Friday, April 9, 2010

ARTICLE FROM THE DAILY STAR BANGLADESH 7 APR 2010

I am in Bangladesh for the first time and I came across this article from their newspaper. Please read it as life here seems cheap and the poor are often victimised. I may be wrong but this is what I perceive after 3 days here. Imagine if this happened to your daugther.

Contemptible!

How could the intern do it?

ONE would have thought what marked out a living organism from an inanimate object is the capacity for feeling. The marker ought to be nobler when you are a human being. You are simply expected to sense the pain and trauma of another who has been physically hurt with the same intensity as though you were the victim. Should you fail the test, you don't simply deserve to be called a human being. Not even perhaps an animal; as even some species exude kindness to the kindred.

The outrage is all the more pronounced if someone in the garb of a healer enacts cruelty by extracting live teeth from a small girl's tender gums. It has a particular poignancy, because coming from a slum-dwelling family, she was an easy, helpless pick, enticed away by a packet of biriani. She was placed under the wrenching instrument by an intern dentist who, without a blink of the eye, extracted two of her teeth. Bleeding profusely in the mouth, the girl was to inform her father of what she had gone through. The Rab acted promptly arresting a doctor of the City Dental College while looking for the intern who did it. They cannot go scot-free, should be brought to book as a survey is conducted to identify all such dens of malpractice.

For the perpetrator, the poor child was the guinea pig to experiment on, test the intern's skill of tooth extraction to make the grades and obtain certificate of a dentist. The principal of the college explained the reason why the girl's parent was not approached a priori in patently unconvincing terms -- either her parent was not available, or she is an abandoned child. It was part of what was claimed to be free dental treatment given to poor children.

Actually, we think, Rab has exposed a Pandora's box of abominable forms of exploitation of the poor resorted to by so-called medical institutions. Indeed, there has been a mushrooming of all sorts of outfits, many with pretenses for imparting professional education having no ethics but raw business. All because they can easily circumvent standard criteria for registration and periodic monitoring.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

WELCOME TO BANGLADESH PART 1

After putting off the trip for some time, I made my maiden trip to Bangladesh. I will visit both Dhaka and Chittagong albeit a very splash and dash trip. I should have done this a few months ago when the weather was still much cooler than now.

Up to afew hours before the flight, I was still not sure whether I can make the trip due to some delays in my visa. Luckily all was sorted.

The flight to Dhaka was uneventful except for the many mobile phones that kept ringing until taking off. I could see that the Air Asia had their hands full.

At the airport, I was plesantly surprised that it was a breeze and the service was actually quite good. However, I had to wait for almost 4 hours for my flight to Chittagong.

The international airport is new so it was nice but the domestic terminal was not so new....but bearable. Toilets were OK and air con works but there are a lot of mosquitos in Bangladesh. They seem to like my blood....something new and different, I suppose.

The best thing about the airports? Free internet...wow.

I got my first con at the aiport. I bought a local mobile sim card for Taka 900 when the value is Taka 200. The difference, service charge, I suppose. For those who don't know, US$ 1 is about Taka 68.50.

Some pictures of the domestic terminal...





As I was a litlle hungry, I had a snack at the "fast food" in the departure terminal. I had 2 samosa and a chicken bread and a bottle of mineral water for Taka 100. Something told me, I was overcharged again.




Inside the departure area, there was a shop selling Bangladeshi snacks and sweets...there was quite a variety.





The plane which I was supposed to take is a propeller type plane Bombadier Dash 8, a 35 seater plane. The plane must be more than 30 years old. Wow, I have not sat in a propeller type plane for a long time.




While the plane was a bit wobbly which is expected for a small propeller plane, the service was quite good and for the 50 minutes flight, they served sweets, drinks and snacks. The only set back was the air con does not work and it was really hot.

Well, that's my first day in Bangladesh.

Until the next time, cheers.

Monday, March 29, 2010

FANTASTIC "KAO TOM" BUFFETT IN BANGKOK

We started coming to this kao tom buffett more than 10 years ago and as our office moved nearby here, we should be coming to this place here more often now.


The restaurant is situated in Chao Phraya Park Hotel (but in a seperate building) along Ratchadaphisek Road (Huaykwang). We love this place as there is a huge variety of both porridge and dishes. This is basically porridge teo chew/thai style.

For all the food (including desserts), it cost slightly below Baht 400 per person (including taxes and service charges) and there is a buy 3 free 1 promotion. Really value for money.

There are around 6 types of porrdge, unpolished rice (red), yam, potato and I can't remember the others.


The condiments/appetizers for porridge itself runs to so many types...you know the pickles, sour and fried stuff.





Then, you have the roast pork, duck, chicken, char siew corner.


And then, you had all the different stews...pig trotters, stomach, stewed chicken, ducks....on and on.



You can't have teo chew porridge without the customary chap chai.....


Then, there is the vegetable section...you pick up and let the chef fry it up or cook to your choice.


And also seafood.....


For those who don't like porridge...there is noodles....


A view of the restaurant and our group doing justice to the food.....





Oh yes, there were la la and some fried stuff too.....


Then there were desserts....sweet roti with your choice of filling...



And there were Thai ice kacang (mixed shaved ice)...and Chinese soup desserts (thong sui) and ice creams and fruits....




And lastly old fashioned coffee..but this is additionally charged.


Just describing this place makes me full but I shall return again soon.....just for your info, we went to shopping mall to walk off the food after the dinner.

Until the next time, cheers.

FOOD, FOOD AND FOOD IN BANGKOK

I was in Bangkok recently and this time, a friend and his wife as also in town and my wife and I invited them for dinner. We brought them to Somboon Seafood (a very popular seafood restaurant famous for its fried chlli curry crabs). As my friend also heard about the roast pig, we had a fairly light dinner (but I did not take any pictures) and then moved on to the roast pig.

There are a 3 such restaurants near Narathiwat Road, off Sathorn Road and we normally frequent this restaurants. We have been coming here for years and they now have a variety of serving the roast pigs. We normally have them 2 styles i.e. first just the skin and then cooked again. The second time, our favorite is deep fried with garlic.



I did not take a lot of photos that day. We also ordered some other light food (being our second dinner), Thod man pla (fried fishcake) and Som Tam (papaya salad). The restaurant actually have an extensive menu and also seafood...shown here.


The next day, I had to go to Chonburi province very near to Pattaya and nearby there is a very popular crab meatmall shop. They used to have a restaurant but apparently the owner is getting old and decided to only sell the frozen ones (before frying). You can just defrost and fry them up...super delicious.

They are now sold along this stretch of snack shops and restaurants on the way back from Pattaya to Bangkok.


I saw this bottle in the shop and upon nearer look, it is actually very small clams (still with its shell) soaked in fish sauce. Apparently it is very good with kao tom (boiled rice). I will remember to try this the next time.


Until the next time, cheers.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

HANOI PART 2

On Saturday morning, it was raining but we visited Ho Chi Minh's mauseleum. Security was very tight and there were so many rules....no eating, no drinking, no talking, no stopping, no caps or hats, properly dressed, hands by your side,etc. etc. It was my first visit to communist mausoleum with a preserved body. Although I have visited Beijing, I did go to see Mao's body.

We had to line up, wait, walked a lot for just one minute walk round the place...but still I suppose it was worth it. The Vietnamese really have the respect for Uncle Ho.

There was also a huge battery of soldiers guarding the place.




Next to the mauseleum was the One Pillar Pagoda. It is a small pagoda situated with only a pillar supporting it.


And next to this was the Ho Chi Minh museum which depicts the live and struggles of Ho Chi Minh and his other senior comrades. Whilst it is a propoganda place, it was also very informative about the life and struggles of Uncle Ho and other Vietnamese people during that time. Obviously, you will be greeted by a large stutue of Uncle Ho as you enter.



As the rained stopped, we noticed a huge number of earth worms that were more than 1 foot long. It was everywhere but it was not clear where they were actually going. If only they were to use them as fish baits.....




Breakfast is served in the hotel at the top floor which is the 8th floor. As the other surrounding buildings are not as tall, we could get some nice views and take in the surrounding daily hustles and bustles.



The lake near the hotel is a pleasant place to just sit and relax. It is also a very popular tourist place as it contains an old pagoda and temple.






On Sunday morning, we went to see the famous Thang Long Water Puppet Show. This was the only show available. I was not sure what to expect as I am not a fan of puppets show. However, as it came highly recommended in travel websites and blogs, we had to try. It is a thousand year tradition and a main entertainment during festivals in the wet season.

After watching the show, I truly respect those that created the show over many many generations I suppose. The inginuity to blend water and puppetry is simply amazing. This is one thing I recommend to anyone visiting Hanoi.





We also visited St Joseph Cathedral. The Cathedral is very much similar to those in France built during the period as Vietnam was under the French.



Until the next time, cheers.