Motorbike!

I have always hated riding on the back of motorbikes, something about clinging on and having to lean the right way and not being in control just scares me. So it’s pretty funny, or ironic really, that I recently had a trip on the back of a motorbike, on the streets of Dhaka, the streets which scare me at the best of times, let alone on the back of a motorbike, you’d think I would have been a shaking wreck of fear right? Well, I kinda was, the thought of having to go on the back of a motorbike to the ghat (port) to go down to Chandpur filled me with dread and I spent a day or two contemplating ways that I could get around not going! When the bike arrived on Friday morning, and my bag was strapped to the back, the bike was turned on and I was instructed to get onto the back and make myself comfortable, I did so with great fear and trepidation. I was of course, sitting on the bike sideways, or sidesaddle, as women would never sit astride in this country, which made me feel even more precarious, I had no helmet on (not sure what my insurance company would feel about that!) and I was wearing my normal clothes and jandals, no safety rules here! I think the rule for bikes is that one person (usually the driver) has to wear a helmet, that’s all, and it’s not uncommon to see motorbikes with 3 or 4 people on them, they are a very practical mode of transport in Bangladesh.

As we took off over the Kilgaon flyover (a crumbling overpass which is now restricted to cars, cng’s and motorbikes because it is slumping in the middle and can’t handle the weight of trucks and buses) I prayed to God to keep me safe!! But it was surprisingly much less terrifying than I thought it would be. The bike was comfortable, Kenny drove very well and I felt almost completely safe (apart from when we went beside or in front of buses and I was reminded that I was in jandals with no helmet, on the back of a motorbike, in Dhaka!), safer than going by rickshaw anyway.  As we sped down yet another narrow street filled with fruit stalls, rickshaws and people I smelled the unmistakable smell of the filthy black water in the river and knew we were close to the ghat, and although I was thankful to get off the motorbike, it is definitely not the scariest mode of transportation in this country that I have experienced so far. Although in saying that, it was a Friday (the Muslim day of worship) so there was much less traffic on the roads, making them less manic than usual so it may be an entirely different story the next time I do the trip! I’ll be going down to Chandpur fairly frequently and probably quite a bit by myself, so I’ll probably get a ride on the motorbike quite a bit in the next few months. The guy that drove me is an awesome guy who does quite a bit of work for the school, his wife is a teacher there and their kids are both there as well. I very much appreciated his careful driving around bumps in the roads and the sedate pace that he drove!!

I’m now back in Chandpur after an uneventful boat trip and appreciating the cleaner air and the fact that it is cooler down here.

That’s all for now, no photos sorry as my internet modem thingy can't handle photos and dies a quick death every time I try. I can almost hear it sigh and say to me "Carley, you know I can't handle these large photos, why do you even bother?". Also, its nigh on impossible to take photos while you are sitting fairly precariously on the back of a bike holding on with one hand and holding a bag with the other!