We have arrived in Dhaka, Bangladesh!

According to the Save the Children Bangladesh Country Office Briefing's Country Description, "Bangladesh is a small country with nearly 150 million people...In recent years, Bangladesh has improved child and maternal mortality rates, reduced population growth, increased the number of children enrolled in school, and has already reached the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of gender parity in education. However, despite these gains, Bangladesh remains one of the poorest countries in the world with approximately 45% of the population living below the poverty line. Over a third of the population is under the age of 18 and almost seven million children between five and 14 have to work to help their families survive."

My mother and I left for our adventure in Bangladesh early on Sunday morning from JFK airport in New York City. The flight to Dubai was about twelve hours, and for the most part in the dark. During the last two hours though, we got to watch the sunrise.


It was too hazy to see much when we landed, but the airport itself is as crazy as I've heard the humanmade islands and city are. Among the odd decorations were space ships and fizzy-looking light fixtures.

Also, I had to take a picture of this excellent North Face rip-off
This was the best picture (below) I could get over Dubai as we left. That island there is being made with sand that is being pumped out to sea.

We flew across India to get to Bangladesh, which was amazing when we could see it. There were beautiful mountains and ravines.
After so much desert, Bangladesh looks positively juicy. Even from the air it looks lush and vibrant. You could see the rice fields and ponds as we landed.