Top articles
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A life in orange
Novices in the temple Phra Suwit, 1st night, we still don't know each other and yet a link begins to appear Laundry day ? Old games, the best ones... "The monk and the rose" Phra Jaa Phra Om-Em and a Guizmo-to-be (I miss you, my cat...) Smile, always...
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Guided tour in my world
I finished work on Saturday evening. My mother owns a shop in which she sells organic products (food, cosmetics, drinks, teas) and fair trade items, as well as plants and aromatherapy medicines. I love her shop. It's all in wood so the atmosphere is really...
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Kuala Lumpur
Some pictures "stolen" in the streets to show you my KL The Petronas Towers (also called the Twin Towers, but i always found it weird) And every night, Im like "Wooooaah..." even if it the 25th time i've seen them. Shining, huge, they almost look made...
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In the village
At the end of the day, sharing bamboo sprouts at the village Toilet time Wan going back to the village This small house is a wedding house. A couple who wants to get married will stay there every night until the girl get pregnant. After that, they can...
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Nice things about being back in France
(I'm not going to begin that blog with rants and complaints. Am I ?) - I saw my brother !! Last time I saw him was 3 days, 1 year and 4 months ago. The time before that was before August 2007. Needless to say : I missed him a lot. And he hasn't even changed......
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Among the monks...
Ok now I flooded the blog with pictures (less than on the French one but still...), I can begin to write. A lot, as usual ^^ Our group was... awesome... I feel so lucky and honoured to have been able to travel with only thai people (and a korean, ok),...
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People
Some shots I did in the streets, from far away or close-by, with or without their autorisation. Asking always spoil the atmosphere of a pic and I always wonder if it's ok or not for me to take the pic but... If you don't know, it'd not going to hurt you...
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Mong La
Mong La is just on the Chinese border. As with many borders with Burma, you can expect to see the dirty side of things. Here, in Asia, many border towns are no more than a pretext to build a concentration of casinos and prostitution bars for the neighboors...
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Mae Sot - แม สอด
Mae Sot is one of the most known border town in Thailand. It's about 90km west of Tak and enables people to go to Burma, through the "Friendship Brigde" (yeah, sure... what else ?), right into the town of Myawaddy. Further west lies Rangoon. It takes...
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A Shan story
The Shan state is the biggest of Burma, situated in the north-eastern part of the country. It's bordered by China, Laos and Thailand. Once upon a time, the Shan used to dominate a huge empire, influencing the Chinese emperor himself. Have you ever heard...
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Luang Prabang
My stay in Luang Prabang is over. One day more than what was planned.. Like in Chiang Mai, there's something that... I don't know, it just gets on you and you don't want to leave. I found a really nice GH, called Nam Sok. The "boss", Mo, is a university...
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Muang Sing - Luang Prabang
These mountains - it's China. This giant is just next door, and you can almost feel it... Back from school "And so I told him..." The little girls selling sarung and scarves A hill tribe woman in the morning market Laos vehicles... Laos first and then......
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Chinese masquerade
I remember talking once about how easy it was to modify information, when I was describing the opium museum in Burma. I got a new proof of it by email lately : you never know what to believe... But whatever they show us should always be questionned. True...
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The life in the Shan State - By witnesses
Everything told here was either said directly by the leader of the camp or by Phra Sanet Being Shan, not Burmese, the people of this state is under a constant crackdown. Foreigners are only allowed to go to Tachilek, Chiang Tung and 1-2 other big cities....
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Kuala Lumpur - again and again
So I had to go back to KL... Not only because I wanted to (come on... only 5 weeks between my two stays there. I'm a KLholic), but mainly because it was near impossible to get my Thai visa in Phnom Penh. They seem to like only Cambodian people over there...
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Talk about habits...
I know I'm in France but you have these things I can't get rid of... - I still can't eat with my left hand, even Christmas chocolate - I'm always looking for the dustbin to throw toilet paper (but never find it, as we don't need it in France) - I always...
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Khmers Rouges - An introduction to Tuol Sleng
Tuol Sleng... I'm sure that for most of you, it doesn't mean anything. In Khmer, it means "the poisoned trees hill". And it was the place where was held Security Prison 21, better known as S-21. I am still sure that for most, Pol Pot and S-21 don't mean...
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Odds and ends
I'm still kinda stuck in Chiang Mai. But that's only because I want it, in a way ^^ I bought a really good book on the Karen and Thai-burmese border situation. It's edifying... It's Restless souls, by Phil Thornton. It's worth reading if you happen to...
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Hello hello...
Here it is. A new blog. I already have so much to write on the French one but it looks like I'm masochistic enough to try and create a new one... I guess it will be worth it, though. So here we are, on the wings of the wind ^^ It's dedicated to three...
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Young Tai Yai
Sunday afternoon was spent in drinking (fanta for me, beer for the guys) and eating porc and grass-hoppers, listening to guitar and producing as many comical expression we could. I was feeling great with my new "friends". After one of them joked a "I...
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Meeting the "dictatorship feeling"
I don't know. Maybe I just took more notice of my surroundings this time. Or if it was easier to talk to me because I was not busy talking with the monks. Probably both. During this trip, I discovered that I was being watched. Like basically any Western...
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The missing "Burma Time"
I know, i forgot to write them. But I'm reading a really interesting book about the Karen refugees and the fighting along the Thai-Burmese border in Mae Sot. It's called "Restless Souls", by Phil Thornton, and definitely worth reading ! Burma time of...
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Errare humanum est - Refugee camp
Humpf... I just realized I might be the only one able to understand the title. Am I the only one to know this sentence in Latin ? Well... Means something like "Mistakes are only human" So, I'm going to correct some statements about the refugee camp we...
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Cambodia
Woho, I'm late late late (sounds like Mr. Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland) I was in Cambodia from May 3rd to 18th. Two weeks, three cities and a mixed feeling about it all. I met really nice people, saw the amazing temples of Angkor and enjoyed the feeling...
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Smiling is universal...
I was lucky enough to be with some people who could speak English. Not everyone could, of course, and among those who could, some were too shy (or not interested maybe ^^) to talk with me. But 4 of the guys and a fair number of monks were able to actually...