It's been over a YEAR since I was abroad....I can hardly believe it. This year went by much more quickly. But NOW I am once again allowed to donate blood. I hope you consider donating if that's an option for you as well!
Love,
~Alice
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Vientiane!!!!
Since Luang Prabang……I took the most scenic bus ride of my life from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng. I had planned on doing some organic farming in Vang Vieng but when I got there I was greeted by…..a tourist mecca. Vang Vieng is absolutely gorgeous – but it’s also possible to watch friends episodes 24 hours a day in a bar and listen to four others from other bars at the same time. I’m not exaggerating. Most of you know that I LOVE friends….but even I was seriously disturbed by that and the alcohol and western comforts driven vibe of the place. So I left the next morning on a kayaking trip to Vientiane. Vientiane is awesome! Nowhere near as beautiful as the rest of Lao because it is a city…..but it’s a peaceful, relaxed, fun city.
I started yesterday with a trip to the Lao National Museum. It’s in a small, run-down building that clearly doesn’t have much of a budget, but the exhibits had me absolutely rapt. Not so much the displays, but the communist rhetoric that is rampant in every piece of text throughout the museum. Luckily the English translations are quite good, so I learnt a lot. I began to see exactly how much this small, poor nation suffered at the hands of outside powers and how this turned Lao to communism. Of course, there was no hint of the many ways that communism has failed the Lao people. Little known fact – in the Vietnam War (Which is called The American War everywhere in SE Asia) there were 1.5 times the amount of air sorties in Lao as compared to Vietnam. The so-called “Secret War” waged in Lao by the US continued to rage after President Johnson halted all bombing raids in North Vietnam in November 1968b – indeed, that just left more firepower to dump on Lao. As a history junkie….I was duly invigorated by the museum!
Random: Lao salespeople……The tuk-tuk drivers sometimes take the chilled-out Lao stereotype to the next level. Many just sit in their hammocks and make no attempt to get your attention as you wander past. Smart business. My favorite salesperson moment happened just a couple hours ago….I was walking outside of Pha That Luang (the national symbol of Lao) and a vendor sitting casually by his stall said, “ice cream?” but when I turned his direction, looked away. There was no one else around…..I didn’t want ice cream……but still!
I’ve also seen a number of impressive Wats and I’ve noticed some features that separate Lao and Thai Wats. In general, Lao Wats are much newer because most were destroyed during The American War. Also, there is often a woman ringing out her hair on the outside of Lao Wats. This comes from a famous story in which that woman made a mote around the Buddhea while he was meditating by ringing her hair and thus protected him from attack. Also, there are two styles of Buddhas that are very common in Lao and apparently only to Lao…..that probably isn’t interesting to you, sorry. One of those sculptures is the “Calling-for-Rain” pose…..a androgenous looking Buddha standing with hands at sides and a cape……really different from other Buddhas I have seen. There was a huge row of them in a temple in Luang Prabang – a bit eerie walking down the middle between them all! I bought a mini version at the massive Talat Sao market in Vientiane!
Talat Sao is a typical Asian market but it is HUGE and it somehow feels very different wandering alone totally alone. I’ve gotten lonely at times, but I’m getting better at coping with it. Being responsible for every little thing I do is not at all easy. It is so much harder than it sounds to simply know what you want. Most of us truly have NO idea what we want to do with ourselves, but we’ve gotten into situations (school, jobs, raising children, being a spouse, having a hobby) that give us ample things we “have” to do each day. Faced with the entire country of Lao at my disposal can be a tad overwhelming…..but I feel like a legitimate backpacker who can fend herself. Whether that means spurring creepy men, finding a guest house, or deciding where to go – I’m getting better at it every day.
It just occurred to me today that it has been a very, very long time since I’ve formed a significant connection to a country or place with no intent of returning. In the US my “happy places” are my home, my grandparents’ home, Steven’s Pass, and Sun Valley…..clearly I will return to all those places. The majority of my international travel is also like that – which is slightly abnormal. I want to return to Gurabo in the Dominican Republic, Kadapukkam in India, and Mae Hong Son in Thailand. While was living in all those places I had the mindset of “I will return” which significantly altered my experience while there. Now I’m here in Laos and love this country but will probably never return. Traveling alone obviously means there’s no one here who knows me outside of Lao. I have become good friends with far more people than I would have expected while here and shared experiences with them but still – I am a blank slate to everyone I meet here. Because of this I feel jealously protective of my Lao experience – it’s entirely made by me and for me – the good and bad.
Also - the French influence is SO apparent here....croissants and baguettes everywhere, the roads are grided centering on turn-abouts, lots of French is used....My personal favorite: there's a monument in the center of "downtown" called Pataxai. It was made from the concrete that the US donated to build a new air strip. Alright. (it's known as "the veritcal runway" among expats.) It looks like the Arc de Triomphe except it has for arches instead of two...and then on a long, wide road headed away from it you hit the Palace in one direction and at an angle, the symbol of the Nation (Eiffel Tower equivalent) in the other. They never quit finished building Pataxi because of wars and communist uprisings but there is a lovely sign at the base of the monument which reads, "From a distance, it appears even less impressive, like a monster of concrete". Charming.
I love getting emails from you!
See you soooooon - in mid-June
~Alice
I started yesterday with a trip to the Lao National Museum. It’s in a small, run-down building that clearly doesn’t have much of a budget, but the exhibits had me absolutely rapt. Not so much the displays, but the communist rhetoric that is rampant in every piece of text throughout the museum. Luckily the English translations are quite good, so I learnt a lot. I began to see exactly how much this small, poor nation suffered at the hands of outside powers and how this turned Lao to communism. Of course, there was no hint of the many ways that communism has failed the Lao people. Little known fact – in the Vietnam War (Which is called The American War everywhere in SE Asia) there were 1.5 times the amount of air sorties in Lao as compared to Vietnam. The so-called “Secret War” waged in Lao by the US continued to rage after President Johnson halted all bombing raids in North Vietnam in November 1968b – indeed, that just left more firepower to dump on Lao. As a history junkie….I was duly invigorated by the museum!
Random: Lao salespeople……The tuk-tuk drivers sometimes take the chilled-out Lao stereotype to the next level. Many just sit in their hammocks and make no attempt to get your attention as you wander past. Smart business. My favorite salesperson moment happened just a couple hours ago….I was walking outside of Pha That Luang (the national symbol of Lao) and a vendor sitting casually by his stall said, “ice cream?” but when I turned his direction, looked away. There was no one else around…..I didn’t want ice cream……but still!
I’ve also seen a number of impressive Wats and I’ve noticed some features that separate Lao and Thai Wats. In general, Lao Wats are much newer because most were destroyed during The American War. Also, there is often a woman ringing out her hair on the outside of Lao Wats. This comes from a famous story in which that woman made a mote around the Buddhea while he was meditating by ringing her hair and thus protected him from attack. Also, there are two styles of Buddhas that are very common in Lao and apparently only to Lao…..that probably isn’t interesting to you, sorry. One of those sculptures is the “Calling-for-Rain” pose…..a androgenous looking Buddha standing with hands at sides and a cape……really different from other Buddhas I have seen. There was a huge row of them in a temple in Luang Prabang – a bit eerie walking down the middle between them all! I bought a mini version at the massive Talat Sao market in Vientiane!
Talat Sao is a typical Asian market but it is HUGE and it somehow feels very different wandering alone totally alone. I’ve gotten lonely at times, but I’m getting better at coping with it. Being responsible for every little thing I do is not at all easy. It is so much harder than it sounds to simply know what you want. Most of us truly have NO idea what we want to do with ourselves, but we’ve gotten into situations (school, jobs, raising children, being a spouse, having a hobby) that give us ample things we “have” to do each day. Faced with the entire country of Lao at my disposal can be a tad overwhelming…..but I feel like a legitimate backpacker who can fend herself. Whether that means spurring creepy men, finding a guest house, or deciding where to go – I’m getting better at it every day.
It just occurred to me today that it has been a very, very long time since I’ve formed a significant connection to a country or place with no intent of returning. In the US my “happy places” are my home, my grandparents’ home, Steven’s Pass, and Sun Valley…..clearly I will return to all those places. The majority of my international travel is also like that – which is slightly abnormal. I want to return to Gurabo in the Dominican Republic, Kadapukkam in India, and Mae Hong Son in Thailand. While was living in all those places I had the mindset of “I will return” which significantly altered my experience while there. Now I’m here in Laos and love this country but will probably never return. Traveling alone obviously means there’s no one here who knows me outside of Lao. I have become good friends with far more people than I would have expected while here and shared experiences with them but still – I am a blank slate to everyone I meet here. Because of this I feel jealously protective of my Lao experience – it’s entirely made by me and for me – the good and bad.
Also - the French influence is SO apparent here....croissants and baguettes everywhere, the roads are grided centering on turn-abouts, lots of French is used....My personal favorite: there's a monument in the center of "downtown" called Pataxai. It was made from the concrete that the US donated to build a new air strip. Alright. (it's known as "the veritcal runway" among expats.) It looks like the Arc de Triomphe except it has for arches instead of two...and then on a long, wide road headed away from it you hit the Palace in one direction and at an angle, the symbol of the Nation (Eiffel Tower equivalent) in the other. They never quit finished building Pataxi because of wars and communist uprisings but there is a lovely sign at the base of the monument which reads, "From a distance, it appears even less impressive, like a monster of concrete". Charming.
I love getting emails from you!
See you soooooon - in mid-June
~Alice
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
PS - I went to Laos.
So there's a lot to catch up on.......and I have to do it sometime, here we go!
Many of you have probably heard from either Flora or myself that I left Mae Hong Son to travel on my own and she is still there. In the simplest terms possible - the man we were staying with made me feel very uncomfortable. He treated me very differently from Flora and those differences were starting to effect me quite a lot so I decided that I needed to move out of his house. SO many decisions were made within a matter of days - Flora and I spent the night in a monastery not far from Mae Hong Son and our time there was doubtless incredibly helpful in figuring out what to do. I love Mae Hong Son, but for a variety of reasons I decided that travel was the best thing for me after that. My mom is meeting me in Bangkok on May 10, so I didn't have too much time left anyway, I had envisioned more travel in my time in Southeast Asia than had happened, and I wanted to get away from him. Flora stayed behind and has had to deal with more issues surrounding our host........when I told him that I was leaving he became incredibly emotional and unstable (affirming my decision to leave) and asked Flora to move out as well. She's still in Mae Hong Son, living with a friend until she moves into a guest house and working for the other organization we had been involved with.
The week period surrounding the epicenter of these issues was incredibly difficult for both Flora and I.....luckily other NGO workers in the area who we have made friends with supported us in every way imaginable making us feel comfortable and loved. Another upside - it taught me that I need to listen to my instincts. When a man is making me feel uncomfortable, I need to acknowledge that and not try to explain it away. I should never feel that I need to accommodate someone who is being inappropriate because I don't want to situation to be uncomfortable. It was a lesson in sticking to my guns and doing what was best, healthiest, and safest for me. I'm proud of how we both responded to the situation and how we recognized that the the best circumstance for each of us meant that we'd have to split up for a month even if we didn't truly want to be apart. I'd also like to thank my parents for being so supportive from thousands of miles away - I know it's difficult to let your little girl travel on her own and I am so glad that you trust me to do so.
SO! Flora and I parted in the Mae Hong Son nus station - she for a border run to Burma and me for Laos.....both of our visas were expiring. I went to Pai, a backpacker mecca that Flora and I visited about a month ago, to arrange a bus and boat into Laos and within hours I ran into people Flora and I knew from the monastery! I have quickly learned that traveling alone does NOT mean you are alone. Backpackers from Europe in their 20s are generally a VERY warm and welcoming bunch. So I had dinner with two Londoners and a German man and then off I went on a night van to the border. There were monsoon rains and MANY hairpin turns......no sleep, but friends were born of common misery!
After crossing into Laos I took a two-day boat ride up the Mekong river to history Luang Prabang. The boat ride was not only spectacularly gorgeous, but I made loads of friends. The three people I have seen most since being in Laos are a British woman who is on her home after three years in Australia and New Zealand and two Irish guys who are traveling the world after University (college). We played loads of cards and talked about anything and everything (we were on the boat for a long, long time.....) and I know them quite well now, really! I also saw a lot of Quebecoise people, Australians, a Japanese guy, and heaps of people from all over the UK. I am the only American in the bunch and they take great pleasure in talking in accents so thick/slang so random that i have no clue what's going on. The Irish boys especially decided to train me up in sarcastic/dark Irish/UK humor.......they spent a couple months in the US and were absolutely baffled by how gullible our nation is.
Luang Prabang was the capitol of Laos many years ago and is chalk-full of history. On my first day here I went with the Irish and British people to probably the most beautiful place I've ever seen - a series of very safe to swim in pools and waterfalls. The water is quite deep and there was one place you could jump in from high up - Sandra, the British woman, got a sweet video of me and the Irish "lads" jumping in!
I've also spent a lot of time meandering through ancient and historic Wats (temples), up hills to catch gorgeous views of a Luang Prabang (which i really not a city at all but an overgrown village in the jungle), and wandering through markets and town. Yesterday I went on a five hour walk by myself anywhere that my feet would take me. That's really the joy of traveling alone. I've been lucky to have friends....honestly, we humans are social people and need to have someone to share things with every once in a while......but at the end of the day, I'm just beholden to myself. While in one temple, a friendly monk came over to me and we talked for over an hour about religion, living in Laos, our families.....one of my favorite travel experiences yet. He invited me to come back tonight to watch the monks chant in the evening.
Most of my friends have moved on to Vang Vieng (a real tourist mecca) but I've stayed behind to do a little more wandering. I was thinking about going there myself, but I want to have some time free of friends......I had expected to have two and a half weeks! I don't think I'll spend as much time as "planned" (I'm by myself so plans are inherently flexible) because being here I've realized just how touristy that place is. There is a lot to see in Laos, so I htink I'll head to the far south which is supposed to be hardly touched by tourism and one of the most relaxing places in the world!
I love you all, hope you're well.
~Alice
Many of you have probably heard from either Flora or myself that I left Mae Hong Son to travel on my own and she is still there. In the simplest terms possible - the man we were staying with made me feel very uncomfortable. He treated me very differently from Flora and those differences were starting to effect me quite a lot so I decided that I needed to move out of his house. SO many decisions were made within a matter of days - Flora and I spent the night in a monastery not far from Mae Hong Son and our time there was doubtless incredibly helpful in figuring out what to do. I love Mae Hong Son, but for a variety of reasons I decided that travel was the best thing for me after that. My mom is meeting me in Bangkok on May 10, so I didn't have too much time left anyway, I had envisioned more travel in my time in Southeast Asia than had happened, and I wanted to get away from him. Flora stayed behind and has had to deal with more issues surrounding our host........when I told him that I was leaving he became incredibly emotional and unstable (affirming my decision to leave) and asked Flora to move out as well. She's still in Mae Hong Son, living with a friend until she moves into a guest house and working for the other organization we had been involved with.
The week period surrounding the epicenter of these issues was incredibly difficult for both Flora and I.....luckily other NGO workers in the area who we have made friends with supported us in every way imaginable making us feel comfortable and loved. Another upside - it taught me that I need to listen to my instincts. When a man is making me feel uncomfortable, I need to acknowledge that and not try to explain it away. I should never feel that I need to accommodate someone who is being inappropriate because I don't want to situation to be uncomfortable. It was a lesson in sticking to my guns and doing what was best, healthiest, and safest for me. I'm proud of how we both responded to the situation and how we recognized that the the best circumstance for each of us meant that we'd have to split up for a month even if we didn't truly want to be apart. I'd also like to thank my parents for being so supportive from thousands of miles away - I know it's difficult to let your little girl travel on her own and I am so glad that you trust me to do so.
SO! Flora and I parted in the Mae Hong Son nus station - she for a border run to Burma and me for Laos.....both of our visas were expiring. I went to Pai, a backpacker mecca that Flora and I visited about a month ago, to arrange a bus and boat into Laos and within hours I ran into people Flora and I knew from the monastery! I have quickly learned that traveling alone does NOT mean you are alone. Backpackers from Europe in their 20s are generally a VERY warm and welcoming bunch. So I had dinner with two Londoners and a German man and then off I went on a night van to the border. There were monsoon rains and MANY hairpin turns......no sleep, but friends were born of common misery!
After crossing into Laos I took a two-day boat ride up the Mekong river to history Luang Prabang. The boat ride was not only spectacularly gorgeous, but I made loads of friends. The three people I have seen most since being in Laos are a British woman who is on her home after three years in Australia and New Zealand and two Irish guys who are traveling the world after University (college). We played loads of cards and talked about anything and everything (we were on the boat for a long, long time.....) and I know them quite well now, really! I also saw a lot of Quebecoise people, Australians, a Japanese guy, and heaps of people from all over the UK. I am the only American in the bunch and they take great pleasure in talking in accents so thick/slang so random that i have no clue what's going on. The Irish boys especially decided to train me up in sarcastic/dark Irish/UK humor.......they spent a couple months in the US and were absolutely baffled by how gullible our nation is.
Luang Prabang was the capitol of Laos many years ago and is chalk-full of history. On my first day here I went with the Irish and British people to probably the most beautiful place I've ever seen - a series of very safe to swim in pools and waterfalls. The water is quite deep and there was one place you could jump in from high up - Sandra, the British woman, got a sweet video of me and the Irish "lads" jumping in!
I've also spent a lot of time meandering through ancient and historic Wats (temples), up hills to catch gorgeous views of a Luang Prabang (which i really not a city at all but an overgrown village in the jungle), and wandering through markets and town. Yesterday I went on a five hour walk by myself anywhere that my feet would take me. That's really the joy of traveling alone. I've been lucky to have friends....honestly, we humans are social people and need to have someone to share things with every once in a while......but at the end of the day, I'm just beholden to myself. While in one temple, a friendly monk came over to me and we talked for over an hour about religion, living in Laos, our families.....one of my favorite travel experiences yet. He invited me to come back tonight to watch the monks chant in the evening.
Most of my friends have moved on to Vang Vieng (a real tourist mecca) but I've stayed behind to do a little more wandering. I was thinking about going there myself, but I want to have some time free of friends......I had expected to have two and a half weeks! I don't think I'll spend as much time as "planned" (I'm by myself so plans are inherently flexible) because being here I've realized just how touristy that place is. There is a lot to see in Laos, so I htink I'll head to the far south which is supposed to be hardly touched by tourism and one of the most relaxing places in the world!
I love you all, hope you're well.
~Alice
Monday, April 21, 2008
Random quips 4-16
~Flora
- Our Host-dad is trying his hardest to help us feel comfortable and often wants to inform us of the goings on in his house. At least twice a day, he tells us, and I quote, “I go there; I come back.” As you can see this is critical information and really does help us to know the plan. He is trying to tell us he’ll be gone for a few minutes. But there are never any specifics. We don’t know where he is going, or how long he is gone. But, let me tell you, it is still great to hear.
- There is a colony of ants living in our bathroom. You wouldn’t think this would be such great entertainment, but at least weekly, Alice and I give each other reports on recent activity. The ants have this well-laid-out route along the side of the wall (about two feet off the ground......right at squat toilet level!), and they often carry large dead bugs across the whole of the bathroom. It takes at least fifty ants to hold the larger carcasses and keep them near the wall - the other week, Alice got really excited about a particularly long and slender twig that they maneuvered around the corner! It is quite fun to watch them make their way toward their home - it literally takes hours......this is essentially the kind of entertainment we're into these days!
- Our favorite restaurant in MHS, Salween River, is a favorite amongst all the NGO workers in the area. It serves great food, and they are friendly. But it is family-run. In the US would be great - you would want to support them even more, but in Thailand, this means they can take time off whenever they want. They literally decided last week to take a day off to get drunk by the river, and so the café was closed for the day. “Sorry, will be open Thursday (when we’re done drinking).”
- We went to a festival in one of the long-necked villages last week, and experienced all sorts of new things. Within twenty minutes of our arrival we were served steaming hot rice wine. It would have been an insult if we hadn’t had any, so we sipped happily (Alice feigned enthusiasm to make up for the lack of intake - hepatitis!). And while we were drinking, we were informed that before these refugees left Burma rice wine was all they drank. No water, no tea, just rice wine. The next day we went around the neighborhood visiting houses, as is the custom, and at each house we were served a new glass of rice wine. Given how hot it is I don’t know how they drink hot drinks, but more importantly how are they not all completely wasted?
- Alice and I have visited many internet shops in MHS in the past month and a half, and in nearly every one there is an over-abundance of teenagers. That at first doesn’t seem so surprising, but they are not there to be on the internet. They are there to play computer games. Namely a Thai version of Dance Dance Revolution. Most of these places are completely full just from Thai DDR users. Apparently this is the thing to do, maybe we should try it out instead of updating the blog.
- The oldest child in our family, Sai Meh, is only 8, but she often takes in on herself to care for us. She will often help us to clear and wash our dishes. And sometimes fill our water bottles for us when they are getting low. But my personal favorite is when I go into the bathroom at night, thinking I will be fine with no light, and she runs down the stairs after me to turn it on. What can I say, she wants me to be happy.
- For our English classes Alice and I have been writing our own worksheets with sentences and other exercises for the students to do. For some reason whenever I am assigned this task, all of the names begin with “J”. I don’t try to do it, but those are always the first names I think of: Jack, John, Joe, Julie, Jody, Jill, and it just goes on. I’ve really try to make a concerted effort to use different names, but still after the editing at least fifty percent of them start with “J.” Our students probably think all English names start with “J.”
- The other night I was doing a one-on-one teaching session with our host-dad, and it was not going particularly well. Alice was listening from the next room and felt like she HAD to do something to alleviate the clear suffering, so so she played comforting music from my computer to make me feel better. The problem was the rest of the family had loud, awful Thai music blaring from their room, and Maung-Hla shouts in the calmest of situations. I could hardly hear with all three going on. I was completely overwhelmed by noises. She tried!
~Flora
Friday, April 18, 2008
'Tis The Season!
I missed Christmas in the States....but it seems I came to Thailand just in time for a couple of masssssssive New Years festivals! I'll talkabout one this blog and another the next blog.....but first:
The Migrant hide-out
A week and a half ago I went on a short walk by myself. This wouldn’t be blog-worthy material except for what – more accurately, who – greeted me when I came home. In the twenty minutes or so that I was gone, four illegal migrants had come to our house to hide from the police who were doing a routine search for illegals. The only member of the family who was home apart from Flora was Me Meh, the three year old. Flora said she felt like she should comfort Me Meh but quickly realized that the child was in no distress whatsoever…..police raids are a part of life.
We spent the afternoon talking to one of the women (Maung-Hla’s niece as it turns out) who has fairly good English. We didn’t really know what to do about lunch since Maung-Hla had told us to fry the eggs ourselves and eat the curry he had left for us but we didn’t think there would be enough for everyone. Eventually our hunger got the best of us, so we moved toward the kitchen (which is in a separate building/structure). Immediately, a couple of the people in hiding left their hide-outs to help us prepare lunch! Ah! Hospitality will drive you mad sometimes. We’ve asserted ourselves enough with Maung-Hla’s family to be able to wash our own dishes…..but our new friends were NOT going to have that. She ripped that scrub-brush from my clutches!
When Maung-Hla came home he poked his head in to our room to say hi. I told him he had some “friends over” and pointed to the room adjacent to ours that was in total darkness. Without a pause or any insinuation of surprise he said, “How many friends?” and went over to talk to them. They may have come to Maung-Hla’s house for any of a variety of reasons– it’s at the end of the road, his family is a bit better off than most in the neighborhood, he has been in Thailand for many years and has a clean record….but in the end, it was more proof that he is a community leader.
Huay Pe Keng New Year’s
At some point you have probably seen pictures or read stories about the “Long-neck” people – the people who wear gold rings around their necks and below their knees. They are the Kaya people from Karenni state in Burma but many have fled persecution there and settled in Thailand. When most Burmese enter Thailand, they are sent to refugee camps and held there in a permanent limbo state for years, never knowing their future, not able to go backwards or forwards. The Thai government saw an opportunity to earn big tourism bucks with Kaya people because of their cultural practice of wearing neck rings. The result? Kaya people can choose to remain in the refugee camps where conditions are atrocious but they still have a hope of getting out at some point. (Out when or to where they do not know). Or, alternately, Kaya people can opt to forfeit their refugee status and move into one of many villages set up for them by the Thai government. Conditions in these villages are better than in the camps, but the villagers are not allowed to leave, and have hardly any way to change their impoverished condition. The Thai government keeps all of the money earned by tourism except when tourists buy souvenirs directly from the villagers (their only source of income). Some of these villages are like human zoos – people come and stare at the Kaya women’s necks, snap pictures, and leave, never learning their story.
Flora first visited Huay Pe Keng village about two months ago with a group of people connected with NGOs in the area and sent many of you an email about her experience. We had a similar opportunity to visit the village as guests for the most important holiday in their culture (a New Years celebration). People from the three Kaya villages in the Mae Hong Son area as well as in the camps come together each year (rotating the meeting place between the four). Maung-Maung, our boss from the EMFS, told us on Monday night that we should skip class on Tuesday and instead spend the night with someone who’s connected to the EMFS and lives in Huay Pe Keng. The next afternoon we drove to the village, motorbike caravan style, with one of our students (Hon Bil).
After the pleasant but awkward meet and greet with the woman (Lay Lay Wha) who graciously took us in, we headed to the village field for a massive volleyball tournament. We saw a boys game first and they are GOOD. It’s a pity American men don’t usually play volleyball; it’s such an athletic and exciting sport! The real excitement, though, was watching the young women play some scrappy and fierce volleyball with a good stock of fans cheering them on. Most played with their rings on (they can take the rings off if they want to). They were also barefoot which was particularly impressive given the hard-packed earth and rock mix they were playing on. The crowd was rapt and, best of all, the young women were completely serious about their game; they didn’t for a second try to be “feminine” by not giving it their all. Some of them are gifted players! The Kaya in the villages and the refugees in the camps are all obsessed with volleyball. It’s an excellent outlet for young men who have been stripped of their bread-winning status and feel aimless.
The games continued, but Flora and I decided to take a little tour of the village before dinner time. When most tourists get off the river-crossing boat and arrive in Huay Pe Keng, they don’t venture far. People are selling their wares along one main path (bracelets, post-cards, elephant or neck-ringed women figurines, clothe bags….) and that seems to be enough for the average tourist. If you journey 350 meters past the first village along a carefully marked path, you enter the “New Village”. Apparently most tourists aren’t fit enough for that big trek because the New Village gets a fraction of the tourist traffic of the Old village. The Thai government created the New Village in 2007 and promised that people who moved there from the Old Village or elsewhere would have better facilities, conditions, etc. It is fair to say that they have NOT delivered. People in this village are even more impoverished than their Old Village counterparts – outhouses are poorly located, food is scarce. Flora stayed here when she visited two months ago.
The music and dance festivities were supposed to begin at 8pm, but this isn’t America so the timetable didn’t rule supreme. In the interim hours, we met some hilarious Evergreen State college students who we’ve run into several times in MHS (they’re here on a semester program). We were given food by yet more friendly locals and had to eat; hospitality in both directions trumps all.
The festivities (an elaborate dance competition) got underway at about 10:30 and were pretty fantastic. Pictures do justice better than words here. Dance groups from each village did performances decked out in their colorful cultural dress which includes vibrant head-bands. There was plenty of painfully loud music and crowd support and I felt utterly blessed to be a part of the whole thing.
A word on the rings…One legend goes that the woman began wearing the rings to protect their necks from tigers. Girls begin wearing the rings when they are about five years old and add three as often as they can, depending on how fast they grow. It’s considered desirable to peek at about 25 rings. The rings are undeniably bad for the health of women who wear them; their collar bones are crushed, their backs permanently arched in old age, and their overall life expectancy is decreased by seven years. In recent years, some women have chosen not to wear the rings. Muby, a woman we know through work in Mae Hong Son, is one of the most feminist, forward-thinking women you’ll ever meet. She chose to take off her rings years ago partly because it is easier in the workplace and partly because she doesn’t think she should have to do that to her body because she is a woman. Still, she has total respect for the women who still wear the rings. Not only is it an engrained and ancient part of their culture, but the rings are now the only source of their income in the villages. Western outsiders can inform the women of the medical dangers of wearing the rings, but the practice is not ours to judge.
The next morning was the big ceremony! Naturally it started a couple hours late, so I had time to wander around with a friendly Dutchwoman anthropologist who I had met the night before. The main idea to the ceremony is the raising of a big pole (about 35 feet tall) that represents the first tree. Poles from previous years are all in the same area – in a clearing on the top of a small hill. Before anything got underway, over a hundred young men (women aren’t allowed up there) danced around this configuration of giant poles for a couple of hours, playing music…..gongs, cymbals, drums – solid rhythm, really fun to listen to! Eventually, each village brought out a chicken and asked it questions about their fortune for the coming year. Meanwhile, the shamans blessed the pole and then the men began raising the pole…..it took over a hundred men and A LOT of muscle power/rope leverage! Once the pole was raised and secured – music and dance continuing all the while – someone from each village sacrificed the chicken. They then stuck small sticks in the thighbones of the chickens and the shamans read the fortunes of their villages based on which direction the bones tipped. Three of four fortunes were quite good – the New Village is supposed to get more visitors in the coming year….I sure hope so. One of the villages, however, had quite a bad fortune, so people were pretty upset.
The rest of the day was free-for-all socializing time! Our friend from Mae Hong Son, Muby, took us to half a dozen homes of her friends and family members to meet and be offered more food than we could possibly handle (or should possibly take form these impoverished families). Because it’s the New Year, it’s customary to go around saying hello to everyone in your village. The young men were still dancing, but at this point, winding their way through town, having water thrown on them.
It was an absolutely fantastic 24 hours……I felt very fortunate to be there, and proud to be involved with the EMFS. This was all on the 8th and 9th of April. Since then, the New Years festival for greater Southeast Asia has taken place – more on THAT next time! This is already preposterously long.
Love to you all! (Don’t be shy about leaving comments….it’s fun to know if you’re reading.)
~Alice
The Migrant hide-out
A week and a half ago I went on a short walk by myself. This wouldn’t be blog-worthy material except for what – more accurately, who – greeted me when I came home. In the twenty minutes or so that I was gone, four illegal migrants had come to our house to hide from the police who were doing a routine search for illegals. The only member of the family who was home apart from Flora was Me Meh, the three year old. Flora said she felt like she should comfort Me Meh but quickly realized that the child was in no distress whatsoever…..police raids are a part of life.
We spent the afternoon talking to one of the women (Maung-Hla’s niece as it turns out) who has fairly good English. We didn’t really know what to do about lunch since Maung-Hla had told us to fry the eggs ourselves and eat the curry he had left for us but we didn’t think there would be enough for everyone. Eventually our hunger got the best of us, so we moved toward the kitchen (which is in a separate building/structure). Immediately, a couple of the people in hiding left their hide-outs to help us prepare lunch! Ah! Hospitality will drive you mad sometimes. We’ve asserted ourselves enough with Maung-Hla’s family to be able to wash our own dishes…..but our new friends were NOT going to have that. She ripped that scrub-brush from my clutches!
When Maung-Hla came home he poked his head in to our room to say hi. I told him he had some “friends over” and pointed to the room adjacent to ours that was in total darkness. Without a pause or any insinuation of surprise he said, “How many friends?” and went over to talk to them. They may have come to Maung-Hla’s house for any of a variety of reasons– it’s at the end of the road, his family is a bit better off than most in the neighborhood, he has been in Thailand for many years and has a clean record….but in the end, it was more proof that he is a community leader.
Huay Pe Keng New Year’s
At some point you have probably seen pictures or read stories about the “Long-neck” people – the people who wear gold rings around their necks and below their knees. They are the Kaya people from Karenni state in Burma but many have fled persecution there and settled in Thailand. When most Burmese enter Thailand, they are sent to refugee camps and held there in a permanent limbo state for years, never knowing their future, not able to go backwards or forwards. The Thai government saw an opportunity to earn big tourism bucks with Kaya people because of their cultural practice of wearing neck rings. The result? Kaya people can choose to remain in the refugee camps where conditions are atrocious but they still have a hope of getting out at some point. (Out when or to where they do not know). Or, alternately, Kaya people can opt to forfeit their refugee status and move into one of many villages set up for them by the Thai government. Conditions in these villages are better than in the camps, but the villagers are not allowed to leave, and have hardly any way to change their impoverished condition. The Thai government keeps all of the money earned by tourism except when tourists buy souvenirs directly from the villagers (their only source of income). Some of these villages are like human zoos – people come and stare at the Kaya women’s necks, snap pictures, and leave, never learning their story.
Flora first visited Huay Pe Keng village about two months ago with a group of people connected with NGOs in the area and sent many of you an email about her experience. We had a similar opportunity to visit the village as guests for the most important holiday in their culture (a New Years celebration). People from the three Kaya villages in the Mae Hong Son area as well as in the camps come together each year (rotating the meeting place between the four). Maung-Maung, our boss from the EMFS, told us on Monday night that we should skip class on Tuesday and instead spend the night with someone who’s connected to the EMFS and lives in Huay Pe Keng. The next afternoon we drove to the village, motorbike caravan style, with one of our students (Hon Bil).
After the pleasant but awkward meet and greet with the woman (Lay Lay Wha) who graciously took us in, we headed to the village field for a massive volleyball tournament. We saw a boys game first and they are GOOD. It’s a pity American men don’t usually play volleyball; it’s such an athletic and exciting sport! The real excitement, though, was watching the young women play some scrappy and fierce volleyball with a good stock of fans cheering them on. Most played with their rings on (they can take the rings off if they want to). They were also barefoot which was particularly impressive given the hard-packed earth and rock mix they were playing on. The crowd was rapt and, best of all, the young women were completely serious about their game; they didn’t for a second try to be “feminine” by not giving it their all. Some of them are gifted players! The Kaya in the villages and the refugees in the camps are all obsessed with volleyball. It’s an excellent outlet for young men who have been stripped of their bread-winning status and feel aimless.
The games continued, but Flora and I decided to take a little tour of the village before dinner time. When most tourists get off the river-crossing boat and arrive in Huay Pe Keng, they don’t venture far. People are selling their wares along one main path (bracelets, post-cards, elephant or neck-ringed women figurines, clothe bags….) and that seems to be enough for the average tourist. If you journey 350 meters past the first village along a carefully marked path, you enter the “New Village”. Apparently most tourists aren’t fit enough for that big trek because the New Village gets a fraction of the tourist traffic of the Old village. The Thai government created the New Village in 2007 and promised that people who moved there from the Old Village or elsewhere would have better facilities, conditions, etc. It is fair to say that they have NOT delivered. People in this village are even more impoverished than their Old Village counterparts – outhouses are poorly located, food is scarce. Flora stayed here when she visited two months ago.
The music and dance festivities were supposed to begin at 8pm, but this isn’t America so the timetable didn’t rule supreme. In the interim hours, we met some hilarious Evergreen State college students who we’ve run into several times in MHS (they’re here on a semester program). We were given food by yet more friendly locals and had to eat; hospitality in both directions trumps all.
The festivities (an elaborate dance competition) got underway at about 10:30 and were pretty fantastic. Pictures do justice better than words here. Dance groups from each village did performances decked out in their colorful cultural dress which includes vibrant head-bands. There was plenty of painfully loud music and crowd support and I felt utterly blessed to be a part of the whole thing.
A word on the rings…One legend goes that the woman began wearing the rings to protect their necks from tigers. Girls begin wearing the rings when they are about five years old and add three as often as they can, depending on how fast they grow. It’s considered desirable to peek at about 25 rings. The rings are undeniably bad for the health of women who wear them; their collar bones are crushed, their backs permanently arched in old age, and their overall life expectancy is decreased by seven years. In recent years, some women have chosen not to wear the rings. Muby, a woman we know through work in Mae Hong Son, is one of the most feminist, forward-thinking women you’ll ever meet. She chose to take off her rings years ago partly because it is easier in the workplace and partly because she doesn’t think she should have to do that to her body because she is a woman. Still, she has total respect for the women who still wear the rings. Not only is it an engrained and ancient part of their culture, but the rings are now the only source of their income in the villages. Western outsiders can inform the women of the medical dangers of wearing the rings, but the practice is not ours to judge.
The next morning was the big ceremony! Naturally it started a couple hours late, so I had time to wander around with a friendly Dutchwoman anthropologist who I had met the night before. The main idea to the ceremony is the raising of a big pole (about 35 feet tall) that represents the first tree. Poles from previous years are all in the same area – in a clearing on the top of a small hill. Before anything got underway, over a hundred young men (women aren’t allowed up there) danced around this configuration of giant poles for a couple of hours, playing music…..gongs, cymbals, drums – solid rhythm, really fun to listen to! Eventually, each village brought out a chicken and asked it questions about their fortune for the coming year. Meanwhile, the shamans blessed the pole and then the men began raising the pole…..it took over a hundred men and A LOT of muscle power/rope leverage! Once the pole was raised and secured – music and dance continuing all the while – someone from each village sacrificed the chicken. They then stuck small sticks in the thighbones of the chickens and the shamans read the fortunes of their villages based on which direction the bones tipped. Three of four fortunes were quite good – the New Village is supposed to get more visitors in the coming year….I sure hope so. One of the villages, however, had quite a bad fortune, so people were pretty upset.
The rest of the day was free-for-all socializing time! Our friend from Mae Hong Son, Muby, took us to half a dozen homes of her friends and family members to meet and be offered more food than we could possibly handle (or should possibly take form these impoverished families). Because it’s the New Year, it’s customary to go around saying hello to everyone in your village. The young men were still dancing, but at this point, winding their way through town, having water thrown on them.
It was an absolutely fantastic 24 hours……I felt very fortunate to be there, and proud to be involved with the EMFS. This was all on the 8th and 9th of April. Since then, the New Years festival for greater Southeast Asia has taken place – more on THAT next time! This is already preposterously long.
Love to you all! (Don’t be shy about leaving comments….it’s fun to know if you’re reading.)
~Alice
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Back in the saddle again!
You may not have known it....but I was out of the saddle for a while, so to speak. About two weeks ago I got a horrific headache, breathing problems, fever.....it wasn't great. I felt better the next morning (after one kind friend had me stay at her house while she was away for the weekend and another two friends stayed there with me so Flora could shuttle back and forth to our host-family's house.....). Flora and I spent the next couple of days in denial. Sure, I had no energy, all sorts of weird symptoms that you don't want to know about, and felt crappy, but I was getting better and had some medicine, right? Right? Wrong. In the middle of Monday night I had a breakdown.....As avid blog readers will remember, I had QUITE a breakdown on an Indian train this fall which involved quoting Fifty Cent to passersby, losing all control of my facilities, attempting to launch myself off my bunk-bed......all in all giving Kate and Deepa quite the workout.
WELL. Apparently one of my subconscious goals for my year-off was to have as many of my best friends as possible get the chance to see delirious! Yippee! My breakdown last week wasn't as bad as the one in India, but it was one of my worser moments, so I went to the hospital. I tested negative for malaria, so they told me I had food poisoning. (Code for - we don't know what's up and have to say something.) Flora and I eventually went to Chiang Mai so I could go to a bigger hospital. It turns out I had mild hepatitis. AND, interestingly enough, that bump on my finger that I talked about in a blog about a month ago? The one I got from giving henna to the children at the Children's Home? Well it morphed into quite a nasty little wart so I had that removed as well. Flora returned to Mae Hong Son and I watched movies at Liz's house for almost a week....Pride and Prejudice, Chariots of Fire, Rocky, The Hot Chick, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.....I was certainly no longer suffering.
I've been back in Chiang Mai since Tuesday and I'm so happy to be here! I still have very low energy, but am infinitely better. I went to the Mae Hong Son hospital on Thursday and told them exactly what to test for, and I'm looking normal! Today, Flora and I turned to the tricky business of buying food for our host family (because they will NOT accept money and we will NOT accept a free ride). We had very little clue what to get, but a friend came and shopped with us, and we were pretty proud of the results......chicken, eggplant, mango, oranges, fish, vegetables I don't recognize, herbs I don't recognize, Burmese salad mix - All fresh!
In other big news - we know our address now and would love to get mail from you!
Nay Chi Labour Union
P.O. Box 113
Mae Hong Son, 58000
Thailand
Before I sign out on this one.....here's a little list I've been keeping in my journal:
You know you've been in tropical Asia for a while WHEN....
1) You see the mountains ablaze at night and think, "oh. Crop burning season." instead of, "Run for your life!"
2) Your English student apologizes for missing a class and explains that he was "beating back a fire from his house". He's excused.
3) Toilet paper is a fun luxury item
4) Your friend invites you over to use her shower and embarks an a lively description of its excellent water-pressure, ensuring you it's the best shower in Thailand.
5) The doctor says, "It's probably malaria. Everyone gets malaria at one point or another."
6) You can tell the difference between Northern Thai rice and Southern Indian rice (and wish you couldn't)
7) When you see a cockroach crawl across your backpack you experience immense relief because it's nothing sinister
8) When the doctor tells you that you actually have mild hepatitis you're positively giddy because it's NOT malaria (or dengue or yellow fever or...)
9) You hear more about the Burma situation than the US election
10) You broke almost a year of vegetarianism for pig intestines so as not to be rude....
11) All your friends want to know what YOU will be up to for the mid-summer water festival!
Much love,
~Alice
PS - I'm going to be at the fish caves with Maung-Hla and his family for the water festival, where will YOU be???
WELL. Apparently one of my subconscious goals for my year-off was to have as many of my best friends as possible get the chance to see delirious! Yippee! My breakdown last week wasn't as bad as the one in India, but it was one of my worser moments, so I went to the hospital. I tested negative for malaria, so they told me I had food poisoning. (Code for - we don't know what's up and have to say something.) Flora and I eventually went to Chiang Mai so I could go to a bigger hospital. It turns out I had mild hepatitis. AND, interestingly enough, that bump on my finger that I talked about in a blog about a month ago? The one I got from giving henna to the children at the Children's Home? Well it morphed into quite a nasty little wart so I had that removed as well. Flora returned to Mae Hong Son and I watched movies at Liz's house for almost a week....Pride and Prejudice, Chariots of Fire, Rocky, The Hot Chick, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.....I was certainly no longer suffering.
I've been back in Chiang Mai since Tuesday and I'm so happy to be here! I still have very low energy, but am infinitely better. I went to the Mae Hong Son hospital on Thursday and told them exactly what to test for, and I'm looking normal! Today, Flora and I turned to the tricky business of buying food for our host family (because they will NOT accept money and we will NOT accept a free ride). We had very little clue what to get, but a friend came and shopped with us, and we were pretty proud of the results......chicken, eggplant, mango, oranges, fish, vegetables I don't recognize, herbs I don't recognize, Burmese salad mix - All fresh!
In other big news - we know our address now and would love to get mail from you!
Nay Chi Labour Union
P.O. Box 113
Mae Hong Son, 58000
Thailand
Before I sign out on this one.....here's a little list I've been keeping in my journal:
You know you've been in tropical Asia for a while WHEN....
1) You see the mountains ablaze at night and think, "oh. Crop burning season." instead of, "Run for your life!"
2) Your English student apologizes for missing a class and explains that he was "beating back a fire from his house". He's excused.
3) Toilet paper is a fun luxury item
4) Your friend invites you over to use her shower and embarks an a lively description of its excellent water-pressure, ensuring you it's the best shower in Thailand.
5) The doctor says, "It's probably malaria. Everyone gets malaria at one point or another."
6) You can tell the difference between Northern Thai rice and Southern Indian rice (and wish you couldn't)
7) When you see a cockroach crawl across your backpack you experience immense relief because it's nothing sinister
8) When the doctor tells you that you actually have mild hepatitis you're positively giddy because it's NOT malaria (or dengue or yellow fever or...)
9) You hear more about the Burma situation than the US election
10) You broke almost a year of vegetarianism for pig intestines so as not to be rude....
11) All your friends want to know what YOU will be up to for the mid-summer water festival!
Much love,
~Alice
PS - I'm going to be at the fish caves with Maung-Hla and his family for the water festival, where will YOU be???
Friday, March 28, 2008
Climate, Progress, and Colonization: Flora's Debut!
Alice and I had a long conversation the other night that ranged from Christmas traditions to toilet habits. I won’t say that we discussed everything in between, but there was quite a range. Anyway, it inspired me to write a little about Southeast Asia and what I have learned about the region in the two months that I have now spent here. This blog is different from most, but I think it may be interesting to some. My thoughts actually start in Europe, but the majority of it is written about Thailand (well, at least Southeast Asia), so read on…
This summer, traveling through Croatia and Hungary, I thought about climate in a broader cultural sense than ever before. I thought about all the ways climate can affect people’s day-to-day lives, and even how customs and traditions get built up around an area’s climate patterns. I mostly thought about this is in terms of Mediterranean Europe and their habit of afternoon siestas. It is so hot most afternoons that it is not worth attempting to be productive. As a result, stores close and everything shuts down.
Now, in Southeast Asia, I am once again thinking about climate, but in a totally different light. I am living in Thailand, have visited Cambodia, and am reading about Burma while living with a Burmese family. It has become evident to me, that many similarities between these countries have arisen out of similarities in the climate. All three countries have a new years festival in April (that is the beginning of the lunar year), and the main attraction of this festival is a huge country-wide (or rather; multi-national) water fight. For all three countries, April is the peak of their hot season, and it is nearly unbearable to be outside. Everyone looks forward to this festival for months even though it has a different name in each of those three countries.
This is going to sound funny, but I’m pretty sure climate has also affected the bathing and sanitary habits of these countries. In Southeast Asia, it is customary to use a squat toilet -- not too unusual in all of Asia -- but in Southeast Asia, after using the toilet, you spray yourself down with water in order to clean yourself. Even the wealthiest families do not use toilet paper, because there is no reason to. In hot climates, you will dry quickly, and it may even feel good to be wet for a while. Places with running water and flush toilets, rarely have toilet paper, but they do have a small hose to spray yourself with, as oppose to a simple bucket.
The reason this all has really struck me right now is that the house we are staying in has running water. There are pipes going into the bathroom, and it would be easy enough for them to decide to have the water flow end with a shower head, a flush toilet, or both. Instead, they do it “Thai style,” with the two ends of the pipes leading to basins from which you can later draw water for a bucket shower or to wipe yourself. The family clearly has the means to have a western bathroom if they wanted it, but there is no reason to. The Thai way works for them. It is a clear example of how westernization is not the only way to progress and modernization. There is no reason for them to westernize, because the western way is not necessarily any better than their traditional way, especially with the weather they have.
Alice says it is the same in the Dominican Republic. People are used to bucket showers, and there is no reason to do otherwise. In the United States, we tend to think that our way is the best, and that anyone who is able to have a flush toilet and a hot shower will. We assume that is what people want, because it is what we want and what we are used to. In Thailand, only the houses of expatriates and restaurants trying to bring in expatriates and tourists have sitting toilets. They know that to please us they have to have sitting toilets and have toilet paper available, but that is the only reason. As Americans we think our way is best, and the only way that makes sense.
Alice and I also talked about progress, technology, and modernization in terms of how it relates to colonization and independence. One way in which Thailand is unique, is that it has never been colonized. The Thais have always been in control of Thailand. (They claim that, but in truth nearly all of Thailand has been under either Cambodian or Burmese control at some time. That said they were never colonized by a Western country). This is especially relevant because all other countries in the region were colonized by the English, French, or Dutch. Thailand was skipped by pure coincidence. The country happened to be in the right place, situated between a region of all French colonies, and a region of all British colonies. The French and British decided to avoid confrontation and leave Thailand as a neutral, buffer zone.
In high school, I learned all about colonization, and we discussed both the effects foreign powers have on their colonies and the independence movements that were so prevalent in the 1950s and 60s. However, I don’t think I fully understood all that colonization meant to these countries until now, when I am able to see it first hand. Since 1948 when both Burma and Cambodia officially became independent, there has been significant political turmoil in each country. There has been civil war, or the threat of a civil war in each of these countries for nearly the full sixty years since their respective colonial powers left. In addition, each country has had military regimes, that have severely persecuted minority parties, and in Cambodia, Pol Pot went as far as full-on genocide.
Thailand has gone through nothing like that. It’s true that Thailand has had its share of military coups in the past half century. But they have nearly all been bloodless, and there has never been a time when Thais have been forced to flee the country for any reason. Besides, the royal family remained in power for nearly the entire century, and the country has remained united by their reign. While Thailand still does not have a stable government or a working constitution, the country is able to become a truly modern state. There are many successful Thai corporations, and the people have a sense of pride in themselves, their country, and their king.
That is so far from true in both Burma and Cambodia. Human rights and simple freedoms have been ignored in these countries for decades, and their citizens live in fear of their governments. Many have been forced to flee their homes, and even their country, because of persecution. In addition, each country has been through desperate economic times with unbearable inflation rates, and governments that steal from the middle and lower classes.
Cambodia has had a fairly stable government for the past ten years, but there is still an edge of fear in each citizen’s life. They are scared to discuss politics, because if the wrong person heard, they could be killed. And it is only in the past ten years that they have even had this much luxury. For the forty years before that, without even saying anything, but just by being in the wrong place at the wrong time, they could have died.
In Burma, a small elitist military regime has been in power for over twenty years, terrorizing the entire country. Many minorities have fled the country, and even the ethnic Burmese, if they have opposing political beliefs can be jailed or killed.
Clearly, there were many factors leading to the turmoil that each of these countries has recently experienced, but I have really come to believe that the biggest reason for this turmoil is the history of colonization. The British and French did not leave the countries with the means to support themselves or with a capable and just ruling entity. It would have been nearly impossible for either Cambodia or Burma to overcome the situation they were left with after colonization and successfully recover to form a functional and accepting government.
Under the colonial powers, there were always elitist groups with undeserved power, and there were always outsiders ruling without enough knowledge of the people they were ruling over. The colonial powers, in other words, set a bad example for future leaders of these countries, and also left the wrong people in power.
It was not until recently that I had a great enough understanding of Thailand, Burma, and Cambodia to piece this all together. When learning about colonization and independence movements in high school, it was somehow never as clear to me that the lasting affects of colonization were as disruptive as they are today. I am now able to see how similar their traditions and lives are, and how vastly different their ruling powers are. There are so many reasons for these countries to be alike, and yet Western powers have driven them in other directions.
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