BANGLADESH

If anyone wants a reality check I would recommend that they get on a plane and head to Bangladesh. I first went there in 1976 when there were 80m people. I thought then that the place was grossly over crowded. Well now there are 140m - and more are on the way.

I have just spent 10 days there. After missing our connection in Dubai due to a snow delay in London we arrived a day late with no luggage. Since we were then heading to Thakagoan in the far NW Bangladesh for 3 days we went shopping for the essentials (undies, socks, shirts, trou). Luckily there is a huge garment industry in Bangladesh and clothes are very cheap (about 20% of US retail prices) so I ended up with a suit and jacket on top of what I really needed. A very interesting drive north (8 hours on the way up but it took us 13 hours to get back (including 2 hours in a 10pm traffic jam in the outskirts of Dhaka) - not to much fun in a van.

A feature of driving in the country that when you drive through villages with narrow roads (with hundreds of people) they arent expecting cars (as most of the transport is rickshaws) so they continue to walk out into the roads. Its hair raising.

After I got back from Bangladesh in 1976 I used to tell everyone that the country didnt even have rocks. I now stand corrected as in the very far north there is a river bed with some - but they are so scarce its like mining gold. So to make the roads they make bricks (hundreds of brick factories) then they (women only job) use a hammer to smash them up into small pebbles which they use to make the roads.


If the women are lucky enough they may get a job where they can wear brighter sari's - like cleaning up the plastic bags.

Think you are lucky?