She explained to me that by telling them we were sister-in-laws, it meant that we had a strong relationship and so they would stop prying, and sure enough they did. Immediately, I had gained some respect by my new relationship.

In an effort to continue my quest for the real Dhaka, whatever that may mean, my roommate and I decided to go check out Korail. Korail is smooshed between Gulshan and Bonani, two of the more posh sections of town, but Korail is known mostly as a slum. If you look on a map of Dhaka, it is not labeled and there are no roads leading towards it. But we just walked south from Bonani and ran into the gateway to Korail. We spent maybe an hour or two in the early evening, walking through the streets, talking with kids and families and taking photos. This neighborhood is really interesting, there are no paved streets and most of the houses are one room with a dirt floor and tin walls. People may live more simply in Korail, but it is still a very vibrant community. Below are some pictures of the time we spent there.