Southeast Asia

People in Thailand created a different way of ordering the world than Egyptian temples and pyramids.   Previous articles here explored some of the enchantments

The historic northern Thai town of Chiang Saen is full of ancient Buddhist monuments, but Wat Phra That Chedi Luang is its main shrine. People from all walks of life still pay their respects

  Most historians think Thais originated in southern China. Tais (Tai is the spelling of the diaspora of ethnic groups who speak the same family

Many historic temples grace the northern Thai town of Nan, so I spent several  days there. Wat Ming Muang was low on my list because

Vientiane has a lot of enchantments besides That Luang. It became one of Southeast Asia’s greatest cities in the 17th century.   Lan Xang moved

Many Laotians consider Vientiane’s That Luang to be their national monument, but the insight guide that the Discovery Channel published called it strange and exotic.

The growth of Islam in Southeast Asia has always intrigued me. The faith has been uncompromising in its basic tenets. God is Tawhid (unity) and

We’ll get back to ancient Greece shortly, but after taking a long voyage to the Malay world. Both cultures were oriented to the sea and

The kings of the Lan Xang Empire unified their realm by importing Indian traditions, including Buddhist monasteries and court dances that dramatized the Ramayana. But