While Wes was here, we went on a three-day trip to Cox’s Bazaar, which is the longest unbroken sea beach in the world. We took the day bus to get there, leaving at 10am, and arriving around 8pm. That was a long trip, with Salma just about climbing the walls of the bus! Anyway, we immediately went down to the beach front to get some dinner and check out the shops. The next morning we went to the Buddhist monastery there (which had signs written in Burmese), and we also checked out the Burmese market. Wes got some really nice Burmese shirts. We were there at the high tourist time, so we were lucky that there was a circus going on. So we went to the circus there and Wes got to wrist-wrestle an elephant (see the picture), which was very cool. The elephant was just standing in a field outside the circus tent, with a chain around its foot. So Wes got brave and got up close. Our last day at Cox’s Bazaar we spent swimming in the sea, taking a speed-boat ride in the ocean, and shopping for pearls.
Here we are at the New Year's Eve party at the American club. Although the music could have been better, we had a nice evening out. Wes and I tried some swing dancing. Azfar got out on the dance floor to shake things up, too, with his Hussain-insane-in-the-brain moves. It was Urmi's first time at a New Year's party, so we pulled her out on the dance floor and she had a great time. But the most exciting part of the night was: they had a drawing for prizes, and Azfar and I won first prize! We got free round-trip airplane tickets from Dhaka to Nepal, for two people! We also got the last prize, which was a huge box of meat (very yummy!). Anyway, we're working on figuring out when we can go to Nepal--we'll keep you posted!
