Cox's Bazar

So on Saturday (which is the first day of the work week for most people) I had the opportunity to go to Cox's Bazaar with a couple new friends.  Both were short term teachers for William Carrey Academy in Chittagong and having finished up their commitments came out to our area for a few days’ vacation before leaving for the states.

Cox's Bazar is home to the longest beach in the world; 120 km or 75 miles of beautiful, soft sand.  It was a beautiful slightly cloud covered day which is perfect for redheads.  The waves were consistent, medium sized waves but no boogie boards – oh the sadness.  The beach itself was nearly deserted, being Ramadan, and there were zero other women in the water besides myself and the other female teacher.  We swam (and body surfed) fully clothed and I think it was probably still a bit scandalous.

After this we wandered around two bazars which are basically like flea markets except that people run their booths year round.  The snack foods range from a little odd to downright startling.  I was given a piece of tamarind to try…wow, it was heavily salted and spiced and I declined to have another piece ;0).  However, we also went out to eat and they squeezed me fresh mango juice which was quite possibly the best thing I have ever put in my mouth.

Between the two bazars we caught a CNG (compressed natural gas vehicle) and had a very exciting time as we were hit by another CNG.  PTL they were both steel construction and the worst injury was a bruise.  On the way to the restaurant, my new friends insisted we take a rickshaw so we did – segregated by sex of course, with the male teacher in his own rickshaw.  (I was informed that sometimes you can put three people of the same gender on one rickshaw with the third person balanced in the middle on the other two’s laps….hmmm.) 

And then, finally, to get home we took the bus and I swear the bus driver was nuts – passing on blind corners, squeezing the bus between to other smaller, more vulnerable vehicles, and, yikes!  I spent a week’s worth of adrenaline.  Only by His grace did we avoid a head on collision or other fatal accident.  As it was we hit one person and ironically, it was not the driver’s fault as the man walked into the front left corner of the bus.  We didn’t stop.  The value of life here is lower in general and varies based on gender, social status, and age.