One of the first things the seasoned Western traveler to Bangladesh will encounter is the lack of signage in English. To us here at WoWasis, it was most apparent beginning with the main train station in the country’s capital of Dhaka. There is zero signage in English and even the numbers are listed in Bengali. […]
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WoWasis book review: ‘The Ideal Man: The Tragedy of Jim Thompson’ by Joshua Kurlantzick
Here at WoWasis, we believe that there are at least two schools of thought on how best to live the expatriate experience in Asia. One we call “ping-ponging,” bouncing back and forth between one’s mother country and Asia. Regarding Thailand, one advocate who lives part-time in the U.S. states, “I go to Thailand, and after […]
Read the rest of this entry »A mad dash for university placement in Khulna, Bangladesh
Unversity exams in Bangladesh are critical to future success
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis makes a one-day visit to Puthia and the exceptional historical sites near Rajshahi and Bogra, Bangladesh
In addition to being a great respite from the craziness of Dhaka, the city of Rajshahi, seven hours to the west by train, is close to a number of significant historical sites, which lie within the area of Rajshahi to the west, and Bogra to the east. To best see them, hire a car and […]
Read the rest of this entry »Sharia follies continue in Indonesia’s Sumatra with proposed banning of face-forward female motorcycle riders
Ignorance remains bliss in Indonesia’s Aceh province in Sumatra as the city of Lhokseumawe has proposed a Sharia law that would ban female motorcycle passengers from riding face-forward. Deeming the position “improper,” according to the mayor, women now must ride side-saddle. Sumatra recently banned tight trousers on women, as reported in an article appearing in the […]
Read the rest of this entry »Bangkok traffic to get worse, fast, with new car-buying program now in force
Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s new first-time car buyer program, while solidifying future votes, will add an estimated 1.3 million vehicles to Thailand’s streets, much of it in already overcrowded Bangkok. It’s already being called a transportation nightmare, where gridlock slows incoming traffic to an average speed of 16.5 km per hour. A brainchild of […]
Read the rest of this entry »Dhaka, Bangladesh: the worst traffic in Asia?
Here at WoWasis, we hate traffic. No seriously, we really hate traffic. We do know of some workarounds, like taking the BTS Skytrain or MRT subway in Bangkok, and rarely going anywhere in town that’s not serviced by those, or water taxi routes. As bad as Bangkok is, we weren’t prepared for the traffic hell […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis Bangladeshi restaurant review: The Casuarina at the Naz Garden Hotel, in Bogra, Bangladesh
Here at WoWasis, we don’t do many restaurant reviews. There are too many, and too many websites doing that. It’s rare that we rave about a dining experience, but we’ve just got to tell you about this one because it was so unique. It’s the Casuarina restaurant located in the Naz Garden Hotel in the […]
Read the rest of this entry »Banisanta: a sex workers’ hell in Bangladesh
Just south of the southern Bangladeshi city of Mongla is a tiny town on the Pushur River, consisting of a number of houses and shops made of mud, straw, wood and tin. It’s called Banisanta, and it’s home to dozens of professional current and retired sex workers, mama-sans, barkeeps, shopkeepers, and their children. Its evolution […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: ‘The Dwarf,’ a Korean novel by Cho Se-hui
Originally written in 1978, Korean writer Cho Se-hui’s novel The Dwarf (2006, ISBN-10 0-8248-3101-2) isn’t an east grasp for westerners. The story represents characters in black and white, and the tale, of workers vs. management, is didactic. Two things helped us here at WoWasis through this otherwise well-crafted novel, translator Bruce Fulton’s afterword, and the […]
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