Mobility

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

   By Nguyen Dai Duong, Tien Phong Daily* 

Three meals, Three countries
 

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.

Up and Downs of Chinese Volunteers in Laos

   By Wen Junhua, Guangzhou Daily* 

Six months are neither long nor short. For most people, life is ordinary, with nothing too exciting. Study, work, rest… it’s the same everyday. Time passes by like this. However, for the sixth group of 13 volunteers who went to Laos from Shanghai, the six months from October 2006 to April 2007 were a unique and unforgettable experience, during which curiosity, joy, difficulty, homesickness, exchange and conflicts were interwoven into their medical and health service and in their teaching of English and Chinese. Reporter Wen Junhua paid a visit to Laos in October 2006 and got a full picture of the sweetness and bitterness of the life of the volunteers. 

Dreams Draw Lao Workers to Thailand

   By Manivone Luangsombath

The Thai-Lao border calls to migrants and others who yearn for better opportunities in life.SAVANNAKHET, Lao PDR — Lod is all of 18 years of age, but bears the scars of having been beaten up and tortured by her employer over in Thailand. Like many young women who end up in similar situations, she had been drawn across the border by visions of bringing home more money, new appliances, and sending her siblings to school.

Risks Abound for Sex Workers at Chinese-Vietnamese Border

By Lam Vu Thach*

VAN NAM, China - From Lao Cai in Vietnam’s border with China, all you  need is only a short walk cross Kieu bridge, or about 10 minutes on a  boat, to go abroad. Ha Khau, a town in Van Nam in China, is a crowded  and busy market with all kinds of merchandises, most of which are  cheap consumer goods such as clothes, shoes, blankets, candies and  cookies, and other necessities.

Burmese Tsunami Victims Try to Move On

By Myat Soe*

PHUKET, Thailand - Naing Naing, a 20-year-old Burmese migrant worker,  is tired of hearing the government of Thailand's repeated promises of  catering to the needs of the disaster victims.

Rapid Urbanisation Leaves Small People Behind

Liu Tao

rapid urbanisation leaves small people behind 1.1
 

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.

Rowing to School

By Mouen Nhean

KAMPONG LOUNG, Cambodia — Early in the mornings, children here get on their boats and row from house to house, fetching their friends on the way to a floating school on the other side of this village, located some 170 kilometres north-west of the capital Phnom Penh.

Stateless in Thailand

Prapai Kedsara and Santi Ramwanid, Bannok TV-Mirror Arts Group, Chiang Rai, Thailand

Stateless PersonThe right to have an identity is almost as basic as the right to life. Many civil war refugees who fled from Myanmar in the 1980s or earlier, who settled in Thailand, and are labeled as “displaced or stateless persons”.