Come to Bangladesh – Before the tourist do

That is a slogan on a few tourist posters I have seen here. I figure the posters are quite old since they are faded and the tourists have yet to come! For the past week we have been traveling through some of the most untouched areas one could imagine. I saw the first white person I have seen this morning in Dhaka after 8 days! I am curious to pick up a Lonely Planet guide for Bangladesh to see if they even suggest traveling to the western part of the country as there is not a lot of tourist-type attractions and essentially no infrastructure for backpackers. That is why this trip has been such a unique opportunity. I had an elderly woman tell me (in Bengali) that I was the first white person she had ever seen. That very well could have been the case for most of the people we saw on our journey through the rural regions of Bangladesh. It was a little awkward sometimes, as us ‘white people’ felt as though be were under a microscope. One morning while we were waiting for our departure, we were sitting in a van and had the usual crowd of admirers around us. I believe it was Jesse who made the comment ‘I feel like we are in a fish bowl’. Most of the attention is on Shauna and Myself (being female), however people are also curious about the big white giants that accompany us. That particular morning, there was a crowd of about 10 gazing at me. Just staring out of pure innocent curiosity, not saying much (except maybe asking where I was from) and not attempting to pick me up (contrary to my Latin American experience). One of our Indian colleagues told me that they probably wanted to touch me to see if I was a ghost. After about 7 minutes of intensive staring, they noticed Shauna at the back of the van and moved on to inspect her. Whenever we would stop, we would usually attract a group of inquisitive starers. One particular time we stopped just after sunset (for our Muslim colleagues prayers) and I wandered into a shoe store. One of our Bengali hosts noticed that the store was selling Hindi wedding head gear and asked the shop keeper if we could use them for some photos. I first had my picture taken (with my new ‘husband’ Ashutosh) then Shauna and Jesse had theirs done. By this time, a crowd of about 100 had gathered outside the shop for the entertainment. They were ecstatic to find out that Shauna and Jesse were an actual married couple. Moving back to our vehicles, the crowd followed and surrounded us. I am surprise we were able to get away!
Our last night on the road, we spend along the beach in Kuakata right on the Bay of Bengal. Shauna and I were really excited about going swimming but quickly realized that our shorts, let along our bathing suits would not be appropriate attire for the region especially since the women were dressed even more conservatively as we approached the coast (full head and face coverings). Luckily we were able to buy some material to wrap around our waists (‘Luglis’ I believe they are called which is garments most men wear) and rent a motor boat that took us in off the coast to swim. It was a nice break from the staring crowd (who were still probably trying to watch us from the beach).
Both Shauna and I do not mind the kids staring and their inquisitivity. It is really endearing to think that our visit to their village will probably make a lasting impression in their childhood memories -- the day the white girls visited ...
The staring I got use to. What was harder to get use to was the picture taking. Bengalis love to have their picture taken. I think that is why they do not think anything of taking our pictures without permission. Fortunately most of the population of Bangladesh is not able to afford cameras, however some of the tourist at the beach couldn’t keep their camera lenses to themselves. By yesterday, I decided to just have fun with the photographers we ran into. I gave them the ‘thumbs up’ signal and put on a cheesey smile. Within our traveling group, many of the men also loved to take our pictures. I am pretty sure my picture beside plots will far surpass any of the other tour participants. There was one guy in particular that would take my picture about 10 times a day. I got accustomed to hearing him say “Shally, picture here!”. Again, we decided to have fun with their desire to have our picture and decided to get our picture with many of the characters on the tour.
Tomorrow we fly to Nepal for another week of traveling adventures. We hear that we will be a little more on the beaten path, thus not quite the focus of attention for the locals. I am as excited about that as I am about the tour!
Cheers,
Mr. Shally (that is what one of my hotel receipts says, seriously!)