Journey from Dhaka to Malumghat

Sorry for the delay in posting. We arrived safely at the hospital a few days ago, but did not have internet access on our computers until last night. So I will backtrack and fill you in on our journey thus far. Our flight from Dubai to Dhaka was quite entertaining. The Bengali have no concept of waiting in lines or boarding airplanes by zones. But they are very good at forming crowds. Fortunately, we were at the front of the crowd and had no difficulties boarding. When we arrived in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, all of our bags made it except for one. Dane went back to the airport the next day to pick it up. It was an adventure - he rode in a minitaxi like the one in the picture on the left. The Bengali also have no concept of traffic rules. There are white lines on the road to create lanes, but these are more like suggestions. Dane made it to the airport and back safely, and more importantly, with the bag!

Our next adventure was our in-country travel from Dhaka to Cox's Bazar, which is a town on the southeastern coast. Above on the right is a picture of our plane tickets. You may be able to see that they are hand-stamped. We had a great time in the Dhaka airport as our flight was delayed again and again. Apparently, sometimes they delay the flight a number of times and then decide to cancel it. So we were excited that the flight actually took off, even if it was 5 hours later than we had anticipated. Our flight attendant wore a shari and served us vegetable crackers, mango juice, and white chocolate. An interesting combination.

Stephen Welch and his oldest child, Silas, picked us up at the airport. Silas is 5 and he drew us some pretty awesome pictures to welcome us. Stephen is a med/peds physician who completed his residency at our hospital in Greenville. He and his wife Monika, along with their three kids, are in Bangladesh for two years. They are the reason we came to Bangladesh for our fourth year international rotation. It has been so fun to see them. They are taking great care of us and are showing us the ropes.

I think that is enough for now. I will post again in a bit after I sift through the 1500 pictures Dane has already taken in the two days we have been here!