Srimangal

5/2-5/3

My two days in Srimangal were packed of activities. The first day consisted of a visit to a Tea Estate, a Lotus Lake, the Khasia Village, a pineapple farm, lunch and an easy walk through the Lawachera Natonal park with another traveler, Mark, and our guide, Tapas. As we walked through the estate, Tapas mentioned that Srimongal is also known as the city of two leaves and one bud. This is what the pickers look for as they collect the leaves. The pickers aim to collect about 24 kg a day. Each kg is worth two taka, which is less than three cents. So a long day of work in the heat will earn them less than a dollar. Every kg they pick above 24 is worth one taka. The pay is so poor, the locals don't participate. The work is given to women shipped from Asam and Urrisam parts of India. The tour today ended with a roof truck ride to the national park and Khasia village. In the park, we found some phayres leaf monkeys and endangered orange bellied black squirrels. It looks as though I took a million pictures of trees but if you spy closely, you'll spot the arboreal creatures. The Khasia village was the base for bettle nut production. The leaves and nuts are grown, harvested and packaged here. The nut is equivalent to chewing tobacco. It's chopped, placed on a bettle leaf, topped with tobacco and lime, and chewed.

The next day was a serene boat ride around a wetland past lots of rice paddies. The people catch fish, crabs, collect medicinal herbs and harvest lotus fruit from the wetland. The best was getting away from the honking in the cities. After sending Mark (nicknamed by a local as "a golden smile as ageless as the sun") off on his delayed train with his black market purchased ticket, Tapas invited me to his home for dinner. If I didn't get out of the capital, I would never have met the real Bangladeshis: hospitable, kind and curious. 對事不對人：it's unfortunate I had to go through the passport ordeal but the people in this country are very special. Before Srimongal, I would never have considered returning to this country but now I'm not totally against it. Tapas, especially, is an amazing character. I was to take the 11:24 train tonight. Since Mark's was late, we already foretold mine would be too. However, we never imagined the extent to which it would be delayed. By the time it pulled in, it was nearly half past six the next morning and he had waited with me every minute of the night. What did we do those seven hours? We chatted about various things, drank lots of tea, sang songs and I mimicked this shop keeper's Bangla when we took shelter in his shop from the pouring rain. One chat that will stick with me was about identity. He would see me argue with locals who were determined I was from Japan, China, or Korea. Anywhere but USA really. He said they mean well even if they aren't smiling and they don't know I would get so upset. He advised me to be patient and explain about my whole background. They would understand and if not, don't take it to heart.

One other person I wanted to mention was this kid I met at the train station. He first came up to me when I was purchasing my ticket the afternoon I arrived in this city. He spoke surprising good and fast English. He was telling me a story about how his family could only afford one child in school and that child was his sister. He worked to help fund his sister and wanted me to give money to his cause. His story seemed so well-rehearsed, I didn't believe it. I met him again when Tapas and I sent Mark off. Tapas told us the same story and other details. His father is generally intoxicated and the poor kid has polio. He learned English from Tapas and also picked it up from all the foreigners coming in by train. He's always in the station selling different things. That night he was selling cold bottled drinks, yelling it out as he walked back and forth along the train. This kid is only twelve and he's obviously not the only one suffering. The poverty riddling the country leaves me completely speechless. What can I do to help long term? Should I believe every kid that walks up to me? If I do and it is a scam, am I perpetuating the problem?