Cambodia, Thailand

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Images of Southeast Asia
Cambodia, Thailand Vietnam
Images information based on a 2005 Travel
Seminar through the East-West Center's
AsiaPacificEd Program.
by M. Butts, Nauseat Regional High School, MA
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People

• Like the United States, Southeast Asia is a
  culturally diverse region. It is an area where
  Chinese, Indian, Arab and European influences
  mix with the local population to form an
  endlessly interesting human landscape.

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Takuapa, Southern Thailand

• This is my homestay family Nan, a Thai teacher,
  and her parents.
• Most Thais use nicknames among friends.
• Nan's given name is Ananya.

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Nan's fellow teachers, like teachers everywhere,
love to socialize eat.
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Thai students wear uniforms to school
as do Thai teachers.
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Some of the schools are state-of-the-art, as in
the case of Phuket Satree School.
Others have only the barest necessities and lack
teachers. Here the TV is the English teacher.
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Sook Samran In Ranong Province

• While most Thai are Buddhist, some are Muslim as
  in this fishing village in Southern Thailand.
  Recently there has been some unrest in the Muslim
  areas bordering Malaysia.

8
In many parts of Southeast Asia, motorbikes are
the family car. They are cheaper, use less gas
and take up less space in Asia's crowded
cities.
Instead of helmets, people use face masks to
protect from exhaust fumes.
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In Vietnam
motorbikes carry amazing loads, as do many small
shopkeepers.
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Street vendors are a popular part of Asian
culture. It gives new meaning to the term
sidewalk sale.
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Though both Thailand and Vietnam are very hot,
this Vietnamese girl covers her arms and face
to avoid sun and pollution. Asians generally
do not like to tan, preferring lighter skin.
12
This Vietnamese musician is playing a classical
instrument and wearing a beautiful ao dai, the
national dress of Vietnam.
13
These Hill Tribe girls, minorities in both
Thailand and Vietnam, dress in their native
costumes.
Our group went to a banquet with these warm and
very artistic people in northern Thailand.
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Food

• Like the people, the Southeast Asian diet is
  quite varied. The climate is conducive to growing
  an incredible array of fruit.
• Fruit is available with almost every meal and as
  a snack.

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The red fruit are rambutans.
These large fruit are durian. They are
hard to peel (a machete works), and
smell to some noseslike skunks. If you can
get them past your nose, they're not bad.
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Asian food can be very hot. No respectable home
would be without many types of hot peppers.
Although green papaya salad doesn't sound hot,
it will make you cry (literally) for water.
This is a plate of hot fried locusts.
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Since many Southeast Asian countries have long
coastlines or river systems, fish is a plentiful
part of the diet. It's usually served with the
head is delicious.
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Crabs are plentiful,
as is squid, which can be bought from a sidewalk
vendor as fast food.
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Coffee and tea are grown in Southeast Asia.
The Thai government encourages these crops as
replacements for the illegal opium poppies that
have been harvested in northern Thailand.
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Food is also used as an offering to Buddhist
monks to make merit. This offering is to monks
in this forest monastery, one of the stricter
orders. They wear dark robes and eat only
once a day.
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Rice is served with all meals (like wheat
products in the United States) and is grown in
labor-intensive paddies.
22
At this Thai breakfast, there is a rice gruel
similar to cream of wheat to which you add pork,
egg and vegetables. In Vietnam, pho - a chicken
or beef soup, is eaten for breakfast and is
delicious.
23
In some Southeast Asian countries where the
population is high and food can be scarce,
people eat items that might shock well-fed
westerners. This Vietnamese menu offers dog.
You can also buy wine that includes a dead snake.
(For tourists only?)
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Buddhism

• Buddhist influences permeate Thai life and also
  account for some of its most impressive art
  architecture. There are many depictions of the
  Buddha, such as the one seen here. The most
  famous in all Thailand is the Emerald Buddha
  found at the Grand Palace.

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G A R U D A S
At the Grand Palace, demon guards keep evil away.
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The architecture at the Grand Palace in Bangkok
is exquisitely detailed, colorful and ornate.
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At another wat, or temple, is the Reclining
Buddha, housed in its own structure because of
its size. You have the perspective from its
Mother-of-Pearl feet.
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Shrines that blend aspects of Buddhism, Hinduism,
and animism are common throughout
Bangkok. This is the Erawan Shrine, one of
the most famous. You can see the
intrusion of modern advertising in the
background.
At this shrine, pigs' heads offerings were
placed on a nearby bench. Incense and flowers
are more common offerings.
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In northern Thailand, we crossed the
Friendship Bridge into Myanmar, or Burma, and
visited this large Buddhist temple complex . .
.
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. . . with its stunning architecture and
scenic hilltop location.
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Here you can make an offering to your birthday
god or free sparrows to make merit.
32
In Thailand, monkhood need not necessarily be
for life. A young man can serve for a short
time to make merit for his family or to gain
education. This apprentice monk is still
attached to earthly goods.
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Monks are not allowed to drive, so another
way to make merit is to offer them a free
ride.
34
Even in communist Vietnam, Buddhism is still
intact. Here is a spirit house located outside
a new spa resort in Hoi An.
35
Tsunami

• On December 26, 2004, a giant tsunami struck
  Southeast Asia, killing almost 300,000 people.
  Though not suffering the most severe damage,
  southern Thailand is still trying to recover from
  the devastation.

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The Andaman Coast.Many Thais no longer frequent
these beaches.
Ship carried a quarter mile inland.
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There are many volunteers and refugee camps
still in place.
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Here is a temporary village for the Moken Sea
Gypsies, who are more often Burmese
than Thai. Sanitation is far from ideal
and these squat toilets are common
throughout the country.
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Refugees were given clothing from U.S. factories
in Asia and classrooms were set up in the camps.
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This woman holds a picture of her husband who
died in the tsunami. Others still hold out hope
for finding lost family members.
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Despite the heat and downpours, rebuilding
progresses from tin roofed houses to wooden
structures and even wooden boats.
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The rubber plantations are also being brought
back.
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Sister Mae Chee Sansanee

• Our travel group had the privilege of meeting
  this Buddhist nun and director of the
  Sathira-Dhammasthan and Co-Chair of the Global
  Peace Imitative of Women.

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Sathira-Dhammasthan is a sanctuary in the
middle of Bangkok for women who
have been abused or who are
unmarried and pregnant.
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It also includes a kindergarten for children
who play and eat together.
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The atmosphere is serene and beautiful.
Those are real lily pads.
Frequent homage is paid to Buddha.
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Sister Sansanee has also created programs for
those in prison.
For her work, the sister has been a nominee for
the Nobel Peace Prize.
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Communism

• Vietnam became a totally communist country in
  1975.

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Ho Chi Minh
Considered the father of his country, Ho Chi
Minh encouraged education, but money was
often scarce. Today his portrait appears in
every classroom.
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For some time, Vietnam was aided by money from
the U.S.S.R..
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Ho's image and peasant-style art are used to
teach morals and goals in Vietnam.
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Even today, Ho Chi Minh dominates the landscape
from Hanoi to the Mekong Delta region.
This statue of Ho Chi Minh is in Can Tho.
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The Vietnam War

• Today the Vietnamese look forward , not backward
  to what they call the American War.
• Americans almost always receive a warm reception
  in Vietnam and the dollar is widely accepted
  currency.
• But, reminders of the war still exist in the
  tunnel complex at Cu Chi, the prisons of the
  colonial and war eras, and at the War Museum in
  Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon).

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During the war, the North Vietnamese soldiers
used extensive tunnel systems, like the ones
shown in this diagram of the Cu Chi complex.
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The tunnels are tiny, only large enough for the
Vietnamese.
Several tunnels have been expanded so
Americans can crawl through them to see how
claustrophobic they are.
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In addition to tunnels, the Viet Cong used a
system of traps.
These punji sticks were coated in excrement and
created puncture wounds that were often fatal
to GIs.
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The prisons used during the Vietnam War were
often ones left standing after the French were
defeated in 1954. Here is a guillotine probably
used by the French against Vietnamese
nationals in the latter part of the 19th
century.
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Depictions of prisoners suffering.
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Also shown are pictures of captured American
pilots, most often kept at the Hanoi
Hilton.
Flight suits are also displayed.
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Here is a statement by the Vietnamese
indicating that these prisoners were
well- treated, a claim certainly disputed by
many American POWs.
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At the War Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, one
exhibit showcased the work of
Vietnamese photographers who lost
their lives covering the war.
Many of the images come from the book Requiem
and are vivid reminders of the horrors of war.
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Two other exhibits reinforce the tribulations of
that time. Here are two fetuses, born
dead from the effects of Agent Orange.
The other image depicts the bombing raids that
still leave the countryside littered with the
residue of a war that ended 30 years ago.
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Cambodia
While I did not go on to Cambodia, many of the
group did and captured these striking pictures.
The Mekong River is a lifeline in Cambodia, as it
is in Thailand and Vietnam.
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Cambodia is one of the poorer countries in the
world.
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Cambodia became poorer still by the forcible
genocide perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge, under
the leadership of Pol Pot during 1975- 1979.
A monument has been erected to remember the
1 ½ to 2 million Cambodians who lost their
lives under the Khmer Rouge.
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Today, Cambodia still suffers the consequences
of years of war with a high number of
unreclaimed land mines.
Work to retrieve these mines is still ongoing.
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But, Cambodia is a country of strong traditions
and looks to their strengths to plan a course
for the future. Buddhist traditions still guide
Cambodia today.
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Cambodia is home to many temple complexes.
These are growing as tourist attractions and,
thus, are a source of income for the country.
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The most famous is Angkor Wat built from the 10th
to the13th centuries at the height
of the Khmer Empire.

Over the years, massive jungle vegetation has
overtaken parts of the structure and cannot be
removed without destroying the buildings.
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Another Cambodian tradition is the beautiful
art of dance which captures the grace of
the Cambodian people and reveals their belief
in regeneration.
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Other Influences

• Asian culture is inclusive and reverberates with
  influences from other countries.

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Chinese culture is strongly expressed in northern
Thailand and Vietnam where shrines to Confucius
abound.
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In southern Vietnam, Indian culture is
noticeable in these temple motifs in Can Tho,
and in this elephant sculpture at
the Champa Museum in Danang.
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Though Thailand was never colonized, it's easy
to find examples of French architecture both in
Thailand and Vietnam.
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From the ubiquitous Coca Cola
. . . to English in classrooms.
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American cigarettes bear pictures that show
lung disease and rotting teeth.
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Ronald McDonald says Sawat-dee Khrup, the
Thai equivalent of Hello
KFC is the only American fast food restaurant
in Vietnam at this time. Colonel Sanders has
been fattened up so he won't be mistaken for Ho
Chi Minh.
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American signs and symbols are common,
particularly in Thailand.
Gas is expensive everywhere.
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Southeast Asia is a mixture of the very exotic
and the very familiar. You can shop at a
mom pop store or at the 7-story
MBK center in Bangkok and find goods from
around the world.
Southeast Asia is a destination well worth
the journey. The sights, sounds, smells,
tastes and textures has enlivened and enriched
my world.Why not visit Southeast Asia someday
and see for yourself?