Mamun's Village

September 13, 2010 Upon return from our vacation in Sylhet and Srimangal we were invited to our friend's village for a belated Eid celebration - our friend, Mamun, is a waiter at our favorite restaurant, Tava - conveniently located across the street from our apartment. His brother-in-law picked us up outside our apartment in a nice van and we drove for about an hour while dancing to Hindi/Bollywood/Bangladeshi music and enjoying the views as we left Chittagong in the rear-view mirror (don't get me wrong, I love Chittagong but I'm more of a country/small-town girl!). Our day was very relaxed and mostly consisted of eating lots of food and drinking Cha with Mamun's family and friends. We found his family to be very welcoming and genuine. His village was the nicest of villages we've visited in Bangladesh although he kept apologizing about the status of his family. We weren't quite sure how to react to these comments but we assured him that we were overly happy to be visiting his village and continually reminded him how nice his village was - they had running water, several houses for the many families, and they were well educated - most of his family members spoke English (almost none of the locals from the other villages spoke English). This humility was was just another sign of his genuine friendship and hospitality. Our day started with snacks (fruits and michti - sweets) then a tour through a few homes as we made our way down to the beach, then a photo shoot prompted by one of Mamun's friends, a late lunch back at the village --- chicken, rice, dol, roti, curried eggs, etc., then more cha and talking then a trip down the Road of Temples before returning home. Here are pictures from the day - if only I could have captured the smells and sounds of the village as well :) Sweet, salt air and palm trees blowing in the breeze as a storm moved in....this was by far the best day I've had in Bangladesh upon arrival and have no doubt it will forever be my favorite memory of this country and a newly-formed friendship.

 

Mamun's village - taking a break :)

 

Walking out to the beach - gorgeous! the air even smelled of the salty beach :)

 

The group on the beach (Mamun's friends with Sara, Me, Michelle, Kristen, and Katie)

 

Mamun and I out by the beach

 

one of Mamun's friends insisted we have a photo shoot on the beach -- that's him behind us - coaching us :)

 walking through parts of the village on our way back for lunch

while we were chatting in the sitting area one of the women insisted the children were bothering us and sent them outside - only to pop up at the window :)

 Mamun and his family - so cute!

 after visiting Mamun's village we drove a few kilometers to the Road of Temples - after a short hike up a hill we were rewarded with great views of spectacular temples - and met these nice ladies who wanted a photo shoot with the Americans

the temple