Pearl of the Orient

When I think of the Philippines..a lot of things come to my mind..

I think of the delicious ripe mangoes that I eat during summers..my everyday jeepney ride when i go to school...the sampaguita vendors that i always see near the catholic churches in antipolo...the colorful festivals that is held all around the country--the SUMAKAH..the ATI-ATIHAN..the MORIONES..the MASKARA festivals..etc.etc.

There are, indeed, a lot of good things about our country...but we can erase the fact that our country has its own flaws...

Like the country being ranked as one of the most corrupt in asia..manila being ranked as one of the most polluted cities all over the world..etc...

but despite the good and the bad sides our country has...i am still proud to be FILIPINO!

I am glad that i was born here and that God made me a Filipino.. :))

T.G.I.A.F "THANK GOD I'M A FILIPINO"

'til here,

JOJO

Language Diversity

One thing that I'm most attracted to a country is its language. And as I look in East Timor, it has, with no doubt, a diverse language....

Here are some facts about East Timor...

There is great ethno-linguistic diversity in East Timor.

• At least 14 distinct languages are spoken by ethnic groups ranging in size from over 100,000 to just a few thousand people.

• Tetum is the most widely-spoken language and is the first language in western and southern regions, the second language in many other regions.

• Portuguese was the official language until 1975. It is widely spoken by people who were educated during the colonial era. It is still used in many homes alongside Tetum.

• Bahasa Indonesia is the sole medium of instruction and communication under the Indonesian regime.

• Tetum and Portuguese have been banned throughout the education system since 1975

Language is the blood of the soul into which thoughts run and out of which they grow. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes

With just the facts about its language, a lot can be learned about East Timor. Though this country is new, I know that this country will be great in its own way...and when it does, I'll make sure that I will know about it. :))

'til here,

JOJO

sources:

http://www.newint.org/issue253/facts.htm

The Ultimate in Diversity

"The Ultimate in Diversity" I often see this line printed on some pictures of the country, Indonesia. I wonder why that is?

and I found out that you can find almost everything in this country a tourist is looking for-- malls, resorts, hotels, etc.

Coming form Jakarta Online, It says that..

Jakarta is the capital of Indonesia. Home to over 10 million people, Jakarta is always bustling, from the sound of the wheel of government turning to the sight of the economy churning. Skyscrapers, single story residential houses, modern apartment complexes, survivalists shanties - all coexist in this city. So, why should you visit Jakarta? Well, for the same reasons you would visit New York, or London, or Paris, or Singapore, or any other big city.

Now I understand what the "ultimate in diversity" means. When you rate indonesia as a food its like a Fruit salad...It is a mixture of different flavors..ingredients not overpowering the other...

Indonesia is a combination of the different touches of the big cities all over the world.

'til here,

JOJO

sources:

http://www.indo.com/jakarta/index.html

http://fc06.deviantart.com/fs7/i/2005/192/7/d/jakarta_07_09_05_by_sigpras.jpg

http://static.booking.com/images/hotel/org/160/1600562.jpg

http://www.indonesiatravel.org.uk/images/monas-in-jakarta-indonesia.jpg

Malaysia

Malaysia

area: 127,250 sq mi...

capital:Kuala Lumpur

This country is a land nestling beautiful rainforest, plantations anad oil palms, modern architecture , and also sandy beaches.

Not only that this country is a home for orchids and other wild animals, Malaysia is also a sanctuary for all kinds of religions. Malaysia, even if it is an Islamic country, is open for other religions.

Kite-flying is a popular pastime among the villagers. There are competitions held to see which kite is the best.

There are a lot of things that we can learn from Malaysia..and i KNOW FOR SURE that this will be worth it.

Terima Kasih! Selamat Tinggal! (Thank you! Goodbye!)

JOJO

source: Circling the Globe encyclopedia

City of Lion

Singapore, for me, is a rich country where most of my uncle's are working...I always see that country that way..so i was thinking, what is really in Singapore?

Singapore is composed of 50 islands..It is located above the equator so the weather is hot and sticky... It is a country that can't produce enough food for its people and water supplies have to be piped in from Malaysia..

Due to these circumstances, I really wonder how did Singapore become of the richest country in Southeast Asia..

It is because of the dedication and the commitment the people have for their country that made Singapore a successful one. Their KIASU "afraid to lose" motto also contributed to the nationalistic spirit that fuels the hearts of the people...

Now as i look in Singapore, I see the the struggles they face, the problems they overcome, and the accomplishments they achieved due to the things they did and the strict laws they implemented.

Singapore is a sure place to visit. :))

'til here,

JOJO

source: Circling the Globe encyclopedia

underneath it all

composing diagonal colored stripes, A crest with a flag, a royal umbrella plus four feathers,. two hands... this is what i saw printed in the Brunei flag.

the first time i saw it, i was like "yeah, it's a flag..cool hands and all," but then as I read the symbolisms behind this crest I learned that this symbolizes the history, beliefs, and the condition of Brunei.

The yellow field with a white diagonal stripe above a black diagonal stripe represents the offices of the first vizier(a Muslim official), the Pengiran Bendahara, and the Pengiran Pamancha. These offices were the only vizier offices existing during the British occupation in Brunei.

In the crest, the four feathers symbolizes the protection of peace, justice, prosperity, and tranquility. The hands represents the government's pledge-- that they'll promote welfare, peace, and prosperity; the crescents represents Islam; the words inscribed is Arabic meaning "Always in service with God's guidance"; in the scroll written also in Arabic "Brunei Darussalam (Brunei the Abode of Peace)"

wow! there is so much to learn with the colors and symbols embeded in the flag...

with this new insight, I was intrigued to find out the meanings behind the symbols in the flag...:))

Until my next blog,

JOJO

Anna and the King

it was during the 1930's when Siam was changed into Thailand.

Anna and the King is about an Englishwoman, the teacher of the King's children, who impacted not only the people, but also the system in Siam.

I learned from the movie that despite the existing barriers between two cultures, it is possible that these two will unite as one.

First: In being open-minded with the other group's ideas.

Second: In learning from the other group's experience.

And Third: In respecting one's culture.

this movie is really a great one.

Two thumbs up!

'til here,

JOJO

UPG

Khmer or Central Khmer makes up the 90% of Cambodia's total population and are found in western and central portions of Cambodia..

Khmer, an eastern Mon-Khmer language, is Cambodia's national language..

Unfortunately, bombing, civil war, and war with the vietnamese affected the once thriving agricultural economy of Cambodia..

Today some Khmer still live in small villages and grow in irrigated paddies.

During the Khmer Rogue, more men died than women..which leads to a skewed sex ratio..Today women are required to perfom duties that once we're done by men. Khmer women dress in colorful skirts to add life in the unhappy environment. Checkered cloths of red and white are used to make everything..from headdresses to pouches for carrying babies.

Buddhist rules of conduct maintain social control in the villages. These buddhist rules forbid lying, stealing, drinking alcoholic, committing adultery, and killing living creatures. Some example of traditional culture can be seen in the folk dances, the classical royal ballets, and traditional Khmer musics.

Khmer's are influenced by India..that's where they adopted the Hinduism and Buddhism( ancestor and spirit worships, Nirvana)..

Krung, Krayet, Lun, and Laveh..

In short they are the Brao's

who are the Brao?

they are found in northeast Cambodia..

have dark skin and black hair..

generally short in stature..

they are the one of those several tribes living in isolated villages in Ratanikiri and Attapeu( province of northeastern Cambodia and southeastern of Laos)...

Things to know about them:

their language is a member of a Mon-Khmer language family..Older Brao wear traditional dress..

their earlobes are stretched from wearing elephant tusk earrings in the past.they

they also have tatoos in their faces as a fashion statement..

the younger brao's, wear western clothes...

Brao's depends heavily on the forest for their livelihood and usually grow rice. They also grow cashew and coffee but these provides limited income...

Hunting, fishing, and raising animals provide protein in their diet.

Women are often seen walking the red dirt road with baskets full of their crops.

Maybe they are new to us,,or maybe they are not..

But one thing is for sure...

they are Human beings like us..

who has their own culture..

who is proud of where they come from..

and is proud from what they are made of..

C'mon!

Let's reach the unreached!

Community today..World tommorow..

^____________^

signing off,

JOJO

references:

http://joshuaproject.net/peopctry.php?rop3=104946&rog3=CB

http://www.joshuaproject.net/peopctry.php?rop3=101655&rog3=CB

Give me a "V"

.. a Southeast Asian country located in eastern Indochina of the South China sea...

was Ruled by Chines from 221 B.C. to A.D. 939...

capital is Hanoi and Saigon as the largest city..

do you know what country this is?

It is Vietnam: The Land of the Dragon people

Maybe you're wondering of how Vietnam got its title. The story behind that mystery goes like this...

According to legend, the Vietnamese are descendants of the dragon, and when the monarchy was established, it became the symbol of the king.

Legend has it that the dragon Lord Lac Long Quan married fairy Au Co, and their union gave birth to 100 children and the Kingdom of Bach Viet. One day Quan said to his wife : "I’m a dragon and you’re a fairy. We can’t remain together."

Quan took 50 of his sons with him to the plains and coastal regions, while the others followed their mother to the mountains. The eldest son was crowned King of Lac Viet and named himself King Hung Vuong and Lac Viet was renamed Van Lang - an ancient name for Vietnam which was formed 4,000 years ago.

The dragon has been sleeping for too long, and is only recently emerging from many decades of conflict and returning to economic growth. It is now awake and ready to soar to greater new heights.

Another fascinating fact about Vietnam is that it maintains diplomatic relations with 140 countries in the world, including France, China, Japan, Thailand, Cambodia, Canada, South Korea, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, Russia and Malaysia. Can you imagine that? A relationship with another country isn't that easy, but Vietnam, rising up from ashes, made it up to 140 countries.

There's a lot to learn about the Vietnam: Land of the dragon people..and I'm quite excited about it..

Are you?

References:

http://ezinearticles.com/?Fascinating-Facts-About-Vietnam&id=804427

http://www.sadec.com/Profile/viet01.html

http://www.viettouch.com/vietnam/vietnam.html

Falling in love

Learning one's culture is like falling in love with another person...

you have to invest time on it...

you have to be open-minded in understanding different backgrounds, things, and people...

you appreciate the good things in it instead of focusing to it's flaws..

and lastly,

you share the joy of experiencing it to other people..

That's the beauty of learning another culture.

It's hard but its worth it.

We're pretty much done with Myanmar.

Now, our next stop will be in Laos: the Land of a Million Elephants..

'till here,

JOJO

The Golden Land Myanmar

Myanmar is rich in natural resources, culture, and also people.

I find their way of writing numbers fascinating. It is different form the usual way of writing 1, 2,3,etc. Here's an example of their number system.

In Myanmar, a person has no family name. They only have names which is different from the usual naming system. Burmese name their child according to the day of the week or the date of birth or even from a certain characteristics:

Day	Included Characters
Sunday	ah, oh, u (oo), ok
Monday	ka, kha, ga, nga
Tuesday	sa, za, nya
Wednesday	wa, la, ya, ra
Thursday	pa, pha, ba, ma
Friday	tha, ha
Saturday	ta, hta, da, na

Day	Names in Myanmar
Sunday	ta-nin-ga-nway
Monday	ta-nin-lar
Tuesday	in-gar
Wednesday (Morning & afternoon)	bote-ta-hu
Wednesday (Evening)	yar-hu
Thursday	kyar-thar-pa-day
Friday	thauk-kyar
Saturday	sa-nay

There are also a lot of people groups in Myanmar. Some of them are the Kachin, Kayah, Chin, etc.

When it comes to its cultural events, Myanmar has a lot.

According to my Myanmars.net, Myanmar has monthly festivals. These festivals are based upon the lunar system. There are 12 seasons in the Myanmar calendar. In every season a festival is held which are called seasonal festivals.

Of the 12 seasonal festivals, two have the background of Hindu-Brahmanic belief - the Thingyan or water festival held in April depicts the legend of Sukka and Brahma the two Hindu Deities and the Maha Peinhnè Festival held in December is the Festival of another Hindu deity "Ganesha". Eight festivals held in May, June, July, August, October, November, February and March are associated with the Lord Buddha, Buddhism and Buddhist culture and two festivals held in September and January are royal festivals namely the Royal Regatta and Royal Equestrian Tournament respectively.

Just as the Royal Regatta held in September was the display of the king's "water forces", equestrian tournaments were a sort of military parade of royal "land forces" including horses, elephants, chariots, foot soldiers, archers, shieldsmen, swordsmen, lancers, and so on. Later, about 14th century A.D, gunmens and artillerymen appeared in Myanmar land forces.

The Myanmar Traditional Equestrian Festival has two programmes - display and contest. Thirty seven different modes of horsemanship and thirty seven different styles of wielding the lance were demonstrated by select equestrian warriors. Men of letters of different historical periods have described them in verses of diverse forms. Also in Myanmar classical music and songs we find many compositions on the equestrian tourney. One outstanding piece of literary work on the 37 modes of horsemanship and 37 styles of lance playing are the 37 Luta verses and 37 songs composed by Maha Dhamma Thingyan, royal adviser to Kings Bodawpaya (A.D. 1819) and Bagyidaw (A.D 1819-1837).

In contests or tournaments 17 ways of horse-riding used in war and Myanmar traditional martial arts were demonstrated such as equestrian combat, combat on elephant back, horse race, horse riding, lance throwing, etc. The equestrian tourney was called in Myanmar "Set Thwin Pwe" or "Set Hto Pwe" because equestrians contested in lance-throwing to hit the centre of circular targets on poles. The King or the chief queen awarded the winners with scarves woven with gold or silver threads and a bunch of Thazin orchid.

http://www.myanmars.net/myanmar-culture/equestrian-festival.htm

Dr. Khin Maung Nyunt

The Myanmar Regatta Festival is a grand flotilla and a parade combined with 15,000 men, 320 war elephants, some 500 steeds and over 1,000 boats, barges, and water crafts of all sizes and kinds.

In October, Myanmar holds the Fourth Myanmar Traditional Performing Arts Competitions at Yangon from 3 to 10 of the month. In this competition, the Government aims to revive, preserve, and promote Myanmar's cultural heritage which is the core of national identity.

Singing, dancing, music, song composition, and marionette performance are the coverage of the competition. Under each were different types and categories to compete in such as traditional, folk, classical and modern in the case of singing and dancing. In music, the competitors can play string( harp and violin) , wind (flute and oboe)and percussion instruments (drums, gongs, cymbals, etc).

The competitions are held according to gender, age, and also to the educational and professional qualifications.

Besides these kind of festivals there are also religious occasions such as the offering of Thin-bok (a Myanmar word derived from Pali and means "food offered to the Buddha") Swoon a Rakhine Buddhist Festival where there are also colorful dancing, lively music and songs. Often there are processions where the local people dress up in all their finest clothes and go to a pagoda to make offerings. The festival is held every year on the Full Moon Day of Tazaungmone which usually falls in November.

The festival probably originated as a harvest festival, a time of prayer and of offering to the newly harvested rice to the pagoda. The rice offering to the Buddha images are made every year with the intention of bringing peace and prosperity to the whole country, for an abundant harvest, adequate food and for the health and happiness of the people.

Another Cultural event is the Elegant Lotus Robe where yellow robes are offered to the Lord Buddha in different seasons. These robes are known as Waso-thingan (offered on the occasion of Wazo), Kahtein-thingan (offered to the Buddha and his congregation of monks), Matho-thingan ( robe woven on the full moon night of Tazaungmon and which must be completed before the sun rises the next day for offering at sacred images of the Buddha), Kyar-thingan, and Pantthaku-thingan.

Some regard the lotus robe as the noblest and most sacred one because it is meant as an offering to the future Buddha aspiring for Enlightenment or Buddhahood.

Although the length, size and colour are the same as the ordinary robe, it is not so heavy but light, strong and much more beautiful. You can smell the fragrance of lotus from a freshly woven lotus robe. This lotus robe can give coolness in the hot season and warmth in the cold season.

Kyi Kyi Hla

Wow! Myanmar really has a rich culture. Through these systems, festivals, and events they are able to preserve the culture that was passed from generations to generations.

'til next time,

jojo

sources: http://www.myanmars.net/myanmar-culture/cultural-events-main.htm

http://www.myanmars.net/myanmar-culture/myanmar-naming-system.htm

http://www.google.com.ph/imgres?imgurl=http://www.myanmars.net/myanmar-language/alphabets.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.myanmars.net/myanmar-language/myanmar-alphabets.htm&h=438&w=384&sz=43&tbnid=RhPshu6axz-CMM:&tbnh=127&tbnw=111&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmyanmar%2Blanguage&hl=tl&usg=__BuvX6jetL7zXxUXo7iAdX8HcHvc=&ei=IYQUS_76FYri7APGtMzCBA&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=4&ct=image&ved=0CBkQ9QEwAw

S.E.A

...Myanmar..Laos..Cambodia..Thailand..Vietnam..

Cambodia..Philippines..Brunei..Malaysia..

Singapore..Indonesia..East Timor..

what do they have in common??

All of these beautiful countries can be found in South East Asia..

One of the things that I love is traveling to different places..and studying about these certain countries adds up to my excitement in traveling from places to places..

And if I'll be able to go to these countries in the future ..It's an advantage to know where are they located specifically in South East Asia..

the picture above is a sample of my attempt in locating these countries on the map..

..the red ink shows my mistakes..the grey one are my correct mapping..

i hope that on my next attempt..my work will be perfect..

signing off..

JOJO

^_^