December in the field

Over the past few weeks, I've traveled out to the 'field' and have seen some beautiful parts of the country. I went to the capitals of two divisions and to a couple of remote villages.

A couple of weeks ago, the first place I traveled to was Paikgachha, an area very near to the Sundarbans in the very south of Bangladesh.

On the map, you can see how close the city of Khulna is, but it's actually about a 3-hour drive due to the poor road conditions. It's a long, tedious and bumpy road but the scenery is beautiful.

This is a beautiful old mosque that we saw along the way. As with many places in Bangladesh, it is just a natural part of the landscape and not anything that is otherwise protected or guarded.

I traveled to and from Khulna by seaplane, which is always a fun experience. We landed on the Rupsha river, just outside of Khulna city.

This last week I traveled to the field one last time before the holidays and had a chance to see Jessore, Khulna and Barisal as well as a small village near the border with India. First we flew from Dhaka to Jessore, then drove from Jessore to Khulna and again from Khulna to Barisal and then took an overnight ferry back to Dhaka.

I visited the villages of Bhojgati and Haridaskati. The first was a Muslim village and the second was a Hindu village.

The women in our program were learning about integrated pest management and natural ways to ward off pests using different types of plants. Chemicals have increasingly become commonplace even in homestead horticulture practices here, so the point is to show the women that such harmful substances are usually not necessary.

From Khulna we drove to Barisal, which was a beautiful drive, filled with green guava and palm trees and rice paddies. We took a ferry for part of our journey and arrived in a foggy Barisal.

After a productive day of meetings in Barisal, my colleague and I boarded the Kirtonkhola-2 overnight boat (here they are called 'launches') back to Dhaka. After a long week in the field, it was nice to be home. These are a few photos from the morning arrival in Dhaka.

Sleeping cats

So I realize that cats aren't, strictly speaking, a unique experience of living in Dhaka. But these are Dhaka cats and have certainly colored our experience since adopting them. 

Maybe it's a Bangladeshi feline thing or maybe we just got 'special' cats, but these guys have the most uncatlike poses when they sleep. 

Here are some interesting poses we've found them in over the past few months. (It's nice having cats!)

Colors of Bangladesh

One of the things I love most about Bangladesh is how colorful everything is. Even the poorest of houses will not go without many layers of beautiful colors on their humble homes. People seem to take pride in keeping everything colorful. Women in particular are responsible for adding to the color through their clothing; the saris and other clothing they wear are never bland or drab. More often than not they are shockingly bright or in strange/interesting combinations of colors and patterns. It makes for a very colorful countryside!

Below are some pictures I've taken from 'the field' over the past few months.

A Week in Nepal

Now that both of us have finished our final exams for the year, we were finally able to take a vacation in Nepal!

On our first evening in Kathmandu, we took a walk through the narrow, winding streets of Thamel and down to Durbar Square, the plaza that sits in front of Kathmandu's ancient royal palace. The city is full of temples, from towering ancient monuments to tiny structures adorning street corners and alleyways, and Durbar Square has some magnificent examples. Although Nepal is now officially a secular nation, until recently it was the only country in which Hinduism was the state religion; it is also the birthplace of the Buddha and home to many Tibetan Buddhist refugees.

Durbar Square, Kathmandu

A frieze of Kala Bhairava, the destructive manifestation of Shiva

Courtyard of the royal palace

We took a taxi up to Swayambhunath, a Buddhist temple on a hill overlooking the city and one of the oldest religious sites in Nepal. It's also known as the Monkey Temple because of its large resident monkey community - perhaps this temple is unique in that it is home to both monks and monkeys?

It was quite a climb!

The Stupa, or shrine, at the top of the hill

Statues of the Buddha often depict different mudras, which are gestures that convey specific spiritual meanings. This one is Varada Mudra, which represents compassion.

Some of Swayambhunath's simian residents

Our next stop was Pokhara, about an hour's flight from Kathmandu. Pokhara was a small and virtually inaccessible town in the foothills of the Annapurna mountain range until it was discovered by hippies and hiking enthusiasts. Now it's a main stop for backpackers trekking into the mountains, and the lakeside seems to be almost entirely populated by tourists, mostly from neighboring China and India. We decided to forgo the serious trekking this time and spent the week mostly relaxing by the lake and eating our way through the huge variety of local and international cuisine - our favorite was Tara's, a restaurant which was really just a stove and two tables in an alleyway, but served a delicious vegetarian thali. But we did venture on a few short hikes, one to the World Peace Pagoda and one around Sarangkot, a nearby hill town with spectacular views.

The World Peace Pagoda

You can just make out some peaks of the Annapurna range behind those clouds. Summer is the rainy season, so not the best time for mountain-viewing!

A view of the lake on our hike up to the Peace Pagoda

We got to take one of these colorful boats back across the lake at the end of our hike

Watching the sun rise in Sarangkot

Intrepid explorers in search of a view

Pokhara has tons of restaurants and cafes with lakeside gardens; every afternoon we stopped for a local beer and watched the rain clouds roll in.

Everest beer, like the mountain, is rather tall

We spent an afternoon at a nearby Tibetan refugee settlement, and were able to take a tour of the monastery and observe the monks in their daily puja. 

On our way back to Dhaka we spent one final day in Kathmandu, this time exploring the nearby town of Patan, which seems to be constructed almost entirely of temples, with shops and homes squeezed into the remaining spaces between them.

The view from a restaurant in Patan's Durbar Square

Lots of temples!

The narrow streets are spectacularly colorful; tiny shops stack their wares outside

Nepal seems to be full of friendly and adorable puppies

I think it's safe to say we will definitely be visiting Nepal again someday!