---
type: Video
title: "$200 Street Shave in Bangladesh 🇧🇩"
description: A 30-cent pavement shave in Dhaka that Harry pays $200 for, student street food by the university, and an afternoon handed between a chain of shopkeepers who all introduce each other as brothers.
tags: [bangladesh, dhaka, street-barber, street-food, chawk-bazar, hospitality, tipping]
timestamp: 2026-08-05T12:00:00Z
resource: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Y7Cxkq9II4
video_id: 8Y7Cxkq9II4
upload_date: 2023-01-14
duration: 2577
---

# $200 Street Shave in Bangladesh 🇧🇩

Harry goes looking for a street shave in [Dhaka](/places/dhaka.md) with no idea
where to find one, which is most of the video's method: walk far enough and
something happens. He eats his way round the university district, finds a
barber working on the pavement who charges 30 taka — about thirty cents — and
gives him 20,000, roughly $200.

The back half is the better half. A shopkeeper called Imran pulls him into his
shop in Chawk Bazar and then hands him down a chain of men each introduced as
his brother, through the mini-factories behind the shopfronts — soap, eggs,
sweets — and out into a mosque with a growing escort of small children. Harry's
own summary is that if you walk around long enough you meet someone
interesting, and that this is the whole technique.

One useful correction he makes on camera: in
[Bangladesh](/countries/bangladesh.md), unlike several countries he's just come
from, people don't want tips.

## Key moments

- [00:35] A bike taxi opened at 200 and settled at 170. He admits he is bad at
  this.
- [01:40] The University of Dhaka, on the theory that student areas have the
  food.
- [02:16] Fried mushrooms in batter and a chicken chop, straight out of the oil.
- [05:26] Momos from a cart on wheels, steamed and fried.
- [09:23] The fried ones, which he says taste exactly like chicken nuggets, are
  the winner.
- [10:02] These stalls have no fixed location and aren't listed anywhere. You
  find them by walking, and the university is where they cluster.
- [11:06] A barber working on the pavement.
- [12:13] The order of operations: scissors first to set the line, then
  antiseptic cream, then shaving cream.
- [13:29] The price is 30 taka, about thirty cents. The first barber he'd asked
  wanted 350.
- [14:07] A fresh blade, opened in front of him.
- [14:37] The neck as well, done fast and, in Harry's view, better than most
  barbers he's paid properly.
- [14:37] He hands over 20,000 taka — about $200 — for the man and his family.
- [15:12] He thinks he gave it with the wrong hand, and says so on camera.
- [15:48] The barber didn't want to take it at first.
- [16:13] A coconut, and an audience.
- [17:50] The correction worth carrying: they don't accept tips here. He notes
  it varies country to country and that he keeps having to relearn it.
- [19:01] A cycle rickshaw, 60 taka — about sixty cents — for ten minutes of
  pedalling. He pays over.
- [20:15] Chawk Bazar, which turns out to be wholesale: this is where the small
  shopkeepers buy their stock.
- [22:31] Imran adopts him.
- [26:09] And introduces him to a succession of men, each described as his
  brother, with the joke landing harder each time.
- [30:57] Behind the shopfronts are mini-factories — soap, eggs, sweets — that
  Harry is walked straight into.
- [31:37] One workshop stands idle, because there's no income coming in that
  side.
- [33:22] Tea, and a boy working who is visibly young. Harry notes it without
  editorialising.
- [34:55] A mosque, where he takes his shoes off and acquires an escort of
  children who go completely silent and then completely loud.
- [37:47] Royal restaurant, 25 years in business.
- [38:32] Pistachio nut milk, thick enough that he can't taste any water in it.
- [39:39] Grilled chicken with paratha, eaten by hand, which he compares to a
  very good Nando's.
- [41:53] The restaurant owner asks why he isn't married. Locally, women marry
  around 18 and men around 25.

## Extracted pages

- Place: [Dhaka](/places/dhaka.md)
- Country: [Bangladesh](/countries/bangladesh.md)
- Tips: [Try the street version of everyday services](/tips/try-street-services.md),
  [Reward honesty and hard work](/tips/reward-honesty-and-hard-work.md),
  [Insist on paying](/tips/insist-on-paying.md)