The Grand Prince Hotel

We seem to have found a very nice hotel to stay in while we are here in Bangladesh. It is perfect for us since the Grand Prince Hotel is only a couple minutes walk from the Grameen Bank.

The staff here are very nice, most of them can speak a little English, so the language barrier is not that bad. Although sometimes it can be quite a struggle to get some things understood. There are also a lot of staff, so there is almost always someone there to help you. When you are walking through the halls or up and down the stairs everyone stops and opens doors for yours and says good morning to you. I find it kind of weird, not used to being treated like that.

The hotel has two restaurants which are both very nice. So far it is the only place we have eaten. There is one restaurant on the 8^th floor, which seems like it is more geared towards the interns. On the 3^rd floor is another restaurant, it is a little fancier. The one on the 3^rd floor also had a lot more locals in it. There was even a wedding going on in the back part of the restaurant!

We get free breakfast with our rooms at the upstairs restaurant. Breakfast every morning is tea, juice, cornflakes and milk, toast and eggs, flat bread (I don’t know the name of it – I asked “what is this called” and he thought I said “cold” so he brought me some warmer ones) and curry potatoes or chick peas.

For lunch so far I have had green curry chicken and red curry prawns – the prawns gave me some trouble since they still had their shells on. But both were very good, but my mouth was on fire though after the green curry. For dinner yesterday I had chicken masala with naan bread which was really good. Not too spicy and the naan bread is really good here! Generally the restaurant serves Chinese, Thai, Indian and Bengali food.

There is also the roof here. The pamphlet they put in the rooms says that it is the perfect place to go and enjoy the cold breeze. However, I have yet to feel the cold breeze they speak of. They have a nice patio and the gym and pool are also up on the roof. I have not yet tried the gym, it has a treadmill which will be my only source of running for the next couple weeks. I feel like any exercise will very quickly become a massive sweat bath in the heat. The pool I have also been hesitant to try, the water is nice and cold, but its also green...

The Rooftop Patio

The Gym and Sauna

The Pool

Finally down on the main floor and second floor of the hotel is a grocery store and clothing store! The lobby is on the 3^rd floor where they have wifi for 50 takas per hour (80 cents or so). They also provide a laundry service and airport pickup. The card in the room says that they will also hire cabs for us to tour the city though.

The rooms are a little bit smaller than the rooms in Saugeen for those who know what that is. Basically I get a little closet, TV and bed, there is a chair and coffee table, and a little fridge and washroom. The washroom is a square with the shower in the back left, the toilet in the back right and the sink in the front right. I have not figures out how to get the hot water, so far just luke warm showers. I actually find that the room is cold when i have the AC and the fan on, usually I find it is good to just have the fan on.

My Room:

The View from the Door

The Washroom

We have had a couple adventures to find ATMs that work with our bank cards. Ross eventually found one that works with his, I think I have found one, but it was out of cash when I went there. So hopefully it works next time I go, I am fine for money right now, I exchanged 100 US for 6,850 Takas at the airport so I am good for a couple days.

Cheers,

Mike