Bye Dhaka

213 boxes sea shipment....189 kg air shipment......3 days packing turns out to be 4 days.... how lucky..
it is amazingly fast in a place where most things get BD..Badly Delayed..., I thought it would be a week Home Bounded according to ex-experienced expats, I have packed half of the stuff.....n all bed rooms things in 40 plastic boxes.... so it would not take .....uurr... 7 days...11 days..

Always feel sorry for those who come here first time for a project that has a fix date to finish..
cos it will never ..yes never be on time...that will frustrate the hell out of them with their bosses seating in far away land behind high class heavy doors sipping espresso asking why so slow without actually be here n understand the real situation will not help....
those hotel guests who have been in n out often are BD.. Better in Descripting  the problems......  those permanently look like having tooth aches in the gym to distress after living here will tell you their BD ...
Best Discoveries....

Now keeping my finger cross for leaving the shipment in the local warehouse for 15-20 days..I am a bit concerns after hearing all the Alibaba stories.... :(     those stories are interesting n amazing if you are not the victims... I wish they take things that I do not need...come to think of it actually are all of the shipment ..:))..

Today is Friday ...weekend here.. Better Day..non working day..
how many working days a week ..that depends...
So relax .. N enjoy the last time paid, 5 star in pricing hotel stay, by PM ... haven't have time to really appreciate it for the past 4 days..

Tomorrow is shipment loading day.. hope not days...
With loads of memories of friends..Best Dinner gatherings..Best Drinks.. 10.. 12... 18,19.. 21... 25... 30 years single malt..

Looking forward to B??? Departure...
BD.. Bye Dhaka.. Bye Dear friends...Thanks for all ...

Extra Dish

Today is a public holiday in BD, no jam, no traffic rules, free flow of cars, people, rickshaws from all directions... not a problem at all.. Best Driving day...I make it to the apartment in no time... Packing also not a problem on public holiday, you need we come that is what the supervisor told us, very flexible..love it.. At 11 am the same 4 + 1 guys turn up at the apartment with wooden boxes for paintings n some breakable heavy things... now I know why they can't work with shoes on, because when they are packing not only they use their hands, they also use their toes to grip the jute string in order to help them to fasten things they need to tie tightly ...手腳拼用.. their motor skill must be good...it is correlated with intelligent for children entering kindergarten.. Soon I started to feel that 3 days' packing might not be enough....they are working nicely but timing never seems to be their concerns .. I ask the supervisor how ..??? He says no worries ..maybe just need another 2 days... I thought i should have no problem with that too.. i should know that, shouldn't I ???  cos flight is on next Monday..  in fact I shall be happy they are slow..that gives me more time to throw things out n enjoy the process..  lets take it easy ...n think what i should get rid off from the fridge to bring for dinner gathering later ....make some sweet lotus seeds dessert soup to share should be good...everyone is happy  ...at the end.. BD gathering ..best dinner this evening .. Extra dish complimentary from restaurant boss...   菜脯煎蛋..我的菜脯..免費蛋...加料和工..

Blessed in Dhaka

Today is Saturday,  mover comes to load the shipment from apartment, thinking how luck I am as yesterday was pouring the whole day, many roads or broken roads were under water...many dirty UFO were floating around....the trees were happily dancing in the rain...Battled in Dust most of their life.....raining season is the happier season for trees to BD ..breath deeply..

Home Bound got extra 4 rather young teens workers to help carrying the boxes, everyone of them looked like they were picked up from the streets, needed a good shower badly.. carrying those heavy boxes on their head need good balancing skill.. strength..to walk down the stairs ...watching their lean bodies under the heavy loads as i check the boxes made me feel a bit uncomfortable..  why do I have to have so many things....

Loading process is real fast .. Within 2 hours half of the shipment have gone into the container track.. rain starts  .. work stops ..break time.. Flood water starts to rise..rain continues.. Lunch break ...work starts ...no choice....

I start to clean every corners of the house with helper who is nice, n cool though not so fast .. all helpers are about the same speed in BD...plus she isn't well today .. slower her further....I have to speed up...better to ask driver to roughly sweep the floor before vacuuming ...I like my apartment owners very much ..they have made my stay easier in BD from the very beginning....although I was told that I pay good rental but things does not always work that way...
I do treasure the mutually understanding relationship with my landlord...most people curse/ complaint about their landlords whose interests are solely in raising n collecting rentals......not in responding to any problems of their own properties....and very often these properties of theirs are BDs......Bloody Dirty .....Badly Developed ......Build to Destroy.......so I am really Blessed in Dhaka....from the very beginning....

Checking one more time the throughly cleaned fridge n freezer makes me feel good.. Knowing that she will be so happy to see her clean home tomorrow makes me happy too.

Leave behind some cleaning agents, bucket, dish washing detergents, brushes, sponge cleaning towels, kitchen towels, hand towel, a mug with tea bag , sugar n creamer, 4 bottled water...for the convenient of the next tenant ....
I am please to do so....

What goes around comes around....
I believe.....I am blessed...

End of BD

Today is the First day official mover, Home Bound, comes to pack ..47 boxes for the day.. not bad..
I am not stressed at all..got to enjoy it...for it is the last time, yes, is the last time ..at last ...since the first time in 1989...all packing n shipment paid by PM.. I was happily working with the workers
not that they are good.. It has all to do with my mind set.. I choose to enjoy it...:)

I want the workers not to take off their shoes but to put on the shower cap like shoes cover so that I need not to bare with any stinky feet smell.. But they can not work with shoes on As told by the supervisor ..So I have to give up my smart idea..I must be happy today for i have not detected any smell but my own sweat.... Have the best ever shower after packing...with the red wine in hand n typing this little note on 21 floor Westin Dhaka.. I have to say today is my BD.. Best Day..before I say good bye to BD...

Looking down Gulshan Ave from here, I remember in 2011, Dec. 1, when I arrived in BD ..
not knowing what I was in for.. all the negative things about BD, BAD Destination, I wondered how I would feel..
I have to say honestly it has opened up all my senses which have not been touched before..I could feel deeply about life which is not what I have encountered before...so for me ..it is the BD,
Best Destination to be creative in a way....

Tomorrow is another day ..:)

East Europe

Dear All,

This is my holiday.. Just to share with you...

Kwang , teresa , CK n I went for Rhine river luxurious cruise from 12/8-19/8, then we went to Berlin for 4 days 19/8-22/8, love the city. CK went back with K n T via Sin to Dhaka on 23/8.
I continue with my friend Eliza in Europe, joined a budget, almost all youngsters ' coach tour in Eastern Europe for 10days, staying in hostels n 2-3 stars hotels, carrying luggage up 2-3 floor,
no free Internet...from Venice- Slovenia- Vienna- Budapest- Slovakia- Prague- Munich- rhine valley cruise at boppard - volendem- Amsterdam-Bruges - ends in London, it was an exhausting, exhilarating, exciting, Eastern Europe experience, one of a kind trip for me, but enjoying it to the fullest....

E stayed on in london to see her daughter, son, and sisters, I stayed for  4  days doing london city tour, cruise along river Thames.... Then flew to Toronto, now at Susanna's home,  resting and catching up with her ..will go Montreal to see kai lin then back in Dhaka on 20/9.
I am over dosed with medieval castles, churches.. Old beautiful buildings ...museums...history..and great sunny weather ... Clear blue sky ..all the tourist things...
beer competition...toilet breaks ...the laughters in the coach...passing snacks ...movies...music...snoring...Latin dance ....Songs ..loud spanish conversations...
However while traveling, at times i got tired of packing n unpacking,  with the magically beautiful but unfamiliar surrounding, I miss ck , my family, my home and bed, washer dryer....miss my routine back home..

It is a fantastic journey ..I did backpack 30 years ago in Europe ..I can only do this while i am still not too old, traveling with the youngsters from all over the world.. Latin Americans, Israelis, Taiwanese, Americans, Mexicans, African, OZ, Kiwi, Indians, English...who are in my children's age group, makes me feel young..exchanging life experiences....such good feeling..

Cry When You Come, Cry When You Leave. Laugh when I Come, Laugh When I Leave

My dear Ivy ,
At last I manage to add you in my Skype contact ...
We made  Chinese dumplings at sook han ' s house 2 weeks ago . I believe she put the photos on FB , I must look terrible. She was supposed to surprise me by bring dumplings to my place the day after she arranged to make them for coffee morning , but jessie has asked me to join in making them , on that day while we were making , we realized that besides me no one actually know how to wrap the triangular bamboo leaves dumplings , I told her it would be a surprise if they are not properly wrapped .....:) we have  gathering every once a while , very often we talk about you being with us n the delicious Korean food , too boring here if we do not do that to talk about all kind of rubbish , or normal to strange encounters in Dhaka . Of course to share life experiences too.
In August there is a long holiday in BD , CK n I are joining our friends , husband n wife in Singapore for a river cruise in Europe,  from Brussels to Germany ... Ck needs a good break from BD ... Somewhere totally different . :)
Last Friday I invited a new lady , Victoria from Columbia working for world bank as an NGO, whom I met in the gym , her face  looks like having toothache when I saw her a few times in the gym ,  looks in pain.... :) We spoke n I asked her to join the group for dinner at my place , her in pain look immediately  disappeared . She  came with an Italian guy,  not so young , working for world bank too , he told me he is 6 days old in Dhaka , I had a feeling he is counting his days in BD , he is going to be here 3 weeks . That evening we had a good discussion about Dhaka n BD. NG asked me who are they , I told him I picked them up from westin hotel , just like i did to you n brandon... Haha
We must be badly deprived ( BD ) in something in Dhaka ...
Do you remember my friend Fatima from Morocco, she is leaving for good , going to Turkey . I still remember when I met her a year n a half ago , she cried everyday while she was new in Dhaka staying at  westin hotel . She had BD party , big departure party , last Thursday . I reminded her about her crying , she laughed n said she is going to cry when she leaves . I was told if you cry when you come , you will also cry when you leave , so I did not cry when I came , I laughed , I will not cry when i leave , instead I will laugh ..

Thinking of you always when I walk around G2 .. Artisan.. Westin...Sura...Korean supermarket ...

Your friend in BD , best destination for making friends ...
FL

BD stands for...

As I first landed in BD (Bangladesh) two years ago. I was quite prepared for what I was going to see .... As I left the airport, I realized that everything is BBDD , black back dark dark.After living in BD I soon realize that BD almost exists in everything,every situations .....

When people asked me what do you think of Dhaka , if I can use only two words to describe, it is BD, like a big dustbin, people live in this city never hesitate to little the very place they live .Right outside the Westin hotel, piles of rubbish not far from driveway ...

BD, big delay ,in everything you need to accomplish or you need to do urgently. If you try to get from one point to another by just sitting in the car ,you will know what I mean .

Badly disorganized, BD,is the impression most people would have if you do not understand the culture.

BD, bad diarrhea, is a must for new comers to experience the pain of losing weight, or a test of how fast one can run from bed to toilet continuously.

BD, big depression, is a feeling when new expats facing too many BD at one go .

BD, big disruption, to a F1 fan while watching F1 with a few power cuts. And BD while do not know why the safety cars are out. Or miss the split second ending ...