Atom Crater, a former work colleague of the Beetle has recently returned from a work trip to Bangladesh. This month and next, we include some of his observations.
Weather report: When we arrived it was very cool, below 20 during the day and nippy in the evening. I made the great mistake of going out one evening without a sweater and felt really cold. But it’s now warming up – winter’s over. It’s still comfortable (mid 20s) but a brisk walk during the day does make you sweat. But the evenings are now sweater-less. The dry season will last until May.
Rickshaws: You simply can’t begin to describe Dhaka without mentioning the rickshaws, which are everywhere, absolutely everywhere. I heard the other day that there are 800,000 in this city of 10-13 million. They occupy a large proportion of the city’s road space, moving like a swarm of brightly decorated yellow and red insects. They irritate motor vehicle drivers like hell, but are a very efficient, low cost, environmentally acceptable (except for the choking passengers! see air pollution below) mode of transport in a city that is absolutely flat. They manoeuvre with remarkable skill, squeezing into impossible spaces, and operate their own informal tidal flow system, riding when they choose against the traffic in order to avoid congestion. As well as passengers, you see them transporting vegetables, sacks of rice, bags of cement, building materials, timber, bamboo, filing cabinets, furniture, And they’re not confined to cities and towns, but are also the dominant form of transport in the rural areas.
Auto-rickshaws: And then there are the auto-rickshaws, which zip around emitting a fierce crackling sound and pungent grey exhaust. The World Bank has just published a report that blames them (along with buses and trucks) as the principal source of the appalling air pollution.
Wheel brushes: The Flying Pigeon bicycles (made in China) have a cunning feature: two small brushes are attached to the mudguard stays, front and back, which clean the dust off the rim of the wheels as they turn, thus keeping them sparkling clean. Is this a local adaptation or does it come from China? Would it catch on UK?
Hooters: Another traffic impression (traffic – and t-jams in particular – are a major fact of life here): drivers hoot continuously, their fingers twitching in quasi-Pavlovian response to the fact that there’s something in front of them, or approaching from the side, or coming too close behind, or ….what the hell, let’s hoot anyway! As with many things, it’s so reminiscent of Indonesia, where we had to teach Yayat, our driver, to stop this habit before it drove us crazy.
More about Dhaka in April’s e-newsletter. If you would like to contact Atom Crater, please e-mail the Beetle and she will pass on any e-mails: Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk