This post has been a long time coming. A very long time coming. In my defense, I hadn’t gone through all the photos until December 2018, so it makes sense that it took me this long to write the entire post.
Anyway, I had outlined both posts immediately after coming back from Bangladesh in January 2018 but just couldn’t bring myself to write it. Partially because I hadn’t processed everything yet, but mostly because I was lazy. (Just being honest)
To give you some context, my entire family is from Bangladesh, but I hadn’t gone there until I was 20-years-old. This was for a myriad of reasons that I won’t get into here. This was my first international trip and I traveled through Bangladesh alone, without my immediate family (something that was completely unheard of, particularly for an unmarried young woman. People thought my parents were crazy).
I’m mostly writing this for me because I know that I will want to read it again in a few years, but I hope you enjoy. I’ve already written part 2, so you won’t have to wait another year for me to finish the recap. So without further ado, here is my Bangladesh Trip Recap 2017.
Previous Bangladesh Posts:
- Announcement: I’m Going To Bangladesh! (December Travel Plans)
- 3 Takeaways From My Trip To Bangladesh
- 24+ Hours On A Plane | My First International Flight
Day 1//December 18, 2017
After landing in Dhaka, I went through immigration. I’m sure the reason it went quicker is that I spoke Bangla because the interviewer asked me more questions when he spoke English in the beginning. My Mariam Papoo (Aunt) sent a man holding a sign with my name to take me to her (She had to wait in another area.) The sign was in English thankfully because I can’t read Bangla and he took me to the luggage area. After picking up my three suitcases, he took me to see my aunt. The last time I saw her was in New York in 2016, so it was nice to see her. It wasn’t an emotional reunion like the others because I see her every year.
We got in a car and caught up. I looked out the window and saw everything. I don’t really have a description of my first reaction. I just couldn’t believe I was actually there and was excited to see my cousin Orinta (who’s basically my sister) and her family (whom I was staying with first).
When I arrived at the building and opened the door, Orin ran down the stairs to give me a hug instead of waiting at her apartment and jumped me. That hug was shorter than it would’ve been because we had to bring the luggage up. When the elevator door opened, I ran to hug my Dina Khalamoni (Orin’s mom). I remember seeing my mon’s best friend in the background. Before I could hug her, someone surprised me.
To give you context, my childhood best friend, Deya, moved to Bangladesh when we were ten. Our moms were pregnant together and we were inseparable for the first decade of our lives. I hadn’t seen her in person in ten years, but the dates I was supposed to go to Bangladesh were the same dates she was supposed to be in Canada (I ended up visiting her there three months later, but that’s another story). I was disappointed but had gotten used to the idea that I wouldn’t see her.
It turns out that Deya’s flight had changed to two days later and she didn’t tell me. When I saw her, I was hugging my aunt and the second I saw her I yelled, “Oh my god!” and ran over to her. There was a lot of screaming. Thankfully, Orinta caught that moment on camera:
The crowd wasn’t too big, which is something I’m grateful for. On my first day, I only hung out with people already I already knew. My cousin Mahi and his family came to visit and I got to meet his baby sister for the first time. I didn’t have any jetlag despite being awake for 30+ hours. In fact, Orinta, Deya, and I stayed up until 4 AM talking in Orin’s room after everyone left. I didn’t feel tired at all.
Day 2//December 19, 2017
Dina Khalamoni woke me up at around 9:00 AM because my mom told her to while they were video chatting (granted, she didn’t know I was up till 4, but that was still cruel). She didn’t wake up anyone else either! Just me! (Thanks mom).
I ate breakfast with Deya’s mom, (Happy Khalamoni), her sister, Kheya and my cousin Ayaan (Orin’s brother). Orin and Deya woke up an hour later. We just talked and ate breakfast.
After that, I had to get ready to meet my mom’s older sister. I was kind of nervous that it would be awkward since it’d just be her and her husband there. Both of her kids live in Canada and the U.K, so I wouldn’t have any cousins to talk to there.
My mom told me to wear a kamees, but I had only brought one with me. All the Bengali clothes I bought there were worn the next day. The one my mom packed was super itchy, but I wore it anyway. Deya did my makeup (because I sucked at it) and I looked really good for someone who had only slept five hours in the span of three days
.We hung out for a while, then Orin, her mom, and her brother came with me to my Ela Khalamoni’s house (my mom’s sister). I’m gonna be honest, it was a bit awkward at first. I was glad the rest of them were sleeping over with me because I would’ve run out of small talk.
We talked and ate lunch and I passed out on the bed in my itchy clothes. Apparently, while I was napping, Orinta and Ayaan tried to wake me up by sitting on me but I was passed out.
After the nap, we all ate dinner and talked some more. My aunt actually slept in the same room as me, so that was when we started talking and it stopped feeling awkward. (I honestly thought she didn’t like me before that). It was really great and I enjoyed the conversation.
I also met my uncle. He was so funny!
Day 3//December 20, 2017
My third day in Dhaka was jam-packed. After waking up and eating breakfast, Orin, her mom, and I went shopping. I rode on a rickshaw for the first time that day, but it was a pretty short ride. I prefer riding them in Chittagong because they go farther and there’s less dust in the air. Even so, I had a lot of fun. We walked around went to a bunch of different shops. I bought some clothes because I really needed them for the parties and gatherings I was going to. I had only packed my regular clothes knowing I would buy nicer party clothes while I was in BD.
After shopping, my Ela Khalamoni brought Bangla-Chinese food, which tastes a lot better than American Chinese food. I had heard about it all my life and have eaten it before and I must say, it lived up to the hype. It would’ve tasted a lot better if there wasn’t so much hype, to begin with, but it was still good.
My uncle kept joking to me that I talk to fast, but I’m pretty sure he had trouble understanding my southern accent when I spoke in Bangla.
After lunch, we packed and headed to my grandfather’s house.
My grandparents actually live in Atlanta with us, but this is the house they live in when they go to Bangladesh. I walked around and took a bunch of pictures. One of my uncles kept pointing and stuff and telling me what they were and what country it was from. I took a lot of pictures.
After that, we headed downstairs where my cousin Mahi lives (I mentioned that I saw him on the first day). We just sat and talked for a while.
After that, Mahi’s dad took me to go meet my grandmother’s sister and her family. Just the two of us went, the rest of the family stayed at the house. I wore one of the outfits I had bought that day and put my hair in a bun because it was super oily.
One distinct thing I remember about that car ride was that the seat belts were cut off. I knew that people didn’t wear seat belts in Bangladesh, but that was pretty extreme.
When we got there, I talked to my Dada, Dadu, aunt, and cousin. They were all really nice. My cousin, who is about 10, is the cutest kid ever. I remember he showed me a video game on his iPad and I already knew what it was called and when I mentioned it he was mindblown. “How do you know about it?!” so I got like ten times cooler in his eyes.
We went back to the house but didn’t stay long because Mahi had to study. When Orinta, her brother (Ayaan), khalamoni, and I got back to their house, we changed into our pajamas and watched Rise of the Guardians on Netflix because they hadn’t seen it before. I also played a lot of rounds of checkers with Ayaan.
It was a good day.
Day 4//December 21, 2017
This was the first day where I didn’t have any plans. Orinta’s parents were going to Kolkata, India, so Orin, Ayaan, and I stayed at the apartment with their grandmother. They had actually originally invited me to come along back when we were planning my trip. If I had gone, they’d have brought Ayaan and Orinta with them. I really wanted to go, but this was a last minute trip and the process of getting a visa for Bangladesh and India would’ve been a hassle and the whole reason I wanted to go to Bangladesh was to meet my mom’s side of the family. We ended up shortening my stay in Dhaka and booked an earlier flight for Chittagong.
That’s just some background information. I still had two more days in Dhaka. Orinta and I woke up and talked about what we wanted to do. We hung out all morning and decided to go to Jamuna Future Park, which is actually a gigantic mall.
On the way, Orinta mentioned that this was the same bridge to Deya’s house and I remembered that Happy Khalamoni told me to come over if I had time. (Originally, I was supposed to go somewhere that day, but those plans fell through). We told the driver to take us to their house.
That was the day Deya was going to Canada, so she was packing and stressing out. We surprised her. Orinta called her and told her to look out her window and her reaction was priceless.
We hung out at her house for a while and talked. Akash (Deya’s brother), Orinta, and I played basketball in the garage, too. Happy Khalamoni told me that I came at the perfect time because she had the ingredients to make fried chicken. On the first day I arrived, she had asked me what she should cook for me and I immediately said fried kitchen because I remember hers being delicious as a kid. After saying that, I told her that I probably wouldn’t have time to come over, so her having the ingredients was pure luck.
We hung out there for a few hours, then left for Jamuna Future Park. We called our cousin Mahi and told him to meet us there. It’s not actually a park. It’s a really big shopping mall. It was a lot like an American shopping mall, so it wasn’t super shocking or anything. We just walked around. There was a place where you could ride a mechanical bull and the three of us had never done it before, so we waited in line to ride it. Each of us got three tries and we really didn’t last that long. It was still a lot of fun.
After that, I said goodbye to Mahi, then Orinta and I rode back to her house.
Day 5//December 22, 2017
This day was ridiculously busy and I had no idea what I was in for. All I knew was that I was going to have brunch with my grandmother’s sisters and their family, who I already recognize since half of them live in New York. I also knew that this was my last day with Orinta, so I packed my bags.
Orin came with me everywhere and I was told to get dressed really nicely, so she and I spent the morning putting on makeup. I wore one of the kameezes I had bought the other day because I hadn’t brought any Bengali clothes with me. After getting ready, I played checkers with Ayaan as we waited for Marriam Papoo.
As you recall, she was the aunt who picked me up from the airport the first day. I was supposed to have stayed with her the night before, as well, but she was in Sylhet (another part of Bangladesh). After she picked us up, we went to one of her friends’ house to get something. We took a few photos there.
Our first real stop was the graveyard because I had to pay respects to my dead relatives. It felt very strange to be wearing so much makeup in a graveyard. I never wear makeup anyway, particularly back then, and I was wearing a lot of it.
I’ll insert some pictures below. My aunt took a bunch to send to my parents. We just walked to each grave and prayed for each one individually.
Afterward, we drove to brunch. That was pretty chill. I met some of my grandmother’s sisters and took a bunch of pictures. We ate food and I played with my baby cousin who got a kick out of my fake reactions to his mini-water gun. They had to keep refilling it with bottled water since he’s American and can’t consume the water in Bangladesh. (Same went for me. I drank bottled water specifically from a European company to make sure I wasn’t drinking any rebottled sewer water).
But yeah, it was fun. When I went back to Atlanta, my grandpa told me I did a good job and that they called me charming. (At least I know my Bangla isn’t that bad)
After brunch, I visited one of my great aunts’ houses because she asked me to visit. We went straight there. I’m not kidding you when I say that it was a literal mansion. I remember my dad telling me that a few years ago, but it was a completely different feeling to see it. I think the idea most people have of Bangladesh is that it’s a dusty country full of tiny villages. There’s definitely a spectrum on how people live. Anyway, we drank tea and spoke for thirty minutes before leaving, since Mariam Papoo wanted to take me sightseeing.
Orinta, Papoo and I visited a lot of places in the next few hours. We visited the capital building, the Justice building, the war memorial, the museum…we got through a lot considering the traffic. We ate KFC for dinner because Orinta was craving it.
We then dropped Orinta off and headed to Mariam Papoo’s apartment. I was running on pure adrenaline at the beginning. Since I was heading to Chittagong the next morning, I had to go through my luggage to see if I had everyone’s gifts. I had already worn the two outfits I’d bought, so Mariam Papoo gave me three to wear in Chittagong. A tailor who lived upstairs took my measurements and took the clothes to make sure they would fit (having tailors in Bangladesh is very normal because a lot of clothes are bought disassembled and someone is paid to make the clothes fit properly.)
Once it was done and we had showered and changed into our pajamas, we sat in the living room to watch a Bollywood movie. My eyes started drifting off within the next ten minutes and I knew I wasn’t going to make it through the next three hours of the movie. Papoo sent me to bed and I read until I fell asleep.
It had been a very long day.
Day 6//December 23, 2017
We woke up relatively early the next morning. I got ready, the driver loaded my luggage in the car and we went to a cafe for Brunch. It was a Western-Style cafe, and we had to go through a metal detector before entering (which is normal for nicer places) and were seated at a nice table. I had the Mexican Breakfast and a green tea cappuccino. Both were delicious and filling. I don’t remember what my aunt got. The good thing about eating in Bangladesh is that everything is halal, so I didn’t have to worry about there being pork in my sausage or bacon, which are things I can never order for breakfast here in America.
We just talked and ate and enjoyed each other’s company. I remember being nervous because I didn’t know anybody in Chittagong. The last five days in Dhaka had been with people I knew well or at least recognized. I was about to go to a city for ten days where I didn’t know anybody. I was worried that things would be awkward with my cousins since I didn’t know them that well. It could’ve been a hit or a miss, which would make or break my trip. (Thankfully, we got along amazingly, but more on that later)
After breakfast, I headed to the airport. Mariam Papoo handled most of the luggage stuff. After saying goodbye to her, I headed inside. I was really worried about getting on the wrong plane because I can’t read Bangla. Or at least, I thought I couldn’t.
You never really know what you can understand until you are put in a situation where nothing is written in English. I double checked my flight boarding time and number over and over again because I was embarrassed of getting in the wrong line (I almost did). Things were written in English during the International flight, but since this was a domestic flight everything was in Bangla. I found myself being very thankful that my dad used to make me do simple math in Bangla numbers when I was really young to teach me the language because that was a huge help when it came to deciphering the screens.
The flight to Chittagong was only 50 minutes long and they provided food (I couldn’t eat it, but I was surprised because even long domestic flights in the U.S don’t give you food). It was still early afternoon when I arrived. A porter grabbed my luggage for me and I used his phone to call my cousin to tell him I had arrived (I didn’t have a Bangladesh sim card in my phone yet). After that, we walked to the front to meet my cousins (it was a tiny airport. the exit was less than 20 yards away)
So, I guess I will start introducing names now. Three of my male cousins picked me up from the airport. Shahriar [pictured above] is the cousin closest to my age. At the time, I was 20 and he was 21. He is the only cousin on that side of the family that I had actually had regular contact with. We had messaged each other on Facebook since I was 16 (like actual conversations. Not the yearly Happy Birthday messages I had with the rest of them). Then there was Ahnubhai (His name is Omar, but his nickname is Ahnaf. Ahnubhai basically translates to an endearment for older brother combined with his nickname.) He was 24. The third cousin was Adit, who was 16. He’s Shahriar Bhaiya’s brother and he is a year older than my brother Zidan. Adit was pretty much a more mature version of my brother.
Anyway, I hugged Shahriar Bhaiya first. The first thing he did was check if he was taller than me. That’s always been a sore spot for him even though I’ve been telling him for years that he was taller (because he is). My boots had small heels, so he told me, “I think your taller than me,” but even after over a year of having physical proof that I’m shorter, he still posts on social media “when your little sister is taller than you.”
After that, I hugged Ahnubhai and started searching for Adit, who had wandered off somewhere. I just remember exclaiming, “Hi!” with a ridiculous grin on my face when hugging them.
After loading the car, the driver took us to my Nanu’s house (mom’s mom). Chittagong looks a lot more like what you see in documentaries about Bangladesh. It’s a coastal city in Bangladesh, and that’s where most of the Rohingya Refugees escaping Myanmar were (It was a much bigger news issue at the time, but people have stopped talking about it, which is upsetting).
Anyway, my bhaiyas were kind of quiet at the beginning of the car ride, but I got them to start talking. We began loosely getting to know each other. I remember that a kid ran across the street in front of the car and we practically hit him (he was fine). That was pretty much my first introduction to Chittagong.
Once we arrived at the house, I met my mom’s other older sister, Mila Khalamoni, and my mom’s older brother’s wife, who I call Boro Mami. My mom’s brother was out of town, so I didn’t meet him until a few days later. The house I was staying at was Shahriar Bhaiya and Adit’s (Boro Mami is their mother). My Nanu lives there as well. It was actually the house my grandfather built 40+ years ago.
So yeah! I spent the next few hours getting to know everyone. I met my Nanu for the first time, which was the biggest reason I wanted to go on that trip. I unpacked in the room I was staying in. My Tuku Apu came later, who we call Dee, which also translates to older sister. She is my 23-year-old cousin and Ahnubhai‘s sister. I actually grew up with their oldest sister who used to live in Atlanta, and their other older sister currently lives in Tennessee.
I think that’s pretty much it. Shahriar Bhaiya’s aunt and her kids were also there because his cousin on his mom’s side was getting married, which leads to the final thing I did that day.
I went to the first of three weddings of people I did not know. It was relatively fun and I got to meet some of the people I would hang out with for the next few days. Since I was with the bride’s side of the family, we were there for an incredibly long time. I was exhausted by the end of the day and passed out after heading back.
Day 7//December 24, 2017
This was a really chill day. I hung out with my cousins and got to know all of them. It was a lot of fun. Dee came (Her name is actually Sumayya, but that’s what we call her. I’d also call her Tuku Apu from time to time) over and brought me a lot of clothes to wear. I ended up liking the clothes she picked for me over her mom’s choices (before they let me know who picked what) and she teased her mom about it. We later went to a mall to meet with a tailor to take my measurements so that he could sew the clothes (Again, they don’t come ready-made. They just come with all the fabric and a picture). Afterward, she took me to a bookstore. I really liked it. It reminded me of the used book stores we have here. The majority of the books were in Bangla, so I mostly stayed in the English section.
We went back to the house at night and we all played Ludu (a board game). I had played this game many times in America, but there wasn’t nearly as much cheating and yelling. (It was way more fun playing in Bangladesh)
I think that’s pretty much it. We all argued about what to watch on T.V, but we ended up not watching anything because we couldn’t agree on a show.
Day 8//December 25, 2017
It didn’t even register with me that it was Christmas Day at the time. I didn’t notice until the next day. Anyway, this is the day we all went to the beach. Chittagong is a coastal city along the Bay of Bengal. I can officially say that I’ve seen the Indian Ocean.
First, we ate lunch at Mila Khalamoni’s. I made sure to eat every single thing she cooked so that I could call her out when she said I didn’t eat anything (which she did). We joked to her about it.
Anyway, Ahnubhai, Tuku Apu, Shahriar Bhaiya, Adit, and I went to the beach. A driver took us, so four of us had to cram into the back seat. [This is when the chronic back pain started, but I had thought that it was because we were crammed in the back. They let me sit in the front on the way back, but the pain would still come back when I sat. I’m just mentioning this here since this was the first time I felt it]
Anyway, we hung out at the beach for a bit and took a lot of pictures. My cousins kept trying to convince me to eat street food, but I wouldn’t budge. I was super on top of my health while I was there, drank bottled water, didn’t eat any fruits or milk products, etc. but Tuku Apu stuffed it into my mouth while I wasn’t looking.
I told them if I got sick, it was their fault, and they told me not to tell their parents that they gave me food. It was good and I did not get sick.
We couldn’t stay much longer because we had to get back for the next part of the wedding (Bengali weddings last for days, but this was the last day for this specific wedding). Anyway, we headed back to Nanu’s house and got dressed for the wedding. One thing I wish that people had told me is that weddings in Bangladesh don’t play music every day. They only do the dancing and performances during the Holud, which I had missed while in Dhaka. We play music and dance every day at Bengali-American weddings. Orinta later told me that that was one of the worst things about weddings in Bangladesh.
Anyway, it was still fun. We hung out and took pictures. Since I had already met everyone, there were less awkward silences where I sat to the side while letting everyone else participate in the wedding festivities.
After the wedding, we headed home and just hung out before going to sleep.
Part 2 will be posted later on this week. I decided to stop at day 8 for this post because the next 11 days were significantly more chill than the first week. I think this first part was entertaining enough. I hope you all enjoyed and I’ll post Part 2 in a few days.
In between all the fun events mentioned above were hanging out, getting to know my Nanu, eating meals around the table, and running around like crazy people. That’s what made this trip more worthwhile.
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Hey! Are you a Muslim? I am Sri Lankan Muslim but I lived in Bangladesh for three years while my dad was working there. I know this is a very late comment on this post but I just found your blog a few days back. I relate to a lot of things you mention in your blog and the tips and advice are really helpful too. Thank you!:)
That’s so cool! I’m really glad you enjoyed the post. What part of Bangladesh do you live in?