… shops don’t close for lunch but some do close for Friday prayer.

… I no longer find it surprising or even noteworthy when the women I meet in the street are dressed in abaya, hijab and niqab, covering everything except for their eyes, or when schoolgirls’ uniforms consist of a salwar kameez and a matching headscarf. In fact I find it rather more tasteful than some of the stuff I see in other parts of the city, and I am rather jealous of some of the kameezes I see. (However I do still find it odd that the same women wear open-toed sandals all year round. Doesn’t it get cold in winter?)

Speaking of covering up, I find it interesting that western women are most likely to hide their eyes behind dark sunglasses, while Muslim women do the opposite and cover everything but the eyes.

… everyone and their dog has either a travel agency or a money transfer service, often attached to some other business.
“Business centre and travel agency”
“Book shop and travel agency”
“Money transfer and ladies taylor”

As a consequence I am always up-to-date on the exchange rate of the bangladeshi taka (which generally hovers around 135 per pound) even when I have no idea what the Swedish krona might be worth. And I could find someone to book a hajj or umrah trip for me, or book a flight to Dhaka or Sylhet, far easily than I could find a diving trip.