Essay

Mahatma Ghandi said:

  • A "No" uttered from deepest conviction is better and greater than a "Yes" merely uttered to please, or what is worse, to avoid trouble.

Categories

8888, America, Asean, book review, Burma, Burmese dictionary, China, Constitution Referendum, culture, Cyber attacks, Dr. Kyaw Thet, Dunwoody, Famous Burmese, Harry Shorto, Karen, Kayan, Khmer, laos, McNeil Tech, migrants, milk powder, minorities, Mon, Nargis, Natural Resources, Nelson Mandela, Padaung, photos, politics, prison, Rangoon University, sex industry, Shan, Thailand, unicode

Reflections

A Burmese student running after his death To the Future


Ludu Daw Amar's Funeral

Ko Hla has pictures of Ludu Daw Amar's funeral.
Posted at 08:00 Apr 10, 2008 | Tagged as: | WriteBacks (0) | permalink

Photos by Rev. Wo Le

If you are like me and crazy about country life in Burma, here are some pictures. Rev. Wo Le took them on his trips to churches all over Burma as his capacity as the secretary of Lisu Baptist Convention.

Church

School

Water

Innocent lives

Life style

Trucks

Carts

Posted at 08:00 Dec 15, 2007 | Tagged as: | WriteBacks (0) | permalink

Photos

A building on the bank of Chao Phraya river (Photo by Beauty Shwe)

A Burmese lady (Photo source is unknown and may have copyrights held by the photographer)

Posted at 08:00 Dec 10, 2007 | Tagged as: | WriteBacks (0) | permalink

West meets East

I went to Chatuchak weekend market today. It was probably my fourth or fifth visit.

Chatuchak is a very famous tourists destination in Bangkok. A visit to Chatuchak is like an exotic cultural experience for tourists, especially for westerners from developed countries. Everything from Thai silk to modern fake Levi jeans can be found at the clothing stall booths as far as the eyes can see. The shops sell almost everything under the sun --- antique handicrafts and modern furniture, books and collectable items, plants and pets, and you name it.

The visits to Chatuchak made me think about the cultural differences between people from developing and developed countries. Western tourists would look for antique ethnic handicrafts whereas the locals would not even care about those sections of the market.

In my observations, people from industrialized countries tend to appreciate this kind of picture.

Sunset in Bagan (Photo source is unknown and may have copyrights held by the photographer)

Life in Burma (Photo by Rev. Wo Le)

On the contrary, people from developing countries tend to be impressed by this kind of picture.

Shanghai Skyscrapers at night (Picture taken from http://www.cepolina.com)

Developing countries want to develop faster and faster at the cost of natural and cultural beauty. China, for example, is growing very fast at the cost of social stability, the income gap between the rich and poor becoming wider and wider [1]. They even want to build more dams in Burma [2].

Big international businesses are moving to less developed countries not only for cheap labor, but also for less strict environmental rules and regulations.

Developed countries, on the other hand, want to go back to history and preserve natural beauty. To tell you the truth, the air quality in Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA (where I went to college) is better than the air quality in my home town, Mudon, Mon State in Burma. Thanks to cheap Thailand and Chinese made motorbikes and no rules regarding air pollution, the air quality in my hometown in Burma is getting worse these days. The fact that every factory in Fort Wayne, Indiana, has to follow strict environmental rules and regulations has made the environment very nice for the citizens of the town.

I, for one, am looking forward to the days when leaders in developing countries, Asean in particular, will start to talk about putting the interest and basic human rights of their own people ahead of the economic development. I hope that our region will grow without sacrificing our natural and cultural beauty.

Posted at 08:00 Dec 09, 2007 | Tagged as: | WriteBacks (0) | permalink

Photos by Wawlay

I wanted to post some pictures by Rev. Wo Le. He took these pictures while he was travelling all over Burma visting Lisu churches. I hope to remind you of village life style in Burma.

A big tree

A village (rather a town?) in Burma

A day in the village

A house in the village

A kid in the village

Baptism (village style)

Village family

Chef

Chef tasting food

Sunset

Fetching water

Bathing

Kitchen

Teapot

Dinner

Posted at 08:00 Jun 22, 2007 | Tagged as: | WriteBacks (0) | permalink

Old pictures from the US

I found my old pictures of my mission trip to Shiprock, New Mexico. I took the trip while I was in the States. We stayed at a Navajo Indian church and here are some pictures.

Shiprock, New Mexico

Lwin Moe after painting an old Navajo Indian lady's house in Shiprock, NM

Pastor Eric Lee talking to our group

A Hogan in Shiprock, NM

Lwin Moe and Molly repairing the roof of an old Navajo lady's house

Mission Team after painting an old Navajo lady's house

My two (adopted) sisters

Heather, Molly and Lwin at Albuquerque airport

Lwin Moe with a Navajo family

With Navajo ladies from Mesa View Church

Jared and Lwin

Lwin in Shiprock, NM

Blue Sky and a tree near the Day Care Center we worked

A beautiful field

Mesa Verdae National Park in Colorado

Mesa Verdae National Park in Colorado

Mesa Verdae National Park in Colorado

Mesa Verdae National Park in Colorado

Four Corners (Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado)

Four Corners (Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado)

From Four Corners (Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado)

Lwin Moe after Missoin Trip

Lwin Moe after Missoin Trip with Diana (host-mom)

Posted at 08:00 Jul 06, 2005 | Tagged as: | WriteBacks (0) | permalink