The NEW bridge

Over the last few months I have been watching the progress on a new bridge and connecting road from by balcony that also looks across the lake. When I got back from the Winter break, the bridge is finally open, although the road at the back of my apartment is yet to open.

So yesterday I went for a walk across the bridge and just happened to run into a group of people marching across the bridge carry bunches of flowers! The reason, maybe something to do with Ashura, the Muslim holiday that was happening over the weekend. As well as me taking photos of the bridge, the locals were taking photos of me with their phones!

It is quite an attractive bridge with very well set up roads leading to and from it on the Gulshan side. But the other good news is that is provides a short cut to Road 11 in Banani, which is home to lots of restaurants. I went to Dhaba, a Bangladeshi one, over the weekend.

This is looking through the bridge towards the back of my apartment block.

The well tended lawns and gardens at the foot of the bridge, which provided ideal grazing for a goat.

This photo I really like - you can guess!

The lake is going down . . . . . .

One of the nice things about where I live is that I can look out my living area or off the balcony and get a pleasant view over a small lake that is backed some greenery with the tall buildings of the city centre off in the distance.

However in the last week I have noticed that the water level in the lake is going down. Previously, especially after the 3 days of continuous rain last weekend, the water level was almost up to the doorway of the "shacks" on the other side of the lake.

But in the last couple of days it has gone down, way down. A couple of metres lower I would say. Now all the muddy bank and accompanying trash is visible in front of the "shacks".

This building here shown at present, used to be used by the boys as a diving board into the water. They would climb onto the roof, take a run and jump off splashing into the lake. Now as this photo shows, that is not option as the water barely comes up to the edge, let alone having enough to jump into.
The reason - there is a new bridge opening shortly about 50 metres further up the lake from where I live that will join Gulshan 2 to Banani (Road 11 in particular) so they are busy finishing that. Plus they are dumping earth into the lake on this side to create a road from what was a track along the lake edge to link with the bridge. The trucks bring in fill and the bulldozer spreads it out.
The local people come and stand and watch what is happening. Something out of the ordinary for them it is. It also makes a pleasant playground, as close as they will ever get to a sand pit, for some local boys.

So I think my peace and quiet may be partially shattered in the near future. There is more information about the bridge on the blog, "Dhaka - a visual record", which I have a link to on the right hand side of my blog. According to that blog the bridge is meant to open in November 2008!! Maybe by the end but that would certainly be quick for Bangladesh.