Pottering: Random stops on the road to the Chittagong Hill Tracts

I enjoy surprises and the unexpected, that is what me and the other travellers got, pretty much like the rice mill, I didn't know what to expect, get off the bus and follow our leader. Loved his style not telling us what we would encounter.

A few random shacks along a dirt path off the main highway, animals wandering freely and a classic outside toilet.

Not a place where they get visitors everyday, especially westerners, but the locals were quite nonchalant about us being there

By western standards the facilities were basic and rudimentary, but in Bangladesh, there is a massive push by Govt and charities to bring pumps like this to villages to provide aces to clean fresh water.

This village must be a bit upmarket as it had two, but apparently the latter was for drinking water the former used in the pot making process

Which starts with the basic clay

The tools of the artisan , expecting to see something like a potters whel and the suchlike these tools were soon seen in action

Skillful bashing by a couple of ladies, shaping and moulding the clay into recognisable vessels

Before being dried in the sun, tended to and turned to make sure that the pots of all shapes and sizes were thoroughly baked

Pots to be sold in the markets as well as made to order wholesale

The biggest surprise was the village had its own shop selling all manner of staples and how clean tidy and well presented the people were.