Dhaka is more than just a city, it is a giant whirlpool that sucks in anything and anyone foolish enough to come within its furious grasp. Around and around it sends them, like some wildly spinning fairground ride bursting with energy. Millions of individual pursuits constantly churn together into a frenzy of collective activity – it is an urban melting pot bubbling over. Nothing seems to stand still. Even the art moves, paraded on the back of the city’s sea of 600, 000-plus rickshaws, which throb with color and restlessness even when gridlocked.
It doesn’t matter how many times you experience this city, the sensation of being utterly overwhelmed is always the same. Sights and experiences come at you so thick and fast that it would take a lifetime to know this mega-city’s every mood. A day spent alternating between the filthy riverbanks of Old Dhaka and the swish restaurants of Gulshan is a day spent seeing the haves and have-nots of the world in crystal clarity. We can’t guarantee you’ll fall for Dhaka’s many charms, but sooner or later you will start to move to its beat and when that happens Dhaka stops being a terrifying ride and starts becoming a cauldron of art and intellect, passion and poverty, love and hate. Whatever happens, this is one fairground ride you’ll never forget.
Climate
Dhaka experiences a hot, wet and humid tropical climate. The city is within the monsoon climate zone, with an annual average temperature of 25 °C (77 °F) and monthly means varying between 18 °C (64 °F) in January and 29 °C (84 °F) in August. Nearly 80% of the annual average rainfall of 1,854 millimeters (73 in) occurs between May and September. caused by the city’s rapid expansion, congestion and industrial activities. Increasing air and water pollution emanating from traffic congestion and industrial waste are serious problems affecting public health and the quality of life in the city. Water bodies and wetlands around Dhaka are facing extinction as these are being filled up to construct multi-storied buildings and other real estate developments. Coupled with pollution, such erosion of natural habitats threatens to destroy much of the regional biodiversity.
Getting there & away
Land
Bus
The bus ‘system’ in Bangladesh teeters between mind-bogglingly chaotic and surprisingly organized. When you arrive at a bus station, you will be swamped by panic-stricken men shouting like auctioneers. When you so much as mutter your intended destination, you will be frantically shunted onto a bus as if it’s going to leave at any second, only to have to then wait for it to leave in its own sweet time. For your own safety and sanity, take the train if it’s possible.