This is a very progressive city and in parts still very idyllic for us old fogies who remember the 60’s of our youth. I visited an ancestral home in 2003 last. The last ten years have changed a lot. Every ten years, 20% of the old Dhaka gets bulldozed over and gets rebuilt (usually 22 story apt. complexes).
People are indeed friendly -- like Srinivas says. I noticed that poorer people in this crowded impoverished country are still very open-hearted and welcoming to strangers --especially in the countryside. You’ll invariably get invitations to have dinner or lunch if you make friends. My personal experience I guess....
Bangla if you speak it is fine -- try Hindi otherwise. Everyone has watched Hindi movies and Zee/Sony programming (soaps) are very popular with women.
Food is varied/cheap but vegetarians may have some difficulty finding food. This is a Muslim country after all. There’s also overpriced Firang food (PizzaHut, KFC) which I don’t care for :-)
Another thing is that nightlife is hard-to-find unless you have the locals guide you. Shopping is great. Whatever is found in Bangkok or S’pore is also available here. Bangladesh now has South Asia’s largest shopping mall complete with digital multiplexes.
Best time to go (to avoid the floods) is in winter. Sahara/Jet Airways have or soon will have flights to Dhaka. Biman of course connects Dhaka with Delhi/Bombay.
Update on August 24, 2005.....
Found a couple of picture links to explore Dhaka’s present face (The good, bad and ugly all together) -- but -- be forewarned, you need a FAST connection like DSL or cable for opening all these pages.
https://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=207243&page=1&pp=20
https://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=148611&page=1&pp=20
https://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=143280&page=1
https://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=138718
https://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=134720