Photo fun - A look at what I see

About 2 blocks from my house, there is a rickshaw stand. Rickshaws generally travel a distance that would take a bit too long to walk, if you need to get somewhere without being covered in grit and sweat, but that an auto-rickshaw will not go, because it is too close. Transportation in Bangladesh could be a topic all on its own. Below are two pictures of the "roads" in one of the rural areas I visited for work last week. Note the fact that if you veer off the road, you also go off the embankment the road is built on. The muddy road is a result of one night's rain. Imagine what the road must look like during the monsoon.





I exhibit a very strange fascination for transport. I wish that I could explain it, but alas - not even searching into visions of previous lives allows for an explanation. Nevertheless, I could easily put together an amateur photography exhibit of all of the photos I have taken of vehicles. Here, transport runs the gamut. It is dictated by budget and travel conditions. In Dhaka city, short distances can be covered on foot, or by cycle rickshaw. Longer distances can be traversed by bus (I will not try it, as I cannot read the route names or numbers), a "Laguna" which is a converted pick-up, that seats 10 in the back, and a few more hanging on the outside, a "Maxi" which is slightly larger than a Laguna, seating 15, CNG - the compressed natural gas 3 wheeled auto-rickshaws, a non-A/C taxi car, or an A/C taxi car. Of course, those who have their own car and driver need not worry about such things. Imagine, now, all of these types of vehicles, as well as bicycle carts and human pulled carts carrying various random items (from steel pipes and 30 foot bamboo to refrigerators and chickens) on the same thoroughfare.

Elsewhere, one may choose between a flat bed cycle cart (multipurpose for human, animal or grain transport), boat or the most trustworthy bipedal option.


Walking through and around these quiet, vast rice paddies and fields is a very welcome change from Dhaka's noise and pollution. Now, if only I didn't have to risk life and limb during the journey there...