Bump to baby on the beaten expat track
Variations of this has been making the email rounds and YouTube for two years now. It’s an oldie but goodie, and still a relevant topic. Three short years in SE Asia has been eye-opening as far as the impact of technology on a society’s development, including its effect on poverty. Worth a watch..
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No need for big machinery eh. Here’s a team of five Khmer (in flip-flops) pounding away at the building with just a sledgehammer each. It took them about two weeks to take this building down and haul away the debris.
Such a spectacular display of the greatest advances across industries! And I’m glad to see the Bird’s Nest architecturally reflect an Asian context.
Photo courtesy of http://en.beijing2008.cn/ Official Beijing 2008 site
Asian culture, its arts and legacy, is beautiful, that it’s disappointing to see the westernisation of Asia– particularly in Bangkok and other major cities. Phnom Penh itself is exemplifying rapid westernisation and eradication of its heritage. Local officials in ill-fitting western suits and ties often arrive at meetings, and villagers trade in their more useful kromas (all-purpose scarves) in favor of mass-produced generic garbs branded by company logos. And then there’s Hong Kong with its otherwise pretty harbour skyline so totally marred by the marquees and billboards advertising major corporations on top of nearly every building. How is this allowed to happen, to dismiss Asia’s beauty in favor of European notions of class or for capitalistic ideals?
Asians ourselves play a huge part in this. Hordes of students flock to study ballet and master the harps and bass, meanwhile Cambodian artists are hard-pressed to even pay young kids to learn their own elegant classical dances. Ever seen ciseauzs performed in classical ballet pieces by Asian dancers? This music was not created for the shorter bodies and legs, and therefore stretch, of an Asian. While it’s beautiful to see nevertheless, it’s disappointing that western culture is more valued by Asians than our own rich heritage.
On the one hand I appreciate the vast growth and potential I’m witnessing in Asia/SE Asia. And on the other, the various aspects of its politics and culture make it difficult to be entirely supportive of its (and especially China’s) inevitable rise. There’s a balance that still hasn’t been achieved– the pace of change is happening fast. Western ideals of self-actualisation and governance has a place in Asia’s growth, and it’s possible to adopt other philosophies of progress, without Asians having to drop our cultural heritage and roots.
Anyway, I digrees. Here’s a look at the medal counts of participating countries throughout the history of the modern Olympics.
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I see a fair bit of the road, which makes an mp3 player such a trusty companion. Since I have a lot of down time anyway, I like to take along podcasts. They’re available via online audio/videostreams but my connection speed here is just too slow.
It’s amazing to me how, given the political will, the connectivity infrastructure can be easily put in place. The technology is cheap and getting cheaper. What donor would not provide the funding to connect Cambodia’s population to the world, if requested? But I guess information is power, and so for now Khmers will have to settle for poor internet access. The ‘democratically elected’ government isn’t ready for an educated populace. Having said that, a major factor for Cambodia’s stability is the authoritarian rule, and stability brings in much foreign capital, with the economy seeing robust growth over the recent years.
Anyway, I’m not a serious investor–yet–but keeping up with the global economic indicators seems to be a smart thing to do. I’ve liked the following so far, all downloaded conveniently from iTunes:
Deutsche Welle’s Inside Europe
NPR’s Economy
Bloomberg’s On the Economy
BBC World News Service
I need a good Asia region News/Economy daily podcast that doesn’t focus exclusively on China. Any ideas?
Photos courtesy of H. Prytherch
This is a common sight along the roads of Cambodia– a patient riding on the back of a moto on the way home, hooked up to an IV. There’s large demand for IVs and injections in the country, and people seek it out whether or not it is medically necessary. The problem of overuse of drugs/IVs is more prevalent in rural areas where educational levels are much lower.
We asked some people in the communities when they typically get IVs, and we were told it’s good for making the body strong again after many days out fishing or working in the fields. We’re told they can be bought at any pharmacy or clinic, and the colored IVs are better because the medicine in it makes it more potent. (Unknown to them, oftentimes it is due to food coloring by unscrupulous drug vendors capitalising on the poor knowledge of drug use.)
…I can almost see the image of this in the bas reliefs of Angkor Wat!
Tomorrow the country holds its 4th national elections since the 1991 Paris Peace Accords were signed, ending decades of civil war and foreign occupation. In the runup to this weekend our counterparts in the Ministry of Health and all health professionals were required to partake in campaigning for their parties. (This meant that all activities agreed upon were essentially put on hold for two months).
I asked one of them, a hospital director, what it is he does when he goes out to the villages and communities to campaign. “I teach people how to vote”, was the response. Really? How do you teach them how to vote? “I show them which box on the ballot to check”. Do you like to do that? [[He hesitates, then…]] “It doesn’t seem right… But it’s good for CPP to win so that we won’t have violence again. And I’m a doctor and I have responsibilities so I should vote for CPP.”
The dominant CPP party had to settle for a coalition government with FUNCINPEC because they didn’t win the required 2/3 majority in the 2003 elections, and the PM has taken steps to ensure that won’t happen again. CPP’s campaign was largely about threatening violence if CPP does not take a majority.
Needless to say, people in a generally subdued mode…