A party like no other

Sometimes as a traveller you come across an unexpected opportunity to really experience the local culture.  For me, this happened yesterday.  But before I get to that I will talk about our planned activity.

Yesterday on our Friday, which here is like a Saturday back home, we had some work in the morning but in the afternoon we were off to a local hand crafted rug store.  After a quick jaunt in our van, we arrived at the small store front to see the product they were selling and then have a tour of how they were made.  Officially they would have been closed (due to it being the weekend) but they opened for us to come by.  While some purchases were made (which is important for supporting the local community, our main purpose was to see a different side of Bangladesh (manufacturing) and how it might impact the community.

Watching the women work at making the rugs was quite a marvel in hand and foot coordination - running the different 'paddles' at the bottome would adjust which strings were up or down to create the different designs of the rugs and then the hands were for moving the shuttle along.  This place used discard thread from other larger manufacturers.

Our discussion afterwards was based around if it were a co-operative would the women have a greater chance for income (currently they were paid by the piece and then the products (and profits) sold up front by the male store owners would benefit the owners only).  But at the same time, when we talked with the women about how many they could make in a day and how they were paid, it was above the farm labour wage outside of the city.  So really, no conclusion but good discussion both sides of the story.

After this we decided that we had a bit of time so lets walk down the street and hang out in this area before it got dark (it is highly recommended that we are not out at night nor are we travelling at night due to safety).  

We stand out here, no question. People stop and stare all the time and some also approach us.  If we stay in one spot for a while, a crowd can form that just want to look at us and those that approach want to know where we are from and what our names are.  It was certainly unnerving at the start but to some degree I have gotten used to it.  Since I am neither tall nor blond, I do not get the same attention as other members of the team which is fine by me.

We walked along the street and found a crowd forming along the river and there were army members standing outside an entrance.  After some discussion we found out there was a local army supported community festival, so we decided we should go in and see what it was all about.

Well this was just a great discovery.  There were so many people streaming in and many unique things to see.  We started by the Ferris wheel which we decided we should not go on.

There was music playing and the locals were all dressed up and ready to have a good evening.  One boy told me there was going to be a great Bangladesh singer performing at 8 pm (much later than we could stay) and how good it would be.  The Army had boats that they were taking people out for a spin and there were different competitions like ball throwing and archery.  It was such a happy affair.

I stopped at the end with a few of the team for a coke (I have only been drinking water for the past number of days and was really excited to have a drink of something else).  It tasted great, but after finishing it, we had to hold on to the bottles because a boy was taking them from the table and just throwing them over the side into a ditch.  At first I wasn't sure what to think but then realized he was collecting his bottles for return for extra money....so I gave it to him when we left.

As more and more people streamed in we stopped down by the river and another crowed started to form.  They wanted to get their picture taken with Lisa (blond hair) and James (tall).  Lisa made the interesting comment that just a few years ago it would have been just the travellers asking to get their pictures taken with locals but now it is the other way around and then some - everyone has a cell phone here as there has been limited investment in landlines, cell phones are the exact right tool for people.  Also, many of the people of Bangladesh know about the internet only on their phones having skipped using it on computers due to the cost difference between the two.  Lots of marketing by phone is taking place here and rightfully so.

The sun was setting and we had to get in our vans to get back, but it was such a great experience away from all the vehicles honking and driving around and visiting and being a part of this festival.  It was a great party, that I wish we could have stayed a little bit longer for.  Tomorrow we move out to our village stays for a few days so no internet, but I will update when I get back.  And for those that have been asking, stay tuned for an update on the food I have been eating in a future story.