See page below for Kelly's overview for this trip!
Bogra
Walking with Iris
Dhaka
Bangladesh.swear-in.jpg
Leslie.Kelly.and.Jessica.jpg
#1 The streets of Bogra, Bangladesh
#2 Kelly and Iris wearing a traditional dress at an archaeological site, Bangladesh
#3 The capital of Bangladesh, Dhaka
#4 Bangladesh Swear-in
#5 Leslie, Kelly and Jessica
Hello friends and family,
I have just returned from two weeks in the world's most crowded and most corrupt country in the world.....Bangladesh.
Bangladesh, with a population of over 130 million people whom are packed into the size of Wisconsin, is nestled in the crook of the Bay of Bengal and is almost completely surrounded by India. It is one of the world's poorest and least developed countries and it continues to be plagued with droughts, cyclones and floods.....in fact, when I arrived at the end of August over 65% of the country was under water.
I stayed primarily in Dhaka, the capital, and tried to adjust to the overcrowded streets and nerve-shattering traffic jams....and I thought Manila was bad! I was fortunate to travel out to the rural countryside for a few days to see the lush rice fields, the many attractive, colorful mosques and an amazing archaeological site that dated back to over 2000 years ago. Plus, I did a side trip to an artificial zoo, which was comprised of ceramic models of various endangered animals of Bangladesh including the Royal Bengal Tiger, the Asiatic Elephant and the Brown Wood Owl.
Bangladesh with all its misfortunes still offers kind and engaging people and some glorious natural wonders such as the longest (and shark-free) beach and the largest littoral mangrove forest in the world.
I am back in the Philippines for the next 10 days before I venture off to the magical mountains (and the maddening Maoists) in Nepal and then to the (hopefully peaceful) Kingdom of Thailand.
