Nová metropole Barmy - bizár nad bizár

„Tady né, sem cizinci nesmí!“ křičí na nás už z dálky hotelový portýr a při tom vehementně gestikuluje rukama.. „Toto je hotel jen pro Barmánce, ne pro vás,“ vysvětluje poté, co obtěžkaní batožinou a vyčerpaní z osmihodinové jízdy autobusem po velmi krkolomné cestě dojdeme až k němu.

Z autobusu, který nás zde vysadil, vidíme už jen zadní světla. Rozhlížíme se kolem a přemýšlíme co dál. Mezitím se k nám seběhnou kolempostávající postavy a koukají na nás s údivem, jako bychom spadli z nebe. Trochu si tak i připadáme. Jeden z hotelových řidičů nabízí, že zkusí zavolat do hotelové zóny pro cizince a že nás tam klidně pak odveze. To ještě netušíme, že si řekne o trojnásobek běžné ceny za taxíka a hotel bude stát šestinásobek. Vítejte v novém barmském hlavním městě Naypyidaw!

Přesně pět let staré město je asi nejmladším hlavním městem na světě. A také nejmladším královským městem na světě. Přesto jeho kraťoučká historie není nezajímavá. Proč se generálové rozhodli přesídlit z pětimilionového Rangúnu o 300 kilometrů dál do vnitrozemí, do polí, kde nic než pár farmářů a hejna komárů není? Dodnes se k tomu oficiálně nevyjádřili.

Více ZDE.

Burmese monk slams "shameful" neighbors and UN

Prague - One has to look further than to the inner clique of Burmese generals when trying to apportionate blame for the existence of what must be the longest ruling military regime in today's world.
Burmese monk Ashin Sopaka believes that the neighboring countries are only too happy to see the incompetent junta drive his motherland to the ground, and he does not hesitate for a second to call this behavior shameful.
The Burmese exile who recently came to Prague as a guest of the human rights film festival One World also has some harsh words for the United Nations and its secretary general, who, he believes, "should use his brain" when choosing his special envoys.

Much like in the first part of his extensive interview for Aktuálně.cz which we had published earlier, Ashin Sopaka strenghtens his arguments with personal experience and bits of the Buddhist teaching which provides for a refreshing look at the issues under debate.

Q: You have been living in Germany for the last six years. But as many Burmese who flee their motherland you started your life of an exile in Thailand which hosts the biggest Burmese expatriate community. Just recently there have been some reports about alleged preparations for a crackdown against the exile groups on Thai-Burmese border. What do you make of this and what do you expect from the new(ish) Thai government led by Abhisit Vejjajiva when it comes to support for the Burmese pro-democracy movement?
Ashin Sopaka: We are still trying to find out what kind of person he really is. I had a lot of expectations from him since he is the Democratic Party leader and his predecessor (and former mentor) Chuan Leekpai was a big supporter of Burmese democratic movement. I thought he would follow in his footsteps but I am not so sure any more. Nevertheless, I do believe that we need fully democratic Thailand, because it is very important for the freedom of Burma as it may greatly help the cause we are espousing.

Sadly, it is not happening. If you were to count the number of Thai people who are actively involved in the fight for the restoration of democracy in Burma, you will find they are only a few, maybe a hundred. And Thailand is a big country, but the government is controlling the people, making them hate rather than help the Burmese, by bringing up the issue again and again of Burmese kings invading and destroying (the capital of Siamese kingdom) Ayutthaya in the 18th century. They are really playing with the people and it is a bad behavior, because history is history - those things are long gone and we should be thinking of how to live together.
Besides, it is also thoroughly anti-Buddhist to do this, because whenever they bring up these old animosities, they tell people to hate others, not to love them, which is really bad in a country that is predominantly Buddhist like we are.

More here.

Visiting the Philippines - Climbing up Mount Apo

Mount Apo is a large stratovolcano on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. It is the highest mountain in the country and overlooks Davao City, a few kilometres to the northeast. Its name means "master" or "grandfather". Apo is flat topped, with three peaks, and is capped by a 500 m wide volcanic crater containing a small crater lake. It is a source of geothermal energy, but the date of its most recent eruption is unknown, and none are verified in historic times.

Making of The Kings of Sheba

It has now been more than two years since Yemen went through what could be considered a historic election. For the first time ever a woman (in fact several of them) decided to contest the presidential race there.

We happened to be there with a camera, in fact both, in our hands and here is a photoessay of what came out of our three and half month stay in Yemen in 2006.

Filipino Folk Tales - The Hawk and the Hen

Soon the Czech readers will have a chance to read one of the best folk tale books I have ever read. It is funny, amusing and educating at the same time. The book should be out in January 2010.



Mabel Cook Cole (1916)


The Hawk and the Hen (Visayan)
A hawk flying about in the sky one day decided that he would like to marry a hen whom he often saw on earth. He flew down and searched until he found her, and then asked her to become his wife.

She at once gave her consent on the condition that he would wait until she could grow wings like his, so that she might also fly high. The hawk agreed to this and flew away, after giving her a ring as an engagement preesent and telling her to take good care of it.

The hen was very proud of the ring and placed it around her neck. The next day, however, she met the cock who looked at her astonishment and said:

"Where did you get that ring? Do you not know that you promised to be my wife? You must not wear the ring of anybody else. Throw it away."

And the hen threw away the beautiful ring.

Not long after this the hawk came down bringing beautiful feathers to dress the hen. When she saw him coming she was frightened and ran to hide behind the door, but the hawk called to her to come and see the beautiful dress he had brought her.

The hen came out, and the hawk at once saw that the ring was gone.

"Where is the ring I gave you?" he asked. "Why do you not wear it?"

The hen was frightened and ashamed to tell the truth so she answered:
"Oh, sir, yesterday when I was walking in the garden, I met a large snake and he frightened me so that I ran as fast as I could to the house. Then I missed the ring and I searched everywhere but could not find it."

The hawk looked sharply at the hen, and he knew that she was deceiving him. The he said to her:
"I did not believe that you could behave so badly. When you have found the ring I will come down again and make you my wife. But as punishment for breaking your promise, you must always scratch the ground to look for the ring. And every chicken of yours that I find, I shall snatch away."

Then he flew away, and ever since all the hens throughout the wolrd have been scratching to find the hawk's ring.

Filipino Folk Tales - The Battle of Crabs

Soon the Czech readers will have a chance to read one of the best folk tale books I have ever read. It is funny, amusing and educating at the same time.

My friend Lea will hopefully get to illustrate the book.


Mabel Cook Cole (1916)

The Battle of the Crabs (Visayan)

One day the land crabs had a meeting and one of the said:
"What shall we do with the waves? They sing so loudly all the time that we cannot possibly sleep."

"Well," answered on of the oldest of the crabs, "I think w should make war on them."

The others agreed to this, and it was decided that the next day all the male crabs should get ready to fight the waves. They started for the sea, as agreed, when they met a shrimp.
"Where are you going, my friends?" asked the shrimp.

"We are going to fight the waves," answered the crabs, "for the waves are very strong and your legs are so weak that even your bodies bend almost to the ground when you walk." Wherewith he laughed loudly.

This made the crabs very angry, and they pinched the shrimp until he promised to help them win the battle.

Then they all went to the shore. But the crabs noticed that the eyes of the shrimp were set unlike their own, so they thought his must be wrong and they laughed at him and said:
"Friend shrimp, your face is turned the wrong way. What weapon have you to fight with the waves?"

"My weapon is a spear on my head," replied the shrimp, and just then he saw a big wave coming and ran away. The crabs did not see it, however, for they were all looking toward the shore, and they were covered with water and drowned.

By and by the wives of the crabs became worried because their husbands did not return, and they went down to the shore to see if they could help in the battle. No sooner had they reached the water, however, than the waves rushed over them and killed them.

Some time after this thousands of little crabs appeared near the shore, and the shrimp often visited them and told them of the sad fate of their parents. Even today these little crabs can be seen on the shore, continually running back and forth.

They seem to rush down to fight the waves, and then, as their courage fails, they run back to the land where their forefathers lived. They neither live on dry land, as their ancestors did, nor in the sea where the other crabs are, but on the beach where the waves wash oveer them at high tide and try to dash them to pieces.

The Taste of Adobo

This time we did not produce a film but a meal loved by all Filipinos all over the world - adobo. There are tens of recipes of this tasty garlic based meal, some traditional, some completely jazzed-up.


If you ever run out of fantasy how to cook your adobo, go and buy The Adobo Book by Reynaldo Gamboa Alejandro and Nancy Reyes-Lumen. They offer tens of "free-style" recipes, some of which date back to Spanish times.











Each time we cook it, it turns out completely different. As Ronnie says in the Adobo book, there is nothing wrong with it - adobo deserves its own personality.















The book is accompanied by a bunch of essays, tracing down the etymology of the word and the history of adobo cooking etc. In other words a new science was born - adobology .