My new blog

After neglecting this blog for the longest, I actually started a new blog on blogspot. I think, it’s easier or whatever…I don’t know!

Here is the link

Life in New York and Beyond

Dhaka: City of Mosques

Dhaka city is known as “City of Mosques” among other things. And I decided to capture as many mosque minarets as possible on my lens. However, due to extremete heat and humidity most of the time I am in no mood to take pics! Choorrryyy….

And when I “am” in mood to take pics…I seem to be taking those from the moving car…so pics might not be as crisp and clear as I would like those to be….regardless, here are few:

Enjoy! Oh, actually first three pics are taken out of Dhaka city….the irony!

I like this one the most, probably due to its simplicity…

This one is in Dhaka city:

Starting of a long vacation

I know I need to finish up on my day saga in Brussels…but but but I’ve started a long vacation in Asia! Mainly I will be staying in Bangladesh and then take a side trip to Malaysia as per my previous posts!! Hence, the delay in finishing up writing our experiences in Brussels….will do someday soon!! I promise (to myself that is!).

And now..

I’m in Dhaka!!!!! Came here about three weeks ago. It’s incredibly HOT and HUMID. Last few days it’s been raining quite heavily….everywhere it’s green. I went to my grand ma’s village and will post pics soon here, it was just damn HOT and WONDERFUL all at the same time!!

Now that I’ve more stable internet connection, hopefully soon will be resuming blogging and it’s lot more fun to blog live while on vacation and traveling than updating few months later!!!

Stay tuned….

A day’s Saga in Brussels: Got there just to get out! part 3

Continue from Part 2

Check-in seems to be relatively quick. Then again, the room is already paid. However, the front desk guy is still asking for our credit card.

Me: why do you need that? It’s already paid.
Him: Well, even though it’s paid, we still need to have a card info in case you use anything from the mini bar.
hmm…fair enough.Oh but wait, when I used priceline last time for a hotel in Boston, they didn’t ask me for my card info! Oh well..I guess now we know we are not in Boston..we are in Bruselas.. So I give him the card and he jots down the info. Off we go to the room. And damn! The elevator is soooo tiny!

Room seems to be okay. Though I particularly don’t seem to like the bed configuration. It seems like two twin beds are stuck together. Anyhoo, being a damp day…room is quite dark. Now it’s time to get down to business. I get the card out and check for the bank #, and I see there is a collect call # provided on the back of the card!! Yay!! So, I go to the phone and there are instructions pasted on the ph…I pay muy attention on how to make the call. Oh, wait..there is an instruction on how to make a collect call as well! Yippe..So, following that instruction I make one of the most important calls of my life! A lady picks up and I give her the short version.

me: can you pls tell me the balance of my savings account?
her: umm..it’s $8
me: WHAT?
her: it’s $8.00
me: okay..okay not that one the other savings account…
her: the other one has no money

Husband is anxiously looking at my face and seeing my reaction he seems nervous as well. He is signing me to tell him what’s going on…at this point, I really don’t have energy to tell him anything while the lady is giving me the worst news!!! I’m getting so thirsty…and a tad bit dizzy as well…but I muster all my energy to ask her what in the hell she is talking about..

me: what do u mean, no money? I’ve X amount of money in one of my savings..pls check again
her: I’m checking…and I’m telling you exactly what I see

Then I tell her that I had X amount of money in account AGAIN. She still says..nope that’s not the case any more!

me: Ok..can you please tell me the balance of my checking?
her: which checking account?
me: what do you mean which one? I only have 1..
her: No, you have 2..
me: WHAT?
her: yes

Well, at this point I’m not even sure what to say…but of course I’m going to say the obvious..

me: so, tell me the balances of both acts
her: in the first one you have $$ amount of money (sounds about right to me) and in the second one you have…oh actually, the amount you were just saying you had in one of your savings, it’s in this checking account. They recently converted one of your savings to checking as you were making lots of transactions (by that she means transferring money from that act to checking!) in the savings account..

Oh my Lordy lord! Say word!!!! So, this freaking bank decided to convert my account…and not even tell me…and give me the shock of my life while I’m supposed to be one of the best vacations of my life!! So then I transfer money to my regular checking and bid her good bye. The whole call didn’t even last 5 mintues..but surely it feels like an eternity!

So I tell hubby the update. And he says that we better hurry and get to an ATM before they decided to do something else with the account. LOL So, we leave.

The next few hours were probably the “best” (and I’m using the term “best” here very loosely!) few hours for the whole day. As we walk toward Grand Place after asking directions (despite having my google map in hand! still a tad bit confusing) couple of passersby, it continues to drizzle. And it’s already getting dark. We are both starting to question on the wisdom of coming to this city for such a short time and then facing all the hassles. Finally we arrive at Grand Place and the doubt from few moment’s ago seems to completely disappear!

Grand Place is GORGEOUS!!!!!!

{Will finish it by next installment and with pics! yay! }

A day’s Saga in Brussels: Got there just to get out! part 2

Continuing from part 1..

We go to the Currency exchange counter and I squeeze my eyes and look at the chart where they have the rate listed, but really can’t make head or tail out of it. Husband gives Dollar and he gets Euro in return. And I am appalled! I heard about the bad rate CE ppl give all the time, but this is INSANE. For 100 Dollar we just got around 50 Euro. It’s robbery. Plain and simple. But we don’t have any other choice as our bank account is on the funk and we only have 20 Euro in hands to get by. I sigh heavily. So, this is what our trip has come down to! Feeling extremely irritated we get out and hail a cab. Now, almost everywhere in the world cab drivers are notoriously known for trying to rip tourists off, and I know about it. Before I came I’ve read numerous times to make sure while getting into a cab that the meter is on. Once we get in the cab and remember I am at this point irritated as hell, so I am just anxious not to get robbed again and so I ask the driver, if there is a meter. I don’t see any at least from where I am sitting. He replies “yes”. But I don’t see it. And I’m getting even more frustrated as I start to think he is damn lying. Before my husband could open his precious mouth, I do the rude thing possible. I ask him, “Is that meter on?”…and I believe, all hell broke loose with the driver. He is getting an irritated look now…and says, “YES”. My husband then says in Bangla, “why did you just ask him that? I see it, it’s on..” and then I reply “well, I don’t see it…and why didn’t you say something to me before I asked him second time? And you know, these ppl try to get as much as they can from tourists. Of course you don’t know..caz You never read any travel discussion board!!”…I’m as mad as heck now. So, I am being chastised for asking a valid question. And wait…what’s this???!!! Suddenly we both start to feel uneasy as the cab starts FLYING!! Driver is speeding in best of his ability!! So, that’s the repercussion now! He is MAD and he is speeding….and now we are flying a cab after done with the plane. Nice.

We both try to enjoy the “scenery”…and let me tell you how dreary the scenery is! It’s second week of November, so, obviously winter has set in…and the trees oh the barren look on the trees is just unbearable! We just came from Madrid, but Madrid was SO much nicer and prettier and a tad bid warmer! But then again, we are further North now…but the scenery is nothing to write home about! While we try our best to enjoy the scenery we are progressively getting wary of the speeding. I’m at a point of resorting to prayer. And suddenly something hit us! Oh wait, that’s the driver finally using the break as we are about to hit something on the highway. It seems like there is a log of a tree right in the middle of the highway!! And we almost hit it! Oh my lordy!! So, now we just managed to escape an accident on a highway and driver finally calm the F down. My husband and I look at each other, and we both wonder…what are we in for? It’s suffice to say it isn’t the end.

Finally we hit the city center and stop in front of our hotel, and seem like we just passed an eternity! The bill came about 30+ Euro (if I am not mistaken) and once my husband pays, the driver asks “where are you guys from?”..My husband gets a huh look on his face. We exchange look and for the first time since arriving in Brussels I manage to smile a little as I’m thinking “damn…he wants to know where I’m from…he is so damn curious to know where the heck an offender like me came from”..I am feeling little remorse now for making him feel like a cheater who would cheat us with the cab bill…but hey, what’s done can’t be undone. And now here we are. My husband replies “from US”….and the driver says, “uh huh!” and I see a smirk on his face..which I’m going to ignore now. I have more important things to do now…first thing to call our bank in the US and see what on earth is going on….so we say buh bye to the guy and get inside the hotel…just as we are about to get inside…it starts to drizzle! Nice!

To be continued…

A day’s Saga in Brussels: Got there just to get out! part 1

I have been meaning to write our saga about a day in Brussels for quite some time well, since we got back from there actually. However, never found the time to do it. I think, of all the trip reports that I’ve written this one should have been top priority. But somehow it slipped through all the chaos that one finds in life. Now, I’m determined to journal that experience before I completely forget. To tell the truth, I can never forget that day in Brussels. I will always remember as long as my memory is in good order. What I’m afraid of is forgetting the nitty bitty details, which were essentially the part and parcel of that day. Even thinking about that day gives me some sort of anxiety. I’ve read that when tourists go to Brussels they basically go to get out of it. In our case, it was true to a T. And here’s why….

To begin with, we went to Brussels only for a day. So, even if we were to have a fabulous time there let’s say, we still had to get out of it next day as we had a flight to catch following morning. Now, Brussels really wasn’t on my list of cities to go to when I was planning the trip. It just happened that from Madrid we were taking Brussels Airlines to go to Vienna, and we had to change plane in Brussels. But the transit time was quite long and what I found interesting was a flight from Madrid to Vienna with transit at the Brussels airport cost same as a flight from Madrid to Brussels with stop over, and then from Brussels to Vienna. So, why not then take advantage and check out the city, specially when the famous “Europe’s most beautiful Square” was there? We could certainly do that, and there was no telling when we would go to Europe again. I didn’t want to pass up on the opportunity of checking out Grand Place. So, I asked my husband and I told him he could have all the Belgian chocolate he wanted!!! LOL He agreed.

After our wonderful time in Madrid we caught the flight to Brussels around noon time. We reached Brussels probably within 2 hours or so..(see I can’t remember exact duration of the flight…details are escaping my memory already..no good)

Whoa Brussels airport is really big…!! Got to the luggage carousel and got luggage…got out..

Now, let the fun begin…..

And this is how it goes:

We are out of the arrival area and we need to take money out from ATM as we only have around 20 Euro in our pockets. I go to ATM, insert my card, put my pin #, select account, amount- 200 Euro and ummm….NADA. It says, “insufficient” funds! I swallow hard. I am not understanding. I try again. Same thing happens. I sweat. I use my hands and sign my husband to come over to the ATM and see what in the world is going on. He comes and asks me. I tell him “it’s saying not enough money!! honey..what to do? there is money!!! where is my money??”..I freak out. Husband tries with his card…same thing. Now, he is sweating. NO. NEVER. It can’t happen. We still have one more city to tour, we can’t be out of money now!!! Well wait, we still have two cities to go, first this!!! And then Vienna… I quickly think how we are going to pay hotel?? Oh wait, it’s already paid. I got it from Priceline..so it’s prepaid! Oh lord!! But we don’t have enough to go to hotel…for the cab money!! Well…what to do? what to do? My husband and I look at each other and then he says, “okay time to cash in emergency money”…Say what? Let’s change 100 Dollar here.. I’m exasperated. I tell him he won’t get anything, we will get robbed if he changes Dollar here!!! He is MAD. Well, either we get something or we have nothing at all, any preference? I give up.

We go to the Currency exchange window…

to be continued…

Will miss and will Not miss..

As I’m getting ready and packing for my long trip to Bangladesh, I’ve started to think about the things that I will be missing for the next five months. This is the first time I’ll be away from the Big City since my moving here in 1998. So, there are things that I am now totally used to that are not readily available where I came from and where I will be going now. Despite really looking forward to this big vacation, I can’t help but think how I will be missing these things:

1. My sweetheart! Well…first let me get it straight My sweetheart is not a thing. He is the sweetest of its kind. He is my first love!!! Oh, how I will miss “My sweetheart My darling” (also name of a Korean soap that once I watched and gagged so much while watching it that I had to stop watching it)

2. El Cafe!!! Bangladesh is not big on Coffee…we are Tea kind of people!!! While I will be drunken in yummy Cha..I will be missing daily dose of my coffee…specially Starbucks and Dunkin.

3. Having electricity or power 24/7…yeap I will miss having this! Will talk about it more later…it deserves a separate post of its own..

4. Not having an issue of drinking tap water…in Bangladesh drinking tap water is suicidal…

5. Easy access to almost anything…I’ll be missing this a lot. Doing things there require quite a bit of maneuvering (lots of details not fit for this post now)..simple stuff such as going to walk..store..or whatever is not easily done. And more so for women..to top for me a woman who haven’t lived there for a while…tough tough tough!!

6. Fall! Oh, how I’ll miss Fall weather!! I’ll be leaving around the time when Summer in NYC is going to say good bye…but I will have an extended Summer over there and honestly, it’s quite unbearable!! Heat aside, humidity there is just deadly!!!

Well then, it looks like those are enough reasons for me to forget about the trip and just stay put where I am! But I guess, not so easy…there ARE things that I will NOT miss about living here when I’m in Bangladesh…And what are those you ask.

Will NOT miss:

1. Washing my own dishes after finishing meals..

2. Lifting my fingers to do household work…I’ll be household chore free as there are maids who do that in pretty much majority of the houses…unless, I volunteer to do it myself of course, which I HIGHLY doubt I will do!

3. NYC Subway- not gonna miss riding this. As a matter of fact, I will be like a royalty and driven around in a car by a “driver” no less whenever I want wherever I want!

4. Going to restaurants and ordering vege dishes or Shrimp….as I don’t eat Non halal meat going to any restaurant in NYC…I am pretty much limited to ordering vege dishes or Shrimp dishes…No More!!! I’ll order whatever I want and eat it too…LOL In Bangladesh, being a Muslim country all meats are prepped in Halal way…so looking forward to the yummyyyy food!!!

Hmmm…so all in all somehow I guess, it will work out nicely….with the things I will miss and with the ones that I will not!!!

Now, here is a pic of “My sweetheart My darling ” :