$200 Street Shave in Bangladesh 🇧🇩

Harry goes looking for a street shave in Dhaka 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, 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
• Country: Bangladesh
• Tips: Try the street version of everyday services, Reward honesty and hard work, Insist on paying