A Short Visit to a Tiny Indian State

April 18, 2023

We began 6 days in India on April 10, 2023 with a short trip to the state of Goa. It is India’s wealthiest state with a GDP per capita ($7,300) about 2.5 times that of the rest of the country. Among other places, we trekked around the Latin Quarter  to see the architecture and stop in at a local cafe / restaurant to sample the food. As it turns out, this is the area of India that rock starts flocked to in the late 1960s  and early 1970s. It’s where the Beatles stayed when they were communing with Ravi Shankar back in the day.

Goa is visibly different from much of the rest of India, largely due to the fact that it was colonized by Portugal and remained a Portuguese colony for 450 years. There is a large Catholic population (about 33%) and the vestiges of its Portuguese domination can be seen in its architecture. Goa is a tiny Indian state; it is the smallest state by area and fourth smallest by population (about 1.4 million). Its largest city is named after the Portuguese explorer Vasco de  Gamma. Its capital city is Panaji. The official language is Konkani. (India has something like 22 official languages; each of India’s 28 states designates official languages within its jurisdiction). Goa only become part of India in 1961, 14 years after India won its independence from Great Britain. 

All in all Goa was an interesting introduction to India—the eclectic mix of cultures, religions and foods. But it is very different from the rest of the country, as we soon found out as we headed for a 5 day overland trip.

JFB

A Day in the Maldives

April 9, 2023

Happy Easter Everyone!

We spent Saturday—Holy Saturday actually—in the Maldives at the Cinnamon Dhonveli Resort in Kanuharaa. Tourism is a very important part of the Maldives economy. The  Cinnamon Dhonveli Resort where we went is a rather tony upscale affair. The physical location is gorgeous; the establishment is very family oriented, and it attracts plenty of European tourists. 

There is a certain irony in the number of European tourists. Islam is the official religion of the country, and where the Constitution is silent, judges are supposed to consider Sharia Law. No law that is “contrary to Islam” may be applied. In addition, non-muslims are not allowed to become citizens. 

Female staff can be seen sweeping the premises dressed in such a way that they are covered from head-to-toe in the muslim tradition, even though it is brutally hot.

But it doesn’t seem to phase European tourists in the slightest, judging by the skimpy bathing suits the younger European women tourists wear. Or for that matter, the orders for vodka and beer that roll in to the beach bars at 10:00 AM. Apparently, the official policy is that at the resort hotels frequented by Westerners, the rules are not enforced. 

So the net of it is that the place is physically gorgeous; tourism is a huge part of the economy, and the tourist trade is accommodated by dispensing with the enforcement of rules that would otherwise apply to the native population. At least at resorts that cater to Westerners. 

We will arrive at Goa, India tomorrow to begin 6 days in India. 5 days of the trip will be inland, including visits to the Taj Mahal, so we will be out of commission for a little while. But we are proceeding with camera and note book in hand, and will report in as soon as we can.

In the meantime, we wish everyone a Happy Easter!

JFB

Sri Lanka

April 6, 2023

We spent a short day in Colombo, Sri Lanka on the way to the Maldives. Colombo is the capital. Among other things we visited the National Museum, the Samudra Hotel and the Gangaramaya Temple. We saw native dancers at the port and believe it or not, several snake charmers. 

Formerly known as Ceylon, the island country is now officially known as the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. At about $14,500, it has the second highest per capita income of South Asia—but it also suffers from a huge series of problems, many of them self-inflicted, as the official name of the country suggests.

The country is made up of many ethnicities, but a large majority, about 75%, is Sinhalese. The next largest group, about 11% is composed of Sri Lankan Tamils. And as it turns out, the Sinhalese are largely Buddhists and the Tamils are mostly Hindus. As a result of religious and ethnic differences, Sri Lanka endured a 30 year civil war in which militant Tamils, apparently egged on by India, demanded an independent Tamil State in the north.

The Sri Lankan army decisively defeated the Tamil Tigers in 2009 and the civil war has largely gone into submission.  But all is not well. A terrorist bombing in 2019 resulted in the deaths of 261 people. 

2019 also saw the beginning of an economic crisis (not the first). It came from a combination of massive foreign borrowing, large government deficits and a government order to ban the use of fertilizers and require organic farming. To the surprise of absolutely no one who passed freshman economics, the farm economy collapsed. The government declared a food emergency in August 2021.

By June of 2022 Sri Lanka declared an economic emergency and defaulted on $51 Billion in sovereign debt. The currency collapsed; double digit inflation followed and power outages became common. Not surprisingly, massive street protests broke out. Mobs attacked the President’s house. The President hightailed it over to Singapore where he e-mailed in his resignation. On the same day the mob burned down the Prime Minister’s house. 

So: they have a lot of problems to work on.  Another consideration is that Human Rights Watch as well as other NGO’s have pointed out that under the guise of anti-terrorism Sri Lanka has abused human rights. For its part, China has aggressively used its Belt and Road initiative to throw loans at Sri Lanka, although it looks increasingly unlikely that Sri Lanka will be able to pay them off in full. So China appears to be getting more than a toe hold in the country. China’s increasing influence can be seen in one of the photos below where outside a temple, the flag of the PRC is flying next to the Sri Lankan flag.

N.B. Apologies for not including a photo of a snake charmer, but the internet here is terrible and for some reason or other I can’t upload one.

JFB 

April 4, 2023

We visited diverse areas of Thailand over the course of several days. The visits included time spent in an outdoor museum that replicates part of Bangkok called the Ancient City; a training camp for monkeys where they learn to collect coconuts for processing, a giant Buddha and the island of Phuket. What follows are some photos from those visits; then some notes and photos from our visit to the island of Phuket. 

The Island of Phuket

Located in the Andaman Sea, Phuket is a mountainous Thai island that is home pristine beaches and lots of high end restaurants and resort hotels. It was devastated by a tsunami the day after Christmas in 2004, but seems to have fully recovered since then.  

A bit smaller than Singapore, Phuket is the second smallest island in Thailand. Over the centuries Phuket has been a trading destination for various powers including India and China. The Dutch, Portuguese, French  and English also visited the island. But Thailand has never conquered or colonized.

We took a short tour around the island. Among other things we visited Chalong Temple, an Elephant Camp and a Cashew factory.  Of course there are temples everywhere. Elephants are a symbol of Thailand. Monkeys are big in Thailand as well. And for some reason or other, Thailand is a major producer of cashews. So there you have it: a quick tourist view of Thailand. 

JFB

Penang, Malaysia

April 1, 2023

During a visit to Penang, Malaysia we spent some time in the city of Georgetown, the capital. Georgetown is a city established about 150 years ago by British colonizers. It is home to many different ethnicities including Chinese, Indian, Arabian, Burmese and Malay people as well as expats from Eurasia, Thailand and elsewhere. 

Beautiful gracious buildings built during British rule are located next to ornate temples and other colorful architectural masterpieces. Some of the temples reflect a mix of Buddhism and Confucianism. In addition to stops at several of these temples, we visited a water village located on one of several long jetties in the Straits of Malacca, located between mainland Malaysia and the island of Penang. We also visited a Clan house. 

The water villages were established because buildings on land were taxed, while buildings over the water were not. We visited Chew Jetty, named after the captain of the ship that brought Chinese immigrants to Penang. It was common practice for immigrants with no connection to their new home to adopt as a group the surname of their boat captain. One of the boats that carried immigrants to Penang was captained by Captain Chew, a surname that many of the Chinese immigrants adopted. Hence the name Chew Jetty to describe the area.  

As Penang developed, a group Clan houses, or (“kongsi”) were established in Penang by wealthy Chinese immigrants. The goal was to provide temples, housing and assistance to newcomers. The Khoo Clanhouse, which we visited, is one of the largest. You enter the compound through a large walkway, which brings you away from the busy street and into a compound with an ornate temple, a registration office for the newcomers, and apartments for them. Newcomers received help obtaining work, housing, food, etc. until they could stand on their own two feet. 

The Khoo Clanhouse was founded in 1835. Three areas make up the inside of the temple. There is a center area to worship of the god of prosperity. A small area to its right is for the worship of ancestors. It contains many replicas of gravestones from China where the ancestors were buried. Since the immigrants could not easily return to China, this area fulfilled a need for a local place  to worship ancestors.

A small area to the left is a “hall of fame” with plaques to show the accomplishments of the Khoo family, and to inspire others. The plaques shown in the image below denote one surveyor, a recipient of the Bachelor of Science degree, and two barristers. There are hundreds of plaques in this area. Once a “hall of famer” dies, his plaque is moved to the ancestral worship temple.

All in all a very interesting city. 

MAM