December 2004 Archives

Merry X'mas to you all. We had a Christmas party at the Digital Divide Data Laos office.

Well, my Christmas this year was untypical. I worked during the day since Christmas was not an official holiday in Laos. Unfortunately, because of multinational businesses' taking advantage of law in countries like Laos, they have to work on Saturdays, meaning Christmas was a working day. :-)

However, we had a nice little Christmas party after work even though most of the staff were Buddhists and didn't know anything what Christmas meant. I didn't know if one of the Laos Christians explained about Christmas because everything was happening in Laos. All I know in Laos is how to say "I am hungry", "how much is it?" and "I love you" :-) I am picking up more words, though :-)

Well, the weather here is, of course, not snowing. A perfect Fall day, you would say, if you are from the Mid-west of America. The weather in Bethlehem was not snowing, either :-) 42 F with clear sky recorded in Jerusalem today according to CNN.

Even though most people in the office are Buddhists, they celebrated Christmas for fun :-) Here is a picture of a Buddhist shrine with Santa.

This is the article I read today. Something to think about Burma. In "Mystique outweighs morality for Myanmar tourists", the author mentioned the desire of many tourists who want to visit Burma instead of sanctions and political problems. A good remark by a Swiss backpacker:

“If you start thinking about not coming here because of the government, you will have to start thinking about whether to go to China, Laos, Tibet, or even the United States,” said Swiss backpacker Marcel Schonenberger.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/todaysfeatures/2004/December/todaysfeatures_December45.xml&section=todaysfeatures

http://independent-bangladesh.com/news/dec/13/13122004bs.htm#A5

Here is a picture of us eating dinner at the Digital Divide Data Laos office. It's much fun to learn about Laos and the culture and the people :-)

People in the picture: (Left - right) Lwin Moe, Moukda, Phonekham, Teuanchit, Somkhith, Keo.

I left for Bangkok today. I was picked up at the airport by Uncle Tun Thein, Uncle Soe Myint and Ko Zaw Zaw.

The Bridge on the River Kwai

Mon dress at the museum of Mon Studies Center

A Karen family at a village near Thai-Burma border

Lwin Moe with a Karen family at a village near Thai-Burma border

Three pagodas on Thai-Burma border

From Three pagodas on Thai-Burma border

Htay Kywe (ဌေးကြွယ်) and Lwin Moe (လွင်မိုး), originally uploaded by lwinmoe.

Ko Htay Kywe (ဌေးကြွယ်) and me. The picture was taken this morning. Ko Htay Kywe spent about 14 years in prison for his political involvment in 1988 student movement.