Before tourists come...second bit.

First time visitors to Dhaka, capital city of Bangladesh, tend to ask the same questions:

1. How can this city work with gridlocked traffic, colossal air pollution, filthy streets and pavements (US: sidewalks) so crowded with beggars and peddlers that pedestrians prefer to walk on the highway?

Answer: Nobody's quite sure, but somehow it does.

2. How can you tell the genuinely needy from professional beggars?

Answer: Nobody's quite sure, but somehow you develop the knack.

3. Are there any traffic rules?

Answer: Possibly, in some long-abandoned office, there may once have been. For now, just accept that in this country we drive on the left unless it's more convenient not to.

4. Why does everyone keep hawking and spitting?

Answer: By this time tomorrow, you'll be doing it too. It's the air pollution, you see.

5. Where's the nearest public toilet?

Answer: Public toilet? (Which also answers question 6 - Why is that man pissing in the gutter?)