It might only be six hours ahead of GMT, but somehow the combination of the loss of six hours and a night flight has thrown me somewhat. But it helps that the pace of life outside seems quite slow compared to the UK!!
I'm staying on the first floor of an apartment block. All the buildings around are apartment blocks and are laid out in roads running at right-angles to each other - very much like the American system. This particular area of Dhaka is one of the business districts where a lot of embassy staff, NGO staff and other business personnel live. The main road through the district is manned by security guards, and each of the apartment blocks has its own security gate and is permanently guarded. The security is relatively low key, but its there none-the-less. So, it means that its quite safe for me to walk around on my own - even after dark - but only in this district.
The walk from the apartment, where I'm staying, to the MAF office is just a couple of blocks down the road - about a 5 minute walk along the dusty roads - and is just interrupted by the odd car and the rickshaw's touting for business - and they're very persistent! So, given my slightly sleepy head I'm happy just ambling along the road, just like everyone else! And I can admire the beautiful flowers which adorn the buildings - and even a banana tree - along the way!
Compared to the Folkestone office where I'm based, the MAF Bangladesh office is quite small - but its light and airy and cool (oh bliss!). Today, there's just a few staff in the office, as the MAF aircraft went out early this morning, so the pilot, engineers and ground crew are all either flying or at the MAF hangar working and preparing for its return. The crew have had a busy 24 hours - they did two medevacs yesterday as well!
I should point out that the MAF hangar and the MAF office are in separate locations!
This morning one of our partners came into the MAF office to collect her ticket for her flight. She works for an organisation who have a project in Khulna, south eastern Bangladesh near the Indian border helping vulnerable women and children - it sounds so interesting and I'm very much looking to visiting the project and finding out more next week...
