Plans for the Next Two Weeks

A quick update on what I have done:

Yesterday we went on a boat cruise on the Buringanga River in Dhaka, which was a very cool experience. It was very picturesque since we went around sunset, but it was a little sobering to see the state of the water and then see people swimming, bathing and washing in it. I found it odd that in the middle of all this was a immaculately kept mosque. On the other side were continuous ship yards, salvaging scrap from ships and repairing others.
and I have a very busy two weeks planned now:

Tomorrow (Wednesday) morning I am going to call the Indian Embassy, and figure out what I need, and then head there bright and early and apply for a tourist visa. Then hopefully I will be able to make it back to the Grameen Bank by 11am to meet with Grameen Fund. Grameen Fund provides larger loans which are outside the scope of what Grameen Bank provides to people. Then in the afternoon we are meeting with Grameen Capital Management, it is going to be our finance day.

Thursday - Sunday a group of 10 of us are renting a micro-bus for the weekend and driving 10 hours to Cox Bazar, which will come to a grand total of 16,500 taka, or about $25 each for the 4 days! Cox Bazar is the world's longest naturally occurring continuous beach! We will also be stopping in to see the Grameen Veolia plant - they are building water treatment facilities across India to provide clean, arsenic free, water to rural communities. They have only been operational for 8 months, so we are going to go see their first plant on the way to Cox Bazar. We come back Sunday night, and then Monday morning we head out again.

Monday - Tuesday we are heading to Bogra region to visit Grameen Healthcare - providing affordable eye treatment, Grameen Danone - providing affordable nutritious yogurt, and Grameen Fisheries - which i don't know too much about yet. We will also be able to see a Buddhist Monastery while we are there!

Wednesday we will hopefully be able to go see the Grameen Knitwear factory - they are building a bunch of factories and this is the first. The factories will provide well paying jobs, in much improved conditions using innovative building designs to reduce energy consumption from things like air conditioning.

And then Wednesday or Thursday  we will hopefully get a chance to meet Muhammad Yunus!!

Then Thursday afternoon I fly out to India - assuming I get my visa with no problems (I know a couple people who have been rejected). In India the plan is to fly in to Kolkata, then immediately take a train to Varanasi and spend a couple days. Then take an overnight train to Agra and see the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort, before taking a train the same night to Jaipur. Spend a couple days there before taking another train to Delhi to fly home. The Flights are only going to be $175 apparently, and the trains are very cheap as well! Still gotta sort out accommodation though. Backup plan if my visa does not work is to go to Nepal with one of the guys here!

So no rest for the weary! But I'm not complaining. =)

Cheers,
Mike