Burma or Myanmar: What’s in a name?
Living within one hour’s walk from the Thai border, my students (Karenni refugees from Burma) refer to their homeland simply as “inside.” The word conjures images of a mysterious location, […]
Category Archives: Southeast Asia
Long Live the King: Learning to Love Thailand’s Monarch
“I’m not standing for the King,” the German man behind me snapped. “I’m standing because I want to.” A few hundred passengers, awaiting trains in Bangkok’s Hua Lamphong station, […]
Five Filipino Foods That Aren’t Deep Fried
As featured this week on We Blog The World: The scent of caramelized garlic constantly hung in the air of the Australian accommodation I shared with several Filipino women. Onion, […]
Another Sort of Celebration, Part 2: Karenni National Day
Celebrating Karenni National Day inside Thai refugee camps, 2007 Q: How do we demonstrate national pride? With patriotic anthems and firework displays; with rowdy crowds and waving flags; with reverent […]
Another Sort of Celebration, Part 1: World Refugee Day
Thang’s Dilemana: a Karenni refugee in Thailand tells his story. Q: Why do we leave home? Because office cubicles cause claustrophobia; because life is too short to stand still; because […]
Speaking Karenni
Burma is a Jackson Pollack painting of peoples and languages. The country has over 135 distinct and recognized ethnic groups, divided into eight over-arching “ethnic states”. These states have made […]
Angkor or Bagan?
Some 900 years ago, King Suryavarman II created the Khmer empire’s largest stone tribute to the Hindu religion – modern Cambodia’s Angkor Wat. His predecessors promptly converted to Buddhism and […]
Too Mutch For Words 