Well the adventure has officially begun! I touched down yesterday afternoon here in Dhaka (on September 13th no less!) after a problem-free trip.
It was a long and exhausting journey of course, but all went well and neither I nor my bags went missing.
It's strange to be here and know that this is 'home'. I have 170+ pounds worth of my belongings with me, yet I'm in a hotel and of course can't properly unpack. So I definitely feel in limbo for the moment.
I made a stop through Dubai on the way which helped break things up a bit, but the flight to Dhaka left at 3:30 in the morning, which is really just a horrible time to have a flight leave.
I didn't do much in Dubai - was just there long enough to sleep for a bit, take a quick shower, grab some food, wrap up some work and then head back to the airport again.
I flew on FlyDubai here and had a beautiful view of the mountains in Pakistan and the Himalayas as we flew through. I saw the sun rise over Iran and the terrain slowly change from desert and mountains to green and wet lowlands as we moved into Bangladesh.
According to the plane's map, Bangladesh isn't that far from Poland, as the photo below shows (Warsaw in the upper left hand corner and Sylhet in the lower right), something my wife and sister-in-law should be happy to know, though I think we might need to investigate this further. :-)
Because it was still pretty early on Friday when I got here to Dhaka, the roads were pretty empty and it was quick and easy getting to the hotel. I treated myself to a masala dosa and sambar as a welcome to the subcontinent. The food at this hotel is what keeps me coming back - it's so good! Last night they had a Sri Lankan buffet, which is really what the restaurant is known for, since the hotel is Sri Lankan run and the head chef is from there. Anyway, enough about food - needless to say it was a nice culinary welcome to this part of the world!
Sleep-wise, I broke my cardinal rule of travel yesterday and took a nap, something I always avoid doing the first few days of a trip when trying to adjust to a new timezone. I was just so tired! I did manage to get a good seven hours in last night, though, and only woke up about 5:30 this morning. So I'm probably not too far off in getting adjusted timezone-wise.
We had a nice end-of-the-monsoon season morning storm today, which cooled things off a bit, but it is still supposed to be close to 100 today. I'll be glad when the drier, cooler season kicks in towards the beginning of October.
I've set up my MagicJack number and have tested it out. So between my Bangladesh cell number and 206 number I have set up on MagicJack, technologically speaking things seem to be off to a good start.
Today I've been invited over to my deputy's house for lunch. He and his family wanted to welcome me to Dhaka and Bangladesh. I'm looking forward to it!
Tomorrow will be my first day in the office. It sounds like it's going to be a very busy and eventful few weeks so I'm glad I had yesterday and today to catch my breath!
It was a long and exhausting journey of course, but all went well and neither I nor my bags went missing.
It's strange to be here and know that this is 'home'. I have 170+ pounds worth of my belongings with me, yet I'm in a hotel and of course can't properly unpack. So I definitely feel in limbo for the moment.
I made a stop through Dubai on the way which helped break things up a bit, but the flight to Dhaka left at 3:30 in the morning, which is really just a horrible time to have a flight leave.
I didn't do much in Dubai - was just there long enough to sleep for a bit, take a quick shower, grab some food, wrap up some work and then head back to the airport again.
I flew on FlyDubai here and had a beautiful view of the mountains in Pakistan and the Himalayas as we flew through. I saw the sun rise over Iran and the terrain slowly change from desert and mountains to green and wet lowlands as we moved into Bangladesh.
According to the plane's map, Bangladesh isn't that far from Poland, as the photo below shows (Warsaw in the upper left hand corner and Sylhet in the lower right), something my wife and sister-in-law should be happy to know, though I think we might need to investigate this further. :-)
Sleep-wise, I broke my cardinal rule of travel yesterday and took a nap, something I always avoid doing the first few days of a trip when trying to adjust to a new timezone. I was just so tired! I did manage to get a good seven hours in last night, though, and only woke up about 5:30 this morning. So I'm probably not too far off in getting adjusted timezone-wise.
We had a nice end-of-the-monsoon season morning storm today, which cooled things off a bit, but it is still supposed to be close to 100 today. I'll be glad when the drier, cooler season kicks in towards the beginning of October.
I've set up my MagicJack number and have tested it out. So between my Bangladesh cell number and 206 number I have set up on MagicJack, technologically speaking things seem to be off to a good start.
Today I've been invited over to my deputy's house for lunch. He and his family wanted to welcome me to Dhaka and Bangladesh. I'm looking forward to it!
Tomorrow will be my first day in the office. It sounds like it's going to be a very busy and eventful few weeks so I'm glad I had yesterday and today to catch my breath!
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