Myles Away From Home

I am now back in Ottawa, where the sun is shining and it is summer! The weather wasn’t that cold in Anchorage, but it certainly wasn’t summer weather. It was more like early spring. A quick summary of my trip:

2 brew pubs
4 moose sightings
5+ glaciers
18+ hours of daylight
20+ seals
50+ sea otters

Today I had no plans, so I decided to go be a tourist. Just like everyone else around here! Anchorage is abuzz with summer tourists, and you can generally spot them a mile away. I’ve seen a few sights already, so today I drove out to the Alaska Native Heritage Centre, and then to Earthquake Park.

And it was glorious! You may be thinking to yourself that is a bit of a strong sentiment for a little bit of sunshine, but this is about the second time I have see blue sky since I arrived, nearly two weeks ago. The newspaper has had two articles on the summer weather since I’ve been here. The first said that this summer has been cooler than average. The second said that July in Anchorage has seen record rainfall. There has been an inch of rain here this month, which is apparently high. I can tell you that it’s been raining off and on since I got here though. I lived through the rainiest July ever in Anchorage! It’s definitely going down in history books.

I’m not sure what I expected of Alaska. A great white baron North I suppose. It’s a place I’ve never really thought about; it’s always just kind of been there, on the map. I had never thought about coming to Alaska, and as a result never put much thought into what it’s like here. Well, I am discovering that it is not a great white baron North, and far from it! In fact, it is very green at this time of year. The lilacs and the daisies are both in bloom (as a result of the short but accelerated growing season), the trees are green and the vegetation is really very lush.

I have been in Anchorage for 3 days now, and have spent a lot of that time working. That’s what happens on business trips! I am hoping that this weekend I will get a chance to see some sights, at least in Anchorage. There is so much to see and do here, it’s incredible. Alaska is an adventure-tourist paradise (especially if you are into fishing). I’ve posted a few photos, but I haven’t really had a chance to take many yet. There will be more to come!

Hey Folks! It's been a while since I've written a post, but then it's been a while since I've been anywhere other than Ontario! My last trip was slightly more exotic, but this one will also be interesting. I'm off to Anchorage, Alaska on Monday afternoon, where I will stay for 2.5 weeks. This is supposedly the best time of year to go to Alaska, and I hope to make the best of it! I will have two weekends, and two extra days at the end to see a bit of Alaska...as long as I haven't got work to do on the weekends!

Today is my last day in Dhaka! I will be at the airport in less than 12 hours, and then back in Ottawa about 27 hours later. I am looking forward to being home – and I am quite happy the snow is all gone! Not so happy about the Sens losing in 4 straight, but what can you do. I think we all expected that. It has been exceedingly hot here lately, even the locals are saying there is a heat wave...highs of 35-40C. It will be good not to need perpetual air conditioning. Now to tell you what I have been doing for the last few busy days…

Happy New Year (Shubha Nababarsha)! Today (April 14) is Bengali New Year (Poila Boishakh), and it marks the start of the year 1415 in Bengali culture. The festivities take place throughout the country, and also in parts of India. Two of my coworkers took me out to see some of the festivities that take place. Picture Canada Day in Ottawa, but with soooo many more people.

You may or may not have seen news headlines lately, pertaining to riots and protests in Bangladesh, and in Dhaka specifically. There have been a few disturbances lately, although I’m not sure how often such things occur. And I have only found out about them through the media, both national and international.

Today I had a tour of the city of Dhaka. It was arranged and given by members of the project team, which was very generous of them! We started at the hotel at 9am, where a driver and two others (Touhed and Nipa) picked me up. First stop was the parliament buildings (Sangshad Bhaban), which were built in the early 1940’s and designed by an American architect. Very interesting design, as you will see by the photos! There are also residences for parliamentary staff nearby. We also went to a memorial for one of Bangladesh’s Prime Ministers.