---
type: Video
title: "First Impressions of DHAKA, Bangladesh (Busiest City on Earth) 🇧🇩"
description: Harry's first day in the most densely populated city on earth — sugarcane juice off a wasp-covered press, chicken biryani for $1.50, a fish market with a live railway through it, and a cycle rickshaw that outruns the traffic.
tags: [bangladesh, dhaka, markets, street-food, rickshaws, first-impressions, garments]
timestamp: 2026-08-05T12:00:00Z
resource: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRqxNlu-dRs
video_id: yRqxNlu-dRs
upload_date: 2023-01-10
duration: 1794
---

# First Impressions of DHAKA, Bangladesh (Busiest City on Earth) 🇧🇩

Harry's first proper day in [Dhaka](/places/dhaka.md) — he has been to
[Bangladesh](/countries/bangladesh.md) before but never into the city — spent
in the old town, the main market and New Market. He calls it the best first
impression he has had of any city and spends most of the video explaining why:
not the sights, of which there are none here, but that in a full day of a
crowded market he doesn't meet a single person in a bad mood.

The practical spine is a chicken biryani he has to ask his way to, a cycle
rickshaw with no motor of any kind that beats the cars through traffic, and a
market where the fish stalls, the carpenters, the steel workers and a live
railway line all share the same ground.

## Key moments

- [00:00] The numbers: the most densely populated city in the world, 22 million
  in the city and 160 million in the country.
- [01:38] He keeps greeting people in Hindi or Urdu by reflex, apologises for it
  on camera, and pre-empts the comments.
- [02:48] A sugarcane press run off a cog contraption with steam coming out of
  it, and wasps all over the crushed cane.
- [04:27] The juice is about 20 US cents. He pays a dollar.
- [05:33] Into the biggest market in Dhaka, quiet by local standards because
  it's the weekend.
- [06:06] His verdict, delivered early: the best first impression of any city
  he's had, because everyone has been cheerful and nobody has been moody.
- [07:44] Chicken biryani, found by asking strangers rather than by looking it
  up.
- [08:59] There is no fork. He eats it by hand, badly, with a boiled egg buried
  in the rice.
- [10:07] A crowd of five or six has formed to watch him eat.
- [10:42] 150 taka, about $1.50.
- [11:18] The fish market, which he identifies by smell before sight.
- [12:27] A live railway line running straight through the middle of the market,
  which anyone can and does walk on.
- [14:05] A cycle rickshaw with no motor at all — pure leg power, all day.
- [15:25] He asks to pedal it, is refused, and is eventually allowed. He finds
  it extremely hard.
- [16:01] The economic fact he flags for viewers: Bangladesh makes the clothes.
  Nike, Adidas, Zara and H&M all manufacture here, and something you're wearing
  probably came from this country.
- [17:07] The rickshaw outruns the cars through the traffic.
- [18:26] New Market, and a sea of copies.
- [19:40] He asks why the fakes aren't made locally when the real ones are, and
  is told they come from China.
- [20:30] Football allegiance here is Argentina and Brazil, and everyone tells
  him so.
- [22:24] A shirt opened at 400 and settled at 300.
- [24:03] Genuine Zara, made in Bangladesh, sold openly as "first copy" — 800
  taka, about eight dollars, fixed price.
- [25:42] The cricket jersey wall, with every international and club shirt he can
  think of.
- [26:55] A haggle he cheerfully loses, and a conversation about Bangladesh
  beating India in a recent series.
- [27:59] His summary of the people: they're giving Pakistan a run for their
  money.

## Extracted pages

- Place: [Dhaka](/places/dhaka.md)
- Country: [Bangladesh](/countries/bangladesh.md)
- Tips: [Reward honesty and hard work](/tips/reward-honesty-and-hard-work.md),
  [Walk into the fish market](/tips/walk-into-the-fish-market.md)