Morning 1 in Bangladesh

So here I am at 6:30 in the morning in the rather rustic business centre of my hotel in Dhaka. I woke up at 5 this morning ready to face the lentil world! Upon arrival at the hotel yesterday morning, we discovered that we did not have today off as expected. Instead we would be sitting through an entire day of presentations. Hearing this while being extremely fatigued (partly due to an unexpected extended layover extending our trip from 35 to 40 hours), we were a little shocked, but I actually woke up this morning feeling quite refreshed. I also had the pleasant surprise to waking up to great hair! I forgot how a little bit of humidity can spring my locks. In about an hour and half, we will head to the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) to commence the workshop.

Looking back over our trip here, I can't say it was all bad despite the long layovers in stuffy, boring airports. We saw a little bit of everything from around the globe including the middle-eastern Muslim ladies in full dress (yet carrying designer hand bags??) to some of the cutest kids ever to some kind of Caucasian explorer with the largest head I have ever seen topped with the largest hat I have ever seen ...

Arrival in Dhaka was interesting. Jamie will be happy to know that the crowds of people gated off at the airport are still there. I had the 'pleasure' of sitting shot gun on the ride to the hotel. I have no idea why a poor country would waste precious resources on painting 3 lanes on a free way when everyone drives in 5! The rickshaws are beautifully decorated and there are quite a few 1 tonne trucks that are painted really nicely. While passing a train, we saw some kids standing on top, wind blowing in their hair (yup the train was going that fast).

At the hotel last night, we met some of the workshop delegates from Pakistan, India and the US. I was disappointed to find out that a few people from Australia and USDA who I thought were going to be here did not come. We had some excellent lentil soup last night and so far the food is totally living up to my anticipatory expectations. I'm off for some breakfast now. Hopefully I have a chance to post before heading on the road (either tomorrow or the next day -- we're not sure since apparently we do not have a schedule).