1) First off is a 12-minute talk by Avis Mulhall, filmed at the Green Rooftop co-working event I went to last week and invited you all to come on this board. I went with my camera and volunteered to tape some stuff for them, including Avis. She’s is a serial entrepreneur and friend of mine, and she spoke on the topic of ‘How can we motivate citizens to take more sustainable actions?’

As a fellow social entrepreneur, I thought she summed up the problem really well for me and also outlined some of the solutions plus her own startup, which I’m a fan of because it’s travel related.

2) The second, 30-minute talk is on peerfunding. Some of you may heard of ‘crowdfunding’ before, which is a new method of fundraising that creatives and entrepreneurs are using in order to raise money for new initiatives that support local communities. Tom Dawkins is a co-founder of one of these peerfunding sites, Startsomegood.com, which I have used to successfully to raise some funds for one of my initiatives in Bangladesh. In this talk, Tom talks about his site and his fairly vast knowledge of how peerfunding campaigns work (or don’t work). He also thinks it shouldn’t be called crowdfunding (hence my references to peerfunding in this message).

I’m a huge fan of peerfunding initiatives because they enable changemakers to find resources and teams to ‘do good stuff,’ which can benefit local communities and help create campaigns around sustainability initiatives. If you’re interested in starting your own initiatives or campaigning around one of your projects, I would definitely take the 30 minutes necessary to watch this video.

And so continues the journey to sustainability awareness…

I’m doing this because I can’t always avoid travelling, although I plan to avoid it as much as possible in the coming years. As a moonlighting travel writer and social entrepreneur in travel, I need to find solutions for offsetting my impact AS WELL AS reducing my emissions. 

As a bit of a geek, I like being able to track my travel and I currently use an web/mobile app, Tripit, that helps me organise this. It’s useful in that all you need to do is send in your various itineraries/bookings and it ‘automagically’ puts it all in one place. 

Tripit also has a ‘subapp’ that uses Brighter Planet’s scientifically-based, enterprise grade carbon emission calculators to evaluate one’s emissions, called TripCarbon. A beta version was developed that is currently undergoing maintenance, but once they’ve released a new version I would like to test it out so I can get a hold of exactly how much I’m emitting — there are so many factors to account for and most carbon calculators lack precision. I need to know HOW MUCH I’m emitting but those factors change based on the efficiency of the aircraft/weight/passengers/freight and a gazillion other factors that make my mind explode.  

Finally, I spent some time last night evaluating where I would want my offset money to go, and given that I work heavily in climate change’s ‘ground zero’, Bangladesh, I thought I would look at offset programs that also promote a clean development mechanism in developing countries. I couldn’t find much on this front, but did locate ClimateCare and Grameen Shakti, two organisations who are promoting renewables in Bangladesh. The latter is a social business creation by the Grameen Bank whom most of you will know is the Dr. Mohammed Yunus’ initiative to use micro-finance to tackle poverty. 

I’m beginning to see the outlines of a project happening here and just thought I’d share my interest. Standing in the worst position in the ‘carbon line of shame’ at the retreat made me realise that I haven’t looked deeply enough at this issue, but I always feel where there are problems, there are opportunities for solutions. 

So, if you’re interested in this as well, I’d be happy to chat more about it.

Backups are one of those things that I haven’t been very good at, mostly because of the manual process of logging in and out of so many websites that I work with. And so I started looking up WordPress backup solutions.

After searching through this list, I eventually decided on myRepono — mostly for its ease of use.

In the following screencast, I go through a setup of myRepono on a client website and detail why I chose the product. In short, I like the product and think it’s worthwhile to install.

Please do give myRepono a try now.

13 Sep – Kunming

We will spend one night in Kunming taking in a bit of Chinese city atmosphere. Kunming is known as the “Spring City” for its perpetually fair weather, summer and winter. It is supremely organised here, with wide brimming avenues and an airport that is conveniently located near the city. Hopefully my Buddha vegetarian restaurant will still be open! Otherwise this will be a great chance to eat try Yunnan’s spicy cuisine.

14 Sep – Lijiang (altitude: 2,400m)

We will depart Kunming early in the morning by flight and arrive in Lijiang after a short one hour flight.

Lijiang is in many ways the capital of the Naxi minority, and despite being afflicted by mass tourism and the somewhat crass “authenticity” drive so popular amongst Yunnan local governments, remains an interesting place. A beautiful old town – ancient canal system, traditional architecture, with abundant cafes in the centre.

15 Sep – Wenhai village (altitude: 3,000m)

For early birds, rising early provides a chance to see Lijiang at its most natural, before the tour groups kick into gear. After breakfast, leave behind the hustle and bustle of Lijiang for the short drive to the trailhead at Yuhu, a small village nestled on the lower slopes of Jade Dragon Mountain. Amongst other things this was once the home of Joseph Rock – who was one parts explorer, another part plant collector, a third part scholar of Naxi language, and finally a master of fakery – who roamed SW China in the ’20s, ’30s and ’40s.

Here the walking begins. It’s about a five hour trek to Wenhai, another Naxi village several hundred meters up on the slopes of Jade Dragon Mountain. The site of a half-hearted attempt to impose eco-tourism, Wenhai has a slightly schizophrenic character – sometimes a quiet remote village struggling with the after effects of the ’98 logging ban, sometimes playing host to large groups of ‘eco-tourists’ with cameras and heels. Either way, the views of the snow peak on the way to and from Wenhai are beautiful and the trek, though up, relatively undemanding. A pleasant first day.

Tonight’s stay is at an eco-lodge establishment.

16 Sep – Xuehua village (altitude: TBC)

A short day’s trekking along the slopes to Xuehua, a much poorer Yi village and a chance to relax for the afternoon and check out a little local life.

Interestingly Xuehua is also the home of one of the few ‘bimo’ of the area, an Yi shaman-like figure steeped in a ritualistic history infinitely longer and more complex than its newcomer counterpart amongst the Naxi – the ‘Dongba priest’. Whether or not you’ll get the chance to meet him is moot, but it does give some indication as to the depth of tradition in this village.

We will take the night in a local homestay.

17 Sep – Shanghai village

(altitude: TBC)

Another relaxed day’s trekking under the snow peak to Shanghai, a relatively affluent Naxi village and the last stop before heading east away from Jade Dragon. By now those muscles should be flowing!

Tonight’s accommodation is also homestay.

18/19th Sep – Zhongdian/Shangrila

The day starts off with a 2-hour trek to the road and a pick-up (by mini-bus or 4WD) for the drive to and into Tiger Leaping Gorge before climbing to Zhongdian. TLG, while by no means as some claim the deepest gorge in the world, is still a sight worth beholding. From here the road climbs around 1500m up to the plateau and onto Zhongdian.

In Zhongdian (now optimistically renamed Shangri-La) is the site of Songzanlin monastery. Though largely a museum now – this sprawling and, in historical terms, very key monastery was commissioned in the 17c by the 5th Dalai Lama, and was the central monastery in the Gelukpa order’s south-eastern expansion.

Also possible a cable car up nearby Shika Mountain, which given clear weather offers great views of the region and it’s various mountain ranges. In the evening, dinner, a stroll, even a soak in nearby hot springs possible.

Since the retreat of the Tibetans from the Lijiang area in the 19c, Zhongdian (known in Tibetan as Gyalthang) has pretty much marked the south-eastern border of Kham Tibet in Yunnan. Up until a few yeas ago, it had the rough reputation of a classic frontier town – but now things have calmed down, and its markets and the old town make for a fruitful afternoon stroll.

The next two night’s accommodation is at a hotel in Zhongdian (3,160m), so we can further acclimatise to the elevation in preparation for the second trek.

20 Sep – Niru (Altitude: 2900M)

Departing from Zhongdian, we will take a four hour drive southeast across the plateau and then north to the isolated village of Niru (Tibetan) on the southerly edge of the Tibetan region. Here we stay in a lodge built as the keystone for local training and poverty alleviation projects.

21 Sep – Niru to Pastureland (Camp site altitude: 3,360M)

Three hours’ gentle climb through the Niru River gorge brings us to a waterfall where we take a packed lunch. After lunch we continuously climb for roughly three hours via densely forested valley, camp near a seasonal nomadic camp before the pass. We walk roughly five to six hrs today.

22 Sep – Pastureland to Shudu Thang (Camp site altitude about: 3,700M)

We have steep two hour climb before reaching to Dekyi Thang Plateau, which is beautiful with herds of yaks and mountain peaks that surround the pasture. Lunch at Dekyi Thang will be followed by a descent into Shudu valley, where we will either camp near the lake area or push further for two hours beyond Shudu Lake.

23 Sep – Shudu Thang to Geza village (Village altitude:3,200m)

We cross Shudu pastureland and climb gently through a gully up to the pass. After lunch we go down through an excellent rhododendron forest and a beautiful stream as we reach the Tibetan village of Geza. Overnight stay with a Tibetan family, after five to six hours walking.

24 Sep – Geza to Pastureland (Camp site altitude:3,400m)

After about half an hour’s walk our path steadily up Detri Datsan pass (3600m), lunch on
pass, go down to a pastureland and camp for the night. 6/7hrs walk.

25 Sep – Pastureland to Gegang Tso (Gegang Lake)

Our today’s walk bit gentler and easier, the path mostly crosses pasture lands and hills. We camp for the night at the pastureland near an alpine lake known as Gegang Tso.

26 Sep – Gegang Tso to Dalithang (cheese factory)

We cross a pastureland and steadily climb up Hodrong Dza Pass (4,100m), on the top we see majestic mountains and gorges, our path quickly drops to Dalithang, where we meet the 4WDs for pick up and a two-three hr drive back to Shangrila (aka Zhongdian). After settling in to the hotel there will be a final night celebratory dinner.

27 Sep – Departure

An early flight from Shangri-la will get you back out to Kunming where you can catch onward flights to Singapore, Hong Kong or Bangkok.

Links

Parallel Rivers, by Mark Jenkins

A fantastic National Geographic article on the region we wish to travel and its struggle between traditional culture and rapid tourism expansion.

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Thanks for your interest in joining us on this unique hosted tour to the lesser explored regions of China. As a former Tour Leader for Intrepid Travel, China used to be my stomping grounds. Nowadays, I hanker for any opportunity to return and share my favourite places in China with whoever would like to join! I have hosted dozens of tours over my life and absolutely love doing it — it was and still is my favourite job in the entire world. Nowadays I consider myself a ‘freelance tour guide’ and don’t organise these tours to make money, but to make sure that yearly travel with good friends is still a part of my life.

So without further ado, here is the rough plan for first week of the trip. We have decided to go ahead with a September plan and I am setting it up as two overlapping trips (from here on out known as ‘laid-back’ and ‘hardcore’).

The first ‘laid-back’ trip will take in more of the classic tourist sites of Yangshuo and Yunnan and end with a trek in Yunnan Tibet. The second ‘hard-core’ trip will be geared towards my more adventurous friends and contacts who want to ‘rough it’ as much as possible and see some of the best Yunnan province has to offer. To make bookings as easy as possible for me, I would prefer it if people signed up for either of the two trips, or both.

Week 1 – Yangshuo – First week of September

Yangshuo. It is a backpackers mecca but also home to the Chinese version of the limestone karst scenery also seen in Thailand and Vietnam. The only difference is that in this region, the karsts are surrounded by lush, green, fertile rice fields everywhere you look. And there are lots and LOTS of Chinese farmers!

Yangshuo will be the joining point of the tour and you can easily get here directly from Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur or Beijing. (you can fly to Guilin and transfer to Yangshuo by private vehicle (a 1.5 hour ride).

The best activity here is to cycle amongst these karsts and throughout the countryside surrounding Yangshuo. We will stop in at the houses of my old friends and taste some of the freshest food China has to offer — straight from the paddy to the plate. Better yet, we’ll do it all on bicycles! So you will get plenty of exercise to work off all the good food and get you ready for the trekking later in the trip.

Chengyang

After a three days trying to enjoy everything you can in Yangshuo, I would like to take the group up to two more spectacular destinations in Yunnan. The first is the village of Chengyang, home to several Dong Minority villages nestled in the mountainous countryside of northern Guangxi Province. After a relatively comfortable first few days in Yangshuo, we will be roughing it a bit more up in these mountains and facilities will be more basic but definitely not uncomfortable. There will also be a few glasses of locally made rice wine around so watch yourself!

In Chengyang there are opportunities to walk in the surrounding hilly countryside with a local guide, who will take us into the rice paddies and to neighbouring villages. Once again, Chengyang is fairly remote but not totally off the tourist map; while walking we will hardly see any other tourists and you’ll have plenty of opportunities to photography the gorgeous hills.

Longji Rice Terraces

After two nights in Chengyang, we will then start making our way back to Guilin, but not before stopping into into the Longji Rice Terraces. Longji means the ‘Dragon’s Back’, which is what the Chinese have rather creatively called this area of rice terraces spread over the hills.

The photo opportunities hear are spectacular, when the weather cooperates. The last time I was here it rained almost the entire time, and as a result most of my photos are of misty rice terraces surrounded by cloud. Plus the trekking was extremely slippery! But if the weather cooperates this time around, we might just be treated to views like the one you see here. This is not my photo but I aspire to one day see the terraces looking just like this. During September it is the pre-harvest season and the fields are erupting with pre-harvest green and hopefully gold colours.

Coming soon

In the next few days I will take the time to write up Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 of this tour, one for every week that we hope to be travelling in September. Keep your eyes peeled for more.. and of course, feel free to share this link with friends who might be interested.

In summary here is the plan so far:

Day 1 – Meet in Yangshuo
Day 2-3 – Cycle Trip and Cooking School, spare day for optional activities
Day 4-5 – Transfer to Chengyang, day hike
Day 6-7 – Transfer to Longji, day hikes
Day 8 – Transfer to Guilin for flight/train to Kunming

So I decided to go about creating my own first membership site, which I decided to call the Bangladesh Traveller. While researching which plugin I should use for the membership site I considered a lot of options. Any search on Google out there will bring you an absolute raft of choices and reviews, some of which are obviously biased and lack the voice of first-hand user-driven experience. These reviews read like sales pitches — hardly honest places to make a decision about which membership plugin to go with. If you know how affiliate programs work, I think the idea of writing such beaming reviews is to generate profits for oneself. Fair enough, but you dear internet user, should read things with a grain of salt.

But back to my site. I wanted a membership plugin that met the following requirements:

• Easy enough for me, the non-programmer to use and set up
• Well supported with a community of other developers big enough so that I wouldn’t be the first person bumping my head on every error; I could learn from others’ experiences and questions on the forums
• Integrated easily with Payment gateways so that I could get my system up and running quickly
• Not so large of a user base that my inevitable requests for support would not be met

After a lot of deliberation I eventually decided to give Your Members a go, based on some positive reviews posted at Justin Tadlock’s site. Run by a pair of developers in the UK under the name Cambridge New Media Services, I thought that the original deal was quite alright — $50 to get the basic plugin and to get me up and running. It seemed like a low commitment way to get into the game and see how I went.

I didn’t experience too many problems at first but I didn’t yet have all the content ready to go online. I needed to understand the capacities of the plugin so that I could consider a much larger client that I’m pitching for investment.

After a few months (this was back in September), the developers offered a deal by which they promised to deliver a new set of upgraded plugins to those who decided on the what they called the ‘developers’ license for a cool US$200.

A raft of new features was proposed, and I think they were pretty successful at getting people to upgrade, including me. By this time I had been loading a significant more content into my site, but I hadn’t yet crossed into the paid realm of content, just the stuff that was meant to get some test users in the door. The plugin was doing what it was supposed to, and pretty well. I saw that I was probably future-proofing myself by upgrading now.

Soon my big moment came. I then had a meeting with the big bosses and gave them my pitch. They were interested — they wanted to see more. I was successful at getting a few other content developers interested in the product too. I would need to speed up development if I could.

Eventually I found that development was getting more complicated and the selling mechanism more sophisticated. I was expecting the plugin instructions to be pretty clear like they had been in the first stages of development.

But then that’s where my problems began. Either something in the plugin wasn’t working properly — I’m not sure what as I’m not technical enough to say — or I wasn’t coding it properly in the WordPress site.

Whatever the issue, I knew I needed help. First I began searching the Cambridge New Media site, which in my opinion is rather poorly organised. A post on their blog which outlined the functions of what I wanted to do didn’t actually work like I expected it to.

And so, I began asking for support on the Your Members forums when I couldn’t figure it out. At first I was asked if I had followed the basic instructions, to which I replied that I already did. Then I stopped getting responses from the programmers.

At the moment I feel like I’m basically being ignored. I’ve posted on the forums a few times, and even sent an e-mail. But there’s been no response.

There could be a lot of other reasons for the support delays. I read on their forums that one of the two developers got very very sick last year, which is probably why the development of the Your Members plugin has been so slow. I can understand getting sick. But sick or not, YM’s development has been classically overpromised and underdelivered, in my opinion.

It could be a lack of skill on my end. While I am not a professional programmer or developer (I’m entirely self-taught), I’m pretty sure I’m not a total idiot either. The reason I bought the plugin was to enable payments on my site. But I’m finding that now that I’ve finally got my content ready, my requests for support are not being met.

This seems to be pretty hot topic around the internet, so I’ll be posting more to say how it’s going as I try and tackle these technical problems that are indeed, way over my head. But hopefully this post will help me get the developer’s attention.. Sean, Tim? Are you out there?

Bangladesh: The Bradt Travel Guide Book Launch party, 1 Oct, Dhaka, click poster to see full size

It was a long road to get here, one of the biggest challenges I have taken on in my life and one that I now feel very proud of. More importantly, I fully believe my guide is important for the wonderful people of Bangladesh — some of the kindest and most hospitable people our planet has to offer. It is my hope that more people visit Bangladesh to see the reality behind the veil, the truth behind Bangladesh’s horrible headlines.

Today I’d like to offer some of my friends and contacts the chance to purchase a signed copy of the guidebook, which I will send from London when I visit the Bradt Travel Guides office on 21 September.

One of the wonderful things I learned about Islam during my stay in Bangladesh is the concept of Zakat — which means giving alms to the poor. A good Muslim is supposed to donate 10 percent of his earnings to support widows, orphans and the poor,

After getting inspired by the book Three Cups of Tea, I decided want to take this chance to raise some funds for the Jaago Foundation, a Dhaka-based charity that Belinda and I have chosen to support with all of our book’s launch activities. The foundation supports the education of slum children in Rayer Bazaar, one of Dhaka’s poorest neighbourhoods.

Here’s a Jaago promotional video:

From Jaago’s website:

Basic sponsorship cost per child is a minimum of BDT 12,000 (US$180) annually, or you may pay installments of BDT 1000 monthly BDT 3000 quarterly or BDT 6000 half yearly (The amount of the sponsorship is increased from BDT 500 to BDT 1000 monthly). You also have the option to sponsor a project. The money received at our headquarters is forwarded for the betterment of the children. Eid and/or birthday money can be sent via headquarters.

My goal is to sponsor as many children as possible with my book-selling drive, so if you’ve been thinking of buying a book, there is no better time than now to help me support a few underprivileged children at the same time. But it would be ideal if I can get 60 books sold at USD$25.99 each, I will be able to support two children for an entire year of education.

You can use the button below to donate to the project and buy a book at the same time. Please add your shipping address if you’d like me to send you a signed copy of the book.

After you click the donation button, you’ll need to enter in the donation amount. The best price I can offer for the book is $20.00USD, which includes shipping to anywhere in the world. The listed price for the book is $25.99USD and although you can pick up the book more cheaply at Amazon, it won’t be signed and you won’t be supporting a good cause like Jaago.

So if you’re ready, please click the donation button and enter an amount of $25.99USD (if you donate more I’ll use the extra funds to support Jaago). You’ll be able to add your shipping details at Paypal.

Even if you’re not interested in buying a book, this is a chance to donate to the project, one that I have felt is extremely worthwhile and run by people who I trust very much.

Thanks for your help in advance!

Note: if you’re in Dhaka and receiving this message you’ll have a chance to support Jaago by coming to the book launch on 1 October at the Australian High Commission. Click here to learn more.

But it does get thousands of expatriates, NGO workers, volunteers and diplomats every year. And all of these ‘tourists’ could be a part of your potential market.

So how do you get your product in front of that market?

Answer: Advertise in the right place.

Bangladesh: The Bradt Travel Guide
Most of you know I’ve been working very hard in creating a totally new guidebook for Bangladesh. For 2.5 years I have tried almost every travel experience your country has to offer, both good and bad, and earned the expertise that travellers want. I then spent six months writing a totally new guidebook for Bangladesh.

This August, we will release our new guide to the international market, and you need to be there if you want to reach new travellers to Bangladesh.

Bradt Travel Guides are very different from the competition. Our guides are known for their authorship and detail, something that is very attractive to the kind of person who would consider a visit to Bangladesh.

And even better: most of that market already knows there’s a new guidebook coming soon.

The power of social marketing
For a long time now, I have been working on a pre-book release website under the URL http://www.joybangla.info for the upcoming title of ‘Bangladesh: The Bradt Travel Guide.’

Under this website we have evolved a loyal following to the upcoming guide, which has earned over 30,000 individual views since early 2007, with over 100 individual views per day. Does your website have that much traffic?

We also have a loyal Facebook group with over 150 members (mainly used to promote upcoming Bangladesh trips), a building Youtube audience with travel videos, and a stunning collection of Flickr photographs which we would also like to use for a photography book entitled “Bangladesh: A Journey of Images” (PDF primer and dummy copies are available for interested publishers).

There are already thousands of potential readers out there, learning about our work, and our book, every day.

So do you want access to those readers?

Stand apart from the pack
In the international world, visibility is an important part of any business. It’s a competitive market out there, especially in one as small as Bangladesh. So you’ve got to stand head and shoulders above your competition.

Advertising in our new Bangladesh guidebook will help you achieve that, and at great value.

For as little as BDT10,000 you can be positioned in the new guidebook. For up to BDT1,10,000 your advertisement will be unmistakable.

Below are the advertising documents and information. Advertisements range from £100 to £1,156 (BDT 10,000 to BDT110,000), depending on size and colour.

Don’t know how to design an ad that is attractive to foreigners?

No problem.

For a minimal fee, I can help you create an advertisement that represents your unique product, or give you some ideas about how to do it.

Contact me for more information. The advertising submission deadline is April 24th, so you’d better act fast!

You can download the Advertising Info here (Word Doc, 352KB), and the Advance Book Information here (PDF, 1.5MB).

Best regards,
-Mikey Leung and Belinda Meggitt
Authors, “Bangladesh: The Bradt Travel Guide”

Bangladeshis already have a lot of experience with rising waters.

The nation is inundated with monsoonal rain and floods every year.

In the face of this rising tide, one organisation has developed a novel solution.

They’re delivering high quality health care to Bangladesh’s poorest people, in floating hospitals.

For Asia Calling Michael Leung spent a day in one such floating hospital.

Click the play button or watch the videos below to hear/see more. Or click this link to see a few more pictures.

A Hospital Morning

Quick Tour

“It’s about 9.30 am now, and the first patients are just arriving. A woman has come from a nearby village with her baby and the baby has a bad rash on its bottom and its face. They’ll be one of the first people treated this morning.”

The sounds of humming machines and busy nurses and doctors are familiar. But this is no ordinary hospital. It’s also a floating barge.

Called the ‘Lifebuoy Friendship Hospital,’ this 50-meter long vessel sails around Bangladesh’s remote river islands of Bangladesh.

About 3 million people live in these islands, known locally as ‘chors.’ Poverty forces them here, despite the threat of destruction during floods that hit every year.

And if predictions of sea rises due to climate change come true, these floods could be a more permanent reality.

There’s already little support here. No roads, no electricity, and before the floating hospital, certainly no medical facilities service the chors.

Dr. Shaiful Azam is the hospital’s main doctor. He explains that the barge was originally sailed to Bangladesh from France.

There’s an eye clinic, dental facilities, an operating room, a laboratory and even an X-ray machine.

Space is tight, but the hospital is well equipped and well-staffed.

Azam sees up anywhere between 50 and 150 patients in a single day.

He says that most government hospitals suffer from a lack of funds, so qualified staff won’t work there.

“There might be some doctors and specialists in Gaibandha hospital, they should be recruited. This is the usual procedure. But people are not coming here. They are not coming here … they need to earn money. If he is in Dhaka they can earn so much money.”

A lack of manpower isn’t the only problem for those in need of treatment. With no roads and many rivers to cross, the distances they must travel for treatment are great.

Anwara is one such patient. Her foot is so swollen she can barely walk. For treatment at the floating hospital, fellow villagers carried Anwara on a stretcher from her village two hours away.

“We know we can get good treatment at this hospital. If the hospital wasn’t here we would have had to go to the Gaibandha government hospital. We are very poor, and treatment there would be far too expensive for us.”

Had she gone to the government hospital she would have had taken a local transport boat, crossed two rivers and then ridden another eight kilometers in a cycle rickshaw.

All of this adds to the cost of already unaffordable treatment.

At the floating hospital however, Anwara pays only a small fee for her treatment which will probably take three or four days.

The rest of her bill is paid by a major international food corporation, which is finding most of the hospitals operating costs.

In the capital Dhaka, workers are currently putting the final touches on a second floating hospital.

This time, the charitable foundation of an international airline has funded the project. It will cost about $750,000 dollars to build and another $150,000 to run it each year.

Runa Khan is the director of non-profit organisation ‘Friendship’, which established the floating hospitals.

“Health, you see, is one of the most essential components, if not the most essential component, to any development project. Because when you are suffering you cannot do anything. There is no development intervention possible when you are suffering.”

The sufferings are numerous along Bangladesh’s vast river networks, home to some of the world’s poorest. And if global temperatures continue to rise, more snow will melt from the peaks of the Himalayas causing bigger floods downstream in Bangladesh.

And the threat of a rising sea could also force tens of millions from their homes permanently.

This is why boat-based development initiatives are starting to take off in Bangladesh.

Khan says that using corporate donations has made innovative ideas like her hospital possible.

“Also, these corporate companies have another advantage. They are very open to innovative ideas, they have only one target: you should actually be beneficial, it should be useful and you should see the result directly in front of you. This is what the private sector can do, including the NGOs. They can bring out models of innovation which would help the government to replicate models elsewhere. Through these innovative models we can take fund risks.”

The Lifebuoy Friendship Hospital sees over 50,000 patients each year. And the second hospital is expected to serve a similar number in Northern Bangladesh.

Despite the looming specter of climate change, projects like Khan’s show people there are ways to deal with climate problem.