Update from early April: we actually made it outside of Dhaka for the day, and took some pictures. We drove about an hour to a nearby river (only about 10 miles away, terrible traffic), and then spent the day on a boat with some folks from work. We visited an old palace which belonged to a rich landowner in the colonial days, and has now been turned into a co-ed prep school. We also visited a sari factory later in the day, and purchased a couple of their items.

Greetings from Dhaka!

We arrived at the beginning of March, EXHAUSTED. 2 young children X 11 time zones + 24 hours of travel time = one very long and very tiring journey. However we've been doing our best to make our new house a home, and Crystal especially has been very busy creating beauty in our environment. From the very beginning, we've been warmly welcomed by everyone in the Embassy community, from the tea sellers to the Ambassador himself, but have less time to get to know life in greater Dhaka.

Today though, we had a chance to go to a couple stores, one a craft store featuring fabrics, pottery, carvings, and many other items. It was in a house in a rich section of town, and each room on the ground floor of the house had a different range of items in it. There was also a staff member of the shop in each room, silently trying to be unobtrusive, dusting knick-knacks and rearranging bric a brac. We ended up getting some embroidered coasters (the heavy dark wood furniture in our house is very susceptible to scratches and water stains), a painted flower pot, a calendar, maps of the town and country, and a few other things. Nothing too big yet, as we are planning to buy a rickshaw - not one of the little mini ones you see around, but a real, honest-to-goodness, full size one. Or at least the seat/canopy portion, fully painted up with colorful geometric designs and portraits of Bollywood film stars. Our house is pretty huge, so we're saving a place in the downstairs living room for it.

After that we went to a grocery store that caters to foreigners and well-to-do Bangladeshis. We're always on the look out for exotic and new foods, and this time picked up two new fruits: one was labeled "Chico", the other was a wood apple. The Chico is actually quite good; it's round and dusky brown, about the size of a tennis ball, and ripe when slightly soft. Inside is a rather granular light brown flesh, very sweet, with a few large shiny black seeds in the middle. As for the wood apple, our cook said we'd picked a particularly good, ripe one. This is about the size and color of a slightly unripe grapefruit, but with a very hard skin, almost like a gourd. It's supposed to be good for the stomach and is often made into a refreshing drink, with an unusual bitter then sweet taste.

Wait, did I mention our cook? Yes, Bangladesh is one of those countries where labor is absurdly cheap and the diplomatic community does its best to contribute to the local economy of household helpers. We're certain that we will end up leaving the country two years from now much fatter than we are now, because our cook is really good - he's worked for a variety of embassies before and can whip up delights from Bangladeshi, Italian, American, Thai, and Chinese cuisine. We are also trying to find just the right Ayah (nanny) to look after the boys, are hiring a guard/gardener to look after the yard and open the gate for visitors, and once our car arrives in a couple weeks will probably have a driver on board as well too.

Since we haven't done any excursions out of our immediate neighborhood yet, our selection of photos this month is less than thrilling. We've got a few little trips out of town lined up for the near future though, so we should have some more exciting images soon.