Driving Lessons

Yesterday was spent traveling from Dhaka to Kurigram, we rented a van with AC, we had 7 passengers and lots of bags squeezed together, for a long long drive. The majority of the road is large enough for one bus in each direction, but no one wants to wait behind the slower rickshaws, auto-rickshaws, CNGs, buses, trucks, tractors so there is a lot of passing. It's okay to pass (even when the line is solid, even around blind corners, even with oncoming traffic) if you just honk a lot. Nasiha in the back seat laughed each time Frida and I shook our heads in disbelief.
I kept thinking of Richard Scary's books, the scene was chaotic with vehicles made out of everything, full of everything, going every which way. The street is lined with markets, eating places, welding and carpenter shops. There were many brick factories (where people sit under umbrellas manually breaking bricks) and rice fields. People use little ponds along the road for bathing, washing clothes, washing cows, fishing, etc...
This morning we took rickshaws to the bus to Chilmari were we took a boat to the Emirates Floating Hospital (EFH). We stopped at a char (island in the river) and visited a satellite clinic. The chars are temporary islands that are formed by the river, once a new island appears it takes around 2-6 years to become cultivatable. According to my hosts, gundas (mafia) claim the char (it is hypothesized the gov gets a cut) and parcel it out to the settlers who use it for growing jute, corn, and rice. The settlers also work in nearby towns as rickshaw pullers. When the river takes away the char, the settlers loose their land. This is still more affordable than land on the mainland.
The children on the char came to see us, and followed us to the boat, we were like the pied piper, I included photos.