a dhaka night

dhaka, i was told by a bangladeshi friend, is the most densely populated city in the world. well it's not hard to believe when you see it. i have never looked outside the hotel window and see a street not filled with people and moving vehicles. it's always busy.
it was a privilege to be with my bangladeshi friend. he knows so much about the place he lives in and showed me around with such grace and familiarity. i thank him for his time and for sharing his knowledge. here are some things that we did the night we met:

we walked from the hotel to where the rickshaws are parked. not very far about a 2 minute walk. i told him that i wanted to buy clothes the cheap overruns much in supply in dhaka. so we headed for that place with our rickshaw. the traffic is just crazy. everybody's just moving everywhere. amazingly, we didnt get into an accident. the vehicle to your left, right, front and back are just inches away. the rickshaw is a better mode of transpo in my opinion. you can really feel the soft night breeze, as it not enclosed like the tuktuk which looks like a mobile prison cell. it's not expensive in dhaka. we took a rickshaw ride and just rode about the university area for 20 to 30 minutes and paid only about 70 takas. from the hotel area to the clothing market (bongo plaza) only cost about 30 takas, it was like a 10 minute ride.
the clothes are cheap too. theyre overruns from factories of h&m, zara, topshop etc. but you always got to check for defects. i decided not to buy coz i know its going to take a lot of time from picking out which ones id like, trying em out and to haggling for the price. and i didnt like the fact that my guy friend will have to wait for all of those to finish in the sideline. so i decided that we go have a bangladeshi dinner.
i told him im up for anything so we went to this bangladeshi eatery. well it wasnt the nicest diner to be in. i believe it was like in the middle of the market area. i put all trust to my bangladeshi friend so i didnt show any hesitation. my colleagues have been telling me that i shouldnt eat food outside the hotel but there i was. okay the place looked kinda dirty. we ate using hands. it feels awkward at first. its been years since i used my hands directly on food during meals at the table. i very rarely use bare hands during eating cos i have this bad habit of not washing before eating and ive learned over the years how to use the spoon and fork without my fingers ever ever touching the food. the place had a faucet and a soap bar for washing hands. every time i look up from my dinner plate, at least 3 bangladeshi men were staring at me. my dinner was delicious. i had beef which was very spicy and rice. and some side dishes, one was a mashed potato with crushed chili, another was spinach and bitter gourd that wasnt at all bitter which was good. my friend got himself a snack that was made of bread, he finished it quickly. he asked me if id like to order bottled water or the filtered one, the type that he was going to have..tap water. and i said i'll have the same as youre having. but i know next time im having bottled water. although i dont feel anything bad yet, i just cant help but get paranoid about the things that ive eaten especially that ive got a chest and throat infection 2 days after that food fest. its a chest infection not a stomach infection so maybe im fine. and the throat infection was probably because i ate too much sweets before going to dhaka and got tonsilitis and never gave my vocal chords a rest. but i really do want to go back there. i really do think the dinner was delicious.
anyways, after that we just chilled and toured around the university area on a rickshaw. we passed by the monuments of the martyrs, the science dept of the university, the arts building and even the dormitories. outside the dormitory for girls, lovers scatter in pairs around the park area.

unfinished...