Our bus – my very first Bangladeshi bus ever – was surprisingly comfortable: it was empty when we got on, and we took the first row, so there was lots of legroom (for me and my backpack.. sorry.. 😉 ). In the middle of the way, it stopped, they opened some compartment inside, and very quickly did something, and then we continued already. I guess the driving was quite mad, but after I survived the motorbike yesterday, everything was great for me!
We got off at the roadside and were basically in the village already! I thought it would be much more complicated to get there.. We met Adnan’s sister on the way to their house, already.. at home, I said hi to everybody – then they told me to sit down and rest.. and soon I was served breakfast 🙂 After breakfast, there was some more resting, then lunch at the table.. and then we went on a walk through the village, ending up drinking ‘real cow milk’ – tea in the pharmacy where his friend works! I was sitting inside, and it was quite fun to watch the people from there 🙂 I got some vitamin pills as a present..
Back at home, the family was sitting together ‘gossiping’ (yep, I’m learning Bangladeshi English,..) and we joined! We made a plan what to see the next day.. I was told Mainamati is dangerous (well, I can go alone next time,.. ) and some temple is too far, but there’s another beautiful one,…
So the plan for the next day was to get up early, a quick breakfast and then to leave by 8.. but they gave me more and more food for breakfast, and then there had to be tea, so we started a bit later than that 😀 We started with Rubpan Mura, which was great: we were alone! And after a while there were just 2 people collecting and trash and 3 other visitors!
Next stop was Itakhola Mura which was more crowded and I was told it’s the place to go on a date 🙂 There was drinking water available (yay!) and then the next stop was BARD (Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development).. On the way, I tried to withdraw money at an ATM but it didn’t accept 100000 Taka.. nor 60000… so, when I saw there’s a bank inside BARD, I asked to change money. The bank was kind of closed, but the manager was there.. She googled (?) exchange rates, told me a shitty one, and then made a phone call.. I was then told the real exchange rate (like at the airport) and was told someone would come in 20 minutes or so.. Until then, we walked around. When we came back, I got my money – in very small and very very ugly banknotes. Some had holes in them, which nobody seemed to care about, and I was actually able to use them with no problem later. Then the manager told someone to get us tea.. so we had tea. She showed some photos of her.. brother (?) who travelled in Europe.. She said, the maximum withdrawal amount at an ATM may be 20000 .. well.. no ATMs for me, then 😉 And I got to use the ‘washroom’ (which may have been the nicest I saw in the country). There was some former students’ reunion happening and there were lots of (mostly) men wearing all the same kind of scarf and a bag.. we passed some who were taking photos on a bridge, and suddenly I had to be in their photos, too 😛 One works for the Airforce, another for customs,.. I guess that could be useful connections 😀
Our next stop was the Thai temple, Nobo Shalban Bihar, then Shalban Bihar – which was very crowded, so many more selfies,… and then Mainamati museum.
Adnan wanted to find (free) brochures to give to future couchsurfers, so they turned on the light in the tiny ticket office and let us see the books they sell.. From somewhere in the back, he pulled out a stack of postcards. I started choosing which ones I’d like, when I was told I can only buy the whole pack of 30. To find out the price someone had to go somewhere to ask.. When he came back, he said it’s 60 taka 🙂 So I very unexpectedly got my postcards! Perfect! Then.. we went to see the university grounds, then to the centre (?), where Adnan had some naan and chicken in a boring, nice-ish looking restaurant.. I was still happy without food after all I had eaten in the last two days! Just around the corner was a lake where everyone was walking along/hanging out/fishing. By that time I wasn’t sure anymore if we’d ever go home, so when we walked past a muri stall in the street, I got some ‘snack’ after all 🙂
And the final stop was Matri Bhandar for roshmalai! They opened one box in the shop for me to try.. we got to take a photo in there 😀 we bought two packs to take home, and finally we actually went home!
The next day was more relaxed, I ended up going with Adnan and Salma, his wife, to the village kindergarten for her job interview.. that was a very fast process, in which he carried and handed over her documents.. and it was also mostly him talking to the lady there. On the way back home, we passed ( or rather walked through the courtyard of) a house where they were slaughtering and taking apart goats.. I was told to sit down.. and didn’t dare to take a photo of those poor (cut off) goat heads staring at me 😀 One corner further, we had to say hi again, and then the man of the house (?) followed us around the corner, too, and motioned to me to come inside. So I did.. Salma followed,.. The boy who was lying on the bed playing on his phone was told to get out.. And I was told to sit down. I chose the couch over the bed 😉 Then a table was brought, and bread and bananas.. and the whole family joined and wanted selfies 🙂 Back at home, I said I really need to wash my clothes.. and Sayma, his sister, told me we’ll do that in the pond. ‘We’ meant she.. as I am not allowed to do anything.. Hanging up the washed clothes (which she did let me help with!), a cousin saw me, and told her what happened that they let the guest work,.. oh oh 😉
In the afternoon, when Adnan was back from Comilla, we walked through some rice fields and sat down to watch the sunset.. some girls came to shake my hand, and then even gave me some freshly picked flowers 😉 And on the way back home, another lady, some relative, saw us, and we got invited for tea, cookies and selfies haha