The Buriganga River runs through Dhaka, Bangladesh. Friends and I visited the Sadarghat Boat Terminal. Bangladesh is a nation of rivers. Much of the country is under water. During the monsoon, nearly all of it is under water. Bangladesh has a lot of boats. Thousands of crafts congregate at the Sadarghat Boat Terminal. Big ships, little ships and tiny dugout canoes ferrying goods and people across a river as wide as the Mississippi. The entrance to the terminal is a simple opening in the fence. Commuters stream through a gate and down a muddy slope to the water?s edge. Men sitting at an old wooden table collect a fee of 10 Taka (5 cents US). A marching band dressed in full uniforms with green caps and gold epaulets appeared. They carried their instruments as if ready to strike up a tune. I asked them to play, and for a few Taka play they did! Not good, but they sure could make noise. The scene at the waters edge is a bit like a cabstand. Hundreds of hand-paddled gondola similar to those you might see in Venice crams onto the beach. We climbed aboard and sat on straw mats thrown on the deck as the oarsmen shoved off. His one oar provides the power. It was like bumper cars. The big ships don’t pay much attention to the little ones. Our canoe constantly crashed into other canoes, or dodged the larger ships, which were trying to squeeze in. It is amazing to see how much stuff they can cram onto their boats. Some vessels were so full of cargo, water nearly came up over the gunwales. Why they don’t sink is a mystery. Larger boats with diesel motors can carry passenger or cargo. After several near collisions we returned to shore.
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