On the way to Comilla

Yesterday went on a day trip outside of Dhaka to Comilla. Although only about 80 kilometres south east, it took 3 hours to get there (but only 2.5 to get back). Here are some photos taken along the way. I will do separate posts about what we saw there.

A bamboo "shop" on the outskirts of Dhaka

One of a number of large rivers we crossed along the way

How to keep your produce safe, and cheaper than a seat!!

A roadside village

Rickshaws are used to transport anything and everything - wooden boats & cane baskets

Back safely . . . . . eventually

Had a really interesting trip and made it back safely . . . . . eventually. All was going well on the train trip back to Dhaka, allocated seats in an a/c carriage, which was not crowded with lots of people standing like the train there. Looking like we would arrive only slightly late and just over an hour out of Dhaka, movement came to a screaming halt when a wheel came off the carriage in front, which then derailed. Spending more than 3 hours waiting, eventually we clamboured down from the train in the semi-dark with no platform, onto the rails before climbing aboard the Chittagong train that had stopped to pick us up. Finally arrived in Dhaka at 1 am and home at 1.30 am. Not great when I had to get up again at 5.30 am. This was all after I managed to catch some stomach bug and was up every hour the night before and off to the bathroom, so had barely eaten all day before getting the train. Here are some photos taken on the train trip up as it was dark when we came back.

Standing room only on the train trip Dhaka - Syhlet

A collection of a few houses beside the train track. Life is basic for most people here. No running water, no sanitation and no electricity.

Scrubbing water buffalo - the only other time I have seen cattle being scrubbed is when I was a child and we were preparing our stud jersey cattle for agricultural shows in country Australia.

Life is hard and physical for most people here. Carrying goods in baskets with a wooden yoke is a common sight.

Fields of rice fading into the haze of air pollution courtesy of the brick works around Dhaka.

Curious villagers come to look in the windows of the train while it is stopped. Like many people in Bangladesh, they are happy to ahve their photograph taken.

The local corner store and taxi service and a village adjacent to the rail line.