I hope I did a decent job not sounding too negative in my previous post. The truth is, I woke up on my second day here feeling pretty terrible. I had a headache and my stomach felt like if I never at another morsel of Bangladeshi food that would be totally OK. Going through the day and visiting the sites was really a chore, but I did my best hoping that getting out and walking around would help me feel better.
Well, what a contrast to Sunday. I woke up feeling like a million bucks, like I could conquer the world. Breakfast tasted great, I was excited about heading over to Donny’s friend Ayon’s house for lunch, and I was just ready to go!
Our plan for the day was to go back to the tailor to see about our beach shirts, then see what we though about getting some shirts and maybe a suit made. We got there and the sheer amount of fabric that ended up unfurled at our feet was astounding.

Once we’d picked out the fabrics for our 4 shirts and 1 suit each, we took it up to the tailor so I could get measured (of course, he already had Donny’s measurements on file)

This shot sort of makes it look like we’re at a bookie’s:

Afterwards we headed over to Ayon’s for lunch. His mother made a delicious assortment of food, including Hilsa fish, a lamb stew, and chicken. She also had us try some home-made mango pickle. It was interesting because it was almost like our notion of pickling, using vinegar and spices, but this version required a cup of vinegar for every kilogram of sugar!
After eating, Ayon showed us some pictures his father had taken, including a black and white picture taken of the Shaheed Minar long ago. It was really interesting to see the pictures and how things have changed over the years.
Before we left, we were offered some traditional desserts, including fresh mango and two sweets. One was incredibly sweet, and could possibly contain more sugar than I’d eat in a year, but it was nonetheless delicious.

After leaving we headed down to Old Dhaka to get some rickshaw art. I’ll have to take a few more pictures of rickshaws to show what I’m talking about. Old Dhaka is in many ways similar to the rest of the city, in that there are open storefronts selling everything from trumpets to pipes to bicycle parts. The main difference is that the streets are much narrower, about wide enough for 2 rickshaws to pass. It was getting dark while we were there, so I didn’t get to take as many pictures as I wanted.

Afterwards we went on an expedition to find tickets for our bus ride up north tomorrow. After visiting four or five different bus companies we found one that was leaving at a reasonable time, but it won’t be air conditioned!
The heat hasn’t been too bad, I’ve never felt it quite as intensely as I did in Luxor and Aswan, where the temps got up to about 120.

Some pictures from yesterday:
In line at the airport with Dad:

Side-saddling on a bike:

Skyline from BUET:

One of countless jackfruit trees on the BUET campus:

Construction rig made of bamboo:

Donny at the shaheed minar:

Dhakeshwari shrine:

Calm at the temple:

Football: