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First impressions

Mikey Leung
IT’s a foggy morning in Dhaka, and our trip, months in the planning, gets off to a slow start TYavel writer Nick Redmayne, our first arrival, is delayed due to fog, and his plane is rerouted to Chiang Mai for a three-hour delay before it makes the journey to Dhaka. Then, luggage claims slow things down even further.
Nick calls me from his UK mobile to apologise: six hours after his scheduled arrival time he has still not tasted open Bangladeshi air. I tell him that he's getting his first traffic jam experience of Bangladesh. Finally he's out, and thankfully holding on to his jolly
sense of humour. On first glance, he reminds me of a professor from a Harry Potter movie, with his turtle-coloured plastic rim glasses and wide, welcoming smile.
"Bengalis are, surprisingly, a very relaxed people," says Nick, after spending a few hours wandering around Dhanmondi on his own. "They are at ease with the presence of foreigners, intrigued. I'm so used to people not wanting their photograph taken, it's a little overwhelming when it's constantly demanded. It's the friendly interest of the people that is my most imme -diate impression."
Jack and Nicole arrive
Thankfully, the next day the sky is
clear and our next two writers, Jack Barker and Nicole Kobie, arrive with much less hassle, although Airport Road gives them their first taste of Dhaka's traffic which Nicole, a younger journalist from London with a no-nonsense disposition, describes as "scary." But both are immediately taken with the curiosity of Bangladeshi people.
"I don't usually know what to say about my impressions until a week after I get home," adds Jack. After a moment's ponder he offered: "It's so unusual to get such a friendly level of interest everywhere you go, not even in India do you get that."
"Everyone stares," says Nicole of
her first impression. "It's a little disconcerting at first, but soon you realise it is just curiosity and not anything hostile."
After a spot of rest, I take Jack and Nicole to Road 11 in Banani for phuchka at Dhaba -- Jack is delighted as he hasn't had one for years and cannot seem to find them in London anymore. ,
"I used to have them in Tooting, which is an Indian part of London," says Jack, who is definitely the most experienced travel writer in our troupe, the only one of who truly writes for a living. "But it will probably be another 30 years before I find that again."
"That was great food," says Nicole. "It puts everything to shame in Brick Lane."
Nicole also buys her first shalwar tops at Deshal, and later tells me she wasn't expecting to see bou-tique-style shopping in Bangladesh, easily of a standard that could sell in London.
I don't want to tire our Nicole and Jack too much on their first
day, so I decide to take them for a little boat ride on Gulshan Lake, and on a whim, I decide to take them into the slum area near TNT. Immediately, we are surrounded by dozens of lively children, who hold our hands as we walk and giggle with the experience of meeting some intrepid foreigners.
"Those kids were extremely cute," says Nicole. "They just wanted to practise their English and have some fun, the same as children anywhere else in the world."
Evening train to Chittagong Part of the intention of the trip is to have our group experience local travel in Bangladesh. By far and away, local travel is dominated by the bus in Bangladesh, but why hurry around so much?
Instead we decide to take a more leisurely route to Bandarban, first by taking the evening train to Chittagong. Guide Tours manages to get us first class AC train tickets, and the group is pleased when we arrive to an upholstered sleeper
berth.
"I thought the train was excellent, and the professionalism of the train staff was good," says Jack. "It was on time, and the staff here seem take their work very seriously."
"I love taking the train in Bangladesh," adds Mikey. "Yes, it's not the fastest way to get there but it's certainly the most enjoyable. lYavel should be a pleasure, not a nerve-wracking experience. I've had my share of public busses in Bangladesh, so I take a launch or a train whenever I possibly can."
For a nation whose international image is often framed in poverty, natural disasters and corruption, Bangladesh: the Bradt Travel Guide will represent a milestone in Mikey Leung's attempts to change Bangladesh's world image when it is published in 2009. To begin promotion of Bangladesh as a tourism destination, Bradt Travel Guides, with the assistance of Guide Tours and Green House Bed and Breakfast has organised a promotional tour of Bangladesh for a select group of travel wnters and agents, who will publish a senes of articles internationally, mostly in the United Kingdom. To learn more about Bradt's guidebook project, please visit httpJ/www.joybangla.info Mikey Leung can be reached atmlkeyleung.ca@gmail.com.
***1 In July 2009, Bradt Travel Guides will release a new travel guidebook for Bangladesh around the world. A group of five international travel writers and travel agents, including the book author, is currently exploring Bangladesh's tourism potential. Their goal is to explore Bangladesh's tourism potential. What follows is part one of the trip diary.***