Go back to the post immediately before this one about the roadside traders in northwestern Laos. Follow that road north, cross the border at Boten-Mohan and keep going until you reach Kunming. And this is what is what you may find. Thanks Bernard! Another sighting of NewMandala’s favourite clown. The Golden(Arches) Quadrangle!
The end of the road?
September 13th, 2006 by Andrew Walker · Add a Comment
Tags: China · Laos · Snapshots · Trans-Border Issues
On the road to development?
September 13th, 2006 by Andrew Walker · 3 Comments
Here is a fantastic image from Panpilai Kitsudsaeng, a PhD scholar here at the ANU. Panpilai writes:
Khamu women and girls selling bamboo shoots along the newly improved road from Houayxai to Luangnamtha in north-western Laos. They cleverly select a steep hill or sharp curve where cars have to slow down as their seasonal road side market place.
What will [...]
Bamboo and Rats and Famine
September 13th, 2006 by Nicholas Farrelly · 4 Comments
Recently, while in northern Burma, I heard stories of cyclical rat plagues that lead to the migration of hundreds of villages from affected areas. Plagues in the 1970s are still fresh in some memories. These plagues, resulting from the blooming of bamboo forests, have disastrous social and ecological consequences. People starve, or are forced to flee. [...]
Tags: Burma · Northeast India
Thaksin, Phone Home
September 13th, 2006 by Nicholas Farrelly · 11 Comments
The Nation, following coverage in The Irrawaddy, is reporting that the influence of a renowned Burmese astrologer has spread beyond the top echelons of the dictatorship. Many of the Burmese Generals, and many of their subjects, are partial to mystical counsel.
According to reports, Caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is using the services of a Burmese mystical advisor who goes [...]