Everything a foreign visitor needs in Bangladesh, from one person.

The first ninety minutes in a new country decide how the whole trip feels. At Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport I am standing past the customs green channel with a sign carrying your name, before the taxi touts reach you. I watch your flight number from the night before, so a three-hour delay changes nothing and costs nothing.

• Met at arrivals with a name sign
• Flight tracked for delays
• Local SIM registered in your name
• Currency changed at the bank counter
• Pre-booked car, no negotiating at the kerb
• Hotel check-in handled in Bengali
• Visa-on-arrival guidance before you fly
• Departure drop-off at the end

Dhaka is not a city you can sightsee from a list. It is a city you have to be walked through, in the right order, at the right hours. I build the day around traffic, prayer times, market rhythms and the light — Sadarghat at dawn when the launches are loading, the old quarter mid-morning before the heat, the Parliament building in the late afternoon when Louis Kahn’s brickwork turns gold.

Nothing is a fixed package. Tell me whether you want architecture, food, river life, craft workshops or photographs, and the route is different.

• Old Dhaka: Lalbagh Fort, Ahsan Manzil
• Shankharia Bazar & the Armenian Church
• Sadarghat river front and a launch ride
• National Parliament House (Louis Kahn)
• Sonargaon and abandoned Panam Nagar
• Brass and pottery villages at Dhamrai
• Street food, from kitchens I trust
• Shopping without the foreigner price

Dhaka is where trips start, not where they should end. I travel with you anywhere in Bangladesh — booking the trains, launches, domestic flights and hotels in advance, then handling everything on the ground so you are never the only foreigner trying to work out a ticket window.

For multi-day trips my own transport and accommodation are added at cost and shown as real numbers on your quote. I take no commission on any booking.

I work in English, Bengali and Hindi. In a meeting that means consecutive interpreting; in a market it means you get a straight answer about the real price; in a hospital it means the doctor’s actual words rather than a reassuring summary.

Just as important is the part that is not language. I will tell you afterwards what the room actually meant — when a yes was politeness, when a silence was a no, when a price was a first offer. That is the difference between a translator and a local.

Shooting in Bangladesh is easy in one sense and hard in another. People are warm and curious, which is why forty of them will be standing in your shot within two minutes. Managing that crowd — politely, in Bengali, without killing the mood — is most of the job.

I handle permissions where they are needed, negotiate access with shop owners, site managers and boat crews on the spot, find the rooftops and vantage points, translate live during interviews, and keep an eye on your gear while you concentrate on the frame.

• Crowd management during shoots
• On-the-spot access negotiation
• Permission requests where required
• Location scouting and best light
• Live interpreting for interviews
• Local sources and introductions

If you are here to work, the guide role changes shape: you need punctuality, discretion and someone who can absorb the logistics so you can think about the meeting. I hold the schedule, arrange the car, get you between Gulshan, Uttara, Savar and Gazipur in the time the traffic actually allows, and interpret when the room switches to Bengali.

For development and research teams I arrange field visits, community introductions and permissions, and I will tell you honestly when a plan is not realistic rather than agreeing and failing on the day.

Most of what goes wrong abroad is mundane, and mundane problems are exactly the ones you cannot solve without the language. These are included in any booked day, and I will help with them between bookings too.

• Pharmacy runs and finding a doctor
• Domestic flight, train and launch tickets
• Laundry, tailoring, phone repair
• Hotel disputes and billing problems
• Souvenir buying at honest prices
• Lost passport: police report and embassy