Bangladesh Candy

The various packaged sweet and treats here in Bangladesh can be interesting. Very few homes have ovens so anything baked such as cake, cookies, muffins, crackers, etc are common packaged treats. Bengalis especially seem to like these little packaged muffin singles with this wee little bit of custard in the centre (below).

(Packaged Muffin - 10 cents)

(Hard Candy - 1 cent)

("Fresh Chicken Sticks" with a package of ketchup included inside for dipping - 13 cents)

Ever want a Coca-Cola corn puff bar (I like that they have the Pepsi symbol with Coca-Cola written in the middle and all over the front).  It is very common to see a few brands mixed together on one product. I have been deceived a few times buying something that I quickly find out after the fact is not actually legit.

(Gimme a Break, Gimme a Break, Break me off a piece of that Nic-Nac Bar)

(Looks just like the Cadbury Dairy Milk [50 cents] - But just have a taste.... [Elson - 20 cents])

One treat that I especially enjoy is the Cornellos or Carnival Cones (Ice Cream Drumsticks), especially on a hot day [45 cents].

The problem with all these wrapped treats is that there is litter everywhere as there is no real garbage collection system or awareness of littering.

(The canteen on the campus where I buy many of my treats)

Jon

Pile Work (33 Piles Complete)

Pile work is well underway on the project. 33 piles have been completed over the past 6 days with three crews up and running (375 piles total).  A fourth crew is due on site any day.  Our aim is to get 8+ piles completed per day, although this may be somewhat optimistic during this rainy season and Ramadan (July 11- Aug 11th: the workers do not eat or drink during daylight hours. Then they take a two week holiday after Ramadan.)

(Line up the Rig above the Concrete/Steel pile points)

(The chisel starts boring)

(They keep adding extra pipe sections to get to depth)

(Once to the desired depth boring stops and they wash the bore hole until the waste water is fairly clean. Depth mark seen in red on the bore pipe.)

(Bending, Tying & Welding the steel cages)

(Placing the steel cage into the borehole)

(Filling the hole with concrete - from bottom to top through this pipe) 

(The site gets desperately muddy - thankfully I picked up a pair of rubber boots in town)

(Working into the night - this bore had a small collapse so they had to re-bore and cast that night to ensure no further failures.)

Jon

Ship Breaking

Ever since my first flight over ship breaking when flying from Dhaka to Chittagong I have wanted to check this place out firsthand. Everyone has been telling me, that it was possible to go about 10 years ago, however since a few documentaries showing how bad these places are for the workers and environment no foreigners have really been allowed, to keep the press down.  This past weekend I was looking for a few heavy hydraulics that are only available around the shipbreaking area. I went with a local store owner who deals in the parts I was looking for. This guy also happened to deal in a ship breaking scrap business. After I purchased my hydraulic equipment he took me for a tour of one of the shipbreaking yards. The materials that come off these ships is quite interesting.  There is a part of town that just deals with parts and pieces that are broken and pulled off old ships (lifejackets, lights, furniture, commercial kitchen equipment, canned goods, pressure vessels, pipes, lifeboats, motors, electronics, stainless steel, brass, aluminum, etc).  The major material from the ships is their steel which is used primarily for making rebar for construction projects. The size and quantity of the ships I could see up and down the coast was unbelievable. My guide told me there were around 120 breaking yards in that area.

(Ships all driven onto the beach at high tide)

(All along the coast just North of Chittagong for miles)

(The ship is then cut apart)

(Large chunks are cut off)

(A winch machine pulls the pieces into shore for easier cutting)

(Natural gas and oxygen torches)

(Large propeller being cut down)

(Old hydraulics pulled off the ships)

(Equipment pulled off the ships)

(A Load of lifejackets heading for town)

Jon

Layout Checking

The building layout has been finalized for all the pile works. We thoroughly check the layout last Friday with only a few minor adjustments. All the pile points are set with a two foot piece of rebar driven into the ground for centre - encased by a 6" concrete cap to ensure these points are not disturbed during surrounding work. The water tanks are now ready after a couple days of workers digging in the mud. Pile boring is to start first thing in the morning for two crews. The third crew should be ready to start the Wednesday.

(Jon - Checking Pile Levels - with Contractor)

(Holly - Measuring Pile Points - with Consultant)

(Checking Grid Line Measurements)

(Digging Water Tank for Pile Boring  - Surveying Pile Points)

(Pile Boring Rigs Setup On Site)

Jon

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Homeward Bound (Holly)

I dropped Holly off at the airport yesterday for her three week trip home. I'm sad to see her go, but it's good to keep in touch with our families and supporters to share what is happening in Bangladesh. The work on site has been steadily picking up over the past few weeks so I am sure the time will go by quickly. It's a good thing we have a cook/cleaner, so Holly doesn't have to worry about what I will be eating while she is away or what state the house will be in when she returns (at least not too much).

Holly's first flight from Chittagong to Dubai (flydubai - discount airline) there was close to 200 people on board, she was the only woman. At least they gave her the entire front row (3 seats). Mainly migrant workers from Bangladesh that work in the middle east use this route.

(Chittagong Airport)

 

(Seeing Holly off - Escalator to Customs/Immigration)

Jon

Passports Returned

After more than 8 months we finally have our passports back in hand. Just in time too because in three days (July 21st) I will be heading home to PEI for a few weeks!  We handed over our passports during the first week we were in Bangladesh (November 2012) to apply for extension of our NGO visas.  Apparently, our applications (not our passports) got lost during processing somewhere between Dhaka and Chittagong and we had to start the process from scratch.  We were notified mid May that our visas were extended until June 30, 2013 (the business year end and 45 days away) so we applied for the third time for extension.  Happily, our new visas are valid until June 2014.

I am looking forward to spending time with family and friends and enjoying the beach without sweating in a shalwar kameez.  Jon will meet me mid August in Dubai for a few days before returning to Bangladesh.  We may check out the indoor skiing hill since we missed winter of 2013 or slide through a glass shark tank at Atlantis theme park.

Holly

Building Layout

The contractor has arrived on site and started to layout the building this week. This is an exciting step as it means that everything is squared away and we are ready to start the construction work. The building layout method that they use here is quite different to the typical way a survey crew would complete this same work back in Canada.  No survey equipment used, only a tape measure and clear water hose to check levels. They have welded rebar to the surrounding security fence at a set level and have been stringing wires along all the gridlines.   It makes for a bit of a maze to get around the site.

(Setting layout lines - string lines)

The crushed stone and sand have started to arrive from Syhlet (24 hour drive away on the Indian border). They load the trucks to well over twice the allowable limit on PEI (+35 M.ton). This makes it a challenge to keep adequate access roads during the rainy season.

(Material stockpile yard)

The Pile Testing was completed at the end of June.  The results were very positive in that the soil conditions are suitable for the updated structural design. There was less than 1.5mm of net settlement at double the design load.

(Test pile ballast ready for testing)

(The corner was starting to sink a little so I wanted to do my part to pick it up )

(Testing pressure gage)

(27 hours of straight testing)

(below the sandbag pile taking readings)

(Hydraulic Jack with settlement gages)

(After testing - tearing down the sand bag pile)

Jon

America - Bangladesh Friendship Day 2013

This past weekend our friend Milky from Cox's Bazaar had a get together for those of us working on the new hospital project and called it "America - Bangladesh Friendship Day".  We each were given hats and t-shirts for this full day event.  Starting with brunch, a beach visit, pool time, late lunch, beach drive and awards. It was fun to get away for the day, although with the contractor there it was not all play, we are still working out some project details. Holly and I won a horse statue at the awards raffle that is now sitting on our mantle in our home. It was funny that a number of people that saw our group were actually asking us if "America - Bangladesh Friendship Day" was an actual thing happening that day. A unique & fun experience.

(Friendship Day group - Milky - the man in the front middle)

(Jon wearing his new hat and shirt) 

(Beach time is a bit different from back home, we go put our feet in the water and leave. This seems to be somewhat typical here. The sand was extremely hot when away from the water. Holly brought her soccer ball hoping to play some ball.)

(Pool visit at the Seagull Hotel)

(Prize draw at an outlook in Inani)

Jon

Bangladesh Critters

Bangladesh is a country of many new experiences for us.  One of these experience is the vast variety of unique critters. Even the country's name gives a hint to this as in the Bangla Language the word "Bang" is for from the word Frog and "desh" is country. So basically Bangladesh could be crudely translated to "Frog Country" or "The Country of Frogs". And now that we are started into the rainy season I see why. This place is hopping and humming with these guys. Frogs are just a start though to what we come across on a daily basis. Most encounters I believe are harmless, but occasionally I would be out working on the site and we come across a bug that the workers quickly take a brick and kill as they say else it may try to kill you. Or if I'm walking across a field at night and a guard would come running out with his flashlight to make sure I don't walk into a poisonous snake. Although the most harmless bugs are often the most annoying such as Cockroaches, Mosquitoes and Ants (when I say harmless I guess they really are not that harmless as we could contract Malaria from the mosquitoes, Cockroaches are carriers lots of bacteria and the ants can have a wicked bite). Thankfully we have a home that is well screened so with regular work we can keep the incidents of bugs comparatively low within our house.

(Every night we have one or two frogs in our front porch eating the hundreds of bugs that collect around the light - this is a fat one)

(A big spider in the shower - I believe it is a wolf spider with an egg sack. We typically leave most spiders so they can eat the cockroaches and mosquitoes)

(another large spider that is always hanging out by the pool)

(Some really large beetles around.  They really make a loud noise when they hit the windows at night.)

(Some type of scorpion? out on our front porch)

(A small snake out on the front porch - only about a foot long)

(stick bug? on a wall in our house.)

(Another large random spider on our porch) 

(We have a few families of Tik-Tikies (geckos) that roam our house keeping the bug population down. Here is a baby that is missing most of his tail. Most are roughly 5 inches long. They are fairly amazing in that they can move along basically every surface including across the ceiling)

(Holly's arch nemesis.... the cockroach... 

ever since a few tried to crawl into bed with her... successfully)

(Large snails - about the size of my fist)

Termites are another issue here. One evening we were having a nap for only 15 minutes then when we turned the light on there were hundreds of termites crawling all over our bedroom floor. Needless to say we go through a steady supply of insect sprays.

Jon