Sawasdee from Phuket, When an American won the Australian Open tennis championship this year, she said, amongst other banalities, that she would be spending the next little while in Melbourne, shopping. And then, when some Australians had their cruise aborted during the Coronavirus outbreak, after spending two weeks in quarantine in Howard’s Springs, one of …Read More
Xin Chào from the Mekong Delta, The Mekong Delta is rightly known as the food bowl of the region. It’s where most of the exported rice is grown. Most people might perceive a delta as a fairly featureless landscape, with nothing much to draw the visitor. It’s not true. The homestay experience is memorable. This …Read More
Salaam from Muscat, Oman, Consider the following hypothetical: a country finds itself with a bounty of a natural resource that the rest of the world lacks and is prepared to pay big money to have. This resource is found underground and occurs naturally, having formed over millions of years. The country determines that this …Read More
Salaam from Nizwa, Oman, Whilst there are many dangerous and unsavoury side-effects of globalisation, there are obvious benefits. Everything from goods, capital, labour, sport, disease and entertainment cross the international boundaries with alacrity, with good and bad effects. Lots of people are materially better off. Trade has improved their existence, at least from that point …Read More
Xin Chào from Mỹ Lai, Occasionally, we all need a sobering history lesson. We are in Mỹ Lai, Central Việt Nam: the site of the infamous, eponymous massacre which – when finally exposed 12 months after the event – shocked the waverers and galvanised opposition to the American War. Nobody needs to visit the site …Read More
Xin Chào from central Việt Nam, The recent shocking discovery of 39 young Việtnamese nationals, dead in the back of a lorry near Essex, weighs on my mind more than the average tragedy. It’s not merely because I’m living here in Việt Nam, close enough to know the imperative. The more you get to know …Read More
Mingalabar from Pyin Oo Lwin, The Business Management course encourages candidates to think about the capitalist system in the macro as well as the micro. The students obviously learn about the profit motive, limited liability and, of course, shareholder primacy. Truong is a Vietnamese student imbued with a Buddhist ethos. After reflection, she sees …Read More
Mingalabar from Bagan, There’s a school of thought which argues that former colonies – since freed from the yoke – were better off with imperial rule, and would be better off today if they still were colonies of European nations. The argument is obviously an academic one as no-one can ever prove it …Read More
Mingalabar from Yangon, Linda says visiting a country with a corrupt regime benefits the regime, in the same way that buying a product with stains in the supply chain endorses the company’s actions. It’s similar to visiting Fiji after the coup, or touring Russia during the soccer World Cup. …Read More
Sain baina uur from Ulgii, Mongolia, The Steppes of Mongolia are indeed vast. It’s not hard to envisage Chinggis Khan’s marauding hordes careering triumphantly across the plains. It was brilliant horsemanship which enabled the Mongols to conquer so many, so far from here. Even today, in the sparsely populated country, with increasing levels of urbanisation, …Read More