YowCH was sent to Dhaka for 2 days (flight on night of 31 May and returned to Singapore on 3 June) for a tender presentation and negotiation for a master-planning project (Blangladesh government project) teamed-up with a Singapore architect firm and engage by a Bangladesh local architect.
The SQ flight was rather empty, YowCH stretched out to sleep over 4 middle seats. And the the airport is quite run-down and old fashioned.
The Singapore team of 5 stayed at Lakeshore Banani, a reasonably nice hotel in a good area of the city.
The streets were rather empty during Ramadan, especially near the time for breaking fast (Iftar). Traffic is generally very busy and noisy (horns all the time) from 7:00am until 10:00pm.
Here’s the team preparing for the presentation at the Client’s office.
In the evening, YowCH took a ride on a trishaw (rickshaw in local calling) for a city tour. Only 20-30 Taka for a short ride, and the 30 minutes trip was only 100 Taka (S$1= 58 Taka).
The next day, FRiday (which is a weekend holiday in the Moslem country), we visited the site with the Client rep. The site is very flat, and so is Dhaka and the rest of Bangladesh, the flattest country in the world (Dhaka is 200km inland from the shore and only 4.0m above sea level!).
We had mostly hotel food due to Ramadan, but the local architect brought us to some local eateries for local fare. This is Kitchuri, rice baked with spices and meat in a clay bowl, covered with bread.
More city views.
We had some snacks prior to our flight, and the rain came (heavy by Singapore standards but mild to the locals).
Here’s the external view of the airport and the return flight was also very empty.
Points to note about Bangladesh:
Tourists Visa is hard to get, and Business Visa needs an invitation letter from a local business or government agency.
The currency is Taka and is not valid worldwide. We can only change for Taka when we land. And we need to change all Taka to foreign currency when we depart.
The streets are not as dangerous as what the media says, perhaps Banani and Gulshan are the safer locations.
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