Chittagong-6

Alhumdulillah, I reached Chittagong safely. The journey was not bad - a comfortable bus ride that lasted about 5 hours. Though sitting in the front has its advantages for feeling less bumps, hearing the horn every ten seconds can get a little annoying. We stopped at a rest stop where I had a chicken salad sandwich, chicken cutlet, and mithai for about $2. Surprisingly, the chicken interpretations weren’t bad.

I took a risk on the hotel by looking it up in lonely planet and it ended up being a good choice. About ten bucks a night, but with clean rooms, great staff, new furniture and tiles, and a decent view of the city from it’s 9th floor courtyard. I’m on the 7th floor. Namaz is on the 10th (more to come later on that).

I’m in the old heart of the city, where the train station is, the river not too far away, and more vendors than you can count. I went walking around and it was an intense experience in which every sense was on alert from the smell/stench of the dried fish market to the yelling of shopkeepers telling their prices. You name it, you can find it within walking distance. There is a fish market, produce market, traditional mall, vendors selling everything from bobby deol’s greatest hits (I thought you had to actual have a hit to have a greatest hits) to jewelry to fake purses. It’s like Chinatown, the fair, the farmer’s market, and the mall wrapped into one. The markets here are more of the Old Delhi style but even more congested. So many people were in this area that you have to use your traffic skills to get around. I even did some bargaining though the fact that the shopkeeper was only too happy to accept my counter offer of 100 taka for an 8 in 1 Bruce Lee movie collection and MP3 collection of the latest Indian songs (including Delhi-6 which I really wanted) made me doubt that I got a good deal.

The staff has been interesting. One guy is from Kolkata so he knew hindi and we talked a little bit. Another told me about where the staff prays namaz on the 10th floor. I went there at maghrib and they were about to start praying separately when they noticed me looking around waiting for the jamaat. In broken hindi, someone told me that none of them are imams, to which I replied we’re all imams (I know, give me an askar). I ended up leading namaaz and I’m not sure what kinda reaction they had. A couple were confused when I didn’t lead du’a after namaaz and they just waited until I got up to pray sunnah. But overall, I think I’ll be ok here. They have an overpriced restaurant which is convenient and internet in the lobby. Can’t ask for much more.

Ps. I need emails from you guys to let me know what’s going on there!