Escaping out of Dhaka is just as it sounds... Escaping the noise, escaping the traffic, escaping the pollution, and est of all, just escaping the bloomin city!!! Last week, I made the roughly 10 hour journey from Dhaka to the Bandabarns, a distance of only about 200 kilometres... Yes, it takes ten hours... I KNOW!
The Bandabarns, located on the lower eastern border of Bangladesh, is a place where any who visit can somehow imagine themselves moving to. Yes, it's still in a third world country. Yes, facilities are limited. Yes, it is a long journey to get anywhere. Yes, it's on the side of a mountain. Yes, it's hot... But compared to Dhaka, it's a paradise, a place where you find yourself getting a high off just seeing hills... and trees... Oh the trees!
A week of trecking, visiting remote tribal villages, riding in the back on an open-top jeep, laughing and fellowship was just what the doctor-in-my-head ordered. If we could have been 'kidnapped' on the last day of the journey whithout making it look staged, Grace International School would have been at a loss, losing half it's staff to the call of the jungle. To be honest, we almost didn't make it back to Dhaka! The ride we thought we'd organised to get from the Bandabarns to our connecting bus at Chittagong didn't show up - proof that even in paradise there can be language barriers and misconceptions - and to say we were hopeful the situation couldn't be rectified is the biggest understatement of the year.
As mentioned, we got to spend some time in a tribal village! Wow, it was one of the coolest experiences of my life thus far! The Mru tribe live in the Bandabarns and have their own language, though from what I could tell, there were some similarities here and there in Bangla. The kids were adorable, and once I got past the fact that most of them are naked, I was able to see and experience a taste of what their life is like. From the tribal leader who spent the first five minutes joking around with us, saying (through giggles I'll have you know) that we should give him 10 taka for each photo we take (yeah like THAT was going to happen!), to the kids who so thoroughly enjoyed eating my tiny teddies, we all had so much fun! Krista even raced some of the kids from the outskirts of the village back into the borders! Ah-mazing times! The journey into and out of the village wasn't quite so fondly remembered, over 600 steps and beaten track each way (aah, the pain), but we figure that at least our butts might have been whipped into some semblance of a shape other than round!!
We even headed up to Chimbuk, which is the second highest peak in Bangladesh. We walked, we saw, and found a bunch of Bengali's who thought we were their equivalent of Jennifer Aniston (being that we have white skin and all that). Olivia, Krista and I climbed a tree. Olivia got stuck. Krista tried to be cool and leapt from said tree holding a branch and landed spectacularly on the ground with a thiud, so clearly, I'm the only one who can be truly trusted to act like a monkey and not be harmed in some way.
One morning, our guide said 'we should take a short walk down to the river'. Ok, said we. Surely a walk to a river will be walking down the hill with minimal effort. WRONG! We were not walking down a path to get to the river... We were trecking... Honest to goodness trecking, in the middle of a flipping JUNGLE! Vines, check. Streams, check. Banana plants, check. Weird bugs, check (Josh and Sam, our Science teachers had the time of their lives!). Heat, check. Unbearable amount of sweat, check. Humidity so high you're sure you need a snorkel, check. Rocks, check, Mountains, check. Moss, check. Leeches, check (on my food, nasty litte blighter!). Once at aforesaid river, our guide arranged for two boats passing by to take us into town. That hour-long journey was gorgeous. We passed by small town, some villages, a boat packed with what I can only explain could have been an under 12's soccer team and everyone they'd ever met...
The Bandabarns reminded me that wherever you are, there are going to be some highlights, and some lowlights. Right now, Dhaka is one of the lowlights, but just knowing that such beauty exists outside the city is enough to keep me going til the next break!!! Unto the brech!!
Kim xox
Monday, October 25, 2010
Freedom!
Escaping out of Dhaka is just as it sounds... Escaping the noise, escaping the traffic, escaping the pollution, and est of all, just escaping the bloomin city!!! Last week, I made the roughly 10 hour journey from Dhaka to the Bandabarns, a distance of only about 200 kilometres... Yes, it takes ten hours... I KNOW!
The Bandabarns, located on the lower eastern border of Bangladesh, is a place where any who visit can somehow imagine themselves moving to. Yes, it's still in a third world country. Yes, facilities are limited. Yes, it is a long journey to get anywhere. Yes, it's on the side of a mountain. Yes, it's hot... But compared to Dhaka, it's a paradise, a place where you find yourself getting a high off just seeing hills... and trees... Oh the trees!
A week of trecking, visiting remote tribal villages, riding in the back on an open-top jeep, laughing and fellowship was just what the doctor-in-my-head ordered. If we could have been 'kidnapped' on the last day of the journey whithout making it look staged, Grace International School would have been at a loss, losing half it's staff to the call of the jungle. To be honest, we almost didn't make it back to Dhaka! The ride we thought we'd organised to get from the Bandabarns to our connecting bus at Chittagong didn't show up - proof that even in paradise there can be language barriers and misconceptions - and to say we were hopeful the situation couldn't be rectified is the biggest understatement of the year.
As mentioned, we got to spend some time in a tribal village! Wow, it was one of the coolest experiences of my life thus far! The Mru tribe live in the Bandabarns and have their own language, though from what I could tell, there were some similarities here and there in Bangla. The kids were adorable, and once I got past the fact that most of them are naked, I was able to see and experience a taste of what their life is like. From the tribal leader who spent the first five minutes joking around with us, saying (through giggles I'll have you know) that we should give him 10 taka for each photo we take (yeah like THAT was going to happen!), to the kids who so thoroughly enjoyed eating my tiny teddies, we all had so much fun! Krista even raced some of the kids from the outskirts of the village back into the borders! Ah-mazing times! The journey into and out of the village wasn't quite so fondly remembered, over 600 steps and beaten track each way (aah, the pain), but we figure that at least our butts might have been whipped into some semblance of a shape other than round!!
We even headed up to Chimbuk, which is the second highest peak in Bangladesh. We walked, we saw, and found a bunch of Bengali's who thought we were their equivalent of Jennifer Aniston (being that we have white skin and all that). Olivia, Krista and I climbed a tree. Olivia got stuck. Krista tried to be cool and leapt from said tree holding a branch and landed spectacularly on the ground with a thiud, so clearly, I'm the only one who can be truly trusted to act like a monkey and not be harmed in some way.
One morning, our guide said 'we should take a short walk down to the river'. Ok, said we. Surely a walk to a river will be walking down the hill with minimal effort. WRONG! We were not walking down a path to get to the river... We were trecking... Honest to goodness trecking, in the middle of a flipping JUNGLE! Vines, check. Streams, check. Banana plants, check. Weird bugs, check (Josh and Sam, our Science teachers had the time of their lives!). Heat, check. Unbearable amount of sweat, check. Humidity so high you're sure you need a snorkel, check. Rocks, check, Mountains, check. Moss, check. Leeches, check (on my food, nasty litte blighter!). Once at aforesaid river, our guide arranged for two boats passing by to take us into town. That hour-long journey was gorgeous. We passed by small town, some villages, a boat packed with what I can only explain could have been an under 12's soccer team and everyone they'd ever met...
The Bandabarns reminded me that wherever you are, there are going to be some highlights, and some lowlights. Right now, Dhaka is one of the lowlights, but just knowing that such beauty exists outside the city is enough to keep me going til the next break!!! Unto the brech!!
Kim xox
The Bandabarns, located on the lower eastern border of Bangladesh, is a place where any who visit can somehow imagine themselves moving to. Yes, it's still in a third world country. Yes, facilities are limited. Yes, it is a long journey to get anywhere. Yes, it's on the side of a mountain. Yes, it's hot... But compared to Dhaka, it's a paradise, a place where you find yourself getting a high off just seeing hills... and trees... Oh the trees!
A week of trecking, visiting remote tribal villages, riding in the back on an open-top jeep, laughing and fellowship was just what the doctor-in-my-head ordered. If we could have been 'kidnapped' on the last day of the journey whithout making it look staged, Grace International School would have been at a loss, losing half it's staff to the call of the jungle. To be honest, we almost didn't make it back to Dhaka! The ride we thought we'd organised to get from the Bandabarns to our connecting bus at Chittagong didn't show up - proof that even in paradise there can be language barriers and misconceptions - and to say we were hopeful the situation couldn't be rectified is the biggest understatement of the year.
As mentioned, we got to spend some time in a tribal village! Wow, it was one of the coolest experiences of my life thus far! The Mru tribe live in the Bandabarns and have their own language, though from what I could tell, there were some similarities here and there in Bangla. The kids were adorable, and once I got past the fact that most of them are naked, I was able to see and experience a taste of what their life is like. From the tribal leader who spent the first five minutes joking around with us, saying (through giggles I'll have you know) that we should give him 10 taka for each photo we take (yeah like THAT was going to happen!), to the kids who so thoroughly enjoyed eating my tiny teddies, we all had so much fun! Krista even raced some of the kids from the outskirts of the village back into the borders! Ah-mazing times! The journey into and out of the village wasn't quite so fondly remembered, over 600 steps and beaten track each way (aah, the pain), but we figure that at least our butts might have been whipped into some semblance of a shape other than round!!
We even headed up to Chimbuk, which is the second highest peak in Bangladesh. We walked, we saw, and found a bunch of Bengali's who thought we were their equivalent of Jennifer Aniston (being that we have white skin and all that). Olivia, Krista and I climbed a tree. Olivia got stuck. Krista tried to be cool and leapt from said tree holding a branch and landed spectacularly on the ground with a thiud, so clearly, I'm the only one who can be truly trusted to act like a monkey and not be harmed in some way.
One morning, our guide said 'we should take a short walk down to the river'. Ok, said we. Surely a walk to a river will be walking down the hill with minimal effort. WRONG! We were not walking down a path to get to the river... We were trecking... Honest to goodness trecking, in the middle of a flipping JUNGLE! Vines, check. Streams, check. Banana plants, check. Weird bugs, check (Josh and Sam, our Science teachers had the time of their lives!). Heat, check. Unbearable amount of sweat, check. Humidity so high you're sure you need a snorkel, check. Rocks, check, Mountains, check. Moss, check. Leeches, check (on my food, nasty litte blighter!). Once at aforesaid river, our guide arranged for two boats passing by to take us into town. That hour-long journey was gorgeous. We passed by small town, some villages, a boat packed with what I can only explain could have been an under 12's soccer team and everyone they'd ever met...
The Bandabarns reminded me that wherever you are, there are going to be some highlights, and some lowlights. Right now, Dhaka is one of the lowlights, but just knowing that such beauty exists outside the city is enough to keep me going til the next break!!! Unto the brech!!
Kim xox
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