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Peter’s NGO Work In Dhaka: The Good, The Bad, & The Dog That Ate My Passport

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Peter’s NGO Work In Dhaka: The Good, The Bad, & The Dog That Ate My Passport

Normally I’m not a fan of volunteer tourism. I don’t think it does much good beyond making the volunteer feel like a charitable person. But when I was planning my trip to Dhaka, I knew that it was going to be really hard to have an enriching or positive interaction with Bangladesh if I didn’t find some sort of something to plug in with.

What I found was JAAGO. 

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Peter Spends 2 Weeks In Dhaka's Slums (Bangladesh)

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Peter Spends 2 Weeks In Dhaka's Slums (Bangladesh)

Waking up in Dhaka I hear the ringing of bells on rickshaws, people yelling, and dogs barking. I am staying on the 9th floor of an office building that rises high over the slums on Dhaka’s southwestern outskirts. I look out the window, and I can see a rainstorm blowing in from the south. The Muslim call to prayer eerily wafts over the half-finished buildings all around me from the local mosques. 

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Peter's Introduction to Dhaka, Bangladesh: One of the World's "Least Livable Cities"

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Peter's Introduction to Dhaka, Bangladesh: One of the World's "Least Livable Cities"

Yes, Dhaka has consistently been ranked as the #1 most “unlivable” city in the world by publications like The Telegraph, Business Insider & etc. It is mostly competing with Harare, Zimbabwe for that title. I’ve been here for a little while now, and I can 100% understand why. Thanks to overcrowding, traffic, and muddy rivers running through the streets, it takes 3 hours to get from one side of the city to the other on a normal day. The commute is stressful, deafeningly loud, and always wet, due either to sweat or torrential rain. Kind of makes you just want to never leave home, if possible.

But let’s just start from the beginning.

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Peter Does Rangoon With A Local: Cocktails & Crocodiles

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Peter Does Rangoon With A Local: Cocktails & Crocodiles

This article is a brief guide to Rangoon's nightlife, as well as a final photo-log to this interesting city! And it's been moved! This article has become a city guide in it's own rite, so when you click on this article, you'll be prompted to visit this guide in its new location. 

(It's better this way, I promise) 

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Peter Asleep In A Boat On Inle Lake, Shan State (Burma)

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Peter Asleep In A Boat On Inle Lake, Shan State (Burma)

The canals looked like a low-key, Burmese Venice in the beginning, but as we got further out towards the actual lake, the building faded away quickly, giving way to miles and miles green grass, and scattered huts. Every once in a while I would see some construction vehicles working, and wondered how in the world they had even gotten that far out there in the first place.

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Peter Receives A Random Act Of Kindness In Mandalay (Burma)

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Peter Receives A Random Act Of Kindness In Mandalay (Burma)

I was picked up at 4:00am and driven to a little white van in Old Bagan with the words ‘OK Express’ printed onto the back windows. Sufice to say there was no sleeping that happened on that bus. We took dirt roads for 6 hours from Bagan to Mandalay. At one point I’m pretty sure we drove through a dried up riverbed. 

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Peter Makes New Friends In Bagan: Sign Language & Soccer Games

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Peter Makes New Friends In Bagan: Sign Language & Soccer Games

Bagan is a pretty picturesque place, but for me, these 9th century Buddhist ruins, cool as there were, were only part of the story. The people of Bagan were also awesome to interact with, which is sort of a rarity for a traveler. If we’re being honest here, most local people who talk to you when you’re traveling are trying to sell you something. It’s pretty rare to travel in the developing world and have somebody talk to you with no ulterior motive. You have to get pretty far off the beaten path for that. That is what makes Burma so great.

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Bagan: Peter Crawls Through 9th Century Buddhist Temples By Night (Burma)

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Bagan: Peter Crawls Through 9th Century Buddhist Temples By Night (Burma)

Bagan is an enormous temple complex, not unlike Angkor in Cambodia, about 430 miles north of Rangoon (Yangon). Unlike Angkor however, Bagan is still relatively unknown to tourists. Imagine going to Angkor 50 years ago, before backpacking became a thing. That is Bagan. Unlike Angkor Wat, there are no guards or signs. Literally the only rule is to take your shoes off before entering a temple. That is the Buddhist custom.

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