Stand by me

Do you remember the scene from the Stand by Me movie when they were on the train tracks and the train started coming and they had to run?  I had a similar experience this weekend!  But before I get to that story, an update on the current situation here in Bangladesh.  

We have had 3 hartel (strike) days this week but they did not strike on Friday or Saturday this week which was good because it meant we could leave the hostel and get out.  But two things have since happened.  The first is that they have called for hartel's tomorrow (Sunday) and Monday, so we are back on lock down.  And the second is that there has been a massive countrywide power outage for most of today.  Thankfully this place has a back up generator that has been purring along.  The smell of diesil is in the air, but the power just kicked back in and I could hear cheers from the street as most do not have generators and since it is night it is good to have the power back.

Back to the train.....yesterday we asked if there was anything we could see that would be interesting but not too far away.  Our volunteer coordinater let us know that there isn't really anything touristy in the area (for that matter in most of Bangladesh according to Lonely Planet and TripAdviser as well) but they did build a new bridge just outside of the city that we could go see.  He promised some fresh air with a breeze and less people, so that sold me on it.

Well, what was far more interesting than the new bridge was the close to 100 year old train bridge still in use that we could just walk on.

And we weren't the only ones it is a pretty common way to cross a very wide river (it is the dry season so it is mostly exposed riverbed).  Half way across we could hear a train coming and thought we must get to the otherside, but running on this track isn't really adviseable as there are a lot of spots were the bridge is falling apart (but if it holds the weight of a train it should hold me, right?)

Luckily for me the train was only going about 10 km per hour really it wasn't too bad!

 

Well we got to the other side and I met a cattle rancher who was on the lookout for his herd.

He eventually found them.

From here, we went for a further walk out to find some areas that would be flooded any other time of year and now people had moved in to grow some food and set up their homes.  These are considered landless and there is a large number of people whose lives are lived this way depending on the way the rivers move theland around.

We also found some fisherman  using many different styles but today was not a good fishing day.

On the way back, I could see and hear an emotionally charged soccer game going on underneath the new bridge (used for vehicles of all types). Game is hard to see but it is the top right of the photo below....of which I must say I really like this photo as it shows using any land available to grow a crop.  In the rainy season this would be all flooded.

And I met some more fisherman coming back from an unsuccessfull fishing day but they still seemed happy.

For a short 35 minute drive out of Rangpur, this is exactly what we needed to clear our minds and get a bit of fresh air too!