Buddhism, Booze, and the Four Noble Truths

From the early Christian era in Europe, Southeast Asia was known as the "Land of Gold." It is a region blessed with a rich diversity of cultures, peoples, and scenery. A Traveller's History of Southeast Asia is a lucid and concise introduction to the histories of the modern states of Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Singapore, Brunei, and East Timor, providing an essential guide for both tourists and the general reader. It spans the history of the region from "Java Man" some one million years ago to the development of the high-tech, skyscraper cities of the new millennium.Following chapters on the physical environment and the earliest human history of Southeast Asia, the authors carry the reader through the classical kingdoms that produced such architectural marvels as Borobudur in Java and Angkor Wat in Cambodia. The book further explores Southeast Asia's growing trade with the outside world from 1500 culminating in colonization by the European imperial powers in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The struggles for independence in the last century-which made the modern nations of the region-are discussed in detail, as are the dramatic and tragic events of the post-independence era such as the Vietnam War and the Cambodia genocide. The remarkable successes and failings of the region's recent economic development are highlighted in the final chapter. Above all, A Traveller's History of Southeast Asia shows how the region's soul has been preserved against tremendous external pressures.

Insight Guides: all you need to inspire every step of your journey.An in-depth book, now with free app and eBook.From deciding when to go, to choosing what to see when you arrive, this is all you need to plan your trip and experience the best of Southeast Asia, with in-depth insider information on must-see, top attractions like Angkor Wat, Singapore's markets and the island of Boracay, and hidden cultural gems like the pagodas of Mandalay and Borneo's wild national parks.Insight Guide Southeast Asia is ideal for travellers seeking immersive cultural experiences, from exploring Laos' Plain of Jars and the high-energy capital of Bangkok, to discovering the remote peoples of Papua's highlands and the rich spirituality of Bali.In-depth on history and culture: enjoy special features on the legacy of war in Vietnam and diving in the Philippines, all written by local expertsIncludes innovative, unique extras to keep you up-to-date when you're on the move - this guide comes with a free eBook, and an app that highlights top attractions and regional information and is regularly updated with new hotel, bar, restaurant, shop and local event listingsInvaluable maps, travel tips and practical information ensure effortless planning, and encourage venturing off the beaten trackInspirational colour photography throughout - Insight Guides is a pioneer of full-colour guide booksInventive design makes for an engaging, easy reading experienceAbout Insight Guides: Insight Guides is a pioneer of full-colour guide books, with almost 50 years' experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides with user-friendly, modern design. We produce around 400 full-colour print guide books and maps, as well as phrase books, picture-packed eBooks and apps to meet different travellers' needs. Insight Guides' unique combination of beautiful travel photography and focus on history and culture create a unique visual reference and planning tool to inspire your next adventure.

From a tarantula brunch in the remote Cambodian countryside to a leisurely cyclo ride through the streets of Phnom Penh, To Cambodia With Love is a true collaboration, containing personal essays by more than fifty writers. Among them you will find Angkor Wat expert Dawn Rooney, acclaimed memoirist Loung Ung (First They Killed My Father), and Lonely Planet’s in-the-know Nick Ray. Each essay is paired with a practical fact file so that travelers can follow in the writer’s footsteps. In addition, the book is illustrated with vibrant, full-color photographs. With its unique insights into dining, shopping, sightseeing, and culture, To Cambodia With Love is a one-of-a-kind guide for the passionate traveler.

Whether you are traveling first-class or on a limited budget, DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Top 10 Singapore will show you the very best the city of Singapore has to offer with this pocket-sized guidebook. From the Raffles Hotel to the city's own beach resort at Sentosa, all the must-sees are covered in Top 10 lists. There are accommodation reviews for every budget, as well as restaurants for all tastes and cuisines, from fusion restaurants to alfresco dining in Chinatown. There are dozens of Top 10 lists, which include the Top 10 Chinese and Little India cultural experiences and the Top 10 museums and architectural highlights, plus the best nightspots, bars, and lounges in Singapore. There's even a list of the Top 10 things to avoid! DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Top 10 Singapore contains a pull-out map and guide that includes fold-out maps of city metro systems, useful phone numbers, and 60 great ideas on how to spend your day.

For many outsiders Thailand still conjures up images of the East at its most mysterious and enchanting – a view largely formed by Hollywood films like The King and I. Never conquered by foreigners, this proud and ancient land has been shaped by Buddhism, the monarchy, and the military. Today it is a representative democracy with a populist female prime minister, and is ranked among the tiger economies of Southeast Asia. It is a manufacturing powerhouse, the world’s largest rice exporter, and a tourist paradise that welcomes 22 million visitors a year to its beach resorts and its vibrant capital, Bangkok. Yet despite the veneer of Western modernity, the country and its people remain an enigma for many visitors, smiling and inscrutable. It conceals a unique system of personal values and attitudes, developed over centuries. You may find that Thais react to you in surprising and unexpected ways, coming as they do from a culture based on respect, status, self-control, non-confrontation, and harmony. They are also naturally generous and have a great love of fun. Thais put a great deal of effort into social skills in order to maintain social harmony, and one of their most potent weapons is the smile that puts people at ease and helps to defuse a difficult situation. This new, updated edition of Culture Smart! Thailand describes how the Thai people view the world and themselves. It examines the impact of religious beliefs and history on their lives, as well as the continuing importance of the monarchy. It looks at recent social and political developments, including the current tensions in the south. Above all, it helps visitors to become more culturally aware and so better able to interact successfully with the locals. Thailand’s charm lies in being different, and visitors who make an effort to understand the differences will find their stay in “The Land of Smiles” a richly rewarding experience.

A generation after the Khmer Rouge, Cambodia shows every sign of having overcome its history--the streets of Phnom Penh are paved; skyscrapers dot the skyline. But under this façade lies a country still haunted by its years of terror. Joel Brinkley won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting in Cambodia on the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime that killed one quarter of the nation's population during its years in power. In 1992, the world came together to help pull the small nation out of the mire. Cambodia became a United Nations protectorate--the first and only time the UN tried something so ambitious. What did the new, democratically-elected government do with this unprecedented gift? In 2008 and 2009, Brinkley returned to Cambodia to find out. He discovered a population in the grip of a venal government. He learned that one-third to one-half of Cambodians who lived through the Khmer Rouge era have P.T.S.D.--and its afflictions are being passed to the next generation. His extensive close-up reporting in Cambodia's Curse illuminates the country, its people, and the deep historical roots of its modern-day behavior.

The definitive guide to Thai cuisine, with 500 authentic recipes from every region brought together in one comprehensive and beautifully produced volume.Author and photographer Jean‐Pierre Gabriel traveled throughout Thailand for years to research the unique flavors and culinary history that make up the country’s food culture. Here, he presents an array of dishes ranging from street vendor snacks to home‐cooked meals to restaurant tasting menus and everything in between. Learn to recreate classics such as Massaman Curry and Green Papaya Salad using authentic methods, or discover a new favorite, such as a Dragon Fruit Frappe. Recipes include advice on essential techniques, while a glossary helps introduce home cooks to less familiar ingredients. Gabriel’s breathtaking images of the natural landscape, people, and food bring to life the history behind this storied cuisine.

In this vibrant cultural history, Maryvelma O'Neil takes us on an engaging tour of Bangkok, revealing the rich ancient heritage of this fascinating city. The capital of the Kingdom of Thailand, Bangkok stands out as a place of extraordinary allure. Beginning as a floating city in a lush tropical setting, known to foreigners as the "Venice of the East," its majestic Grand Palace and glittering Buddhist temples today compete with chimneystacks and a jungle of skyscrapers. O'Neil illuminates a city rich in art, history, royal ceremony, and tradition and she uncovers fascinating pockets of traditional indigenous life and places of intense beauty hidden in Bangkok's labyrinthine lanes and alleys.

The first edition of Southeast Asia: An Introductory History was published in 1979 and immediately filled a need for travelers and students interested in a tantalizingly different part of the world. Subsequent editions have continued to document with great perception the enormous changes and dramatic growth experienced in the region. Dr. Milton Osborne has been a resident, student, and fascinated observer of Southeast Asia for more than 50 years. This familiarity has resulted in a highly readable and lively chronicle. While giving due regard to the early history of the region, Osborne concentrates on the changes that have taken place since the 18th century: the impact of colonial rule, economic transformations of the 19th and 20th centuries, the emergence and triumph of the independence movements, the impact of social change, and the pivotal roles played by religion, ethnic minorities, and immigrant groups. He also provides an introduction to the art of the region and a comprehensive guide to literature about Southeast Asia. Clearly written and extensively illustrated, this 12th edition of Southeast Asia: An Introductory History remains a classic in the field.

A compelling, lively narrative history of the peoples and cultures of the great river of Southeast Asia, The Mekong spans two thousand years--from the dawn of civilization on the Mekong Delta to the political and environmental challenges the region faces today. Beginning with the rise of ancient seafaring civilizations at Oc Eco and moving on to the glory of the Cambodian empire in the first millennium, through European colonization and the struggle for independence in the twentieth century, Osborne traces the history of the region that comprises the modern nations of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Burma, and China. Vibrant, insightful, and eminently readable, The Mekong is a rousing history of a dynamic region that has fascinated readers the world over.

An essential, authoritative, and up-to-date introduction to the art of Cambodia, and a vivid glimpse into a world that continues to challenge travelers. Legendary tales of kings and princes, wars, conquests, and unions with gods and goddessesall these are portrayed in the spectacular friezes, reliefs, and stone carvings for which Cambodia has become justly renowned. The enormous variety of styles and influences, both sacred and secular, that are expressed in Cambodian art make this one of the most surprising and rewarding of all Southeast Asian cultures. Our understanding of the Khmers, whose kingdom dates back to early in the first millennium, is drawn from written Chinese records, myths recorded in Sanskrit, and the evidence revealed by research and exploration that continues to the present day. The profound and lasting influence of India on Khmer culture is evident in Cambodia's religious architecture, principally Hindu and Buddhist temples; each faith is reflected in work of remarkable vigor and exceptional grace and beauty. French archaeologists in the nineteenth century reopened the doors onto this world. Still more remarkable, perhaps, is how much has survived through generations of determined looting and political conflict. These persistent features of Cambodia's history make the richness and fragility of its architectural and artistic legacy strikingly apparent. World-famous sites, such as Angkor Wat and Preah Vihear, breathtaking monuments in their own right, have tended to overshadow a wealth of lesser-known buildings and complexes buried deep in the jungle.Many remarkable photographs are published here for the first time, of both famous sites and those that have, until now, been almost impossible to see, for both geographical and political reasons. 180 illustrations, 85 in color.

Chanrithy Him felt compelled to tell of surviving life under the Khmer Rouge in a way "worthy of the suffering which I endured as a child."In a mesmerizing story, Chanrithy Him vividly recounts her trek through the hell of the "killing fields." She gives us a child's-eye view of a Cambodia where rudimentary labor camps for both adults and children are the norm and modern technology no longer exists. Death becomes a companion in the camps, along with illness. Yet through the terror, the members of Chanrithy's family remain loyal to one another, and she and her siblings who survive will find redeemed lives in America.A Finalist for the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize. 15 black and whtie illustrations

Praise for A Woman of Angkor:'Burgess has done something that I believe is unique in modern writing: set a credible and seemingly authentic tale in the courts and temples of ancient Angkor to stir the imagination and excite our historical interest.'-John le Carré'A Woman of Angkor is a powerful work of imagination that takes the reader to a faraway time and place and makes the story vividly real. Through the voice of his heroine, Sray, John Burgess conjures a story of a Khmer family whose lives are interwoven with the building of the magical, mysterious temple of Angkor Wat. This is historical fiction with a difference--about a people whose history has been obscured and abandoned like the magnificent shrine that for so many centuries lay hidden in the jungle.' -David Ignatius, columnist for The Washington Post and author of  Bloodmoney'A poignant glimpse into the daily life of Twelfth Century Cambodia. Do you want to know who were the people who built the temples, grew the rice and served in the palace guard? Read A Woman of Angkor.' -Dawn Rooney, author of  Angkor: Cambodia's Wondrous Khmer Temples'A wonderful and compelling story that vividly evokes the glory, violence, and beauty of the vanished Khmer Empire, as told through the testimony of one remarkable woman. This is a real page-turner of a narrative in which Burgess brings us into the dangerous world of palace intrigues and into the lives of Angkor's ordinary people.'-Michael D. Coe, author of Angkor and the Khmer Civilization.This first novel by former Washington Post journalist John Burgess is historically accurate and a very imaginative telling of the history of World Heritage Site Angkor.'Pure and beautiful, she glows like the moon behind clouds.' The time is the 12th Century, the place Cambodia, birthplace of the lost Angkor civilisation. In a village behind a towering stone temple lives a young woman named Sray, whom neighbors liken to the heroine of a Hindu epic. Hiding a dangerous secret, she is content with quiet obscurity, but one rainy season afternoon is called to a life of prominence in the royal court. There her faith and loyalties are tested by attentions from the great king Suryavarman II. Struggling to keep her devotion is her husband Nol, palace confidante and master of the silk parasols that were symbols of the monarch's rank.This lovingly crafted novel revives the rites and rhythms of the ancient culture that built the temples of Angkor, then abandoned them to the jungle. In telling her tale, Sray takes the reader to a hilltop monastery, a concubine pavilion and across the seas to the throne room of imperial China. She witnesses the construction of the largest of the temples, Angkor Wat, and offers an explanation for its greatest mystery-why it broke with centuries of tradition to face west instead of east.

"[Ryman] has not so much created as revealed a world in which the promise of redemption takes seed even in horror."—The Boston Globe“Sweeping and beautiful. . . . The complex story tears the veil from a hidden world.”—The Sunday Times“Inordinately readable . . . extraordinary in its detail, color and brutality.”—The Independent"Ryman has crafted a solid historical novel with an authentic feel for both ancient and modern Cambodia."—Washington DC City Paper“Another masterpiece by one of the greatest fiction writers of our time.”—Kim Stanley Robinson"Ryman's knack for depicting characters; his ability to tell multiple, interrelated stories; and his knowledge of Cambodian history create a rich narrative that looks at Cambodia's "killing fields" both recent and ancient and Buddhist belief with its desire for transcendence. Recommended for all literary fiction collections."—Library JournalArcheologist Luc Andrade discovers an ancient Cambodian manuscript inscribed on gold leaves but is kidnapped—and the manuscript stolen—by a faction still loyal to the ideals of the brutal Pol Pot regime. Andrade’s friends, an ex-Khmer Rouge agent and a young motoboy, embark on a trek across Cambodia to rescue him. Meanwhile, Andrade, bargaining for his life, translates the lost manuscript for his captors. The result is a glimpse into the tremendous and heart-wrenching story of King Jayavarman VII: his childhood, rise to power, marriage, interest in Buddhism, and the initiation of Cambodia’s golden age. As Andrade and Jayavarman’s stories interweave, the question becomes whether the tale of ancient wisdom can bring hope to a nation still suffering from the violent legacy of the last century.Geoff Ryman is the author of the novels Air (winner of Arthur C Clarke and James Tiptree awards) and The Unconquered Country (a World Fantasy Award winner). Canadian by birth, he has lived in Cambodia and Brazil and now teaches creative writing at the University of Manchester in England.