Upon Being Accomodated

I am staying at the Royal Park Hotel about 5 minutes from the Save the Children office here in Dhaka. It is 4:30 AM and I am not up, suprisingly, due to the effects of jet lag, but polishing up my training script for the new GPS PDA's that I smuggled into the country.

http://www.royalpark-bd.com/photo.htm

It happens to be the exact same room (205) that I've had each of the past two trips, which I am really pleased with since it is familiar to me. I could live in a closet, like I did in that tiny cabin the last 4 years. It is a small room, but it accommodates me. This is a fancy hotel. I had a chance to speak to the new Country Office Director here at Save and when he asked me how I liked it. I told him that I could afford to be a lot more uncomfortable for the price that they are paying to have me stay here. But, it is nearby and very secure. The traffic here is horrible, with what I saw in Cairo only being worse. Lee knows...

I mean, when you go into the restaurant and sit down, THEY lay the napkin on your lap and a waiter stands about 20 feet away watching you and filling your glass or removing your plate. I definitely do NOT like that stuff, not at all like the treatment I used to get at the truck stop restaurant in Niland, CA! For that reason I had room service last night night deliver me a chicken sandwich and fries so I did not have to endure the attention of the waiters. I sure whine a lot!



The point of a hotel while being away from one's home is to make one feel "at home". I enjoy traveling to see something different that my home, I mean, I've been there! I cannot wait to get out in the countryside of Barisal south of here. Lots of "wild west" river towns bordering the ferry landings here. I just get giddy when we pull up to those and my hosts indicate we will need ot walk into one the tiny restaurants (restaurant?) to have a meal. I typically get a small crowd of people standing near our table silently staring at me with curious looks. By smiling and making small gestures it is so easy ot gain their smiles and portray perhaps a different view of Americans that they might have. In turn, I am also being changed from my view of the actual people in Muslim countries that I have long held as fact based on watching and reading the media.