As part of my job doing short interventions for partner organisations I went off on a field trip this week. I'm auditing the micro-credit programme of Tarango, and I mention the name as they produce handicrafts that are sold in the UK and Germany I'm told so some of you may even have heard of them.

We were due to leave at 11am on Sunday, but I got a call at 10.30 from Proshanto (my guide from Tarango) saying he was still 4 hours away from Dhaka and would be in town at 2pm and at the VSO office by 2.30pm. In the end we left at 3pm but he was extremely sorry so that was alright.

Our destination was near Barisal which is South of Dhaka, so we started our journey by driving... due North. Apparently this was quicker as the roads are better that way and the ferry shorter hence making the total journey time less despite the extra 100km. Hmmm... After an hour or so driving we reached the ferry terminal which looked like the end of the Earth with swirling Outback desert winds, huddled groups roaming an otherwise empty landscape, and rusting ferries tied to rusting pontoons and rusting docks. I half expected to be told the river we were crossing was the Styx and not the Padma, though I did see 2 ferries with Oxfam written on them so who knows?

It took ages to get off the ferry on the other side due to masses of buses trying to get on. In fact most of the next leg was hampered by literally 100's of buses crammed with people returning from an Islamic festival. The most hardcore festival buses had loud speakers blaring Islamic music from the roof next to young lads rocking, swaying and singing along. Scary. I lost count of the number of times we were forced off the road by suicidal on-coming buses as they overtook, but we never had more than 2 wheels off the road and Delwar was doing a grand job at the wheel of our pick-up truck.

Further along we had dinner in some 2 horse, or rather 2 goat town, in a restaurant that neither Delwar nor Proshanto liked the look of but was by local opinion the best there was. The food wasn't too bad in the end and from there we turned off the main road such as it was to head into the sticks, eventually leaving Delwar and the car Lords know where for the final rickshaw ride in total darkness on a road impassable for vehicles since last year's floods washed a large section away. I mean literally washed away i.e. the bank the road was on is gone.

Once we'd arrived I settled into my accommodation with a paraffin lamp for light and a hand pump for water in the bathroom. I found and facilitated the exit of 2 huge cockroaches, then tried and failed to get comfortable on the world's thinnest mattress through which I could actually feel the individual planks of wood beneath.

The next morning I braved the facilities for a bucket shower and felt surprisingly good during a breakfast of curried vegetables, ruti (round flat bread) and fried egg. There's something about roughing it that makes you feel more alive in the morning don't you find? Or is that the sheer proximity of creepy-crawlies and other joys of nature make you more alert as soon as you wake up?

Starting at 8am I grilled the local micro-credit manager for 3 hours then went on a field visit to see a local savings group. We took a boat across the river to get there, a service for which the office pays 200 taka per year while the locals give the boatman some rice. Having found quite enough things not quite right to justify my trip we then had a top lunch of shrimp and chicken curry (not cooked together I hasten to add), after which I chilled out for a bit while Proshanto sorted a few things regarding a jute production order. Towards 3pm we finally waved goodbye to all of the local staff that had gathered to see us off (ahhhh) and got a rickshaw back to the ever faithful Delwar waiting with car at the ready as close as he could manage.

On the way back we took totally different route as it was apparently quicker if got a ferry straight away and also because we were going with the current and not against it. Both of these statements turned out to be total bollocks. Amazingly, where we got the ferry was only 60km from Dhaka but because of all the rivers and no bridges it takes 4 hours to get there!

The highlight of the ferry ride for me was watching them pack as many vehicles as possible onto the deck before sailing. We could see the vehicles coming down the hill to board so tried to imagine how they were all going to fit but each time they found space we didn't see. We were supposed to leave at 7pm, but in true Bangladeshi style everyone turned up with 5 minutes to go so we actually cast off at 7.30pm. The same thing happens on buses as when you get on 10 minutes before departure it'll be half empty but as soon as it starts to pull away a mass of people will materialise and it'll be standing room only on the roof for the entire way while muggins here sat at the back has got smelly locals pressing in on all sides. In the end I arrived back at the flat at 11.30pm, hot and dirty and in dire need of my bed. It was a good trip though, and made me remember that it's only worth living in a country like this if you go out on an adventure once in a while.