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.
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