Green curry and Thai silk aren’t the only thing you find in SE Asia. in my satiric point of view, I collected some of this region’s uniqueness in this chapter
‘Doraemon’ was born in 1969, as Fujiko Fujio’s super hit comic series. TV animation series started in 1979 became a record breaking long run, including myself, all the kids in Japan waited for 6pm air time on every Monday, for ever imaginative new episode of this cat-like robot from 23rd century
Now the TV series of Doraemon is super hit in other Asian country, specially in Thailand. From mobile phone strap, stationery, mouse pad to even shorts and office chair, you can find Doraemon goods everywhere in SE Asia
‘Konna koto iina, Dekitara iina…’ more than a few Thai friends I made, recognize the melody I sang from Doraemon’s theme song (from 30 years ago!) then they start singing along in Thai!
At Rhan Lek Lek in Pai, travelers gather Haruki Murakami’s works in Japanese, Thai and French. One of the greatest modern novelists from Japan has a big following worldwide. In Thailand, where pop culture is at its peak, it’s no mystery he’s so popular
a rock band I met in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, keeps their tuning meter and guitar accessories in 16mm Fuji motion picture film can. Hooray indy spirit! I noticed the word ‘Indy’ is becoming hip in Thailand.
Pom is a student studying computer programming in an university in Chiang Mai, came to help Muang Noi Village school’s youth benefit project (chapter 12). In the evening he flips through his Rubik’s Cube, breaks it random and puts the six faces back together in a matter of a few minutes, then breaks it again… ‘He can do it in 80 seconds.’ his friend says. International hit gadget from the 80’s is surviving here in Thailand, in fact I see it helping them being so smart, don’t you think?
at Panthip plaza in Bangkok, a huge wholesale complex of IT and electronics, where little shops of computer parts line up on every floor endlessly, I find this ‘USB fan’. Those geniuses must have been sweating in Thai heat when they came up with the idea of this gadget
plastic waste is overwhelming here. They put everything in plastic containers and bags. If you buy a beverage at the market stand they pour it in a little plastic bag. It’s awful. Here at the mini mart in Pai, the whole aisle is a choice of plastic bags and Styrofoam containers
Seven Eleven’s, which are all over in Thailand, promote the reduction of plastic bag use in their signs at the cashier, but it’s questionable how it’s being practiced
one of my best favorite SE Asia items, drinking water machine
you put 1 baht (3 US cents) in it and press the button, it fills your 1 liter bottle
such a great machine can only be seen in city area of Thailand, and still many people just buy plastic bottles of water. It’s the shame that we don’t have these in Japan or in the US
Betton, or Bettan (Italian Bachi ball) is a popular game in Thailand and Laos, this one is by the banks of Meckong in Luang Prabang. Played in two groups, all they need is a set of heavy stone balls and flat surface. Basically you throw your balls to get as close as possible to the color ball, kicking the opponents’ balls away
between 1964 and 1973, the US conducted one of the largest sustained aerial bombardments in history, flying 580,344 missions over Laos and dropping two million tons of bombs, costing US$2.2 million a day
around 30% of the bombs dropped on Laos failed to detonate, leaving the country littered with Unexploded Ordnance, or UXO. Ever since then many lives have been taken by UXO accidents as well as it damaged their agricultural development
in Laos it’s quite common to see these shells of Napalm bombs as part of the decorations in guest houses and restaurants. Some lighter weight shells are even used as boats. I’m not sure how people here are accepting these, for still today many UXO and landmine accidents occur. Whether they use these items ironically, forgiving the past, or simply for the necessity and in hope to attract tourists, is hard to tell. (Above three photos in Pakbeng guest house, Luang Prabang Phou Si temple, and Mueng Ngoy restaurant)
sink and other textile are the widely practiced handicraft in all this region. This potable set up for weaving doesn’t take up the room when you are not weaving. You just use a hook on the wall and belt around your waist to keep the lines stretched. Ban Huey Hok, Thailand
and this is how they spin the threads of sink. At Sop Jam village, Laos
from freshly caught fish to guest’s laundry, this simply designed scale is used to scale practically everything. Mueng Ngoy, Laos
blur in action, a wooden hammer slams into a wooden bowl, threshing the grains of rice. Many simple machines like this allow them to manipulate rice, the origin of their vital food. Sop Jam, Laos
Put the fire in a clay stove, boil water in a metal pot on it, and on top of the water place the bamboo bowl with rice in, this is how they steam rice. Nong Khiaw, Laos
and this stone grinder she’s turning, makes the mixture of rice and water into creamy textured paste, from which you can make a crapes with coconut milk and bananas, or spring roll paper, or with a few more procedures, even rice noodles. Mueng Ngoy, Laos
the alchemist of Mueng Ngoy turns led into a propeller for their boats in less than five minutes, only with a simple stone cast and fire inside the ground. The propellers are the core of their life by water transportation
punctuality is not in the minds of Lao people. we open the shop when we feel like. At Luang Prabang
this sink is for washing grass only! mixing up L and R is very common confusion in all of Asia. If you rook alound, you may find many of these subtle but odd expressions. At Wat Ranpoeng, Chiang Mai
‘Do Not Swimming Area’ at Kouang Si waterfall, Luang Prabang. Apart from this, if you look through restaurant’s menu you’ll see ‘we have BREAK FAST, coffee and SAND WICH’ ‘Friend rice’ and ‘Lemonglass’ No matter how hard they try, the mistakes they make are so cute that you can help but laughing. My best favorite one of the entire trip is this one below from where we stopped at Kasi to hitch the second ride to Vang Vieng, Laos
‘you wanna go get some noodles. oup?’please send me more of this funny signs if you ever come across!
Laos has serious problem of lacking its own products. With its infrastructure so fragile, industries can’t grow, and it’s surrounded by three large manufacturers of SE Asia, Thailand, China and Vietnam. From soaps to toothbrushes to underwear to pens and knives, Chinese and Vietnamese goods are dominating this once-every-10-days market in Mueng Ngoy
Not all the SE Asian food is spicy, their sweets are really sweet. Almost too sweet. This tapioca-like soup for example, and the fried bits of coconut cream and bananas. Lots of food dye and lots of oil… from the market in Mueng Ngoy
Trolley everything. Snack carts are often rigged on the sides or the backs of motorbikes. At Nong Khai, Northeastern Thai town near Lao border, this grilled dry squid is perfect with cold Chang beer
best of SE Asian kitchen this year is this home grown coffee on a little bamboo-built noodle stand in Mueng Ngoy. Funny thing is that we didn’t care so much for her noodle soup, and her fried rice was quite awful. Yet every morning we’d just go there to have fresh cups with sweetened condensed milk. One very good thing that was brought to this region by French colonization
Rule 9, boycott TV! Before I set out to this year’s trip I had thrown my TV set out on the street of Brooklyn (it found a new owner within a few minutes) better yet, Ms. Tuk, the owner of CCC Folk Bar in Vientiane has a brilliant sense of interior decoration, using a small boat upside down to house a lighting above the pool table, all the insects in the jars on the wall, and here she turned an old TV set to a fish tank
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