Vietnam's Love Mountain

Vietnam (Reuters Life!) - Once a year, with his wife's blessing, Lau Minh Pao gets to have a guilt-free tryst with his ex.

Their rendezvous' have played out more like strolls down memory lane than salacious flings, but they are part of a treasured tradition in this mountainous corner of northern Vietnam that may challenge some more linear concepts of love.

"In the past, we were lovers, but we couldn't get married because we were far apart," Pao simply as he waited for his date on a dark night in the village of Khau Vai in Ha Giang province.

Now when they meet, he said, "we pour our hearts out about the time when we were in love."

They are not alone.

For two days each year, on the 26th and 27th of the third month of the lunar calendar, the tiny village of Khau Vai, strung along a saddle in the lush hills near China, is transformed into a "love market."

Hundreds of members of Giay, Nung, Tay, Dzao, San Chi, Lo Lo and Hmong hill tribes, among others, trek in from across the mountainous districts nearby to attend.

Pao's wife was there, too, meeting her old flame.

Some travel for days, even from neighboring provinces.

This year, local artists in colorful clothing performed the local myth telling the story of the origin of the Khau Vai love market.

Legend has it an ethnic Giay girl from Ha Giang province fell in love with an ethnic Nung boy from the neighboring province of Cao Bang.

The girl was so beautiful that her tribe did not want to let her marry a man from another tribe and a bloody conflict ensued between the two tribes.

Watching tragedy unfold before them, the two lovers sorrowfully decided to part ways to avoid further bloodshed and to restore peace.

But to keep their love alive they made a secret pact to meet once a year on the 27th day of the third lunar month in Khau Vai. Thereafter, the hill village became known as a meeting place for all of those in love.

These days, the tradition is carried on, albeit with a modern edge.

Giggling girls in native headdresses make dates by text message on their cell phones, and hold them up to snap digital photos of performances.

New roads have made the village that lies some 500 km (310 miles) north of Hanoi more accessible. In the Nung language, Khau Vai means 'clouds among the mountains'.

"The young generation now go out together, and find each other, and it is more modern, freer and clearer. Back in the old days, our grandparents had to pursue love in secret, not like today," 23-year-old Hua Thi Nghi an ethnic Giay.

Under the dark sky, as other couples cavorted nearby, Pao was looking forward to seeing his old girlfriend.

"We've arranged to meet and she'll be here a little bit, around 10 pm. We meet together to re-tell the tale of how it was when we were in love back then," he said.

The next day, however, he said their meeting had been cut short by a downpour.

But there's always next year.

Kelani Ganga

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Abraham Maslow developed a theory of personality that has influenced a number of different fields, including education. This wide influence is due in part to the high level of practicality of Maslow's theory. This theory accurately describes many realities of personal experiences. Many people find they can understand what Maslow says. They can recognize some features of their experience or behavior which is true and identifiable but which they have never put into words.

http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/maslow.htm

Sinhalese New Year 2010

As the midpoint of the sun, from Pisces enters Aries, the very first sign of the zodiac, the Sri Lankan New Year dawns at the precise time of 06.58 am on the 14th of April 2010. From this time onwards, all activities that are important for a healthy and prosperous future are conducted to auspicious times determined by the ancient but popular science of astrology. One such significant ritual is the first bath preceded by the anointing of the head with fragrant oils which symbolizes a fresh and pure start with the beginning of the Sri Lankan New Year.

Jewel of Muscat

The project involves the reconstruction of a 9th-century sailing ship in Oman.The Jewel of Muscat is based on a range of historical sources, including the findings of the Belitung Wreck, which was discovered in 1998. The 18 metre ship has been built without nails. The planks were sewn together with coconut fibre, and had to fit perfectly so as to ensure that the ship is watertight. The wood is protected by a layer of goat fat mixed with lime. The planking on the ship is made from Afzelia africana timber from Ghana. The Jewel of Muscat was built in a specially constructed ship yard at a beach in Qantab, Oman. The ship's voyage begins in Oman, with stops in India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia, before ending in Singapore. The journey retraces part of the historic maritime trade route between Arabia and the Far East. During its voyage, the team will use 9th-century navigation techniques. The voyage began in February 2010, with the Jewel of Muscat reaching Singapore by June 2010.

http://www.jewelofmuscat.tv/

Rumassala

Rumassala is a massive hill oddly out of place in the landscape just outside the Galle harbour. Legend details that during the Rama – Rawana war Rama's brother Luxhmana, was injured and Hanuman was sent to Himalayas to fetch medicinal herbs. Hanuman forgot the name of the herb but he brought a chunk of the peak containing many herbs. However the mountain fragment slipped and broke into five pieces of which one fell to Rumassala. It should be noted that the renowned scientist Sir Arthur C. Clerk has a bungalow in the precincts of Rumassala, as it is said to be the place that has the highest specific gravity globally.

Virgin White Tea

Sri Lanka's virgin white tea fetches $1500 per Kilo.

Tea maker Malinga Herman Gunaratne uses an ancient Chinese method of harvesting the tea. The tea is plucked without a human ever touching the leaf. In keeping with the Chinese tradition the tea is cut instead of being plucked using gold plated scissors. The virgins that the Chinese used to pluck/cut the tea are, however, no longer a requirement.

Marco Polo's Journey

Marco Polo's Lies

"Marco Polo often reported hearsay and had a tendency to stretch the truth. He wrote of enormous p'eng birds, or gryphons, from Madagascar, for example, that were large enough to consume elephants as well as men with dog features. Some of his accounts were outright lies. In one section, he relates how the Polos helped the Mongols capture the southern city of Xiangyang from the Southern Song dynasty by introducing the Mongols to catapults. It turns out the Mongols already had catapults and the city fell two years before the Polos arrived in China.

Some historians have suggested that Marco Polo never went to China and that his adventures were based on accounts that he heard while working at his family's trading outposts on the Black Sea and in Constantinople. These historians base their argument on: 1) the fact that Rustichello was a fiction writer who probably embellished the account; 2) that Marco Polo failed to describe the Great Wall of China, chopsticks, tea, calligraphy or the binding of women’s feet; 3) that the things he described—paper money, porcelain—were well known to travelers who came to Constantinople and other trading areas; and 4) that Marco Polo wasn't mentioned at all in the extensive Chinese archives between 1271 and 1295 even though he described himself as a personal emissary of Kublai Khan.

Historians that contend that Marco Polo’s journey probably did take place argue: 1) that tea and chopsticks were so commonplace perhaps Marco Polo failed to mention them because he was so used to them; 2) that foot binding was something practiced mainly by upper class women who rarely left their homes so Marco Polo didn't see them; 3) that the Great Wall as we know it today for the most part was built after Marco Polo's death (in his time it was decaying mud bricks) and walls around towns and cities were as common in Europe as they were in China; and 4) that documents that may have mentioned Marco Polo probably were destroyed (many Mongol documents after the Mongols were ousted from China)."

http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=48&catid=2

Rama preparing for the siege of Lanka

Pilgrimage to Kataragama

We travel for this...

"We travel for this: to settle in to our body and connect with our heart; to savor diversity; to be surprised; to remain flexible. We travel to remind ourselves that compassion must overwhelm narrow–mindedness and fear, and that we are a part of the human community."

Lisa Lindblad
www.lisalindblad.com

A letter to Bill from Udurawana, Sri Lanka

"Dear Mr. Bill Gates,

This letter is from the Udurawana from the Kandy Hilly`s. We have bought a Computer with Microsoft for first time to our home and we have big problems, which I want to be bringing to your notices.

After connect to internet we planned to open e-mail account so we filled the form in Hotmail in the password box but something funny happens only ****** appears (stars), but in the rest whatever we typed the letters and numbers appears nicely, but we face this problem only in
password box.

One friend told that there are bites on his computer but he cant receive them. Can you also include some bites in my computer - I mostly like Cadju and Rata Cadju and Bola Kadala but I like to try anything interesting you also have !

Your esteemed customer,
K.P.G. UDURAWANA. (Kiri Panu Gaya)
The House on the Hilly`s
KingsTown, Kandy"

Sri Lanka: Gateway to Other Worlds?

"Long before modern scientist ever dreamed of the existence of gateways between parallel universes, the ancient world already regarded Lanka or Serendip as being the Antipodes, a topsy-turvy wonderland inhabited by nagas, yakas and various other-worldly spirits. Oral traditions still current in Lanka tell of hidden gateways situated islandwide through which yogis and siddhas, could travel to distant places or even to other lokas or worlds in the blink of an eye.

Lanka’s longstanding reputation as a mysterious gateway to other worlds has been testified to in modern times also by the great pioneer of dream-related psychology, Dr. Carl G. Jung. In Memories, Dreams and Reflections, Jung recorded his own experience of an intensely vivid post-anesthesia dream in which he suddenly found himself floating in space hundreds of miles above the earth’s surface. He especially recalled seeing the island of Ceylon directly beneath him like a vast emerald in the shimmering blue Indian Ocean"

http://www.kataragama.org/research/gateways.htm

"Not only is the universe more complex than we ever thought, it is far more mysterious and magical than we ever believed."

American physicist Dr. Fred Alan Wolf

Tea Horse Road

"An ancient route that spans a not unimpressive 2,350 kilometers, traversing some of the most diverse and mutable terrains in the world. For thousands of years, travelers have been lured across its snow-capped mountains, precipitous canyons and lively streaming rivers to discover some of the most beautiful landscapes in all of China.

As its name suggests, the Chamadao, literally translated as 'Tea Horse Road' or 'Tea Horse Path', was a central trade route for exchanging Tibetan horses and Chinese tea. The corridor came to play a crucial role in the communication and exchange between the cultures of present-day Yunnan, Sichuan and Tibet, with the route passing through, among a number of important posts, the volcanic ranges of Tengchong, the colourful culture and dwellings of the Khamba people in Changdu, the breathtaking gorges of Lijiang, through Tibet as far as Burma and India."

http://english.cri.cn/725/2006/02/19/168@52713.htm

Frangipani Tree

Crystallized tears of Buddha

"The interior of this mountain (Adams Peak) produces red rubies, blue sapphires, yellow Oriental topaz, and other gems; they have each and every precious stone. Whenever heavy rain occurs, the water rushes out of the earth and flows down amidst the sand, and the people search in the sand for the stones. There is a saying that the precious stones are the crystallized tears of Buddha"

From The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores by Ma Huan, who accompanied Cheng Ho on three of the later expeditions. They remarked on the curious impression in the country's highest mountain, a giant 'footprint' which Buddhists associate with the Buddha, Moslems with Adam, and Hindus with the god Shiva.

Anoma

"Human insecurities, greed and conflicts blur the boundaries between reason and passion and explode the tensions that exist within all of us. We create and destroy in our search for immortality, never accepting life’s unalterable fact – impermanence."

Anoma Wijewardene

http://www.anomawijewardene.com/home.html

Green light district?

"Prostitution originated in Mesopotamia, but in Thailand some part of the law in the U-thong era 628 years ago mentioned prostitutes. They lived in a market outside of the palace wall and included Chinese.

At the end of the King Rama IV, Rattanakosin Era, some part of the bill for protection from diseases mentioned “there should be a lamp for the symbol in front of the house [brothel],” but it did not specific the color. It is assumed that green was used because it is associated with officers. That was the first law controlling prostitutes to follow the law. After that people called brothels a “green lamp place “ and called the prostitute a “lady of the green lamp.”

The Photography of Alison Wright

An extraordinary woman called Alison Wright. On January 2, 2000 Alison’s life was nearly cut short during a horrific bus accident on a remote jungle road in Laos. Alison’s recent memoir, “Learning to Breathe; One Woman’s Journey of Spirit and Survival,” chronicles this inspirational story of survival and years of rehabilitation, and her ongoing determination to recover and continue traveling the world as an intrepid photojournalist.

Here is a synopsis of the story: http://outside.away.com/outside/features/200502/alison-wright_1.html

www.alisonwright.com

Doorman Kuttan

Doorman Kuttan, at the Galle Face Hotel, is among the longest serving employees in the world. He is at the hotel since 1942. He still remembers (and tells the story with great gestures) the day when - during World War II - a Japanese Zero fighter grounded in front of the hotel on the large green field, called the Galle Face.

He can be found charming as ever saluting guests at the lobby of the Galle Face Hotel.

Its good for you

"Dear Cyril Gardiner; Maybe you have changed my life. After living for years in air-conditioned Singapore, used to enter lift cabins pressing the “shut-the-door”-button before anything else, landing at the Galle Face Hotel was a relief from the hectic day-to-day life of the Lion City.“Why don’t you walk up the stairs?” Cyril asked me. “It’s good for your health!” You have made this a principle of this hotel, and wooden boards still display your philosophy on each floor of the hotel, cleverly placed next to the lift doors"

Andreas Augustin (Still taking the stairs)
http://www.famoushotels.org/hotels/270

Anouska Hempel

"Anouska Hempel, director of the first Sri Lankan Biennale to be held in Colombo in September, is a fine artist, interior designer, and yoga practitioner. A woman who likes to trailblaze new ideas – and always in unique, spiritual spots – she has a natural affinity for the arts and in particular the teaching of yoga; which she does on her spiritual trips known as ‘Journeys to Nirvana’.

Aimed at yoga lovers, these one- and two-week tours take in both known and relatively unknown sacred sites of Sri Lanka. Yoga and meditation are practiced daily at all the spiritual places visited, which include the beautiful Arankale – an ancient Buddhist temple with meditation walk leading to a purification tank; Ritigala – another centuries-old Buddhist monastery set in the jungle and surrounded by ancient ruins; a meditation cave in Sigiriya; Polonnaruwa; Kandy; and the littleknown Nalanda Gedige (20km south of Dambulla), where a small temple, also of great antiquity, marks the very centre of the island.

The mystical Ramboda Falls, one of the many tour highlights, is within the locale of the Hanuman temple, where rituals – rich with drumming, chanting, and incense – are performed daily to the Shiva Lingam (sacred Hindu phallic stone). The yoga trip finishes at Adam’s Peak (Sri Pada, or Samanala Kanda), where climbers must start at 2 am to ensure that the summit is reached in time for the spectacular sunrise. Anouska Hempel moved with her family from England to Sri Lanka’s Galle Fort seven years ago, where she opened the first Fort art gallery. In December 2004, when Galle was ravaged by the Boxing Day tsunami, the building became headquarters for PG’05, a year-long relief operation which gave help to over 10,000 Sri Lankans in need. Shortly afterward, Anouska moved to Colombo for her children’s education, and combined studying yoga with launching the arts initiative ‘Imagining Peace’, with the aim of creating the very first Sri Lankan Art Biennale (September 10-14).

Anouska says: “It’s not only about showcasing Sri Lankan art; this is a project with a vision.” She feels that CAB’09 ‘Imagining Peace’ will be a groundbreaking event that will not only mark and herald this historic and long-awaited time of peace in Sri Lanka but will inspire, and act as a launch pad for a celebrated, internationally recognized biannual presentation of Sri Lankan expressive creativity."

Published in Serendip Magazine | July 2009

Perahera

The spell of Sri Lanka

My friend Jessica just found an old coffee table photo book in their local thrift shop - serendipitous! - an enormous old tome published in the early 70s of photos by Roloff Beny with epilogue by Arthur C Clark.

He writes " ...if you have read this far you may already be doomed - my conscience will not allow me to close without a warning. I came to Ceylon in 1956, intending to stay for six months to write one book about the exploration of the island's coastal waters. Fourteen years and twenty books later, I am still here, and hope to remain for the rest of my life."

Manampitiya Flag

"The above photograph shows the Manampitiya Banner from the private collection of Mrs. M. G. Fernando, the author of the book ''Sri Lanka Flags - Unique Memorials of Heraldry", 1980. The banner has been faithfully reproduced from the original found in Manampitiya, by a local artist A. Albert Appuhamy."

"The banner shows a mounted Elephant as the principal device with emblems of the Sun, Moon and Stars, the fish, a monstrance, a Pyx and very specially a crucifix. The flag has belonged to members of the Karava caste, long settled in the area Manampitiya, in the District of Tamankaduwa. The families have fled from the maritime provinces of Negombo, to avoid persecution by the Dutch. The flag itself may have originated in Portuguese times or much earlier. On conversion to Christianity the symbol of the cross and the Pyx have been added. Over a century later the families that settled in Manampitiya adopted the Hindu religion."

http://www.defonseka.com/k25.htm

Faces of Buddha by Bill Bevan

Bill Bevan is a photographer, writer and archaeologist.

He specialises in visualising and writing about archaeological and historical sites from around the world. "My aim is to evoke the sense of place and people's engagement with a site as well as its historical importance"

http://billbevan.photium.com/portfolio51655.html

Sihigiri

"Hail! It is certain that those who go to Sihigiri, remembering it, will go there again. Even though other things should be forgotten, wherefore should this not be remembered?"

Early engraving in Sinhala verse.

http://www.srilankainstyle.com/sri_lanka_experience_page.php?expid=17

Peradeniya Botanical Gardens

Originally created in the reign of the Sinhalese King Wickramabahu III during the 14th century, these gardens were improved by his successors and later by the English after their conquest of Kandy.

Marianne North in 1876 during her visit to the island befriended and wrote about the then director, Dr G. H. K. Thwaites, who with his great acquirements and steady devotion to science, gave a world wide reputation to the Gardens during his tenure of office from 1849 to 1880. “He had planted half the trees himself, and had seldom been out of it for forty years, steadily refusing to cut vistas, or make riband-borders and other inventions of the modern gardener”, she remarked with astonishment. The trees were massed together most picturesquely, with creepers growing over them on a natural and enchanting tangle.

Here is a great gallery by Alex Meeres: http://www.pbase.com/alexjet/garden

Thai Matchbox Museum

"There's a thin line between passion and obsession. In a dusty shophouse on Wong Sawang Road, picture frames are piled on tables and hung on walls, and miscellaneous items are placed on the floor and poke out from a glass cupboard. Only the sign outside, written in Thai, indicates that this is a matchbox museum.

"I wish others to learn more about matchboxes here," said Chuan Sunthranan, the 81-year-old owner and enthusiastic matchbox collector."

http://www.bangkokpost.com/070608_Outlook/07Jun2008_out001.php

Night Theft

In the News: Australian Woman Arrested for "Night Theft" in Phuket

"Further adding to the exotic reputation of Thailand, A.S, an Australian woman, was arrested for stealing a bar mat and charged with “night theft". There is actually no specific “offense” in Thailand termed as “night theft.” There is, however, aggravated theft, which is a theft case that is considered more serious based on a number of factors, one of which is having the theft occur at night time."

If you intend to steal something do it on a bright shinny day!

http://thailawforum.com/blog/in-the-news-australian-woman-arrested-for-night-theft-in-phuket.html

Sophal Ear

TED Fellow Sophal Ear shares the compelling story of his family's escape from Cambodia under the rule of the Khmer Rouge. He recounts his mother's cunning and determination to save her children.

Scorpion Wine

"Cambodians rarely eat scorpions, but often preserve them in sra sor, or rice wine. Drinking the wine relieves aches and pains. My experience is that, if you drink enough scorpion wine, it can be very effective, at least in the short term. However, the aches and pains often reappear with greater severity the next morning. Maybe you need to actually eat the scorpion after emptying the bottle"

http://becambodia.com/

South East Asia with Nicolas Pascarel

"Nicolas Pascarel was born in Paris in 1966 and worked as a photographic reporter for over twenty years. Since the early 90’s, he has been spending most of his time in Naples and Havana, but now has decided to return to his first passion – South East Asia – with the intention of remaining to work in the region for years to come. Nicolas did numerous photo workshops for the Royal Academy of the Fine Arts School in Phnom Penh, in the city of Chiang Rai in Northern Thailand and Bangkok; as well as Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. He often collaborates with a Cambodian NGO taking care of street children in Phnom Penh. He has exhibited his works in galleries and photo international festival across France, Italy, Germany, Holland, Spain, Cuba, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and China. He also created a documentary about Cambodia called “Durant la Pluie”. Fotoasia is a cultural organization that promotes exchanges between European and Asian photographers. The purpose of Fotoasia is to promote and present exhibitions of young Asian photographers in Europe."

http://www.pascarel.com/workshop.html

Bolaven Plateau

"The Bolaven Plateau in southern Laos is a poor, but fertile agricultural area known for its coffee plantations and spectacular waterfalls. Various coffee growing co-operatives are now established growing the coffee beans for domestic Cafe Lao and export abroad.The main ethnic group living in the Bolaven Plateau are the Laven people - Bolaven literally means the "home of the Laven".The Bolaven Plateau was heavily bombed during the Vietnam War and unexploded ordinance (UXO) is still being found and diffused. The French first introduced coffee to the area when Laos fell under French colonial rule in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.An area of fantastic, natural beauty the Bolaven Plateau is slowly escaping its grinding poverty with the help of fair trade initiatives and a nascent tourist industry."

Laos: Plain of Jarres

Chami Jotisalikorn

http://www.chami-j.com/

Koh Samui Flash Map

Thaiwijit Poengkasemsomboon

"Thaiwijit Poengkasemsomboon is considered Thailand's foremost abstract artists. He creates works in a variety of media, and often works with abstractions that stimulate the viewer's emotions. Thaiwijit perceives himself as an ordinary person and his paintings are a reflection of an ordinary human's life."

http://www.rama9art.org/thaiwijit/index.html