As I reflect upon my internship in Dhaka, Bangladesh- one of the memories that stands out to me the most was the city’s traffic and how this influenced my daily commute to and from the office.  Due to Dhaka’s population density, the lack of transportation infrastructure, and the differing speeds between auto-rickshaws, bicycles, buses, trucks, cars, and bicycle-rickshaws.. my daily commute could take between twenty-five minutes to two and a half hours depending on traffic and conjestion. 

In the mornings, I would generally try to beat the rush hour traffic by waking up at 6am to get to ther northern part of the city, where my office was, before the rest of the city was on the move. This proved beneficial as my morning commute wouldn’t take too long and  I could eat breakfast close to the office before the day began. 

However, the commute home at night would take much longer with times varying, depending on whether you took a CNG (auto-rickshaw) or two bicycle rickshaws with a short walk in between. Personally, I preferred taking a bicycle rickshaw due to the feeling of being connected to the city or being a part of all the chaos that was happening around you. The first bicycle rickshaw ride would generally take an hour before reaching the central point (Karim Bazar) before crossing a major intersection and getting on a second 20 minute rickshaw before reaching my apartment. 

I would like to include a set of videos showing:

1. A short segment of a CNG Ride:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxYAzhmj3f4

2. A segment of a rickshaw ride thorugh Niketan, Dhaka:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuXSOju8qxY

3. A segment of a rickshaw ride through Karim Bazar:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIQ5xndo014

4. Crossing the Street in Dhaka:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ydkVRv6Drk

Unfortunately, these videos fail to capture the energy that is unique to Dhaka but I hope they provide a vague idea of the intensity that is the traffic of Dhaka.