Travel Tips

I am so fascinated with the faces of Bangladesh, and I love peoplewatching here. Luckily, I have had the chance to come close to people and most often been asked to take their pictures (the real close ups), or they have asked to have a photo sent for their own purpose. Other photos are either at a very discrete distance or with a conscent when they have been aware of me. The etics of photography is important when traveling. I am reminded of this each time a tourist in my own country pulls out the camera to catch an interesting oddity or a face.

The happiest faces I have seen are those of school children who enjoy the privilege of attending school. They know it - this is their chance. And they waste no minute in learning.

.... are not the bureaucrat men or lazy husbands leaning on their charpoys chatting with their comrades, but these ladies. Just think about Grameen Bank and Grameen Phone. This is where the energy and future of Bangladesh lie, upliftment of the women.

.... are sometimes the easiest to get in touch with. They seem less prejudiced and more accepting of your ways a s a visitors. Perhaps they are also looking for alliances as they are feeling vulnerable in their own land.

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. But perhaps not always - sometimes it is just universal and supreme, no exception?

Maybe the easiest photographable people of Bangladesh are the Hindus. Generally less objections to the camera, the women are more forward and intellectually inclined and curious and themselves somewhat vulnerable and on a cultural brink.
Be sure to send the photos back to those wose pictures you took.

... are not etched in their faces, but perhaps invisible, in their souls. Orphans of the Hill Peoples, they are many. Among the world's most ignored minorities, their lives are in a balance.

"We are working here, please take our picture!" Smiles, no address left to send their photo, vanished in the crowds of the new Market, Dhaka. Maybe they can see themselves on the internet now?