The people of Dhaka are as worried as anyone about the possibly dreadful impact of Swine Flu. In fact, as residents of a hugely overcrowded and unhygienic city, with poor medical facilities, they have more reason to worry than most.

The first three deaths have just occurred, and face masks are now being sold on the street corners.

But not a lot else has changed – for example it is still perfectly normal to ignore the onrushing cars and dodge through the traffic. What’s dangerous about that?

It pays not to believe everything you read…

The New Nation, “Bangladesh’s Independent News Source”, is running this story, which presumably one its editors found on the web and decided to copy and paste. 

Conspiracy Theorist Convinces Armstrong Moon landing was faked

Onion News Network, Lebanon, Ohio

Apollo 11 mission commander and famed astronaut Neil Armstrong shocked reporters at a press conference Monday, announcing he had been convinced that his historic first step on the moon was part of an elaborate hoax orchestrated by the United States government.

According to Armstrong, he was forced to reconsider every single detail of the monumental journey after watching a few persuasive YouTube videos, and reading several blog posts on conspiracy theorist Ralph Coleman’s website, OmissionControl.org.  

It is six months since a sudden and extremely violent revolt broke out at a military camp in the centre of Dhaka. I have been talking to some of the people who experienced it close up for a BBC World Service programme called Assignment.

And this is a shorter version that I wrote for the BBC website.

Two amusing headlines in today’s New Age:

Farmers feel pinch of a draught-like situation

Manpower shortage hampers family planning in Barisal

And here is the rest of the news on a normal day in Bangladesh (on the New Age’s National Page):

Cattle trader found dead

Woman held, heroin seezed

Brahmaputra erosion turns severe – engulfs 150 house in Kurigram

Students block road for removal of teacher

This is an anxious time for the people of Char Atra, an island of silt, sand, paddy fields and huts in the middle of the Ganges.

The monsoon is drenching South Asia, and millions of gallons of water are heading towards the Char from as far away as the Himalayas.

By the end of August, the region will be completely inundated. Instead of walking to school or the market, the 10,000 inhabitants may instead have to swim or move about on banana-tree rafts.

I’ll be returning to the Char in August to find out how the people there are coping.

A crazy, scary past week for Dhaka:

For about five hours, bullets whizzed over rooftops and the occasional thud of mortar rounds echoed along the strangely empty streets.

Dhaka is one of the most congested cities on the planet, but for once there were no traffic jams.

Instead the army had planted rows of anti-aircraft cannons at key junctions near the barracks, and heavily-armed policemen forced vehicles off the roads.  MORE

The mutineers told us that things started as a disagreement over pay. But if so, why did the revolt become a massacre? WATCH

The question now is whether the crisis is over, or whether the seeds of a new conflict have just been planted. Anyone who has read Mascarenhas’ account of the first decade of Bangladesh’s independence,  ”Legacy of Blood”, is hoping that history is not about to repeat itself.

I’ve been away for the past ten days, and when I got back was heartened to read that someone has decided to tackle the horrific traffic situtation here. But apparently the Mayor of Dhaka does not think that the government has a “magic wand…and can solve the problem overnight.” According to the headline in the New Age, it will take a lot longer than than:

Mayor proposes comprehensive 50-yr plan to reduce traffic jam

So that’s allright then.

I spent the morning in Tongi – just north of Dhaka – at the second largest annual gathering of Muslims in the World – the Biswa Ijtema. The three day prayer meeting attracts between two and three million pilgrims from across the Bangladesh – and more than 150 other countries. The largest tent imaginable accomodates the crowds, who nevertheless are squeezed into a pretty small area relative to their number. The traffic is a nightmare, but the organisation of the gathering is pretty impressive. On the other hand last year I was allowed to walk and film pretty much where I wanted. But this year, a polite young man carrying a bamboo stave told us not to enter.

My TV report: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7860584.stm

Rains last year turned the whole place into a giant mudbath, and several people died, so it had to be called off. But this year the weather is fine, and the mood is peaceful. In fact for the radio I wanted to record some sounds illustrating the sheer vastness of the crowds, but they were more-or-less silent, streaming over the pontoon bridges which the army has laid over the Turag river or queueing up at communal baths.

Some of the Bangladeshi pilgrims say that the Biswa Ijtema is so popular because they are too poor to go on the Haj to Mecca, while they can afford the bus trip to Dhaka.

There are lots of beggars. One couple crouched next to their infant son, who looked like he had a large, bloody tumour growing out of his stomach. I couldn’t believe they chose to be there, with him in that condition, and not go to a hospital. However poor they are, a government one would be bound to treat him.

District level elections across Bangladesh yesterday and lots of candidates for people to choose from.  Even though most are party hacks, under the electioral laws here they have to stand as independents, each with their own symbol.

The Election Commission helpfully provides them with a list to choose from, and towns and villages everywhere are decorated with black and white posters bearing the candidates’ faces and their symbols. As we drove from Dhaka to Sylhet recently I counted thirty five.

Some are clearly better than others i.e. the elephant and the tiger. But I’m not so sure about the rest  – which would you choose?

A swimming white duck

A standing black duck

A dart board

A pineapple

A fish

A tea cup and saucer

A chicken

A key

A padlock

A candle

A lightbulb

An old fashioned telephone

A mobile phone

A camel.

Surfing is normally associated with places like Hawaii, California and Australia’s Bondi Beach, but the sport has now even reached as far as the coast of Bangladesh.

Cox’s Bazaar, in the country’s remote south-east, is better known for its cyclones and vulnerability to rising sea levels, but it also boasts of having, at 125km (78 miles), the world’s longest unbroken sandy beach.

According to the man who claims to be Bangladesh’s first surfer, Zafar Alam, it also has great surf.

“When I’m riding the waves it feels like I’m on a speedboat and I just love that feeling,” he says.

Read the rest on the BBC