Brunos in Bangladesh

Sorry for the delay in updating, but as Nasheed has told me before, time sort of ceases to exist when you're in Bangladesh. And that's true, except when it comes to catching a flight, as you'll see later.

So after the lounge, we took our points-acquired business class, lie-flat seats on the way to Dhaka. Again, my first time, and normally, I would say pretty awesome. Except that I got totally sick, probably because the African food and juices were catching up with me. But here's a picture before that happened! 

Anyway, we get to the airport, and it was surprisingly uneventful. Because we got off the plane first and there weren't many other flights landing around the same time, everything proceeded quite smoothly. We got the house with about 90 minutes to get ready for our backyard informal get-together reception so graciously hosted by Nasheed's maternal side of the family. Though both Nasheed and I were pretty tired and I was still under the weather, we pulled it together.

It was great to meet more relatives and family friends, all of whom greeted us with such warmth. The backyard was illuminated and tented, and of course, traditional Bangladeshi music, such as "Despacito" and "I Wanna Dance with Somebody", was played.  We took 4307 selfies and group photos, and I'm not going to post them here. There was a fuchka cart, and some delicious-looking biryani (I was not eating much at this point). For those who attended our wedding in May, fuchka was the appetizer with filling served in little shells and is a Bangladeshi street food. My parents, who had flown in from New York through Dubai, were working the crowd better than we were.

I crashed as soon as possible. The next day, and luckily ending the sickness story arc here, I took some Cipro and bounced back pretty quickly. My parents, accompanied by Nasheed and her uncle, went to see the Parliament building (which is less than a quarter-mile away), a local store chain - Aarong - that Nasheed's brother refers to as "the Nordstrom's of Bangladesh", and of course as one does when in a developing nation, Pizza Hut. That's not to suggest my parents didn't love the Bangladeshi food, but both my dad and Nasheed have a soft spot for the Hut. 

In the evening, we attended a separate reception with primarily Nasheed's father's side of the family at a local Indo-Chinese restaurant. Food and people were great, 7385 more photos were taken,  and my new family members were just as warm.

The following day, to make sure we did something touristy outside the house, Nasheed, my parents, and I went to Lalbagh Fort, which is a 17th century Mughal fort much like the Red Fort. It was a cool site to visit, had beautiful gardens, and allowed for a good show. Let's just say there was no question that me and my parents stuck out; many locals wanted their pictures taken with us. We were happy to oblige, and chat them up along the way.

Also, here's Nasheed and I trying to do “normal” face, which is common for photos in South Asian culture. We failed, and just look angry.

That night, we visited Nani, an ambiguously closely related elder, and a few other relatives as well. Basically, it was a night of "adda", which according to Wikipedia, is "the place of ritual meeting and/or conversation of a group of people." In other words, we sat around shooting the sh*t.

This was pretty typical of the entire visit, whenever we weren't doing anything I just mentioned. I think a phrase I've learned says it best: "Ashen, boshen, khan." Come, sit, eat. It exemplifies the culture and our day-to-day: you visit with people, you talk, and you eat, you sleep. Then do it all again, with maybe an awesome, crazy-father-in-law Bengali soap opera thrown in in the middle. Perhaps no one embraced this more than my recently retired dad, who might start coming over to Bangladesh with Nasheed's family after Thanksgiving (j/k, or am I?). The whole setup is made possible by the incredibly attentive house staff, which are really another part of the family.

I'm so glad that I finally made it over to Bangladesh and that it was such a focal part of our whirlwind trip. Next time, I'll have to make my way out to the gram (pronounced grom), which means rural village. 

At around 9:15 PM on January 5, we left to board our next flight, which was to Perth after a long layover through Singapore. ... I'm writing this today, January 6, at around 9:15 PM, sitting in a lounge in Dhaka airport, awaiting a flight to Perth after a long layover in Singapore. I'll leave it to Nasheed to explain why...  

(Us, outside the airport, waiting for the driver to bring us back. Nasheed was doing sad face because she couldn’t bring live fish on the flight.)

P.s. Do not FedEx things to Bangladesh for now. They are under some scrutiny, leading to delayed delivery.