Kathleen FINALLY makes it to Dhaka!!

I made it to Dhaka at last! After months of living out of a suitcase and sleeping on couches and futons in various cities around the world, I am finally living out of a suitcase and sleeping on a futon in my very own home! Looks like we might not get our furniture shipment for another month, so our new apartment is pretty empty and echo-y. But on the plus side, there's enough room in here to do cartwheels...

I’ve only been here a week, but I feel like I’ve already got to see quite a bit of the city. We’ve done a lot of driving around (and sitting in Dhaka’s infamous traffic), and I’ve had a chance to explore our new neighborhood and sample some of its amazing restaurants. We've had a chance to do some furniture shopping, and we had a great time walking through the antiques shops near Gulshan Circle. It was a bit like stepping into an Indiana Jones film, trawling through room after room of what looked like long-buried treasure – shelves and tables piled with ornate daggers and oil lamps and dusty statues of Hindu gods. Because of the ship demolition industry here, there’s a huge assortment of paraphernalia from old ships - things like lanterns, telescopes, sextants, and sand timers. If you want to decorate in the style of a 19^th-century explorer, this is the place to shop!

On my first day here, our landlords and neighbors, Humaim and Neela, took us to Savar (just north of Dhaka) to see the National Martyr’s Monument, a memorial to those who lost their lives in the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.

The surrounding park is lined with trees planted by world leaders over the years. Here's one planted by Nelson Mandela:

That's been my only 'touristy' adventure so far, but I hope to do much more exploring in Dhaka and beyond very soon - stay tuned!