Imaging Our Mekong - Top Stories

At Mekong Summit, All Roads Lead Beyond the Border

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 11:42:35 -0500

VIENTIANE, Mar 31 (Newsmekong) - Cross-border highways were the talk of many at the Mekong Summit that ended here, even as a key link in the North-South corridor linking Kunming to Singapore was opened Monday and Mekong governments pledged to step up regional integration and cooperation over the next five years.

Calling on Mekong Leaders

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 23:39:04 -0500

Ounkeo Souksavanh

In the collection of views below, young people at the 3^rd Greater Mekong Subregion Summit held in Vientiane, Laos on Mar.30-31, 2008 talk about what they’d like Mekong leaders to do.

CAMBODIA: Acid Attacks Leave More than Scars

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 01:26:07 -0500

Rithy Heng

PHNOM PENH, Mar 4 (Newsmekong/IPS) – Within seconds after his jealous wife threw acid at him, Soum Bunnarith could hear nothing. He could not see it, but his eyes and his right ear had turned a dark, burnt shade.

Meantime, the acid continued to crawl down his neck, arms and upper body, Bunnarith recalled of the incident that happened on Dec. 31, 2005. He was just about to leave his home in Sampov Meas district’s Kbal Hong village, Pursat at 7 a.m., when his wife threw a liter bottle of acid at him.

China: Benign Bully of the Mekong?

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 03:54:59 -0600

Johanna Son

SYDNEY, Oct 3 (IPS Asia-Pacific) – Over the last decade or so, China’s deft use of soft power has seen South-east Asian neighbours’ view of it change from a looming threat to a largely friendly, if still imposing, giant to the north.

But while that much is clear, what is not is whether China’s ‘kinder’ profile will allow countries downstream of the Mekong River it shares with Laos, Burma, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia real opportunities to discuss the fate of this shared resource – and sensitive issues like hydropower construction on it.

Border Ties Chip Away at Historical Hurts

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 01:24:13 -0500

Ung Chansophea

Cambodian workers cross the border to work in Vietnam

SVAY CHRUM, Cambodia – A flurry of bicycles starts from 6 a.m. onwards in Chambak and Kruos communes in this district in Cambodia’s Svay Rieng province, on the border with Vietnam. Drivers pedal frantically toward the Tanou border post, named after the stream that separates the two countries.

Despite Openness, Prejudices Persist

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 01:28:50 -0500

Ung Chansophea

Cambodia has buried the hatchet with its Vietnamese neighbour, but many scars remain today from centuries of conflict, and the occupation of the Kingdom during the decade that followed the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge by forces of the NUFSK (National United Front for the Salvation of Kampuchea) and soldiers from Hanoi. Today, the often-silent discrimination against the Vietnamese people has gotten the better of more than one mixed marriage between Cambodians and Vietnamese.

Surrounded by Big Lakes, But Short of Water

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 01:40:10 -0500

Yang Qing

In ancient times, Er'hai lake in Yunnan, China was known as Xi Er'he, Yeyu River, Yeyu Pool, Er'he, Kunmichuan and Kunming Pool. Legend has it that people began to live near the lake after the hot sea cooled and marine life started to grow. It is said that Er'hai came into being after a volcanic eruption. The volcano's mouth of the volcano closed to form a pot, and water filled this pot. Then, organisms began to appear.

Rapid Urbanisation Leaves Small People Behind

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 11:49:05 -0500

Liu Tao

Vietnam and Cambodia – two countries along the Mekong River. Against the backdrop of globalisation and in pursuit of their market reforms, the governments of these two nations have placed their sights on urbanising their cities. Saigon and Phnom Penh have naturally become the focus of this development. The changes these two cities have gone through, though at different speeds, bring similar difficulties.

Need Medical Services? Go to China

Thu, 29 May 2008 08:05:58 -0500

Nguyen Thu Tam

HE KOU, China – Lao Cai in northern Vietnam and this Chinese town across the border are separated only by a 100-metre bridge across the Nam Thi River. Every day, thousands of people cross the border, including hundreds who come to seek medical treatment although their ‘book’, a type of travel document, states ‘business’ as the reason for their travel.

MEKONG REGION: Good for Business, But. . .

Thu, 29 May 2008 07:57:06 -0500

Nguyen Dai Duong

QUANG TRI, Vietnam – Ho Long’s family farm has 2,000 banana trees, from which they can pick some 20 bunches of the fruit each day. But unlike other families, Ho Long does not sell the harvested bananas in his mountain farm. Instead, twice a day, he hops on his Minsk motorbike and drives some five kilometres to the crossroads to sell their produce.

MEKONG REGION: Three Meals, Three Countries, All in One Day

Thu, 29 May 2008 08:31:37 -0500

By Nguyen Dai Duong, Tien Phong Daily*

Breakfast in Thailand, a sumptuous lunch in Laos, and dinner before an overnight stay in Vietnam, with some shopping in between. Not only is this three-country tour drawing lots of curious tourists, it is also providing communities situated along the journey brisk -- and, for some, risky -- business.

THAILAND: Male Sex Workers Need Support Too

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 22:44:12 -0500

By Kieratikarn Techavadranakool

CHIANG MAI, Thailand - "I don't prostitute myself, I sell my skills," says Ton, a 28-year-old who moved from Bangkok to this northern Thai city because "it's a dream place everyone wants to live in".

Over in Laos, Still Taboo

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 12:13:31 -0500

Kieratikarn Techavadranakool

LUANG PRABANG, Laos – Prostitution, a sensitive issue in conservative Laos, is not always discussed openly. But sex workers, tourists and even government officials acknowledge that it has become more visible these days, amid the increasing openness of this South-east Asian country.

VIETNAM-CAMBODIA: On the Way to a Border Economic Zone

Thu, 29 May 2008 08:32:29 -0500

Kim Huynh

The vast, limitless ricefields between Vietnam’s An Giang province and Cambodia’s Takeo province were full of yellow paddy just three months ago in June. But by September 2006, water from the Mekong River had flooded almost the entire area, except for a narrow three-kilometre road that links the two provinces.

CAMBODIA: For Many, Khmer Rouge Trials Taking Too Long

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 03:58:42 -0500

Rithy Heng

PHNOM PENH, Jun 6 (Newsmekong) - It was just 8 a.m. on a Sunday
morning, but 78-year-old farmer You Song had visited almost all the
places inside the Royal Palace here in the Cambodian capital.