Salma and I made a 5-day trip to Rajshahi last week to visit some of Azfar's family there. On our way there, we could see effects of the flooding. Many of the green fields that I saw by the road on our last trip were either heavily waterlogged or completely underwater. Some of the worst flooded spots stretched for miles--I couldn't see any dry land except for the road we were on. In Rajshahi, Azfar's sister Rosy took us to the Padma River one evening, and we could see how overflowing it was as well. The last time we saw it, it was barely a trickle. This time it was almost overflowing its banks. We enjoyed watched the sunset cascading over the river.
We also met a baoul musician (see the last photo) at the riverside (they live rather ascetic lives and their philosophy mixes music and religion). Also, Salma had a great time playing with her cousins Rupunty, Abundy and Nil. The downside of the trip was that it was SO HOT. Rajshahi is famous for its scorching hot summers. On top of that, the electricity was going off all the time. It was so hot at night that it felt like the sheets were burning. So in order to be able to sleep, I had to drench a towel in water and lay on it. Now that's hot! Anyway, that's it for our adventures out of Dhaka for right now. We decided to wait until December to take our trip to Delhi, when there's
cooler weather. So for the rest of this break we're just hanging out in Dhaka, trying to catch up on some work and spending some time with our family here.
Salma and I made a 5-day trip to Rajshahi last week to visit some of Azfar's family there. On our way there, we could see effects of the flooding. Many of the green fields that I saw by the road on our last trip were either heavily waterlogged or completely underwater. Some of the worst flooded spots stretched for miles--I couldn't see any dry land except for the road we were on. In Rajshahi, Azfar's sister Rosy took us to the Padma River one evening, and we could see how overflowing it was as well. The last time we saw it, it was barely a trickle. This time it was almost overflowing its banks. We enjoyed watched the sunset cascading over the river. 
We also met a baoul musician (see the last photo) at the riverside (they live rather ascetic lives and their philosophy mixes music and religion). Also, Salma had a great time playing with her cousins Rupunty, Abundy and Nil. The downside of the trip was that it was SO HOT. Rajshahi is famous for its scorching hot summers. On top of that, the electricity was going off all the time. It was so hot at night that it felt like the sheets were burning. So in order to be able to sleep, I had to drench a towel in water and lay on it. Now that's hot! Anyway, that's it for our adventures out of Dhaka for right now. We decided to wait until December to take our trip to Delhi, when there's 
cooler weather. So for the rest of this break we're just hanging out in Dhaka, trying to catch up on some work and spending some time with our family here.
