An Evening Out

Bangladesh is said to be the fourth most populous country in the World. When you see that the city states of Monaco and Singapore are numbers 1 and 2, and the tiny island of Malta is number 3 you can see that, in effect, Bangladesh is actually the No.1. And you only have to be here to understand why.

Dhaka is teeming with people. They are everywhere. Crowds on the streets, crowds in the shops. Even crowds along the roads in the quite prosperous quarter that holds my hotel. So what a surprise when I went out to supper last night.

Let me put it all into context. My boss here is Farook who, despite is name, is a resident of Washington DC. Sometime long in the past his family came from here, but he is an all-American boy. Farook had arranged to take me out to his club. Sounded interesting, as we drove (very carefully) along the streets trying to avoid the unlit motorised rickshaws that is the transport of choice here. Much to my surprise we only drove for two minutes, parked the car and walked through a small gate into…..a completely open space. This was about a block in area and, in Central Dhaka, would house a couple of thousand people. But all that was there was a swimming pool, a couple of tennis courts, an adventure playground for children and a clubhouse. For this was the American Club.

If we had any doubts that this was in fact the American club, a couple of seconds in the bar (in this devoutly Muslim country) would dispel them. Most of the people appeared to be drinking Margaritas, in my experience the beverage of choice for the American abroad. Yes, I do remember a very sore head in Abu Dhabi, trying to match an American colleague Margarita for Margarita.

The menu confirmed the impression. Absolutely no Bangladeshi dishes, but pizzas, cheeseburgers, ribs, fajitas galore. And, as I can testify, the French fries were pure McDonalds, and absolutely delicious of course. The menu was priced in dollars.

Me? I let the side down. I had a lovely kingfish en papilotte and a couple of bottles of Becks. But oh those French fries!