And then in an airport that's falling apart, two American Express lounges pop up (but you won't be able to get in there even with the Centurion)

Never trust first impressions and in this case I would say not even of the 74th, because sometimes you just have to turn the corner and everything changes. That's pretty much how it went on my last trip, what I renamed, "the first times."

International airport in Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, falls apart But fortunately it has (almost) cash days. The new facility, Terminal 3 is in the home stretch, there are already signs talking about soft opening and I must say it is really needed, because the current Terminals 1 and 2 are literally in the "poop." I'm not kidding, sewer exploded in front of the immigration counters, where you have to stop to get your visa upon arrival. Crazy disgust.

It is not much better in the departure area, past the security checks it feels like entering a souk. There are little stores selling everything, there is the IT Center that heats your sandwiches over the printer with which it prepares documents in precarious hygienic conditions.

But then I just had to see a sign for the Executive Lounges, take an elevator, and, like a Stargate, being transported to a parallel universe Where everything seems perfect (or almost perfect).

I expected one or at most two lounges, one of Biman Bangladesh which is the national airline that Also flies from Rome to Dhaka, and one for all other carriers. Instead, proportionately, there are almost more lounges than in Singapore or Bangkok.

There are 8 lounges, certainly we are not talking about the most beautiful lounges in the world, but when you consider what happens outside the terminal and in the terminal, these lounges could all win a Skytrax award. The strange thing is that there are lounges with the same name just a few meters apart along the same corridor.

Here is the City Bank American Express Platinum Lounge, the centurion on the sign leaves no doubt. It is not, however, a Centurion Lounge and it's not even a Escape lounge which is a network also operated by Amex.

At the entrance, however, the friendly attendant explained to me that this lounge is only accessible to cards issued in Bangladesh by City Bank, a pity because aesthetically and quietly it was definitely the prettiest.

I then headed to the Balaka Executive Lounge. This room was brought to my attention by SriLankan Airlines with whom I was flying to Colombo. Here, to my surprise, Inside the lounge was a second American Express lounge.. Like a matryoshka, a lounge within a lounge. Again, same story, but the nice thing is that the one who bounced me was the same attendant from the first lounge who, in the process, had moved to this one.

Again, access allowed only to cardholders issued in the Asian country by City Bank.

Of course, all the world is a country, and in Bangladesh, as in every airport on the planet, lounges can be overcrowded and access denied.