Arriving

Finally landing in Dhaka was really surreal. Going on this trip didn't really seem real until we stepped out of the airport in Dhaka and the heat hit. It was muggy and humid and at least 30 degrees despite it being 10 at night. It was about then I realized any expectations I had and my preparations didn't match up to what I was going to experience. This held true through driving to RDRS headquarters in Dhaka which took a relatively long time for such a short distance. I don't even know where to begin describing traffic. The traffic is completely different than home. Chief differences include a lack of traffic lights, driving on the left side of the road, no lanes and horns being used to communicate among other drivers who may not be other cars. In the first five minutes we got to see huge busses, rickshaws (motorized and not) and an astounding number of people who wove between the traffic with no fear on foot. I won't lie I was absolutely terrified and overwhelmed but mostly glad I was not expected to drive.
The first few days were really overwhelming with so many new and different things to process as well as jet lag that would have me up at 5am everyday with the local mosque chants. It was very strange to think that Dhaka, a city of 16 million is almost half the size population wise, of all of Canada. There were people everywhere, all kinds of people but unfortunately none like us and thus I spent a lot of our time out in Dhaka getting used to the stares and sometimes queries we garner as a group of very obviously foreign people.
Overall though my first impression of Bangladesh was an exhilarating one. It was just amazing to have everything be so different and I even (sort of) got used to traffic. I'm very lucky to be able to have an opportunity like this and wouldn't have changed anything save maybe the stares. Living the life of a faux-celebrity with so many people curious about you can get a little exhausting and on occasion aggravating.