Happy Bengali New Year

Happy New Year from Bangladesh

Here in Dhaka we are celebrating the Bengali New Year.  According to the AISD newsletter,

In the last decade, Bengali New Year has become the grandest of all cultural events in Bangladesh. The New Year, called Boishakh, is also celebrated throughout the region. It's recognized in northern India and Bengal, in Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Burma (Myanmar). The calendar will roll over on April 14 to the year 1419. Our celebration in the elementary school will take place on Thursday, April 19th. We have a holiday from school on the actual date, Thursday, April 14th.

Dressed up for the New Year

As you go around Dhaka on April 14th you will see brightly dressed people, often wearing the traditional red and white colors that herald the beginning of the New Year. Girls wear fresh flowers in their hair and decorate their hands and feet with intricate henna designs that last for days after the New Year has passed as a reminder of new beginnings.

Street Fair in Dhanmondi 

As it happens, Gail and I were in the middle of it Saturday the 14^th.  We had acquired VIP passes to the first ever Dhaka Art Summit and were using our day off to check out some of the art galleries around the city.  We had gone to a couple galleries Friday evening on the way to a rooftop birthday party.  Each was a well-designed space for art and completely different from the dirt, dust, beggars and grime that we found on the street just outside. 

Saturday we headed down to more downtown locations.  We didn’t know what to expect, of course, but we found ourselves in a sea of humanity and traffic everywhere we looked.  All together, we were in the car for about four hours and saw one gallery. 

We got to one gallery, after a couple wrong turns, and saw some cool stuff and met a couple local artists, one of whom has some experience with local theater.

More of the Street Fair

We headed off to the next one, just a few blocks away.  When our driver finally fought his way through the crowd, we were able to park a couple blocks from the Dhaka Art Gallery.  The streets were barricaded and a street fair was in progress. There were assorted vendors, noise-makers, face-painters and lots of ladies in red and white.  And of course, the Gallery was closed.  

The Longest Painted Street in the World

Gail’s quest for art will continue this weekend with one of the fourth grade teachers, and we’ll both go to a Rock and Roll Trivia night at the American Club.  We’re supposed to dress as our favorite rock and roll star, but I’m not sure how to make myself look like Dylan, and Millie thought of Neil Young, but she’s not sure what he looks like.  Gail was thinking of KISS makeup.  The latest is Alice Cooper and we have the hats. 

Shubo Nobo Borsho! (Happy New Year)

Notes from Singapore

Last Saturday night, just after midnight, we landed at Dhaka International Airport, welcomed by a cloud of mosquitoes. They had missed us desperately, apparently, while we spending a week in civilization in Singapore.  We are fine—Millie’s testing went well and we are lighter considerably in cash, but had a good time anyhow. 

Singapore Waterfront

 Singapore is a beautiful place, clean and tidy, with lots of blooming trees and shrubs. There are palm trees everywhere and lots of tropical foliage; they manicure all the green space, even the hardwood trees so that they are spectacular. The architecture is fabulous—incredible high-rise apartment buildings, shiny skyscrapers and amazing hotels.  There is almost no litter and if there is, it’s being swept up as you walk by.  You cannot buy chewing gum at any price because it is illegal, but you can buy brandy if you have enough room on your credit card. 

Shopping On Orchard Road

Singapore is like Waikiki without the beach combined with New York City without the grime.  If you combined what it costs to visit both, you’d get an idea of what it costs to visit Singapore.  And there are plenty of rules.  You can’t eat or drink on the subway, but there are no trashcans if you mistakenly bring something with you.  Gail had to hide a water bottle in her purse to avoid the possibility of being fined. 

Marina Bay Sands Hotel

Chinatown

People here line up for everything:  getting a taxi, getting onto the subway, getting coffee at Starbucks (of which there are many).  We stayed at a nice hotel near Orchard Road, the main shopping area, and traveled mostly by taxi, which is just as economical for three people as the subway/buses and gets you exactly where you want to be.  The only problem was finding the place to line up for the next taxi. 

We also visited Little India and Chinatown, rode the giant Ferris wheel—the Singapore Flyer, proudly advertised as five meters taller than the London Eye, and took a boat cruise on the Singapore River.  We toured for a couple days on double-decker sightseeing buses, so we saw most of the city that way.

And the shopping:  Millie got earphones and clothes, Gail got a couple new rings and I picked up some new socks.  Actually, we had three suitcases full of stuff—plastic and glass containers for taking lunch to school, a new tip for Gail’s walking stick, beer-brewing supplies, theatrical supplies; did I mention clothes? 

Country Line Dancing in Chinatown

On the Singapore Flyer