Crowded and organized - Hong Kong Edition

 A long weekend in Bangladesh: the normal weekend Friday-Saturday plussed with Independence Day on Sunday. 

A typical time to leave Dhaka for a couple of days  - either for the Bangladeshi countryside or other South East Asian countries.

One of the great benefits of Bangladesh is that it's only a couple of hours flight from totally different cultures, religions, peoples. For us Bangladesh has offered a unique, once-in-a-lifetime-chance to see a lot of exciting places.

The most surprising feature of the countries in this region is that about the only thing in common they have is rice. 

Nobody in Asia can survive without rice irrespective of social status, political system or economic structure.

We are staying in Dhaka this weekend but had a little break in Hong Kong a week ago.

Rice, over population and political oppression seem to be things Bangladesh and Hong Kong share.

Otherwise, this city three hours flight from Dhaka was another planet.

We traveled from very high temperatures to a cold, almost freezing place. The first and only thing I bought was a winter jacket. 

Warmly dressed we were ready to explore the city. The infrastructure is impressive: a clean, affordable and highly functional metro system, very inexpensive water transport and good opportunities to walk off one's feet. Which we did.

Dhaka and Hong Kong are - to put it mildly - crowded. Dhaka is starting to built high rises, Hong Kong's highest buildings are just a small step from the Moon. 

Still, in Hong Kong there were a lot of green, unbuilt areas in the vicinity of the city center. I dragged my husband to a longer than planned hike in the green areas of the highest hills of the city. It was absolutely worth the effort in spite of my husband's  heavy breathing and soundless but still very audible protests. Our walk took place on a working day, the scenery paths may be busier during the weekend.

Hong Kong food markets are not for insect dislikers and smell sensitive people like me. But sure, we did it. Most of the items were not only exotic but also rather repulsive. It was hard to understand which kind of body parts or animals were for sale. On the other hand, I might have eaten all these with great appetite. 

Maybe it's the age but I have really missed museums and well curated exhibitions. Hong Kong has a bunch. "The Hong Kong Story" at the Hong Kong Museum of History was an impressive lesson in history.

Ok, the Toy Exhibition was visually more attractive. 

Dressed for the beach, unarmed in the Parliament

Homestretch ahead  but still much to do and see in Bangladesh.

This week I visited two iconic, very different places: Cox's Bazar and the Parliament. 

Cox's Bazar is one of the longest sandy beaches in the world. 

The coastal tourist city of Cox's Bazar is about an hour's flight from Dhaka's crazy busy, loud, dusty life. The 120 kilometers long beach area offers fresh sea air, amazing views of the Bay of Bengal and solitude, a seldom luxury in seriously overpopulated Bangladesh.

While my husband was at meetings, I walked hours and hours along the beach, occasionally accompanied by local children and millions of red crabs which very quickly disappeared in their holes when I tried to approach them.

People here seem to enjoy togetherness and large flocks but I deliberately avoided the crowded beaches.

The temperature was about 30+C (85+F) but thanks to a kind sea breeze, it was not hot at all. Not in even in a local beach outfit which has nothing to do with swimwear. People swim in their normal clothes both in the sea and in the pool. 

The magnificence of Cox's Bazar has, unfortunately, a tragic side since tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar land there with traumatic experiences and limited hope for the future.

The transition from the beach to the Parliament has to be fish. The waters round Cox's Bazar are full of fish and fishing boats. The Parliament building in Dhaka is surrounded by a man made lake, home for fish that is served at the Parliament members' club.

The Bangladesh Parliament complex is one of the largest legislative complexes in the world, also one of the most special. Not necessary beautiful but impressive.

The construction of the present Parliament complex began in 1961 by the then President of Pakistan as a permanent building for the federal legislature of both West Pakistan and East Pakistan. Bangladesh became independent in 1971 and the inauguration of the Parliament took place in 1982.

The then government appointed first a Bangladeshi architect to design the building. He wanted to give the task to Alvar Aalto or Le Corbusier. They were not available and finally the task went to Louis Kahn, an American architect.

The result is an enormous concrete palace with regular geometric shapes. 

It was not allowed to bring fire-arms nor to take pictures inside the building.  

In true banglastyle there were a lot of cobwebs and dust, too. Our guide told that the building is rather cold in the winter, with a large mosquito population.

The Parliament chamber had some funny features like a sound proof upper gallery for children and microphones that automatically stop functioning when the allocated speech time is over.