The sun slowly begins to make slow silhouettes out of two children playing beneath the red sky on the Mekong River. To the Laos (pronounced Lao by the locals) side of the river there is a large sand bar which swells the shallow stream of water. On the side which divides Laos from Thailand, a small mountain …
Category: Southeast Asia
Exploits in Southeast Asia
Song of a Revolution
Living in Bangkok during the coup of 2006 I wake up sweating. My air conditioner has given out in the middle of the night as it so often does, and my neck and stomach are now soaked in my own epidermal excrement. I brush my hand across the back of my neck and wipe away …
Five Months in Bangkok and the World Turns Over
Some people spend their entire lives trying to understand Asia only to discover that the more they know, the more they realize how much they don’t know. We live in a fascinating and diverse world full of beauty and unspeakable evil. Over the past several months I have had the grand opportunity to witness the …
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Are Chulalongkorn Student Uniforms a Fading Prestige?
As foreign ideologies begin to seep into Thailand’s culture, student’s opinion of a once prestigious symbol begin to grow negative. While there is a partition of distinguished students who proudly and unconditionally admire wearing uniforms at Chulalongkorn University, the growing number of students who complain about their forced apparel has raised concern among scholars and …
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The Road to Siem Reap, Cambodia
The following article appeared in The Nation Junior, a magazine based in Bangkok in association with The Nation, and is recreated here for archiving purposes. As my nostrils filled with the stink of garbage and feces, the taste of vomit began to seep into my mouth. The border crossing from Thailand into Poipet, Cambodia is landmarked by …
Justin Calderón 