Posts tagged as:

Southeast Asia

Culture: Betel Nut in Myanmar, Southeast Asia

February 18, 2010

If you look closely at this little creature on the left, you might see a small green leaf in his mouth.
The little green leaf is filled with lime and a special type of seed, which is called Areca nut (or Pinang in Malaysia, Betel Nut in Myanmar, etc). The leaf, at least in Myanmar, also [...]

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Travel: Guess Where I Was – Three Photos

February 12, 2010

The following three photos were taken on a trip a took a few months ago. Can you guess where they are from? I’ll give you one clue: they are not from Singapore!

 

Did you guess Penang, Malaysia? If so, you’re correct! (I realize the last photo is a little too helpful).
Penang reminds me a lot of [...]

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Travel: Myanmar, Part II – How I Spent Christmas Eve

February 3, 2010

Christmas Eve 2009 was definitely one to remember. While most of my friends were back in the States battling the snow and struggling with the slow airline travel, I was hanging out near Inle Lake in Myanmar.
We started the day pretty early, threw on our dusty jackets, and headed to the lake for a boat [...]

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Travel: Myanmar (Burma), Part I

January 21, 2010

This is my first post about my recent trip to Myanmar. There is a lot I want to cover, so I decided to write several posts instead of one or two super long posts. For the first installment, I’ll keep it pretty general.
Several people asked me for a short summary, and this is what I [...]

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Travel: Phuket, Thailand

December 20, 2009

I finally made it to Thailand!
In early November, I took a long weekend to meet up with some friends in Phuket, Thailand. Although this is posted in the ‘travel’ category, I would not consider my weekend anything other than a vacation. We walked around a bit, but mostly just ate and hung out on the [...]

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Travel: Off to Myanmar

December 19, 2009

In a couple of hours I am heading off to Myanmar (Burma) for about nine days. Of course I wish I had more time to explore, but that is the way life goes.
We are not set on our plans, but we are hoping to hit Bagaon and Inle Lake, and then spend the last two [...]

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Travel: Penang, Malaysia (Part I)

December 11, 2009

A few weeks ago a jumped on an Air Asia flight to the port city of Penang, Malaysia.
After just a few hours in the city, I almost forgot where I was. The historic city has sizable Indian and Chinese populations, dozens of different places of worships, and signs that are written in multiple languages.
Our first [...]

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Politics: American Luminaries and U.S. Diplomacy towards Pariah States

August 22, 2009

Guest Post from Dragoman

Earlier this week, the New York Times reported that Senator Jim Webb (D-Va.) had successfully negotiated the release of John Yettaw, the American much maligned for his unwitting involvement in the recent intrigue against Aung San Suu Kyi. Earlier this month, Bill Clinton returned from Pyongyang with the two American journalists whom North [...]

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Travel: Palawan, Philippines

August 6, 2009

After a couple of days in Manila, we headed to Coron, which is in the Province of Palawan and on the island of Busuanga.

Coron is probably most famous for being one of the best wreck-diving locations in the world. In 1944, the US Navy attacked Japanese forces in the area, and successfully sank several ships. [...]

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Travel: Tagaytay and Banaue, Philippines

August 3, 2009

Shortly after my trip to Indonesia, I spent one night in Singapore and then I headed to the Philippines. The plan we not to have an intense, action-packed trip. We wanted to hit a few sites near Manila, and spend some time in Palawan Scuba diving. There is a lot to cover, so I am [...]

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