Animals: Common Myna

In Southeast Asia the common myna is an all-day appearance. Their habitat is originally open forest, but they spread out to agricultural areas and entered and adapted perfectly to urban areas. In the 19th and 20th century common mynas were introduced into many countries worldwide with the intention to reduce the local insect populations.

It’s adaptability and success to survive in foreign countries results mainly from being an omnivore and it’s robust and belligerent nature. The common myna is able to drive other birds out of their claimed habitats. They also rob and destroy other bird’s nests and eat their chicks. Since they cause a great deal of harm to other animals, the common myna is listed as one of the hundred worst invasive species in the world. Particularly in Australia they are notorious for damaging the local ecology, mainly other bird species, but also in South Africa and wide parts of America they spread out in great numbers and do a lot of harm to local species and environments.

In this context it’s interesting to see that the common myna population in Malaysia and particularly Singapore decreased significantly for it’s competition with another germane species, the Javan Myna. The Javan Myna was introduced to Singapore in the 1920s.

By the way, the common myna is also known for spreading mites and diseases to people and domestic animals.

Know…

This is only a part of the richly illustrated article ‘Common Myna’. Read here the whole article on Common Myna.

Keep yourself up-to-date

Check the list of recently published articles on a great variety of Southeast Asian themes. All of them are richly illustrated: Asienreisender

Monsoon in Southeast Asia

Tourists tend to avoid Southeast Asia in the monsoon months, for many expect it being rainy every day and all-day. They fear mosquito-born diseases and floods.

Well, in fact it’s not all that bad. Rainy season can be a very rich and beautiful time in the tropes. There are many more animals active, it’s all green around and it’s considerably cooler than in most of the dry season.

Another positive aspect of the monsoon season is the lack of tourism; prices drop, places are not crowded, life is more relaxed.

Besides it’s not raining all-day long. It’s mostly rather raining for an hour or two, or there is a shower coming down, while it afterwards might be sunny again or cloudy only. In north Sumatra, let’s say Bukit Lawang or at Lake Toba, one can almost set the clock for the afternoon rain, what starts usually around four o’clock. There it comes mostly as heavy pouring and continues over many hours, sometimes over the whole night. Next morning it’s clear and sunny again. One can be very active over most of the day outdoors.

As a rule of thumb one can say as closer one approaches the equator, as more rain is to expect.

Know…

This is only a part of the richly illustrated article ‘Monsoon in Southeast Asia’. Read here the whole article on Monsoon in Southeast Asia.

Keep yourself up-to-date

Check the list of recently published articles on a great variety of Southeast Asian themes. All of them are richly illustrated: Asienreisender

Raden Saleh, a Javanese Painter

The Javanese painter Raden Saleh (Syarif Bustaman, 1811-1880) is considered to be the ‘father’ of modern Indonesian painting. He was born into a very prominent Javanese noble family and came in early years in contact with the world of the Europeans.

Interestingly, the Bustaman family supported the Javanese prince Diponegoro in the Java War of 1825-30, when a great part of the Javanese fought against the increasingly demanding Dutch rule.

Raden Saleh travelled to the Netherlands in 1830 where he studied art. He was the first Asian and generally non-European who got an European education and developed a self-conception as a modern artist. He spoke five languages fluently, among them Dutch and German.

In 1839 he travelled to Germany and spent years at the court of the duke of Sachsen-Coburg and Gotha (the German sideline of the Victorian English royal family, who renamed themselves later to the ‘Windsors’). Raden Saleh was introduced into the highest circles of nobility in Europe, what certainly contributed to his fame and the fact that his paintings still nowadays are dealt in millions of US$ on the international art markets. Some of his paintings are presented in Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace.

He spent altogether 22 years in Germany and was a co-founder of the German branche of Orientalism in paintings and partially also active in architecture. Remarkable that he had a white servant, inverting the common pattern of the time that usually ‘white’, western people never served to any of the colonialized people. For some Westerners of the time it was seen as a scandal.

Raden Saleh’s palace in Jakarta is designed after palais Callenberg near Coburg and is nowadays a tourist attraction; it is designed to be turned into a new ‘Prince-Raden-Saleh Museum’.

Know…

This is only a part of the richly illustrated article ‘Raden Saleh’. Read the whole article on Raden Saleh.

Keep yourself up-to-date

Check the list of recently published articles on a great variety of Southeast Asian themes. All of them are richly illustrated: Asienreisender

Prasat Ta Muen / Thailand

At a very remote spot in Thailand’s Surin Province at the very border to Cambodia are three small remains of Angkorean buildings to find. Coming from the next village in Thailand, Phanom Dong Rak, where the last bus stop is placed, a lonely road leads one some ten kilometers south into the jungle. The first site one reaches is Prasat Ta Muen, which looks like a chapel with an intact roof and a hall inside. (…) Few tourists make the way out to here. Prasat Ta Muen is truly a hidden pearl in the jungle.

Know…

This is only a part of the richly illustrated article ‘Prasat Ta Muen’. Read the whole article on Prasat Ta Muen by Asienreisender.

Keep yourself up-to-date

Check the list of recently published articles on a great variety of Southeast Asian themes. All of them are richly illustrated: Asienreisender

Phimai / Thailand

In the heart of Phimai, a small town in Thailand’s northeastern Isan region, one of the most remarkable Angkorean cultural heritages outside Angkor itself is situated: Prasat Phimai. In 1936 it was set under protection by the Thai government and became step by step restaurated from the 1950s on. ‘Phimai Historical Park’ was opened in 1989.

Phimai town is a medieval Khmer foundation, became the first time fortificated in the 11th century and advanced to a spiritual center of the classical empire of Angkor. In the reign of king Jayavarman VII (1181-1206/1220 CE) the city walls and gates so far they remain now were constructed. The town’s name is derivated fro ‘Vimayapura’ or ‘Vimai’. The contemporary official name of the site is ‘Prasat Hin Phi Mai’.

Historical Phimai has a considerable size. The inner temple district is a rectangular of 83m to 74m, the middle district measures 272m to 220m and the surrounding town, which was formerly completely enclosed by the city wall, stretches over 665m to 1033m. Phimai must have been one of the most important cities in the Angkorean empire.

The central temple complex is not exactly aligned onto the north-south axis, but by 20 degree turned to southeast. It’s probably done to give it the direction facing to Angkor.

At the northern end of Phimai is a national museum placed, which displays a number of the site’s artefacts as lintels, Buddha images, nagas, pottery and jewellery.

Prasat Phimai is considered to be the most important Khmer monument in Thailand.

Know…

This is only a part of the richly illustrated article ‘Phimai’. Read the whole article on Phimai by Asienreisender.

Keep yourself up-to-date

Check the list of recently published articles on a great variety of Southeast Asian themes. All of them are richly illustrated: Asienreisender

Kampot Special Economic Zone (KSEZ)

Kampot Special Economic Zone

The area west of Kampot is declared one of the notorious ‘Special Economic Zones’ in Asia. That means that big companies get great conditions for big investment. Usually it’s low wages, no labour unions, no strikes allowed, no tax paid for up to 15 years and low standards (if any) for environmental protection.

One of the grand projects in ‘Kampot Special Economic Zone’ (KSEZ) is the construction of a city for a 100,000 people up at Bokor Hill Station (inmiddle of Bokor National Park), accompanied by a number of big casinos and hotels for the gamblers.

Additionally there is a coal power plant planned at the coastline, producing 3,000 megawat electricity, together with a concrete factory which originally would be run by a Thai investor, but who recently withdrew his plans for investment in Cambodia due to a possibility of political instability after the dubious course of the July 28 elections. Another company will fill the gap. A car tyre factory, a garment and shoe factory, a rice mill and other (heavy-) industries are expected to follow. Traffic will boost, and with it the transport infrastructure.

The construction of a new deep sea harbour in the ‘Kampot Special Economic Zone’ started in 2012 and will be presumably ready in 2014. The overall costs are supposed to be at least 80 million US$, rather 100 million, while the port itself will cost at least 18 million US$.

The first step was the construction of roads and filling land. The port will be 12m deep and be able to serve big vessels of up to 20,000 tons. The main purpose of the harbour will be to transport mined products and metals.

It’s supposed that the port will change the economy and with it the life of many people in and around Kampot; additionally it will have an effect on the whole Cambodian economy.

The president of the KSEZ, Vinh Huor, stated following:

“When our site is finished, Kampot will become a big economic region and it will not be a tourism destination. It will become a commercial area and more transportation developments will be needed in the future. (…) The main purpose of the port is for freight transportation of minerals that will be transported abroad for processing. It’s going to be a big port.” (Quotation: Phnom Penh Post).

Despite all the great political promises for a better future the first impact is already a damage of the fish populations along the coastline. That triggered a first resistance of the local population against the project which led to a delay of it.

There is another port in Sihanoukville with a capacity of 3,5 million tons. In 2011/2012 the Sihanoukville Port turned over 2,8 million tons.

Know…

This is only a part of the illustrated article ‘Kampot’. Read the whole article on Kampot by Asienreisender.

Keep yourself up-to-date

Check the list of recently published articles on a great variety of Southeast Asian themes. All of them are richly illustrated: Asienreisender

Phanom Rung / Thailand

Situated on top of an extinct volcano at a height of 381m, Phanom Rung represents maybe the finest monument of the classical Angkor period which is situated in Thailand. It’s full name ‘Prasat hin Kaho Phanom Rung’ is translatable to ‘Palace of Stone on the Hill Rung’; ‘Phnom Rung’ in Khmer language means somewhat like ‘broad hill/mountain’.

The nearest bigger city is Buriram, some 50km north, from which it is possible to visit Phanom Rung in a day-trip by public bus. Phanom Rung itself is located in a mountainous, forested area, surrounded by small villages.

History

Early inscriptions (7th/8th century) indicate that there was a predecessing temple on the site, dating back to Chenla era.

Between the early 9th to the 13th century the area was ruled by the Mahidharapura dynasty. This Khmer vassal principality preserved a certain independence from the grand Angkor empire. A remarkable personality is prince Narendraditya, who was a trustworthy vassal of king Suryavarman II (1095-1150 CE, who built Angkor Wat). Both were relatives and Narendraditya fought repeatedly victorious for Suryavarman II in war. Later in his life Narendraditya retreated to spent the rest of his life as a yogi and guru in spirituality. His son Hiranya took over state’s power and the eleven inscriptions of Phanom Rung, who tell us this story, were made under Hiranya’s supervision. Onother king of the principality was Dharanindravarman II (1150-1160), ruling in the time after the death of Suryavarman II.

The Phanom Rung temple complex was built, probably in significant phases, between the early 10th and the late 12th century. In these almost 300 years it was undergoing changes and extensions; particularly in the reigns of king Narendraditya and Hiranya the temple got considerably extended.

Architecture

Phanomg Rung has a recommendation for sophisticated stoneworks who consist of sandstone and laterite. There is for instance a war elephant to see which is trampling down an enemy (war scenes in temples are always remarkable). The elephant might represent one of the earliest artworks of the Angkorean civilization.

Most of the other depictions show hindu gods as Vishnu and Shiva, the destroyer of ignorance and illusion, practicing asceticism. The site symbolizes Shiva’s home mount Kailas (in Tibet, close to the Indian and the Nepalese borders), which is considered a sacret mountain in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. The eleven inscriptions in Phanom Rung therefore describe a regional organization of Angkor.

Phanom Rung monument was connected via a Khmer road with Prasat Hin Phimai (also in Thailand) and further on to Angkor city.

From the lower part of the site, where is nowadays the visitor center, long stairways lead steeply up to the temple district. The first bigger building, ‘Phlab Phla’ or the ‘white elephant house’, is supposed to have housed the former dressing rooms for the king and his company. From there a 160m long prosessional walkway, made of laterite and seamed with some seventy sandstone posts to the right and the left leads to the first naga bridge. The bridge symbolizes the transfer from the ordinary to the sacred world, and the sandstone nagas are pretty impressive. Another stairway leads to four basins, who are connected by another bridge to the actual temple.

Restauration of the site took place in the years between 1971-1988. In 1988 then Phanom Rung became declared one of Thailands ‘Historical Parks’. In 2005 it was suggested to the UNESCO as a ‘World Cultural Heritage’.

Situated on top of an extinct volcano at a height of 381m, Phanom Rung represents maybe the finest monument of the classical Angkor period which is situated in Thailand. It’s full name ‘Prasat hin Kaho Phanom Rung’ is translatable to ‘Palace of Stone on the Hill Rung’; ‘Phnom Rung’ in Khmer language means somewhat like ‘broad hill/mountain’.

The nearest bigger city is Buriram, some 50km north, from which it is possible to visit Phanom Rung in a day-trip by public bus. Phanom Rung itself is located in a mountainous, forested area, surrounded by small villages.

Know…

This is only a part of the illustrated article ‘Phanom Rung’. Read the whole article on Phanom Rung.

Keep yourself up-to-date

Check the list of recently published articles on a great variety of Southeast Asian themes. All of them are richly illustrated: Asienreisender

Alfred Russel Wallace by Asienreisender

In 1854 a man arrived in Singapore who can be counted as one of the greatest minds of the 19th century. Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913), a former land surveyor from England, who spent already a couple of years in the tropical Amazon region collecting animals came to expand his collection and studies in the Malay Archipelago. In the following eight years he made 70 journeys through the whole, huge archipelago. In 1858 he came to the clear and elaborated conclusion that animals are not representing a fixed shape and capabilities, but being highly versatile, ever adapting to their changing environments. Species are undergoing a permanent change respective development, and the driver for that change is natural selection.

Russel wrote a great deal of essays on this topic and sent letters to England to reconfirm his position. One of his pen pals was Charles Darwin, an already accepted member of the scientific community in England. Darwin became over the time more and more impressed by Wallace’s ideas, particularly when he received a letter in June 1858, in which Wallace outlined the ‘theory of evolution’. That was exactly the concept which was stored in Darwin’s drawers since 17 years, who hesitated to publish it. Wallace even used mostly the same key terms for his theory as Darwin did.

The arrival of Wallace’s letter made history. Darwin decided now to publish his main work ‘On the Origins of Species’ (1859), a book which changed the world.

Alfred Russel Wallace is the ‘man in Darwin’s shadow’, the widely forgotten co-discoverer of the ‘theory of evolution’, what was in the 19th century still called the ‘Darwin/Wallace theory of evolution’. He travelled and studied great parts of the Malay Archipelago, a huge area what is now covered by the states of Malaysia and Indonesia, and published his experiences of the journeys in his splendid two volumes ‘The Malay Archipelago’ (1869). It is one of the finest travel narratives ever written.

Know…

This is only a part of the illustrated article on ‘Alfred Russel Wallace’. Read the whole article on Alfred Russel Wallace by Asienreisender.

Keep yourself up-to-date

Check the list of recently published articles on a great variety of Southeast Asian themes. All of them are richly illustrated: Asienreisender