member of the human race

i have only one phobia that i know of so far, i am generally in control of my feelings and actions except when i see one of these creatures, then i lose control of my actions and can end up doing crazy stuff, i have a fear of cockroaches...

just saying the name, or in this case typing it sends shivers down my spine, seriously, and when i go abroad i always dread the thought of seeing one of these nasty bugs.

i do over react but i don't mean to, the fear really does take over and my first thought is to get as far away as possible from it, in Libya i once saw one and i ended up breaking 2 arm chairs and a sofa, no joke!!!!

well my first encounter with a cockroach was when we got back to the capital, i was in the hotel waiting for the lift, and whilst waiting i noticed something flying over our heads, so i pointed it out saying ' wow guys check out that moth' and i remember whilst saying it i realised that it didn't look like a moth, it landed on the wall opposite me closed its wings and as soon as it did that i noticed that it was a cockroach, the biggest i have ever seen, and at the same time the lift opened and all i remember doing was jumping right into the lift (which was completely packed) and banging against the buttons, the lift boy thought i was mad as well as the rest of the people in the lift, who where trying to get out, but i was preventing them, muttering under my breath 'oh god oh god oh god oh god' when the lift doors closed, i fell against the door and sighed, and it was only then that i noticed every one looking at me, and all i could do was smile and say 'sallamu allaykum'.

no one said anything back, i guess to them i was one crazy foreigner, lol.

did you know that cockroaches are the only creatures that can survive a nuclear bomb!!! so how the hell is it supposed to die from a shibshib (slippers) and not only that, they can live without there heads for a week!!! freaks and for you sea food loving people, the lobster is the cousin of the cockroach yuk yuk yuk.

i don't even know where this fear stems from, my mum once told me that she walked into a room in Libya when i was a baby to find me sat down sucking on something, and when she came closer she found to her horror that i was sucking on a cockroach!!!! people that story traumatised me and i blame my fear on that.

aaaaaaaaaah, any way change the topic, we where in dhaka for like 2 days before we started the 2nd part of the tour, so it was our chance to do any shopping that needed to be done and the best place for it was the capital, so off we headed to the biggest mall in Bangladesh, bushundra city 9 storey high:

when we got there the girls all headed for the sari floor, where we had so many people at or every beck and call wanting us to select from the many different colours of saris:
in one particular shop, the man was so desperate for us to buy from him that he got one of the men to model a sari for us:
i asked the girls to tell him that the sari went very well with his moustache, very fetching indeed!!!!

alot of saris where bought during the shopping expedition, i didn't buy any but i enjoyed watching the array of colours and the haggling over the price, and the shop keepers are really willing to bend over backwards so that we would buy from them, in one particular shop they kept feeding us and giving us drinks, even when we politely declined there offer of food, i did accept coffee though, and it was pretty good.

on the topic of food, the names of the fast food outlets in the mall where very interesting:

tongue and tummy???? lol, you have to admit that its original

chicken ooops????? i just had images of people eating there and then running to the toilet shouting 'chicken ooooops' looool.

its funny how they name shops and take-aways in other countries, in Egypt i saw some hilarious named shops.

whilst we where shopping the adhan for duhur started, echoing all over the mall, which i absolutely loved, people where acting normal, because adhan is an every day occurrence, on the other hand i was totally mesmerised and loving the moment.

the prayer room was on the top floor, and some of us had to do wudu, when i walked into the toilet i found:

a lady sleeping in the toilet, so sad wallahi, she was completely out of it, was not aware that there where people around her making noise, i guess for her the toilet is still much better than the streets.

and speaking of the streets i managed to photograph quite a few street sellers as well as beggars, it was kinda freaky actually, we would be satin the mini bus chatting away to each other when all of a sudden from the corner of my eye i would notice a movement, i would turn around and the side window would be full of faces peering in, i swear it was like a scene from dawn of the dead, and some of the beggars where in a state, no eyes, limbs, tumours growing from all sorts of places, really sad, and the problem was if you give money to one person then the car will be bombarded full of people asking for money.

the older members of society always affected me, i hate seeing them begging:
popcorn sellers is a very common sight to see:
you can get towels:
i love this picture, his smile is so genuine, you can see that it reaches his eyes, bless.

there was one kid that was selling funky fun hats, i felt sorry for him because whenever he tried to come to our mini bus he would get shooed away and even slapped by this man:

he was begging for money, but i didn't like the way he was shouting and hitting the kid who was actually trying to make a living:
i really respect these kids who work day and night and i always felt so helpless and guilty when i saw them, travelling really does make you appreciate the life we have and take for granted.

the street kids can make such an impact on you, i have to say that i never did get used to the fact of seeing children sleeping on the streets: