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We returned to India from the Maldives, landing in Bangalore, the heart of India's IT industry. The town is certainly better developed than Chennai and somewhat cleaner. For example there are many more restaurants, bars and pubs, that approach a western standard of cleanliness. However, traffic was nearly as chaotic and surprisingly, for an IT capital, there were many power cuts!

India and Bangladesh

Odv
2006-04-15 18:42:43

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the next day.

Once in Dhaka, we found what was probably the most chaotic city we have visited so far. They drive like crazy, which happens in many developing countries, but in Bangladesh it is just a little more extreme! No vehicle stops for traffic lights when they are red, not even when a policeman is standing at the crossing. Once two policemen had to help us cross a street when the light was green for pedestrians, shouting and yelling at cars, busses and trucks to stop! Another time we nearly got run over by a speeding bus, who clearly had not a care in the world for pedestrians.

During the few days that we spent in Bangladesh, we witnessed the aftermath of 2 serious accidents involving busses and trucks. We were also involved in a rickshaw "accident" when our driver simply squeezed a pull cart between his vehicle and a bus. Instead of moving backwards to dislodge his rickshaw he kept trying to go forward and eventually managed to pull loose, doing much more damage to the vehicles involved, including fortunately to his own. He then sped off, shaking his head complaining how stupid the other drivers were... sure.

Besides total traffic chaos, the city is awash with beggars. It was a rather shocking experience as they were unfortunately much more persistent than in India, following you street after street. Some beggars were literally throwing themselves on the ground in front of us, crawling towards us holding one hand up! Annoyingly many beggars, covered with layers of dirt and possibly infected with all kinds of diseases, touch you to try to get your attention. Sometimes it became too much, we had to physically push them away or ask a nearby cop (there were many) to send them away.

The major sight in Dhaka is Lalbagh Fort, consisting of a few ancient buildings in a well groomed garden surrounded by a fortification wall.

Then there is Sadarghat, a point on the river where all the boats from around ...