New Mandala

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One of common themes in new year rituals in northern Thailand is the expulsion of the misfortune and bad luck that has accumulated over the previous year. One of the ways this is done in Baan Tiam, in Chiang Mai province, is by burning khi saay (ขี้สาย) - cotton threads soaked in fragrant olive oil. Cotton thread is commonly [...]

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One of the pleasures of songkran in northern Thailand is the rowdy processions that present decorated maay kam to temples, where they are used to support the sacred bodhi trees. A close look at this particular maay kam will show that amongst the many sponsors there was one particularly auspicious one!

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Prompted by the question from long-time contributor Roger Casas I thought I should put up some pictures of roads in the eastern Shan State.  These shots are all, unfortunately, a bit dated (they were taken between 2002 and 2005) but should give readers a bit more of a feel for road infrastructure in the wedge of Shan territory between Thailand [...]

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A few days ago, regular New Mandala contributor Aiontay asked about the tusks at the Manau ground at Laiza, the Kachin Independence Army/Kachin Independence Organisation stronghold along the Sino-Burmese border.  While I don’t have any further information on the tusks I do have a close-up taken a few years ago.

As an aside, the towers that are [...]

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- The menu for the Singpho food stall at the recent Dehing Patkai Festival held on northeast India’s Assam plain.  The prices are in Indian rupees.  As far as I am aware there are two well-known Singpho (or Kachin) restaurants in India (one in Assam and one in Goa).�
Readers who come across any unusual menus in other parts of the region [...]

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These photos were taken earlier in February near Miao in the eastern part of India’s Arunachal Pradesh.  The Burmese border is not that far away (see this official map to get a sense of the geography).  The river that stars in these shots is the Dehing.  It starts high in the mountains and, as the huge riverbed [...]

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Continuing New Mandala’s recent series of pictures from Manau festivals in greater Southeast Asia, over the coming weeks I will be posting material from a recent Singpho festival held in Miao, Arunachal Pradesh, India.
To whet your appetite here are a few pictures that may help to set the scene.
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- Crossing part of the Dehing river in far [...]

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Just for something a bit different, these two shots give some idea about how far the Irrawaddy River falls during its slow, winter-time meander past Myitkyina.

I imagine that by March or April (before the major rains come) it will have fallen much further still.  At the height of the rainy season it is a fast-flowing torrent.  And, of course, [...]

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At the recent Manau festival held in Myitkyina there was a huge space - of at least a few acres – devoted to gambling and sideshow alley games.  There were hundreds of different gambling and gaming outlets.

In this game of “wheel of fortune” most bets were significantly less than a dollar.  Some gamblers were, however, running through their stacks of [...]

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One of the many road safety messages that line roads in the mountains of northeast India.

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