By Catherine Clover – Never have I been so impressed by a place as I was entering Burma (also known as Myanmar) for the first time. The trip was especially significant on a personal level, as the week prior Aung San Suu Kyi had been to the University of Oxford […]
Traditions
Retracing the Route: Mekong Exploration Commission (1866-68) to the Pak Ou Caves from Luang Prabang
By Catherine Clover – “In so far as Luang Prabang is like any other place, it is perhaps a little like an Austrian mountain village, with palms instead of pines”. Andrew Graham, Interval in IndoChina, London, 1956 [1]. Sitting atop the bank of the Mekong in Northern Laos is the […]
Whats Love Got to Do with It? The History of Valentines Day
By Noah Charney We tend to think of Valentine’s Day as a “Hallmark holiday:” an excuse to sell flowers, chocolates, and cards depicting cartoon birds, hearts, and teddy bears. To ask someone if they will be your “valentine” has evolved (or perhaps devolved) into a shorthand for a child-like crush’you […]