Just back from a trip to LA, which reminded me of one of the places I visited there on my last trip - the Getty Center. The museum itself is so cleverly designed that it is really the star of its own collection.

Tags:   California la11 los angeles getty centre center architecture design museum art white blue sky angles abstract richard meier rationalist

© All Rights Reserved

In a protected forest reserve in northeast Bangladesh, a 10 year-old girl holds her baby brother and eavesdrops on lessons at the local school - a class made up mostly of boys.

The Lawachara reserve is a national park in Bangladesh, but certain communities still live within the park and draw their incomes from forest products. In the case of the Tripuri ethnic group in this village, they harvest and sell betel. The preferential status of the Tripuri has supposedly led to some tension with non-protected minorities outside the reserve and poses a challenge for conservation.

At this NGO-funded school sitting on a hill above the village, boys within the reserve get a basic education. This girl listened for a few minutes, and once the baby started to get restless she walked back down to the village to resume her chores, leaving the other children behind.

Tags:   bangladesh bangladesh2012 sreemongal lawachara nature reserve betel conservation national park school ngo flooding development education girl baby portrait doorway tripuri tripura blue ethnic minority gender discrimination door

© All Rights Reserved

I was researching flooding in Bangladesh all summer, looking at negative effects. Of course, flooding is a natural phenomenon in Bangladesh and people can cope well with it each year. More than this, flooding can have a huge benefit to agriculture - providing nutrients and moisture to the soil.

However, it's when the floods come early, or last a long time, that crops are lost and people struggle to recover. In recent years, farmers have been noticing these changes. How they will adapt to the increased uncertainty remains an open question.

Tags:   bangladesh bangladesh2012 rice paddy planting agriculture climate flood field green seedling labourer laborer farmer comilla transplanting development risk natural disasters

© All Rights Reserved

For now.

Tags:   comilla boat river sunset farmer fisherman bamboo silhouette flood bangladesh

© All Rights Reserved

Old Dhaka retains the winding alleys and open squares of the centuries' old Mughal city that formed the heart of what has now grown into an 18 million person metropolis.

At Chowk Bazar, during Ramadan, thousands of people throng the streets to get food for their iftar meal, to break their daily fast. There is so much food, so many smells, so many temptations. And so many people you can barely move.

Ramadan ended today with Eid celebrations. Chowk Bazar will transition to selling other things, and the streets will remain almost as busy.

Tags:   dhaka old bangladesh chowk bazar islam muslim ramadan fasting fast iftar fried food breaking chicken market bazaar street crowd urban hectic busy

© All Rights Reserved