Wow @RonneBD ! How I could possibly forget that it’s that time of the year when the whole Dhaka city suffers from this fair mania! Is it taking place at the same venue where it does every year? The reason I am asking this is because they were supposed to move it to Purbachal to free the city from extra congested traffic.
@ErmesT , let me try answering to your queries a little, of course, Ronne would be the better person to answer as he is in town now, but I can try telling some from my little knowledge and experience in Dhaka too.
Dhaka International Trade Fair aka DITF is a fair that takes place every year in January. Every year numerous number of countries around the world takes part in this month long fair. That includes USA, UK, Japan, Malaysia, India, Pakistan and not to mention, the host country, Bangladesh too. The initial idea was to promote each country’s trading items to attract the investors. But apparently it became a fair for everyone. People, especially from low budget families, eagerly wait for this fair because you get to buy a lot of new things in there at an affordable price. And the sellers also take advantage of this eagerness. They introduce new product line with attractive price. Not only that, bulk items, like furniture or electronic items or even home appliances are sold even at the regular stores at a discounted price, to mark the fair. It is like a festival. Their official website can tell you more about it. And some more information are found in wikipedia too.
“One question: what was inside the “foreign pavillon”?”
Foreign or international pavilion is the place where the sellers from other countries showcase and sell their products. And trust me, nobody does better business there more than Indian and Pakistani stores. Girls in our country loooooove buying the dress materials, jewelry accessories, and warm clothes. Malaysian, Bhutanese and Nepali stores mostly sell food items, like sauce, canned food, pickles etc. And some US stores are loved because of their cosmetics. Every single thing is sold here like hotcake. Sometimes I wonder, why people get so crazy about the fair! Then I realize that it’s the best hangout place for middle class people for family entertainment at a reasonable cost. The fair entry fee is as low as Tk 20. Which is less than $3. And it’s like a carnival. What I hated about the fair all the time was, the terrible traffic for the whole month during the fair. It took me more than an hour to reach work or coming back all the time even on a bike and the distance was less than 7km.
But well, DITF gets my countrymen earn some extra money from their small businesses and that brings smile to thousands of people out there. It means a lot. 