Don't Drink The Water - A Word..Or Two On Traveler's Diarrhea

***This is a TMI (Too Much Information) post. You've been warned.

My fifth day in Bangladesh I got traveler's diarrhea. This occurs after ingesting fecally contaminated water or food. 25%-50% of traveler's get it. I knew of the risk of traveler's diarrhea before going to Bangladesh so I took the necessary precautions. I followed the cardinal rule of travel, I did NOT drink the water. I even brought water bottles with me from Saudi Arabia to Bangladesh. I was really picky about what I ate too. I avoided water based foods like daal (lentil soup), dairy, sweets, and food from street vendors. Despite my preparedness, I got it anyway. Why do travelers get it and not locals? Immunity. It can take weeks to years to develop the immunity locals have to the water and food.

In the morning, I had bloating, cramps, and loose stools and at night I started vomiting… a lot. My whole body became weak and the hot weather added to my malaise. I became worried about my condition; the biggest problem with diarrhea is the loss of electrolytes and dehydration and I was refusing to drink the saline water. It smelled and tasted like YMCA pool water like chlorine. Then I tried to take tasty saline, which was worst then the regular saline. It tasted like Tang powder mixed with pool water. Bleck. I was worried that I would have to go to the hospital to get saline intravenously. But then I had rice saline, which I could take.

Luckily in Bangladesh, it's easy to get your hands on prescription meds and the doctors make house calls. With the meds and rice saline I got better in about two days. I still had loose stools and cramping, but at least the vomiting stopped, I could EAT, stand, and take a bath on my own. I won't say that traveler's diarrhea doesn't suck. It does. BIG TIME. But, I thought of my bout with traveler's diarrhea as a rite of passage, a test of my traveler's will.

Sarah vs Wild - My Encounters With Animal Kind

You'll see geckos in almost every Bangladeshi home. Don't fear or hate these little guys they don't bite or scratch and they keep the bug population under control. I ended up liking geckos so much that I named the one in the room I stayed in Mr. Tiktikki (lizard).

Mr. Tiktikki himself or...herself. Idk looked like a boy to me.

I saw many crows in Bangladesh. Random story: I was standing out on the chaat when a crow flew straight at me. I screamed and ran for the door. I got the crap scared out of me by a bird. A DAMN BIRD. It was a funny-had-to-be-there kind of story.

It looks like the crow is waiting for me.

I got to see monkeys! It is kind of a big deal because monkey sightings nowadays are rare especially in the city. Monkeys have a terrible reputation in Bangladesh for wreaking havoc; getting into homes and taking food and even attacking people. The flying monkeys from the Wizard of OZ seem less villainous in comparison.

Monkey!

OMG there's two of them! One is on the edge of the ledge...heh that rhymed.

Far right - Flying monkey!

Great landing. Stay out of the house.

Unlike the geckos or monkeys my experiences with bugs were not so positive. I hated hated hated the bugs. I saw cockroaches the size of half dollar coins with antennae like cat whiskers so disgusting. I saw a millipede too. Ick.

Mosquitos will eat you alive if you do not take the proper precautions. I made two mistakes. One, I did not sleep under a mosquito net. DO NOT DO THIS! You might as well play Russian roulette, but instead of a bullet stick in malaria, yellow fever, or west nile. I was mindless, but lucky. Two, I sprayed myself with mosquito repellent. I took great care to spray my face, arms, and legs. The next morning I woke up with a bunch of bites on my hands and feet. I missed the most obvious parts.

Sorry, no pictures of the bugs. Need I explain why?

Mukhe Bhaat - First Rice Ceremony

On our third day in Bangladesh I went to my twin cousins' first rice ceremony, mukhe bhaat, which celebrates a baby's transition to solid foods. Rice is a staple in the bengali diet so it's only fitting that the first solid food the baby eats is rice.

Flowers for my parents.

Papa's schoolmates and friends from Dacca Collegiate School

Aww.

She likes solids.

Everything's going ok so far.

Then the crying begins.

Let's see how the sister does.

She's not fussy like her brother.

Pretty

Food

Even more food

Aunties and kiddies

You Must Stay and Eat - Bengali Hospitality

If you go to Bangladesh, you will not only get a taste of bengali food, but of bengali hospitality too. Soon after your arrival to a bengali home, the host will bring out drinks (tea, juice, soda), appetizers, and mishti (sweets) and this is just the starting course because the host will not let you leave without eating lunch or dinner depending on the time of your visit. My family and I made many visits and one thing remained the same, "You must stay and eat!" The host will stand over you as you eat and will scoop more food onto your plate whether you ask for it or not. I found all this doting a bit uncomfortable and unnecessary. If you feel overwhelmed by this superabundant hospitality as I did, remember that it comes from a good place. Feeding you to an early grave is the bengali way of showing love.

Family Dinner

We went to a restaurant our third day in Bangladesh with my dad's side of the family. For dinner we started off with a thick spicy soup...delicious. Chicken, mixed vegetable rice, prawns, and some other things.

Labid uncle's mother-in-law, Ma, my aunt (fupi), and a big bottle of Mum pani (water).

Labid uncle's (fupa's) brother-in-law and sister-in-law.

Papa and Labid uncle

Deepto, my auntie's son.

Sweet Dhola, my auntie's daughter.

Labid uncle's wife and daughter.

So cute.

Labid uncle's son.

Labid Uncle with his daughter.

Full table

Gandaria

Monija Rahman Girls' School - Ma's high school in Gandaria.

Rooftop view from papa's home. Look at all those colorful lunghis and all those plants.

Rooftop View...

and again.

Ghora ghari

Love this picture.

The auntie that made the horse ride happen.

From inside.

I love this picture. Look how excited she is to see the horses.

"Hey there!"

I heard laughing from the back of the carriage and look what I saw. The boy in white is sitting on the other boys lap so cute.

My paternal grandfather's grave.

The Red Door of Orion Lodge - Gandaria

Zugloul Haider A-------

Founding Member of Bangla Academy

Orion Lodge

-- Rajani Chowdhury Road

Gandaria, Dhaka ----

This is the inscription on the red door of my papa's family home in Gandaria. My grandfather was a writer and Bangla Academy was a sort of writer's guild established in 1955 to promote Bangla language through literary work and research. He named his home, Orion Lodge, after Orion the Hunter in Greek mythology. My favorite part of the house was my papa's bedroom. It was at the tippy-top and had it's own entrance outside the main house.

We visited with neighboring families. People my parents once knew showed up at the houses we were visiting because they had heard from someone else that mommy and papa were there. While ma and I talked with one of the aunties we heard a loud commotion from outside. We thought there was an accident, but when we went out we saw a horse carriage. Everyone in Gandaria was out there gawking at this carriage. The auntie saw my excitement and told, not asked, told the driver to take us once around the block.

Before leaving Gandaria, my parents and I went to the cemetery where both my maternal and paternal grandfathers are buried. On the tops of their graves grow small shrubs. The perfect juxtaposition between life and death. I never met my grandfathers and this was the closest I had ever been to them.

First Visit

Papa's mama (dadubhai's brother), ma, Juhi (papa's cousin), papa, Joba (papa's cousin), and mami

Stop and Go - Load Shedding/Rolling Blackout

We all experienced the inconvenient loss of power at one point or another, but can you imagine it happening one or two hours, three/four times a day? If you travel to Bangladesh you'll put up with load shedding/rolling blackouts, deliberate power outages that occur because in simple economical terms, demand exceeds supply. Most homes have IPS (Instant Power Supply) a rechargeable power source that supplies enough power to keep the lights on during a blackout.

For me, the worst part about these blackouts was not being able to have the fan on. My best buddy, the internet, became my elusive enemy. I only had enough time to check my school and personal email accounts before I loss connection. I didn't bother watching TV because by the time I got engrossed in what I was watching the television would shut off like it was teasing me. Work, school, entertainment, life in general centers around this stop and go electricity.