Worldcook's reis naar de Chittagong, Bangladesh

WORLDCOOK'S REIZEN - CHITTAGONG (Bangladesh)

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	Click HERE for more about Chittagong's surroundings
	We went to Chittagong to visit the wedding of our friends. The bride was the most beautiful bride I have ever seen in my life, and obviously happy. The first wedding I saw was an arranged marriage; the bride was sitting like a porcelain puppet on a chair. She never even smiled once, notwithstanding little nieces and nephews dancing on her lap and pulling her hair. She looked like paralyzed with fear. This bride, as you can see for yourselves, is radiant and looks forward to her future.
The population of Chittagong is mixed, descending from Arab, Afghan and Mogul origin, and even people from Portuguese background still live there. The Chittagong dialect (Chatgaiyan Buli) is very different from Bengali, even though the writing is the same. In this dialect you can find a lot of Arabic words, as well as Portuguese and Hindi words, and many names in Chittagong are of Arabic background. Already in the seventh century, a Chinese traveler described Chittagong as "a sleeping beauty emerging from mist and water". Part of the city dates back from the beginning of the 13th century, when the Muslims conquered Bengal and settled down in this nice and accessible spot close to the sea. From the middle of the 16th to the middle of the 17th Century, the Portuguese practically reigned Chittagong. The Moguls conquered the city in 1666. In the 18th and 19th century, the British were reigning India and its surroundings and Chittagong lost its first position to Calcutta. Chittagong has many beautiful buildings, mosques and shrines that show its long history. One of the mosques we found in Chittagong was the Shahi Jama-e-Masjid. This mosque dates back from 1670 but was enlarged in 1950. As it had been recently painted in extremely bright colors, it looked more like a place for a festival than a place of worship; the view from the top was beautiful, though. In the city there is another "place of worship", an artificial lake full of animals that look most like sea turtles. People told me that they actually are sea turtles and that it is a miracle that they live in the sea water. Part of the miracle is are obviously a crowd of Bangladeshi, who try to feed the turtles from a stick, believing that your wishes will be granted when the animal accepts the food. They believe that the animals were created by God, when the pious Bustam was plagued by evil spirits upon arrival in this town when he said his first prayers, and demanded his God to find a solution for the spirits. Becoming a water turtle and being fed rubbish on sticks seemed an apt punishment. During the Second World War, the town was used as a military base by the British, and consequently got bombarded by the Japanese. The Burmese front was all too close to Bangladesh and the river Quai around the corner. The World War II memorial cemetery has graves of European, Australian as well as Japanese soldiers. We even found one grave of a Dutch boy, his name indicated he came from Indonesia. Sadly, most of them were barely 20 years old when their live was brutally ended. Chittagong is Bangladesh's largest seaport, and all the export and import over sea go through this harbor. This area used to be a Portuguese enclave and it is still mainly a Christian area. The old city is around the harbor and it is a very nice area to walk around, full of fish sellers and shops with nets and other items fishermen might need; there is also a large fish market. Furthermore, it is also a commercial and manufacturing center and there is a lot of activity going on. This is probably the reason why many expats are temporarily or permanently stationed here. There are also many schools, universities and colleges.