Mad for food and adventure
Every back street in Luang Prabang, Laos, is filled with something new to see. We heard a bell pealing and then saw a quiet flow of people, locals and tourists, making their way, not to one of the many temples, but to a little building squeezed between a shop and cafe. It was so low key that I’m sure we could have taken off our shoes and joined in.
Finally a truly classy fine dining experience has arrived in Dhaka (I wrote this blog posting in 2012 and now I’m updating it 14 months later). It’s refined Korean food at Goong (formerly known as Dae Jang Geum and not to be confused with the Dae Jang Geum that opened up down the street). The smoky Korean barbecue is available on the third floor of the restaurant. Enjoy the elegant Korean food with an international fusion flavor (some may think that the restaurant is borrowing French or Japanese styling — the restaurant is not a hole-in-the-wall at all).
I hope that this place can maintain the same level of food and service (and it has). If they then would start serving “specials’ at bargain prices (they do have lunch specials), I’d really have to move in!
Bangladesh is a crowded country so getting away from the madding crowd for a quiet “date” with someone you are courting or being courted by… is somewhat a matter of real estate. Famous Lalbagh Fort, considered a mini Taj Mahal, looks quite different from what is shown on the Amazing Race TV show, but it is worth visiting. There is a mausoleum built by a grieving father, a harem with baths, sweet smelling flowers, and a 300-year-old pool. Interestingly, what makes the fort so attractive is not the tomb, pool, or harem. In a crowded country, the walkways and niches provide a private place in a public space for young Bangladeshi couples to court. This a romantic place and there must be something in the air.
Love rocks!
Like millions before, we rented a car with driver for a ride to see the Taj Mahal. 10,000 rupees for the joy of six hours down, pit stop at McDonalds, a guide, eight hours back with pit stop at Moghul style restaurant…. going down was an adventure with a dickey wheel and a taste of the angry side of panhandling. On the border to Utter Pradesh, where our driver had to get out to pay some border tax, I snapped a photo of the monkey. Then the handler banged on the window and yelled at me for five minutes and rattled the door of the car.
Later on, within 40 kilometers of Agra, our tire blew. So we stopped for a pleasant cup of tea with some locals while our tire got fixed. One man manually changed the tire while eight watched him.
McDonalds is not in Bangladesh yet but they are in India. McDonalds in India serves a fried paneer (pressed cottage cheese product much like tofu) sandwich with peri peri sauce; masala fries; and chicken nuggets fried not in beef fat (much crispier and lighter tasting). But, they don’t sell “Paneer Nuggets” or “Frozen Mango Lassi.” Both of these omissions in their menu seem a huge loss of cultural product offerings. I hope they will add these.
Still remembering the food, cafes, and views of Istanbul. How I long for the chewy sesame delight that is simit…
Some day, I’ll be back in the city of Istanbulli hearts.
Yes, it was that good. Greatest Indian restaurant in the world good. Located in the fancy LTC Maurya hotel, Bukhara restaurant serves food cooked in the tandoor oven. A small menu of tandoori wonders. The paneer (cottage cheese product) cubes were as icebergs of pillowy softness skewered and charred to umami delight. Yes, yes.
Enjoy fish, lamb, vegetarian paneer, daal (lentils), raita (yogurt dip), naan, rumali (handkerchief thin flat bread), and fresh watermelon juice…
Visiting New Delhi for the first time, I was looking forward to what would be different from Dhaka. Fancier roads, oxen in the roads, monkeys on the toe… yes. But, I didn’t expect the rickshaws to be so different. In Delhi, an “auto-rickshaw” is what is called a “CNG” in Dhaka but in Dhaka the CNGs are caged. In Delhi, they are open like the tuktuks of Thailand. The “cycle rickshaw” of Delhi is called a “rickshaw” in Dhaka. The cycle rickshaws of Delhi less colorful and more solid looking than the ones in Dhaka.
I mostly enjoyed the oven temperature breezes from my ride in Azad’s Taxi Service…
Mumbai, city of slumdogs and French bistros. This cafe was so French that I half expected Edith Piaf to appear wearing a sari…
Traditionally, Bangladeshi men wore (and still do) a sarong called a “lungi.” This plaid cotton tube of cloth can be worn in many different ways and the knot can be tied as distinct as the neighborhood that you grew up in (West Bengal, Dhaka, etc.). 
For fun, we had a lungi party and were fortunate enough to have expert knot-tiers able to provide us with an education in how to wear a lungi. Some of the guests at the party chose to wear a “dhuti” which is a different style of sarong, made most distinct by the front folds being tied between the legs and hitched into the back of the waistband. 
My lungi cost around 325 Taka ($4) so it was about double the cost of what a Bangladeshi man would pay for it.
***Update September 2013: Jewel is no longer my favorite tailor but back when I wrote this blog posting, he was (I have since found someone who makes house calls and delivers on a more reliable schedule — I think we may have inundated Jewel with our orders and he fell behind during the Ramadan season). Please see my map of 99 expat places for some of the tailors I now like, plus other postings on tailors. *** My favorite tailor in Dhaka is a man named Jewel (well, it may spelled “Jhul”). He does not speak much but his smile is sweet and he can tailor shirts, dresses, sarees, shalwar kameezes, etc. It’s best to take a sample of what you want or look through his books of necklines for what you want. He usually measures me although now I’ve got a good relationship with him so he knows my style and measurements. He gives you a receipt with snippets of your material taped to it (and he tapes the other snippets in the big book of work orders). One week later, clothes are usually ready. Unless it’s wedding or holiday season. The cost is around 250 Taka ($3) per yard of material and 600 Taka ($8) to make a shirt.
Jhul works at Aadita tailor shop in Gulshan One market. The shop is about the size of two king sized beds with a myriad of material stacked neatly from floor to ceiling. The shop owner is also a fine gentleman and he has another shop around the corner called “Fit” where they specialize in menswear and western style business suits.
If you spend a long time choosing “ribbon” (edging), cloth, and patters, the staff boy will run and fetch you sweet cha (chai). The five or six guys working here will always invite you to take a seat (stay a while) which can be necessary since some trips to the tailor can take three hours. The time spent will also depend on how “insistent” you are. The ladies buying sarees usually push their way to the front. You too should show your eagerness.
Just as the end of a museum tour ends in the gift shop, a pit stop at a “model” resettlement village is sometimes the price to pay when traveling as a tourist. In Luang Prabang, Laos, we hired a tour guide for a day. He told us that we just need to make one stop along the way… a Hmong village.
The Hmong people had been resettled here and make a living selling crafts to tourists. There are many debates on the pros and cons about whether this life is better for these people. Some people react by becoming very sad. Others feel uncomfortable. Yet others give the cute kids money after they’ve taken their photos. Some buy the crafts for sale. In this village, there was no pretense. The path through the village was lined with tables and stalls selling wares. We made our forced tour as fast as possible but, from the Northface clothing hanging on the line, it was evident that one could pay to stay overnight at this “authentic” village.
