Everyday life in SEA

Indiscriminate mining for jade and gems in northern Burma is destroying the ecology and ecosystem there, according to environmental activists.

Two of the country’s mining centers, Hpakan and Mogok,

At the Edge of the Forest
Essays on Cambodia, History, and Narrative in Honor of David Chandler

Anne Ruth Hansen and Judy Ledgerwood, eds.

Yum:  We were offered tiny cups of cold pu’er tea – Yunnan has been brewing cha for 2,000 years. The drink was soothingly earthy, but not enough to get us through the 36-page English-Chinese-picture menu. Four pages were devoted to mushrooms, a Yunnan specialty and a pricey one: the fanciest fungi cost 168 renmimbi (£12). The braised tea mushrooms with pork, at 46 renimbi (£3), was among the cheapest varieties. It came sizzling in a cast-iron brazier; the long-stemmed, tiny-capped fungi, thin slices of pork and red chillies went perfectly with the (mercifully cold) local Yanjing-brand beer.

We passed up the bee pupae and hog face on the menu, focusing on less exotic fare. One winner was tea-marinated shrimp over thin strands of fried potatoes served with the hot puffy cheese that is typical of Yunnan. Since peeling the shrimp was difficult and took away much of the intense tea flavour, I ate the crunchy shell and all.

Referred to in Thailand as “non loeng sadorcro”, which literally means “lie in a coffin, get rid of bad luck”, this controversial ritual has been around for decades but has become increasingly popular in the last few years.

It involves participants lying in coffins while of monks perform death rites on them as if they are already dead. This is then followed by a chant of new life.