Re: Why I am also sick of Bangladeshi society...
Reply #171 - December 01, 2009, 04:58 PM
Back to my trip to Bangladesh
Dhaka airport was exciting. We were allowed to bring two 70 lb suitcases per person. Bangladeshis never travel underweight. Every Bangladeshi in Connecticut had given us something to deliver there. There were five of us. Me, my in-laws, the wife and my 3-year old daughter. That?s 700 lbs of luggage and I was the only one strong enough to move a 70 lb bag. The airport was hot and stuffy but somehow I managed to keep breathing while I collected all the bags and made it towards the crowd for customs (note: I said crowd, not line). We had a relative who works at the airport who was going to expedite our checkout, but he showed up 45 minutes late. When he called for us we were already buried deep into the crowd with our 10 bags. It was surprisingly easy to make it out of the crowd. When you are a white dot in a sea of brown, everyone sees you coming. So we get through customs really fast and on the other side we get swarmed by relatives. A bunch of guys start grabbing our luggage. I don't know who the hell they are. Some of them start arguing over the bags with each other. I'm trying to keep track of all ten bags but I can't and some people are walking away with them. I managed to hold onto one bag and stayed really close to another guy who had another bag. He's moving really fast through the airport but I stuck with him. My wife and in-laws are busy hugging everybody and they're not paying attention to me. I got separated from them but I wasn't going to lose the 2 bags in my sight. Eventually we made it out of the airport and into the parking lot, past the crowd of airport exit beggars where a convoy of vans and SUVs was waiting. I was relieved to see the guy I was with put his bag into a van. Then he just stood there and smiled at me. I didn't have any cash to give him other than the thousands of dollars in my money belt, so I waited for my wife to arrive and asked her for money to tip the guy. She then told me that it wasn't necessary to tip my cousin-in-law.
My style is impetuous, my defense is impregnable and I'm just ferocious. I want your heart. I want to eat your children. Praise be to Allah." -- Mike Tyson