A day on the beach

I think for now, I’m just going to gloss over the fact that I’m actually currently back in New York City, and that it’s been months since I’ve touched this blog or even really thought (or wanted to think) about photography. While Catie and I decide this week whether we’re planning to go back to Bangladesh for another year, I’m going to try to reconnect with some of the lost days and images about which I never posted.

Last November, I ventured out one weekend with Catie and Denise to Patenga Beach just outside Chittagong. It was a colorful place with more tacky “beach souvenir” shops (for lack of a better descriptor) than you could shake a stick at. There was also no shortage of men offering boat rides to Cox’s Bazar, ponies (and four wheelers) available for rides along the water’s edge, and various ice cream, cotton candy, and rainbow whirlygig vendors. I don’t know if I’d call the visit exactly relaxing, and I wouldn’t really ever consider swimming in the ocean there, but it was nice to get a change of scene from the city and enjoy the sea breeze.

Patenga Beach, Bangladesh (Nov 30, 2009)

Photo taken at Patenga Beach, Bangladesh on November 30, 2009.

The highlight of the beach for me was definitely the loud mysterious cylindrical wooden structure topped with colored parachute tent ceiling, but I’ll leave that particular reveal up to the sequence of photos.

Patenga Beach, Bangladesh (Nov 30, 2009)
Patenga Beach, Bangladesh (Nov 30, 2009)
Patenga Beach, Bangladesh (Nov 30, 2009)
Patenga Beach, Bangladesh (Nov 30, 2009)
Patenga Beach, Bangladesh (Nov 30, 2009)
Patenga Beach, Bangladesh (Nov 30, 2009)
Patenga Beach, Bangladesh (Nov 30, 2009)
Patenga Beach, Bangladesh (Nov 30, 2009)
Patenga Beach, Bangladesh (Nov 30, 2009)
Patenga Beach, Bangladesh (Nov 30, 2009)
Patenga Beach, Bangladesh (Nov 30, 2009)
Patenga Beach, Bangladesh (Nov 30, 2009)
Patenga Beach, Bangladesh (Nov 30, 2009)
Patenga Beach, Bangladesh (Nov 30, 2009)
Patenga Beach, Bangladesh (Nov 30, 2009)
Patenga Beach, Bangladesh (Nov 30, 2009)
Patenga Beach, Bangladesh (Nov 30, 2009)
Patenga Beach, Bangladesh (Nov 30, 2009)
Patenga Beach, Bangladesh (Nov 30, 2009)
Patenga Beach, Bangladesh (Nov 30, 2009)
Patenga Beach, Bangladesh (Nov 30, 2009)
Patenga Beach, Bangladesh (Nov 30, 2009)

Photos taken at Patenga Beach, Bangladesh on November 30, 2009.

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8 Responses to “A day on the beach”

  1. Catie says:

    great photos dan! am now thinking of venturing back to patenga!
    i love the man with the kid in the background of photo 9! hahaa brilliant!
    also, my dad tells me that the cement blocks are called riprap.
    also, the tickets were 10 taka each, so you payed a total of 20 taka.
    awesome photos. i love the backlit one of the people watching the show with the colored banners behind them.

  2. Catie says:

    i also totally love the last photo

  3. Becca says:

    i was going to say the exact same thing about the man with the kid in the background! haha!

    love all these photos though – it makes me wish you would put together some sort of travel photo book.

  4. Dan Bretl says:

    Catie – That last photo was only made possible by your annoying boyfriend insisting on going back a second time! Keep that in mind!

  5. Dan Bretl says:

    Becca – Someday I may hope to put together some sort of travel photo book as well… It’s on my mind anyway.

  6. Dan Bretl says:

    Also, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but both of you should know that the “man with the kid in the background” was captured in that image there just a moment before viciously pile-driving that kid down into the sand as the close of a brutally lopsided wrestling match.

  7. Denise says:

    Awesome pics! This seems like ages ago but the pics bring it all back.
    I also love the man with the kid in the background and the evil knievel pic but my absolute fav is actually the ice cream seller with his cigarette and the blurred colours of B’desh in the background. Brilliant!

  8. Dan Bretl says:

    He likes ice cream and he likes cigarettes.

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