Sunday, July 29, 2007


the waking up bright and early was starting to lessen my singing mood in the morning, you see i am one of those people that wake up singing, lady wildkat can vouch for this, but day after day of waking up early was greatly reducing the bouts of singing.

most of the time the songs are so random, and they usually consist of Disney songs for some strange and bizarre reason, top on the list tends to be songs from mulan and the lion king!!

any way we where headed towards another palace:
but my interests where more centred around the trees surrounding the palace:
how cool is this palm tree, its has three trunks:
and the garden of the palace was pretty cool:
and they had there own lake where princess zulaika used to go, could you imagine having your own personal lake, the stairs lead down to it, all you would have to do is walk down the stairs into the cool lake, nice.... unfortunately my camera was dying so i had to preserve the battery for the rest of the day, so didn't manage to get a picture of the lake.
at first we where told we where not allowed to go inside the palace, and just as we where walking back to the mini bus, the superintendent himself of the area drove up, got out, introduced himself and asked us whether we had seen the inside, to which we replied no, so after a phone call he grants us access, our tour guide explained that superintendents are like kings, that's the status they have.

later we where invited to his house for tea, which we accepted (main reason being was that some of us needed the toilet, i wont mention who as she knows who she is).

that is where i was introduced to the dreaded jack fruit aaaaaah.
shortly afterwards we where on the move again towards another temple:
at the back of the temple i found a goat, so pretty..
there where stairs leading down to a lake where some people where bathing and washing clothes, the way they wash clothes is so cool, basically thumping the clothes against a rock or the stairs, see that's one way of managing anger, go wash some clothes and release all that frustration against a rock by dashing those pair of socks or shirt against it:
at the bottom of the stairs was a little bare footed boy, who looked so serious and for some reason my heart went out to him:
surrounding the temple where various old buildings:
my camera was slowly bleeding its life out from its lens (it needed charging) so it would be a race against time, trying to click as many photos before the power is taken away.

we where heading towards a 500 year old mosque, and on the way stopped at a mango grove, the area was famous for its mangoes, and i simply adore this amazing fruit that leaves you wanting more, every where i looked, as far as the eye could see where mangoes or 'am' in Bengali:
i spotted some more ladies washing clothes, that always fascinated me, bash bash bash against the stairs:
on the way back to the hotel i noticed bananas being sold on the road, freshly picked, now that's what i call a bunch of bananas:
the next day we where headed back to the capital, Dhaka, on the way back we stopped to observe the factories that make saris and longies (longies are the wrap around that men wear, in Arabic its mi'zar), its a very noisy place and you can easily get a headache from just standing there for 2 minutes, so can you imagine what the workers must feel being there all day:
this guy looks so depressed poor thing:
they really do work hard:
the ladies where also working:
we all bought a sari for a good price as well, its interesting to watch people haggle over a price, a good cup of Bengali tea in my hand, sit back and watch the action.

when we where leaving the village, i noticed a little boy carrying some wood, it amazed me how hard working the children are, an dhow thin they are: so it was back to the mini bus to start the journey back to Dhaka, for shopping.

10 comments:

Anglo-Libyan said...

another very interesting post.

is there a lot of non Muslims there?

I think you should be singing the Jungle Book songs, more appropriate :o)

shame about your camera, did you manage to take pictures inside the palace?

PH said...

I'm really impressed by Bangladesh its natural habitat seems to be well preserved I'm surprised more people don't go their for vacations, is it because of their previous war with Pakistan ?

salaam

ibeebarbie said...

Salam White African,

Good job! Feel like I'm right there experiencing the very journey you took.

Ugh! I can't imagine having to beat my clothes on a rock, even if it was a form of anger management. Too exhausting....yelling is easier. :-)

Weldemdina said...

Great photos, I love this type of holiday in the middle of natural surrounding so fascinating. AL, you took the words out of my mouth sort of speak, I was just saying to myself, WA should be singing “I am the king of the Jungle” or "Queen" in WA’s case :o)
Lots of temples, are they still used by people? I thought Bangladesh is more of a Muslim country, great post as always WA.

Brave Heart said...

WA:everyday u prove 4 me that the jungle life is the best.where u can find mango and banana everywhere.there are the same factories in libya in souq aljreed where they produce jard and rda, exactly the same

Lady_K said...

hope WA doesnt mind me asnwering theQ here
AL and Weldemina :in BD its approx 80 % muslim, other % is Hindu, Buddhist, Christian and tribal.the handloom factory is owned by a hindu and both muslims and hindus live and work together in peace.
Hinduism is the older religion therefore there are more archeological sites of them, and they are still used by the Hindus for their celebrations, with Masjids, there is usually one at the end of every other street. small new masjids are everywhere and unfortunately the older ones fall into ruin. however there is repair and restoration work being done
PH: got nothing to do with the war with Pakistan, its tourism is underdeveloped and in recent years the political situation and weather has not done any good for the image of Bangladesh as a a tourist country despite its natural beauty and heritage.

PH said...

Thank you lady_wildcat :) ..... its just that it really is beautiful and I've never seen any advertisements for it, as a tourist attraction, even though I have heard about the political unrest; but I didn't think that it was that critical, it isn't really mentioned much in the news .... I hope things get better there soon :)

thanks again and salaam

white african said...

anglo them muslims are the majority, making up most of the population, hindus, budhists and christians make up the rest, i never saw a jew though.

you know i actually did sing one of the jungle songs when i was in the jungle, 'look for the bear necessaties, the simple bear necessaties, la la la '

unfortuantly i didnt take any pic inside the palace.

ph although its not a hot spot for holiday destinattions, i'm sur eit will pick up, when i wa sthere i could see that the tourist industry was growing and the goverment is starting to recognise the potential.

ibee wasslam, i agree yelling is so much easier, but beating clothes against the stairs comes with its own satisfaction :)

weld thanks :)

hmmm queen of the jungle, you know i completly forgot about that song, you do realise now weld that for the rest of the week im going to be humming it lol.

the temples are still used, and they preserve them very well, looking after them.

brave mangoes mmmmm, just saying that word makes me want to go back for more mangoes.

i woulld love to see them making jard and rda, wow, it would be so cool to take a picture.

lady thanks for answering the questions hun, new you came in handy :)

Sadeq said...

Hi Sondes,
me sadeq, well done, go ahead.........

white african said...

hi sadeq, you have a blog, brilliant, now you can load you pictures and share them with every one.

nice surprise, give my sallah to uncle shahid.