This is a compilation of clips from my ride to the American Club from home today. It takes place almost exclusively in the very nicest areas of Dhaka, so I wouldn't call it representative of the city. However, it is representative of this wealthy enclave, and it gives a decent idea of what a rickshaw ride is like. There is a good mix of quite poor people and extravagant houses. Many of the workers are women, and for the most part it is all unskilled construction labor.
The ride takes me from a few blocks from my apartment in Baridhara out the back gate (catch the rebar cutting safety precautions) to a small shopping area, over to the rickshaw bridge (there are a few seconds of the "lake"), past the Baridhara DOHS gates (which is on the bridge), into Gulshan 2, onto and across Gulshan avenue and finally to the American Club. All in all probably around a mile and a half. This was taken on a Friday which is the off day for most of this Muslim country so things are comparatively empty in the streets. Still, you can get the general idea, and people are doing basically the same things, there are just less of them. Watching this it was funny to note how many people are almost literally doing nothing. There is plenty of hanging out time around here.
The video is about four and a half minutes long, edited down from the full 10 minute ride. For his services I gave the rickshaw-walla 32tk, or about 45 cents.
Sorry in advance for the bumpiness of the camera, but these rickshaws are pretty rickety. I've got a lot to say about this but I am planning a long post about rickshaws, why I think they are a terrible mode of transportation and why I would be sad if I never got to ride in one. Also, the song, "Bury Me with It" by Modest Mouse, has a couple moments of foul language, though I liked it for its appropriate energy and lyrics.
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