Good morning from China.
Wait, hold on a second.
Hold on a second.
This is...
This is not China.
Welcome to Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Right, I'm going to go and
meet my good friend Rafsan now.
He's gonna give me a tour around Dhaka.
And also we're going to find out
what's China doing here, too.
Let's go.
Hello, Rafsan.
How are you doing?
Nice to see you.
Welcome to Dhaka.
Thank you.
Where have you brought me to?
So this is basically Aarong.
So Aarong is a place where you'd get all our
traditional wears for men, women, souvenirs,
handicrafts, everything under the same roof.
So I thought this could be the best place to start
your shopping journey with.
Basically everything that is close to our culture,
everything under the same roof.
Yeah and this looks like
the women's section, right?
Yes.
I think I'll get something for my wife.
Very important to do that.
Ah the men's floor,
it's time for my clothes now.
Rafsan, what do you think of this panjabi?
That's cool.
Yeah.
Can take it.
Looks great.
Rafsan, this one too, right?
It looks good.
Maybe.
Yeah, you can take it.
You can take it.
Oh, I think Lincoln will like this little Elephant.
I'll get this too.
I don't think I've bought that much.
Not at all, man.
I mean, I expected better from you.
I do better than this every day.
Not at all, too much.
What are you talking about, too much?
It's just a small basket of, like.
I don't know, one or two clothes, maybe.
Not too much at all.
Take it.
Total 54,000 BDT ($503) .
54,000.
Now, unfortunately for me,
I haven't brought my wallet today,
so Rafsan...
What's the amount again?
54,000BDT ($503).
54,000?
Not a problem.
I actually have my digital wallet.
It's called bKash.
I can pay for you, no problem.
54,000 is not a big number at all.
I'll just pay for you.
It's very simple you know,
bKash is very good.
Wow. Thanks for this, Rafsan.
Yeah, it was nothing. It was just 54,000.
It's not a problem.
But up next, I'm going to
give you the taste of something.
It's like the biggest sport in Bangladesh,
the most popular sport, and in this sport,
we're called the tigers around the world.
But before that, we need some
equipment to play that sport.
Okay, let's go.
So now we're going to the sports store,
but it's going to be, like,
a bit far from here, so we need to travel.
And we have, like, lovely cloudy weather, right?
It's almost going to rain.
So in this weather, I'm going to give you
the experience of my most favourite ride in Dhaka.
It's beautiful, it's luxurious,
it's comfortable, and it's romantic.
Romantic?
It's romantic as well, because you'll understand...
When you see it, okay.
When you experience it.
My most favourite ride.
So where is it?
It's right here.
Okay, let's go.
Why you look confused?
No no no, let's go.
Let's just jump in
Yeah.
So this is...
So this is Rickshaw.
An authentic part of Bangladesh culture, right?
So we just climb on?
One step at a time.
Okay.
Can we both fit in here?
Of course we can.
Okay, we're in.
How do you feel?
Yeah, it feels actually it's quite comfortable
to sit here, enjoy the weather
watch everything that's going on around you.
Yeah.
Cars will honk.
You will also get that.
It's a very immersive experience.
You really feel the vibe, the essence of Dhaka.
Absolutely.
So I saw in the store back there
and you used an app, bKash right?
bKash yes
What is that?
So it's a mobile financial service,
basically, in the simplest form.
Through this app, you can send and receive money,
of course, digitally,
without involvement from any cash.
You don't have to go to any bank, of course.
And you can also do a lot.
Of other things with it.
Like, you can pay your bills, internet bills,
electricity bill, everything
through the app as well.
It's really convenient for people, improve their lives.
There's an interesting statistic.
Like, among the adults in Bangladesh,
two out of three people are using this app right now.
Oh, wow that's quite a lot of people.
A lot of people.
And consider the case of people
who are in the remote areas.
It's not always easy to go to the bank to receive
money or to send someone, like, a bit of cash.
So then you have bKash, and then you can basically
send and recieve money from the
convenience of your own home.
So that's how bKash is changing a lot of things
in the financial industry of Bangladesh.
Making things a lot more
convenient for the Bangladeshis.
Rafsan, why have you brought me to a sports store right?
To get the necessary equipment for cricket.
So we're going to get bat and ball.
Ah playing cricket, because it's really
popular in Bangladesh right?
It's the best possible sport.
It's the most exciting sport for us.
So if we are going to play cricket,
we need a bat and ball, right?
A bat and ball at the least.
So we need those two.
Yeah, this one.
Yeah, sounds good.
Good balance.
Wow.
Okay.
Are you sure you're not on the Bangladesh team?
You jinxed it.
No, the Bangladesh team actually
has quite a good standard.
Like, they're great.
They're doing really well.
In fact, we just beat England.
Oh, just beat England.
Okay. Just beat England?
Okay.
I see what you're doing there.
So England is out of the tournament?
No, it was not a tournament.
It was like a friendly match between the two.
Are you sure it was friendly?
Ah it was very friendly, I think.
Not the way we beat you guys, but...
Oh okay.
You should have seen the face
of your captain Jos Buttler.
Let's play some cricket.
Yeah, let's do it the tape tennis way.
tape tennis.
Let's do it.
So, Rafsan, do you think I can
join the Bangladeshi team?
Well, based on what I just saw, I guess it would
be a better idea to stick to the English team.
Maybe call Jos Buttler
because Shakib Al Hasan wouldn't
be impressed with this.
Okay, I see what you're saying.
We are going to make the payment of this
ride through bKash as well
Done.
Okay, let's eat.
Yes.
We played some cricket and now it's
time to meet that hunger with some,
really good Bangladeshi dishes.
It looks like an interesting place.
It is quite an interesting place.
So all the food that you'd get here
are traditional Bangladeshi food.
We're going to try Khichuri,
we're going to try Polao.
So the first thing that we have.
Is what?
Yes...
I can see...It's a green kind of drink.
It's a green kind of a drink?
It's coming.
Interesting.
It looks quite intimidating.
Intimidating?
It's called Borhani.
Borhani.
B-O-R-H-A-N-I.
Borhani.
Yes.
Borhani.
And so this has green mint.
Yes.
Green chilli.
Yes.
And a lot of different kind of spices.
So this is like an appetising drink.
So once you drink it...
Oh, only I have one.
You don't have one?
No, you just try.
I'll have mine as well.
Okay, here we go.
Thank you.
Okay.
That's Borhani.
It sort of wakes you up.
Yeah.
And it burns a little.
It's going to increase your appetite in,
like, just a split second.
it's kind of like, it's spicy.
It's sweet.
Yeah.
It's everything.
It's sour.
It's salty
It's like a burst of flavours inside your mouth.
Yeah, it's just every flavour in a glass.
So today you will be using
bKash again to pay, right?
Yes.
So, of course, here as well,
we can pay through bKash.
But you know something interesting, though
so just like you have a very deep connection
relationship with China.
Yeah yeah
bkash also is being
powered or fueled by a Chinese tech powerhouse,
and that's Huawei.
Oh, yeah.
Who else could it have been?
Yeah Huawei
and it's so interesting to see this
collaboration between these two big companies.
So I think you already know that Huawei is
one of the most giant fintech
solution provider throughout the world.
Right.
So what happened in terms of the story
of bKash as well, is that they provided
the software and hardware backup.
So the fintech technology that Huawei has,
that was used to build the whole ecosystem
of bKash, and that's how they are now
being able to do everything so smoothly.
The service has reached every corner of Bangladesh
and Huawei has been doing
this throughout the world.
Yeah.
It really is like a great Chinese company.
Not only what they're doing inside China, but also
outside, like, in countries around the world.
It's really great.
And I think one of the reasons why I really like
this contribution from Huawei is that because
of the MFS revolution that they're bringing
throughout the world,
a lot of the non-Bang population who would
otherwise would not have access to this economy is now
being able to send money,
receive money from their mobile phones.
Yeah it's just changing people's lives.
Absolutely.
Who didn't have a chance before,
and it's a good thing.
Absolutely.
And now what's going to change your life
is two special dishes called Khichuri and Polao roast
I think they're ready for us.
Bring on the food!
Please.
Right time to pay the bills.
And hopefully it's not 54,000.
Actually it's not.
Oh that's good
Thank you.
And yeah, so I'm going to use
bKash once again to pay the bill.
Done.
Payment's done.
Easy as that.
Finished
Okay.
Back in the hotel now.
And unfortunately, that is the end
of our adventure here in Dhaka.
It's been an amazing day.
Huge thanks to Rafsan for giving us a tour
around the city, but we simply ran out of time.
I would definitely be coming back
again to visit for a longer time.
And now it's back to China.
I'm going home.
I will see you in the next one.
Signing off.