As communications officer in the Philippines, I’m Facebook friends with a lot of Filipinos who work in Doctors Without Borders. I see their posts about work, their holidays, when they happily run into other Filipinos on their missions.

Inevitably, people working on assignment in Bangladesh will post about going to Mermaid during the weekend.

I was able to visit with the lovely ladies I was living with in Ukhiya. Some of them wanted to go swimming, while the others just wanted to go walking. My Bangladesh BFF Denisse and I were happy to lounge on the sofa and be completely lazy.

It’s a nice beach resort in Cox’s Bazar. People like going there for the breakfast buffet. You can also swim in the pool and walk on the sandy beach.

It was nice to feel the sand in my toes and the wind in my hair. It felt good to see so much sky.

It was not great to feel the sun beating down my face, so I put my scarf on my head for protection.

Food was nice. I really liked the ginger banana shake though (below, left), and I enjoyed the potato salad with shrimp (below, right).

But really, one of the best things about Mermaid was the fact that there were cats lounging around the restaurant. That made me happy.

Quirky signs are always a nice touch!