#017: Things You Need To Know Before Visiting Bangladesh

In this episode, we talk with Urmi Hossain, a full-time female worker in the financial services industry, about Bangladesh.

On the Show Today You’ll Learn:

• First experience of going to Bangladesh
• An insight into Bengali culture
• Things to do and places to watch in Bangladesh
• What kinds of tastes to expect in Bangladesh
• How much time do you need to visit Bangladesh

Links & Resources

The Why We Travel Podcast website: https://whywetravel.net/

Visit our website at https://whywetravel.net/

Transcript

Claus Lauter: Hello and welcome to another episode of the Why Travel Podcast. Today, our journey take us to Bangladesh and have Urmi Hossain with me. She's a full-time female worker in the financial service industry. She has been to Bangladesh. She knows quite a bit about the country, and she wants to give us a bit of an insight on what you can do there and what you should explore there.

So, hello Omi. How are you?

Urmi Hossain: I'm good than 

Claus Lauter: I'm very well, thank you. , gimme a bit of a background. What was your first experience with going to Bangladesh about the country and anything like,

Urmi Hossain: I have been to Bangladesh four times. , I have been there when I was a young kid, I was. Five years old. Then I went back again when I was a little bit older, and then I went back again twice when I was, , 16 and then when I was, 19. So when I was a kid, I didn't remember too much about it.

I just remember that my parents brought me there for whenever I had the vacation from school. , I remember they wanted me to learn about the culture because my parents are from Bangladesh. , however, I was born and raised in. they wanted me to learn about the culture, the traditions, the people, the country.

So they would bring me there to familiarize with that. When I was a kid, for the little time that I've been there, they actually did enroll me to, [00:02:00] uh, Bengali school because they wanted me to learn the language and stuff like that, but it wasn't.

Something that lasted long. I was there pretty much for like two months. It was only for the vacation that I had from school. , and so then what happened is when I went back again, when I was a little bit older, when I was 16 and 20, I have a much better, , vivid memory , of it. Like it's a country that is very warm and welcoming.

, but it's also a country that is very, very chaotic because, , one thing that I realized about Bangladesh is that. When you're walking on the street, everything is on the street. Like no one follows the rules. Everyone, you have cars, people, cows, everyone going in the same street. So it's very, very chaotic in that sense.

but there is a lot of, nature. there's a lot of water because it's surrounded by rivers and stuff like that. And my parents, for instance, they live in villages and. People live in villages, so you have every person has their own village where people leave , and it's a very, very hot and humid country, like very humid.

I remember every time I land there, it [00:03:00] doesn't even take two minutes and I'm already sweating and my, clothes are like all sweaty and wet. So yeah,

Claus Lauter: Already a good overview of the country is, tell me a bit more about the Bengali culture.

Urmi Hossain: it's a culture based on, family and tradition. So people like to, , get together in every situation that you can, and people get together a lot during festivities. , we like to share food and basically one thing that you will learn about the beauly culture is that no matter which house you go, you will never come out hungry like you'll be fed so well that you'll be full for the rest of the year.

, so it's a culture based on traditions, family, And people are proud , of the language. , cuz we celebrate, the international Bengali language on the, , 21st of February. people are very proud of, , Culture and tradition. And back in the days it was a country that was all together with Indian Pakistan.

So the fact that they have their own independence means a lot to them. And , we have also our traditional clothes. So we wear like sas, we [00:04:00] wear LANs or she camis, they're all like different things. But basically let's say if I have to, talk about salary's, just a piece of clothes where you.

Pretty much drop yourself around. , you need to learn the technique on how to wear it. , and yes, it's a culture which is based a lot , on family, and it's a very, I wanna say conservative culture. Like compared to the Italian culture, it's a culture based on group rather than like individualistic culture.

So everything that everyone does has to be, , The whole community, and it shouldn't be based just on you basically.

Claus Lauter: Okay. There are a big difference to the Western countries when it comes to things to. And to do in Bangladesh. What would you recommend for Traveler to.

Urmi Hossain: it's funny that you asked it because. Every time I went, I mainly went to two main cities, which, , were daca, that's the capital and Sila, that's where my parents are from. Usually like, those are the two places that I visit, but we always end up, because it's such a like family-oriented, country, we always end up like visiting, , [00:05:00] family and spending time with them.

, there are a couple of things to visit. Basically there's this seaside, which is called the Cox Baar, that everyone goes , and visit. , that's one place , to visit. And in terms of other things to visit, like I usually visit daca, which is the capital because it's the main city it's the main hub and everything happens there.

And I think the city itself, has its own beauty. And when you walk, in the city, you'll see there are like food stalls where you can buy straight food, which are pretty good. And I think as a country has developed a lot as well, where, even the shopping malls, they are much nicer now.

And people go there just to see like the beautiful clothes that they sell to eat there. And now they have also nice restaurants where people can go. And it became very globalized in a sense as well, because a lot of these restaurants are very, like, they have fusion food. Maybe it was a , close country before, but now it's much more open and you see like developing happening.

So there are a lot of things to visit and, but I would say like that are probably one of the two that I would suggest people to visit.

Claus Lauter: Okay. You touched [00:06:00] already on a very important, , topic. Always important when you're traveling. How's the Bengali food? What kind of taste can I expect there?

Urmi Hossain: It's a spicy food. I would say it's very spicy and we eat a lot of, , curry. So every dish that we make , there are a lot of spicy in it, and it's a very colorful cuisine. So we have every kind of dish. , we eat like vegetables, we have , dishes with eggs, we have dishes with, beef, chicken, curry, and we eat a lot of fish.

Like fish is very, , popular back in Bangladesh. And we can have different types of fishes. There are so many fishes out there that like, we can make a lot of dishes with that. We also eat biran, which is very, very popular. And so our food is very, , tasty and colorful, and every time you go to someone's house, you will never have one dish.

You will probably have at least 10 dish, and we usually eat all these things that I have said with rice, so rice. To be there. Like, it's mandatory. If you don't have rice then not Bengali. So people eat a lot of fries and it, this is [00:07:00] something that has always been there.

And like in anyone's house, you will have rice, and then you have all these little dishes like chicken, fish, beef that you have to eat along with your rice. So it's very important that you have rice in every person's house that you go away. That's so important.

Claus Lauter: Okay. No, sounds great. If I travel around in a country, what's the best way of transport?

Urmi Hossain: That's a very good question. that's the thing about Bangladesh. It's developed, but when it comes to transportation, so you do have like buses and stuff like that. But you have this like little cars that are sort of like taxis, but they're open, like the doors are open of this taxi.

They can only allow like two, three people inside. Those are another way , to travel around , the city. But the problem, They cannot go that far. It's very hard. , you, you should have a personal, , car when you're traveling, , within, , the country.

That's highly recommended, I would say, especially if you're new and you do not know anyone. It's always suggested that you know someone local. But I think the best way to travel within the city is [00:08:00] to have personal car or just travel within a taxi. , cuz at least, people can tell you like where to go and stuff like that.

Buses are very, very hard to get on and it's not recommended, I would say.

Claus Lauter: Now, when it comes to , different styles of traveling, mainly talking about solo travelers, individual travelers, adventure travelers, kind of the budget that you need to keep in mind to travel to Bangladesh? It's more on the expensive side or it's more on the cheaper side. How's that?

Urmi Hossain: It's definitely cheap to go there. I mean, the only expensive thing that will be your, travel ticket, depending on where you live, that could be very pricey. , especially for us, like I live in Canada. When we go there, it takes us. Two days to reach there. It can be pretty expensive.

They take like 1500, a little bit higher depending on the season. But once you're there it's not that expensive. Like everything is, very cheap when you make the conversion. The currency that they use is not as strong as the other currencies that we have worldwide.

So it does allow you to increase your purchasing power and it's cheap. there, Once you're there, basically.

Claus Lauter: One thing that I know about Bangladesh, and I'm sure [00:09:00] it's a hundred percent true, it's a very highly populated country, so I think there's about 160 million people living there. So it's, very densely populated. , how can I imagine that, I need to behave when I'm in the middle of the chaos that you in the beginning?

Urmi Hossain: Yes, it's very, very chaotic and it's highly densely, populated, that's for sure. And so even when you're walking on the street, like you will bump into people and the thing is Bangladesh, it's a country that has never been exposed to the Western world. If you come from a foreign country, people will notice you.

So that's one thing is that you will have people looking at you, people starting at you, because it's, new to. But they will be very welcoming when they see something that it's new, that it's different from them. And so they will come up to you. They might ask you questions or stuff like that, but when you go to a store, people will be very open and welcoming.

And to navigate, like honestly, I do think the best way just to have someone local to go around, , because it's such a chaotic, city country in itself. Make sure like when you're walking on the street just [00:10:00] to see properly where you're walking cuz no one follows the rules Walking in the street, there's so much traffic.

Like I cannot explain you how much traffic there is in the city because people are just walking everywhere. You also have like animals walking on the street out of nowhere. So it's better that you know exactly where you're walking. We do have a lot of accidents , because of the lack of regulations and stuff like that when it comes to walking on the street.

But it's better to. Just be with someone that knows , the area so that you can go around easily

Claus Lauter: Okay. Language do I need to have to get around? 

Urmi Hossain: The main language is Bengali, of course, , but English is also very well spoken, because it is like a language that is taught at school. So if you know English, you are more than enough, like people will understand you, people will reply you in English, and everyone knows how to speak English over there.

Claus Lauter: Okay. Now, as a traveler being around the world, you're obviously, , trying , not to make too many mistakes. When you come to a new country, to a new society, are there any kind of rules or recommendations from your side what you should strictly avoid?

Urmi Hossain: Strictly [00:11:00] avoid, , I don't have something that you would strictly avoid. I think my only recommendation is that in these type of countries, if you're going for the first time, it's always better that you know someone that will take you around. That's highly recommended for me, especially because you do not know the language.

You do not know the people. It's like, yes, we do. Get tourist, but it's not a touristic place as other countries, like Mexico or the states. So it's always recommended that you know someone local there, they can really guide you. They can like, take you around.

They will be like your guide throughout the whole journey that you stay there. That's highly, highly recommend it. And especially when you're going out in the evening, that's also very recommended that you go out with someone just in case you And of course, depending on the season, they should go.

Like there are seasons where it's like, there are heavy, heavy rainy seasons. , I would suggest not to go during that moment of the year. We just had, , not too long ago, it was probably like two, three months ago, we had very heavy, , rainy seasons and everything was flooded. And so for instance, My uncle was [00:12:00] like traveling on a boat just to go from like on one side of the city and it's not fun and people were lacking, you know, electricity, food and stuff like that.

So don't go during those periods. , and it's a little bit like in other countries as well, like in South America you shouldn't go during a certain period of the time because there are hurricanes. It's scene for Bangladesh as well. just to make sure that you. Double check when it's the best time to go.

But I would say that my biggest recommendation would be just to have someone, you locally once you arrive there. Other than that, you should be fine. It's a country that it's to travel and that's, if you're traveling alone, but if you travel with family and stuff like that, the everything should be.

Claus Lauter: Okay. For a first time visit to Bangladesh, what kind of timeframe would you recommend?

Urmi Hossain: I always think one week is too less. , I would say at least two to three weeks, depending on where you wanna go. If you wanna just be in one city, I think two weeks is okay. If you wanna see the whole country, then probably give yourself four weeks, so you can see it pretty well.

Claus Lauter: Okay. That sounds great. I think it's a very good overview and introduction into Bangladesh. , I am [00:13:00] least now curious to go there and check it out for myself. Where can people. Out more about you.

Urmi Hossain: I do have a blog, which is called My ways.ca. I have , a YouTube page, which is called the YouTube channel, which is called sen, and that's. Basically my full name people can also connect with me on LinkedIn , and I also have published a book, which is called Discovering Your Identity, A Report from Interracial Struggle, which is available on Amazon.

Claus Lauter: Okay, cool. I will put all the links in the show notes as always and adjust one click away and people can reach you there directly. Thank you O for giving us a bit of insight into Bangladesh. I think that was very interesting to learn a bit of a country that is normally not on the main travel list, and maybe it'll become at some point, Thanks so much for your time.

Urmi Hossain: Thank you.