My final evening in Bangladesh started going downhill immediately after I’d done one of my favorite parting activities—overtipping the housekeepers. I had 3,000 Taka (roughly $40) or more, far more than was likely to need before the plane took off. So I gave them a tip that meant very little to me and a lot […]

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Just back in the country, still half on Bangladesh time, I found myself wide awake at 5:30 a.m. and thought I might as well go downstairs and work on my Mongolian monument-in-progress. Then I heard the crow. He was the loudest performer in the dawn clamor of birdcall, but I noticed him not because of […]

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