driving to Cox's Bazar

A couple weeks ago, Keith Cox and I traveled to Cox's Bazar (no relation). The town of Cox's Bazar is built along the longest beach in Aisa, and one of the longest natural beaches in the world.

We took a bus down, and we drove through some beautiful countryside. The landscape is mostly delta. Driving through it feels somewhat like Louisiana. Only with lots of Bangladeshis, and almost no Cajuns.

There is a lot of rice grown here, and it is common to see people bent over, working in the rice paddies. We also passed a number of kilns where bricks are made. In a city like Chittagong, there is a lot building going on. From my apartment, I can easily see several new buildings going up. They build them with concrete and bricks. And I imagine the bricks are made in kilns like these:

The traffic can be awful here. However, those of you who know how much I enjoy popcorn will be glad to learn that you can buy it on the street here - even from the window of a bus, stopped in traffic. Not the best I've ever had, but not bad.

butchers of ships

last week keith and i visited the ship-breaking yards, where old ocean vessels are taken apart piece by piece. the parts are then sorted and re-sold or re-cycled.

the ship-breaking yards are a little outside of chittagong. we rode there in a CNG, which is vehicle that runs on compressed (C) natural (N) gas (G). a CNG is basically a motorcycle with a backseat, all of which is surrounded by a cage. they paint them green here.

it was a little tricky to find the yards, partly because of the language barrier, and partly because they are off the main roads. but eventually we made our way there. they are not keen on visitors - or rather, the managers are uncomfortable with visitors. the workers themselves were very friendly, and pleased by our interest. eventually we discovered a way to get onto the beach and i took pictures.

there was a strange beauty to the place. a small number of men, working mostly with simple tools and their bare hands. the desolate corpses of ships, being slowly dismembered in the mud and water.

i am told that the process is very polluting, and hence controversial. the men who do this job eat (and perhaps sleep) in simple arrangements near the yards. one worker told us that the bengali word for this process means "ship cutting," and he jokingly said they were "butchers" for old ships.

flying over, moving in

hello all. i intend to use this site to keep friends and family up to date on my life in bangladesh, and also as a way to hear from you all.

i am in chittagong, getting settled in bit by bit. keith is here. it has been very good to have him along for the last couple weeks. his presence has certainly eased the transition. he flies back tomorrow. although we haven't been able to travel as much as we had hoped, we have seen some very interesting places.

my apartment is on the 12th floor of a mid-rise building. i have plenty of space - 3 bedrooms, 5 balconies, a laundry room. here are some views from my new domicile: