'Come before the tourists visit" is the old Bangladesh tourist board slogan that had caught my eye and partially inspired my trip. Two days after arriving in the country, I unexpectedly meet the woman who came up with it. I'm at Wilderness, a resort in the north-eastern region of Sylhet, where the majority of British-Bangladeshis hail. It's owned by Nazim Choudhury, whose glamorous wife, Geeteara, now runs her own advertising company. I tell them I'm heading to Cox's Bazar – the world's longest beach, on the country's east coast, and Geeteara says: "That's where I had the idea for the slogan. Walking on that beach in the 1980s, when no one was around." "But," interjects Nazim, "the tourists, they never came!" He laughs, partly at the absurdity, partly because he is accustomed to e...

Our morning flight from Mumbai took us to Agartala, from where a pleasant 70-km ride, through a smooth state highway that snaked around green undulating hills, took us to the border town of Sonamura. While generally friendly, most Indo-Bangladesh border crossings are very crowded and tout-ruled affair. Fortunately, the virtually deserted one at Bibir Bazaar was just the opposite. There were just two officials and two border guards on each side (if I exclude a hyperactive pet monkey outside the Bangladesh immigration office), who ensured clearances within minutes. Another twenty minutes drive brought us to the center of the Comilla town, at three in the afternoon.