Srimongal Day 3

On our last day we went for a walk through some (Christian) tribal villages in the area - where betel (nut) trees are cultivated, pork is eaten, and toddy drunk

pig acting as a goat bed

It was kind of odd.  A village which had received a lot of external help, and where the majority of people are out at work feels quite strange.

More tea gardens, this time in a CNG

 

 

 

To get to a very popular tourist spot lake

honeycombs

delicious pineapple expertly peeled using a foot-knife

milkman

 

'our' local restaurant - recommended

Pineapple hills

A rest and wash and back to Sri Mongal for lunch (we also visited what our guide called a meany jew (mini zoo) which was heartbreaking - the less said the better.

 

This man demanded this photo

 Transport

 

 

 

rickshaw art

Just waiting for my train

Inventive way of carrying bottles

We had a great visit to Srimongal, if hot and tiring.  We particularly liked using rickshaws and CNGs instead of being in a car all the time, which allowed the smells to wash over us, and as we were not stationary in traffic the heat was not an issue. The trains were also a great way to travel.

The green lushness of the tea gardens seemed to be a balm against the heat, and against Dhaka life.  We could see that the tea pickers had a tough job, and had expressed our admiration for that.

Later in Dhaka at a presentation by SEHD http://www.sehd.org/ - I found out some very startling information - Bangladeshi tea workers are paid 60 taka per day. Not per hour, per day (about 65 eurocents or fifty pence), 6 days per week.  You can't call it bonded labour, as they are free to go, but they are landless and illiterate and from originally from 30+ Indian tribal groups, there is nowhere else for them, so they remain bound to their lives in the tea gardens.

http://www.sehd.org/news/sehd-news/81-the-eu-ambassador-visited-tea-communities-in-their-labour-line-in-srimongol