My bathroom at Westin (bunga and rose petals tu orang bagi)
My room at Westin
Dhaka from my hotel window on 17th floorThe team (of 3) arrived last night around midnight (Msian time is 2.30 am). It's hard to buy Taka at the airport at KLIA.Budak at the money changer counter gelak2 when I told them I was going to Bangladesh and wanted to buy Taka.Azilee, applying for visa to travel to Dhaka (at the High Comm) was asked, "Encik nak bawak orang ke?"/"Are you bringing people in, Sir?" (ie. bringing in Bangladeshi workers).
For whatever prejudices we may have of the 'other' (our fellow Muslim brothers and sisters), the Bangladeshis are among the few Muslims who are diligent and take care of their appearance.No matter what their occupations are, they always dress smart and clean.This is the teaching of Islam which most Muslims seem to forget (I have bumped into students at IIUM who look like terrorists! They don't comb their hair, don't tuck in their shirts and smell bad).
Upon touch-down...whoa..the airport does not look poor at all.I sms-ed Nik and told him, better than Brunei lah!
I didn't get to see the city yet cos' it was dark (my sister kata diaorang ni berak bersepah2 tepi jalan) I'm sure not!! Semua ni prejudis kita.
The hotel...well...we are travelling as uni officials so we get to stay at 5-star hotel which makes me marah...sebab hotel2 macam ni are built for mat salleh (memang betul...at breakfast, the locals only serve.Mat Salleh ni semua jadi tuan2 dan puan2.Macam zaman kolonial)
Remember East India Company? They started with trade sebelum the state came in and menjajah militarily?
More updates later.I hope to see my Fulbright friend who is the Director of Research at a government think tank).We met in Denver during our Fulbright stint in 2007.
For whatever prejudices we may have of the 'other' (our fellow Muslim brothers and sisters), the Bangladeshis are among the few Muslims who are diligent and take care of their appearance.No matter what their occupations are, they always dress smart and clean.This is the teaching of Islam which most Muslims seem to forget (I have bumped into students at IIUM who look like terrorists! They don't comb their hair, don't tuck in their shirts and smell bad).
Upon touch-down...whoa..the airport does not look poor at all.I sms-ed Nik and told him, better than Brunei lah!
I didn't get to see the city yet cos' it was dark (my sister kata diaorang ni berak bersepah2 tepi jalan) I'm sure not!! Semua ni prejudis kita.
The hotel...well...we are travelling as uni officials so we get to stay at 5-star hotel which makes me marah...sebab hotel2 macam ni are built for mat salleh (memang betul...at breakfast, the locals only serve.Mat Salleh ni semua jadi tuan2 dan puan2.Macam zaman kolonial)
Remember East India Company? They started with trade sebelum the state came in and menjajah militarily?
More updates later.I hope to see my Fulbright friend who is the Director of Research at a government think tank).We met in Denver during our Fulbright stint in 2007.
4 comments:
oh so you prefer to stay in a run-down hotel with cockroaches here and there. or where you have to share the bathrooms with other guests? haha =P
hari ni pergi curve ngan papa to catch jennifer aniston's latest movie. and then we had italian food. we miss you!
I thought you guys went to see another wa chi chi movie? (dog story?)
on 5-star hotel: am not complaining about my access to it (syukur.God has been kind to me).What I am angry about is that such facilities (such luxuries)do not stretch to the natives.At least in KL..we have a fair share, kan?
Anyway, I had to speak at a press conference held for us.Ayooo...can you imagine besok keluar gambar Ibu and my Boss dalam semua suratkabar Dhaka? well..maybe not all..heh heh.
Lepas tu at the launch I had to give a little speech pulak.Depa tak warned awai2.Otherwise I would have prepared a nice one.I kept it short and simple.But I made many new friends.I met one cute toddler, anak yatim who my friend buat anak angkat.I asked if there were more to take home!Be prepared if I have a new baby!
Miss you two too.Catcha soon.
Globetrotting again; no wonder no reply to my sms.
Have fun.
Any plans to go to Sri Lanka? I hear the food there's very good.
Dear Jooli,
I received your sms.Was a bit tight with non-stop meetings.But managed to reply back from there.Tak dapat ke?
I'll send a couple more posts on the trip to Dhaka.It's eye-opening.
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