Bangladesh, India & Sri Lanka

[Corona Man]

Off in a few weeks time, albeit a work trip to Bangers & India. Will return via Sri Lanka, but only in transit this trip. Will head back to Sri Lanka in October.

Will share my observations of these places, that were never on my bucket list to travel too.

Should be an eye-opener to say the least.

[DOC]

Most likely a sphincter opener.....

[Corona Man]

Most likely a sphincter opener.....

Staying in decent hotels by the looks, won't be sampling the street food. Got a tip from a customer to only eat vegetarian, considering that.

Still I could do with dropping a few KG's!

[DOC]

All good.

Hope it goes well.

You selling or buying ?

[Corona Man]

All good.

Hope it goes well.

You selling or buying ?

Selling.... actually already selling, this trip is a meet & greet to the companies we are selling to. The Bangers customers work in very "odd" ways. I want to straighten them up, which I know will be difficult. But improving communications will avoid a few delays. Given English is their second language, that will be very challenging.

[PatowalongaPirate]

Most likely a sphincter opener.....

Staying in decent hotels by the looks, won't be sampling the street food. Got a tip from a customer to only eat vegetarian, considering that.

Still I could do with dropping a few KG's!

Very sound advice, and you can always top up on naan and roti etc.

[Corona Man]

Most likely a sphincter opener.....

Staying in decent hotels by the looks, won't be sampling the street food. Got a tip from a customer to only eat vegetarian, considering that.

Still I could do with dropping a few KG's!

Very sound advice, and you can always top up on naan and roti etc.

Cheers Pirate, any other advice you can offer appreciated.

[PatowalongaPirate]

Drinking a can of coke before eating larger meals can help your stomach too.

[Corona Man]

Drinking a can of coke before eating larger meals can help your stomach too.

I prefer beer, but I will try anything to avoid Bangers belly!

[mighty_tiger_79]

Siri Lanka still has a curfew, so that may rule out visiting.the local Arkaba

[Corona Man]

This trip is getting closer. Leave this Saturday arvo. I just know this week in the office is going to drag its arse....

Did some pre-packing of clothes etc. yesterday. Given the temperature in Dhaka is like 32 during the day, and 27 at night. I can leave the wollie jumpers at home. So it is company polo shirts, and pants. Chucked in a few pairs of shorts as well. Got a few reports to run later in the week, but other than that I am prepared for my meetings as best I can be..... I think!

So the plan. Taxi pick up from home around noon Satdy. Get to airport 12.45, give or take. First flight MLB to BKK, on Thai airlines. I have no status with them so I am lining up with the plebs at check in. 20kg checked baggage as well, which is on the light side. Think I can manage that though. Then through customs and into the Plaza Premium Lounge, got a good deal - $40 for 2 hours. I will drink that in beers! 9.5 hour flight to Bangkok, then about 1.5 hours in transit (find a bar in the airport) before the 2nd leg of 2.5hrs to Dhaka. Get there around 1.00am Sunday am - or about 5.00am Australian time. Hotel pick up arranged - I hope. My record of sleeping on planes is awful, so when I get to Bangers, straight to bed. Lazy Sunday, an Indian based colleague flys in Sunday arvo, so no doubt we will head out for dinner.

Monday & Tuesday full of meetings. Wednesday is a travel day to Mumbai, via Calcutta & some other joint. I spend Thursday & Friday in the Mumbai office, before flying out Friday night to Colombo, Sri Lanka. The original plan was to spend the weekend in Sri Lanka, then see customers there the following week. That got changed (long story) so I connect through Friday night, and fly back to Melbourne. Arrive about 2.00pm the following Saturday. Would have missed the Hawks game, but think I should get to see some of the Ashes test match while I am away.

Just want this week to speed on by......

[Corona Man]

Well I am on my way. It took an hour to get through Thai airlines check in & customs. Settled into the Plaza Lounge in Melbourne just now, and enjoying my first cold beer of the day...... Boarding in about 30 minutes.

[Wedgie]

Good luck, hope it goes well!

[Corona Man]

Dhaka, dead set crazy joint. ******* hot doesn’t do it justice... 35 with a feels like temp of 38 and 75% humidity. Drank beers in the hotel swimming pool. Work starts tomorrow.

[Corona Man]

Didn’t notice it on arrival, but when I got back to the hotel last night from dinner one of the security guys was packing a heat..... a ******* machine gun!

[Jim05]

Didn’t notice it on arrival, but when I got back to the hotel last night from dinner one of the security guys was packing a heat..... a ******* machine gun!

Pretty confronting isn’t it?
On a previous trip to the Philippines we exited Manila airport and headed to the taxi rank where there was a stack of guards with machine guns. Knowing of a common scam I headed over towards a certain brand of taxi and one of the guards starts pointing us towards the direction of the taxi with his gun
This was the hotels complimentary water taxi to/from Boracay

[Corona Man]

Yep, it certainly is.

I’m in a car driving to the export zone in Dhaka. Been traveling for over 2 hours now.

So far seen beggars a street protest and an absolute sea of humanity along with the worst drivers and traffic imaginable. Wankers just leaning on their horns. That’s not gonna help the congestion dick heads.

#idontthinkiminkansasanymore

[Corona Man]

Observations of today.

Not surprisingly Bangladesh is a shit hole.
Traffic is stupid crazy. Not one set of traffic lights in the joint!
Road rules non existent.
Filthy joint, rubbish piled high on the side of the roads.
Seen lots of people walking about carrying things on their heads.
Bicycle rickshaws everywhere.
Lots of people mainly men standing around in the streets doing bugger all.
It’s on Monday, but I can’t wait to leave on Wednesday. India sounds like paradise compared to this.
Our hotel is very good though, can’t fault that.

[Jim05]

Observations of today.

Not surprisingly Bangladesh is a shit hole.
Traffic is stupid crazy. Not one set of traffic lights in the joint!
Road rules non existent.
Filthy joint, rubbish piled high on the side of the roads.
Seen lots of people walking about carrying things on their heads.
Bicycle rickshaws everywhere.
Lots of people mainly men standing around in the streets doing bugger all.
It’s on Monday, but I can’t wait to leave on Wednesday. India sounds like paradise compared to this.
Our hotel is very good though, can’t fault that.

One thing those types of places do though is show you how great Australia really is.

[Magellan]

Lots of people mainly men standing around in the streets doing bugger all.

Looks like Bangladesh's local governments have a similar approach to public works as they do here.