Things to Do in Dhaka

Boat ride on the Buriganga at sunset

Wooden skiffs putter past cargo ships rusting into orange flakes. Muezzins layer over boatmen's shouts while diesel drifts into tangerine sky. The river slaps brick ghats where boys dive for coins. Metallic humidity coats your tongue long after you step ashore.

Lalbagh Fort's secret hammam tunnel

Inside the 17th-century walls damp lime plaster clings to the air. Pigeons clap wings above the cistern. Duck into the hammam. Temperature drops ten degrees. Sunlight sneaks through stone lattice and paints honeycomb shadows on your arms.

Shakhari Bazar lane at dawn

Conch-shell bangles clatter. Hindu artisans open teak shutters. Incense drifts over marigold garlands. Knife-grinders scrape. Chickpea fritters sizzle. Sunlight skitters off tin roofs onto walls the color of faded turmeric.

Rickshaw art workshop in Gendaria

Inside the tin-shed studio you feel the rasp of tin. Artists file fluorescent peacocks into number-plates that rickshaws will later glitter with. Turpentine and enamel sting your nose. Bollywood chorus leaks from a battered radio. Leave with paint freckles up to your elbows.

Dhaka University campus after classes

Students strum Bengali rock under banyan trees. Cheap coffee drifts from street carts. You hear the crack of a cricket ball on concrete. Marble steps of Curzon Hall warm against your palm. Kites circle overhead against a sky that seems bigger here than anywhere else in Dhaka.

Gulshan: embassies and iced-latte cafés, the one quarter where streetlights work

Banani: mid-rise hotels above shopping plazas, easy metro access

Dhanmondi: lake views, student buzz, cheaper eats

Uttara: close to the airport, wide streets, good for short layovers

Old Dhaka: thin-walled guesthouses, 4 a.m. breakfast calls, total immersion

Bashundhara: gated suburb, malls and cinemas, feels like a different city