Komodo Dragon: the majestic lizard of ASEAN


Imagine yourself wandering in tropical Savanna forest where two sturdy cacao-coloured animals were wrestling to blood for female's approval to mate. This picturesque scene is due to roll from May to August and the female will have a role to lay 30 eggs in the next 9 months. Komodo dragons are the given name to these reptiles residing in the largest lizard island on earth, Komodo.


Riding on the pink oceanic crust, Pulau Komodo (Indonesian) houses the population of 2,000+ and serves as a natural habitat for these dragons to play-fight. The history of this island is said to be discovered by Dutch voyagers in the early 1910s. The dragons were first noted as a creature that ‘breathes fire’ and the report went through Lieutenant Steyn van Hensbroek who took the animal for documentation. Research results came out in 1912. Three years later; laws follow to protect the animal’s significance to the island.


Indulging on carcasses of deers and snakes, Komodo dragons are measured to be 70 kg in size, possessed the ability to stretch itself out to 3.13 meters with the weight of 166 kg. Eating 80% of its own body weight, the great dragon haunts on stealth and power, lurches on its prey at the speed of 16 to 20 kph. The Komodos can distinguish colours through their retina but only under poor vision in low light. Slimy venom in the dragon’s tongue can poise its preys to their deathbed in the next several days. When threatened, the dragon can throw up the contents of its stomach to lessen its weight and flee for safety.


What’s even more fascinating about this resident of Komodo is its powerful gift to new antibiotics discovery. Antimicrobial peptides, infection defense protein, are built in the dragons letting them accomplish an immune wall to the bites of other terrestrial animals. These findings may be also curb everyday problems such acne and pneumonia. Next, we’ll take a look at how reproduction work for the dragons.


Sexing Komodo is a challenge as they themselves still have trouble identifying who is male and female. Female Komodo can reproduce through an asexual process called parthenogenesis meaning no males are participated. The normal mating call would involve in males using their tongue as sensory experience to female's receptivity. After the female is impregnated, Komodo dragons are ready to bond as parents and grow a monogamous relationship.


Komodo younglings spend 7-8 months in shell before breaking into the world through special baby egg-tooth. The dragons then become exhausted and take a rest for a long time to prepare themselves against a treacherous playground where cannibalism is likely to exist! The defense is that these offsprings will have to seek solace in adults or spend a certain pace of their lifetime to camouflage. Komodo reptiles are expected to roam earth for as long as 50 years.


In January 2020, Komodo island is closed to visitors to preserve the animals’ habitat. The announcement to shut down were made by the officials of East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia’s southernmost province after the news of nine men arrested for smuggling 40 komodo dragons under ‘$35,000/each.’.


Komodo dragons are as cool as dogs with their long tongue that can both scares you off or invite you for further observation.

By Chhem Sreynet

Source:


THE ORIGIN OF KHMER NEW YEAR

It’s APRIL.

What, why? What’s special about April, you ask me.

Of course, April is the month where new year starts.

Wait, wait. Why April? Couldn’t it be logical for new year to fall on January which is the first month of the year?

Yes, this is perfectly logical. However this is the Gregorian calendar we are using. It’s pretty popular wide world I say, with many countries adopting it.
You see, before the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, most countries had their own calendar system in which their new years are based on.

You may be surprise to learn that there are so many countries with their New Year falling on February, March, April, June and November.

Back to April. This is a definitely happy time of the month for Cambodian, Thai, Laotian people where the old crankies….I mean, the well-respected elderly people, go to the temple to make merits. Young horny guys go to the temple to flirt with women shamelessly. Young brats go to the temples to frolick and dance around. I hope I am painting a happy picture because it is.

From my knowledge or what’s left of it, New Year celebration in Cambodia, Thailand & Laos generally last for three days. There’s different version of the New Year based on those three countries.

I cannot speak for Thailand and Laos because I might unwittingly insult the readers from these countries.
To Cambodian readers, please don’t stone me if I do make some error.

The first day is known as “Moha Songkran មហាសង្រ្កាន្ត” , the second day as “Virak Vannabat 
វិរ:វ័នបត” and the last day as “Virak Lerng Sak វិរៈឡើងស័ក”.

Usually on the first day, most people prepare their offerings to welcome the new angel to their house (usually the day before) and visit their local temple to make merits.

The following day, people are encouraged to donate and help the poor and unfortunate people. I think that’s a very good idea, credit to whoever came up with that. We need more of that as nowadays, no one really cares for the unfortunate downtrodden people.

Anyway, the last day consist of cleaning the elders and Buddha statues with water, in a sense to drive away the bad vibe and bring happiness in.

During the three days, people will be drunk senselessly, kids playing games that look suspiciously like gambling, and elderly people fervently trying to make more merits for their next life.  

Every year, we have a pretty angel who arrives on the first day. This angel will bless us wretched people to ensure we don’t accidentally die or something. Oh and she gets to stay to babysit us for the whole year until the next new year then she can go back home with another angel taking her place. Pretty tough thankless job so I think we owe them angels with a big celebration.

How did it started? Well no one knows. So our ancient forebears made it up and labelled it as a folk tale.

It all began with a smart arse boy in ancient times. And so our epic tale began….               

This boy who goes by the name of Thammabal, was damn smart. Smart to the point he can understand what birds are chittering about. I suspect birds were talking shit about people the whole time and plotting when to shit on unsuspecting ones….those cheeky feathered bastards.

He attracted young and mature ladies alike with his intelligence. Suffice to say, he was pretty popular.

Unfortunately for the young lad, someone’s jealous to the point that he couldn’t take it anymore. I guess Kabel Moha Prom didn’t get adoration or attention of any sort, the poor bloke. He’s the king of the gods, so who can blame him, used to being lavished with admirations of young virgins.  

Filled with petty anger, Kabel Moha Prom descended down from the heavens to challenge Thammabal to a riddle. A riddle with deadly consequence not for the God King, but for the mortal Thammabal if he lost. A bit tad unfair if you asked me.
The loser will be decapitated and the winner, well you know, his head is still attached to his shoulders.

The riddle goes like this – “What is happiness in the morning, midday and night?”

The timeframe agreed upon was a week, or seven days.

So the poor young sod spent six days being scared in a forest of nowhere, possibly deeply regretting the bad choice he made in hindsight.

The vultures were chatting about Thammabal, unwittingly not knowing that Thammabal can understand the language of birds.  

Said one hungry male vulture to a female vulture that they are going to feast upon Thammabal’s dead corpse for tomorrow’s course because the unfortunate bastard couldn’t find an answer..
I guess they observed him wandering around the forest for six days and couldn’t really disagree on that.

The female vulture curiously asked the male vulture about the answer to the riddle.
The answer was pretty simple yet unexpected. Happiness shined on the face after washing it in the morning. Happiness is felt by the body after being washed during the hot sweating midday. Before going to bed at night, feet/legs are washed to feel happiness.

So on the last day, Thammabal returned to Kabal Maha Prom, heavily betting his life that the answer was correct.
Turn outs to be correct.

So luckily for Thammabal, the God King is a man of his word despite jealousy and promptly decapitated his own head off. I guess in those olden days, bets are pretty tough.

However there’s one tiny thing being overlooked. You see, Kabal Maha Prom was pretty much responsible for orchestrating rituals for every new year, bestowing prosperity, happiness and good luck upon the population. Being bodyless, I can imagine it’s pretty tough for the God King to go around doing that.

So he had his extremely beautiful seven daughters to take turns in carrying his head on a golden tray called Jerng Pean around Mount Sumeru, the home of the Gods, every time a new year arrived. If it wasn’t for the golden tray and his daughters, his head alone can demolish the world in flames if dropped from the heavens to the earth.  

Each daughter are assigned to a particular day on which she has to descend down from the heavens to the earth to fly around Mount Sumeru while holding Jerng Pean with her father’s head, doing her father’s blessing duties before going back.

Starting Sunday ending in Saturday, the seven daughters went by the names of Tungsar Tevi, Koreak TeviReak'sa Tevi, Mon'Tea Tevi, Keriney Tevi, Ke'mirea Tevi and Mohor'ta'rea Tevi respectively.

They are a picky bunch of eaters with strange eating habits. Like us human beings, I admit.

Why is that important to know about their eating habits? Well, we can appease her while preparing our offerings in order to receive her blessings upon her arrival on Moha Songkran, so it pays to know her likes so we don’t end up being cursed.

Tungsar Thep (ទុង្សទេវីlikes eating fig fruit, rides on a badass man-eating bird called Garuda and carries disc of power and seashell.
As for Koreak Tevi (គោរាគទេវី), she drinks oil, rides on a ferocious tiger while carrying a sword and a cane.
Reak'sa Tevi (រាគ្យសាទេវី) craves blood, rides a horse and carries trident and a bow.
Mon'Tea Tevi (មណ្ឌាទេវី) looks like a mild gentle sort as she likes a nice cup of milk while riding a donkey with a needle and cane in her hands. I don’t know what’s up with canes but let’s continue.
Keriney Tevi (កិរិណីទេវី)likes nibbling on sesame seeds and beans. She rides an almighty elephant while holding a harpoon and a…what? A gun? Do they have guns in ancient times? Man, these angels are a bunch of badass sort we wouldn’t want to mess with.
Ke'mirea Tevi (កិមិរាទេវី) prefers bananas. She sit on the back of a water buffalo, singing with her instrument called Mandolin and a sword at bay. There must be endless supply of beasts and bandits to deal with in ancient times, I reckon.
And so we have come to the last angel, being Mohor'ta'rea Tevi (មហោទរាទេវី). She dines on deer meat. Grilled, baked, steamed, I’m not sure. She comes in an elegant style, riding a big peacock with a disc of power and trident.

Here’s a family photo of those beautiful ladies.


Summing it up, it depends on the date of the first day that one of the seven daughters will be chosen. 

Thus conclude the tale of the New Year’s origin….so when the new year comes, you can be sure to surprise the hell out of your Cambodian friends by telling them the name of the exact angel based on the date of Moha Songkran.

By a Cambodian reader

P.S: This article will be updated soon in order to accommodate all related cultures such as Thai and Laotian version. We apologize for the inconvenience. 

Vietnamese Traditional Craft Village


partially By Doraemon Tran 

For a long time, craft villages have been an important element of Vietnamese culture and economy. The existence of these villages could date back thousands of years, as archeologists have unearthed a 3500-year-old large bronze making center in Vĩnh Phúc province of Vietnam (a little west of Hanoi), evidence of a town specialized in bronze crafting, as well as indication of a complex society with stratification and craft specialization. Into the Han period, craft villages have been well-established in Northern Vietnam with a catalogue of numerous products well desired from India to China.

Craft villages continued to exist in Vietnam throughout the feudal time and well into the modern time, particularly highly concentrated in areas with bustling commercial activities like the capital Hanoi. Visiting Hanoi today, you'll hear the phrase "36 streets of Hanoi". Hanoi today has over hundreds streets, but the 36 "streets" here, or should be more correctly translated as "36 towns" imo, were the 36 areas of the old Hanoi, each of with specialized in a craft product.

How did craft villages form in Vietnam? I'll leave this question to more thorough research, but from what I know, even until this day, most villages in Vietnam, especially the Northern part, have something that they call the "traditional occupation" of the village. This occupation could be making silk fans, lanterns, ceramics, conical hats, wood printing etc.

A sad reality is that these villages are dying, and along with them are the beautiful traditional handicrafts of Vietnam.

This is caused by an array of factors, many of which are unavoidable results of development, industrialization, and open market economy. Mass production made possible by assembly lines and machineries have driven down the price of industrial products (many of which are imported from other countries), making it hard for handcrafted products to compete. Artisans receive less and less profit until they cannot maintain a living by their occupation anymore. Not many young people are willing to continue the traditional occupation of their family when they can make more money following other paths.

Preserving traditional villages has been a concern of many Vietnamese, for it's an important cultural element of Vietnam. Many craft villages, like Bat Trang ceramic village, have existed for many many centuries and have produced high-quality arts and crafts throughout their history and it would be a pity to see them die. Artisans in some villages have tried to change their production methods to cope with the changing market and environment. In the past years, the government have made effort to encourage revival of many craft villages to attract tourists. But the task is harder done than said.

Bát Tràng village, one of the four famous ancient ceramic villages of Vietnam, and the only one that still thrives today.

Established in the Tran dynasty, the village has become so famous that if you read Vietnamese history, hear folk songs or come across countryside proverbs, you cannot fail to meet with this name. Vases of the finest quality or delightful plates for home decor have brightened the homes of the aristocracy, rice bowls have held the food of farmers, and in more recent times, electricity has been transported across the country thanks to ceramic insulators produced in Bat Trang. In the area of arts and antics, Bat Trang ceramics are famous in various places in the world and are displayed in the museums of many countries including Japan, the Philippines, France, Belgium and Turkey.

According to Vietnamese annals, migrant potters from Thanh Hoa province established Bat Trang village in the middle of the 14th century. Situated on the banks of the Red River, close to the capital. Bat Trang had very favorable geographic conditions to develop its craft. The region was also gifted with kaolin reserves that are an essential material for ceramic production. Consequently, Bat Trang ceramics quickly became prosperous. In the 15th century, its finest production was selected to be offered as tribute to the Chinese Minh. The village further prospered throughout the 16th century, producing high-grade ceramic articles for the noble class as well as for the people. From then onward, Bat Trang went through many ups and downs in the following centuries, but its kilns kept burning mid ceramics were still exported to Japan, East and Southeast Asian countries. Today, after orienting its production toward artistic items, Bat Trang ceramics have kept a strong foothold in international markets such as Taiwan, South Korea Japan, German, Denmark, Belgium, France, Holland, Australia and America.

Situated 15 kilometers away from Hanoi. Bat Trang actually covers the two hamlets of Bat Trang and Cao Giang, for a total area of 164 hectares. It currently has a population of 6,500 including some 1,300 ceramics production households Hat operate more than 2,000 kilns. More than 30 companies are also producing and trading ceramics in Bat Trang and the village is buzzing with activities. In 2002, the total revenue from ceramics production and trading almost reached VND500 billions, of which domestic consumption amounted for VND200 billions and export for VND300 billion. Major items for export are utilitarian articles mid art ceramics.


Some products of Bát Tràng village today



















But be very careful when you enter the market in Bát Tràng today. I'm serious. Many of the products sold there are fake, not authentic Bát Tràng handcrafts but industrial stuff. Of course they will tell you it's Bát Tràng products, but they're lying. You just have to check carefully.

Some Lê dynasty pieces unearthed (15th century)






Sơn Đng village (Hanoi)

This village has hundreds years history of making wood sculptures


Located next to 32 road, the center of the capital about 15km, Son Dong commune, Hoai Duc, Hanoi is known for its famous wood products, fine art and carved lacquer. Here, people could hear the sound of carve and cut around the village.


So far, the class descendants of wood Son Dong village no longer remember the origin of the craft, only that the product of villages have been identified from hundreds of years. A hundred years, the village of Dong Son not only talented in the paint, carve, create the Buddha statues thousand arms, thousand eyes, the Thien (Good) statue, the Ac(Evil) statue, the Arhat statues, eight pole palanquin.. known throughout the country, but from the ancient times, the Son Dong know each other always prompt professional respect given to their ancestors: painting, pagoda sculpture - has created a job for Son Dong village know how artists have talented hands, the King Khai Dinh's prizes, French were awarded the artist.

From the land of King Hung to the The best cave in the North of Vietnam - Huong pagoda, anywhere in the country, we also see the worship statue by the Son Dong craftsman. A very special with village workers in the wood that even though there is no sign on the statue but the Son Dong people can easily recognize the product were done by your village people manipulate. They look so proud that you have a good job to be crystallized in the hands home workers that others village want to learn are also difficult to follow and also "in heart" to hold round of prestige for the ancestor profession .

The pilgrim as well as respect for this quality of "uniqueness" of products that the Son Dong village that want visited the wood village... What is the trick that makes the product of Son Dong village is love, create credibility with customers, while the country has so many professionals as well as villages such as Dong Son worshiping? The question of who is doing missionary work, keep industry of the village explained very rustic and simple: "Many generations now, the only wood carving village always thought, one thing is to know, to understand the sentence : “ know every thing is to know nothing”.


The consideration of Son Dong village artisans for products of their village is also manifested in behavior, communicating daily trading. Everyone in this land, from the elderly men in village to the baby 2 to 3 years, future generations of wood village, also called wood products very successful arranged clear order of precedence, while shipments to customers have a red cloth covering statues. Generations remain loyal to the natural paint materials used to the painting statues, which must be manually processing workers in the village are confident ... The small jobs that full respect implies that become thought in the each villager wood. For the respect that many people far away to visit the village and respect for feelings, special favor with Dong Son people, who make these products are everywhere aspire for worship. Hundred years old definition remains...

Buddha goods can only carved jack wooden, because the concept, which is wood "sacred" - very appropriate for making worshiping things. Moreover, jackfruit wood characteristics flexible, soft, durable, less cracking, easy to trim. Wood transport that removed rubbish wood, only use core to carve. Single measurement instrument in the hands of the workers are gauge wire and a "Tam rule ". Head and face of statue was always processed first. Carve outline the cap (if any) and the forehead, nose, lips, ears, etc. ... Ear of Buddha large and flowing, to the set a reasonable balance in the distance from the hairline (the 2 side of head) to chin, maybe ear touched the shoulder.

Gilded painting technique is also wonderful as the art of lacquer. After each stage must be grinding statue by the stone and water. Paint then grind away, then paint on ..., so never saw the flat surface and stretch then use a paint layer (called Cam Thep paint) cover. For Cam Thep paint be almost dry (touch by hand feel sticky) then silver paste or gold paste (silver, gold depending on customers). Therefore, each statue by artist Dong Son remake brings a different look. These parallel sentences, horizontal board that horse, large crane, all shone bright yellow, purple, pink in the sun soon. Every product here is both harmony, has portrayed its own dynamic characteristics, requires financial resources both human mind here.





La Xuyên village (Wood carving village in Nam Đnh)



La Xuyen Village at 70 km from Hanoi, is famous for wood carving from ancient. It has a rich history of thousands of years with dozens of skilled workers who participated in building palaces, temples for feudal dynasties. Ninh Huu Hung, the first founder in setting up hamlet, imparting to local native, was the famous craftsman in both of Dinh – Le dynasty using at an important function.

Traditional carpentry in La Xuyen which the pinnacle is the carving art almost reached perfectly. These local carpenters had been not only in Eastern but also in Western country to make a lot of villages’ beauty. Their huge productions are the architectural works with widen spaces and heighten the height of antique dome. Plentiful and common productions such as incense-table, hammock, sindora wood bed, tea chest… all showed high level technique.

Till now, a part of traditional craft village has remained in communal house. The talented carpenters contributed their minds, skilled hands into a huge architectural works. These artisans really infused a vital spirit into the carving and relief works throughout the time.

Nowadays, La Xuyen is just a small village of Yen Ninh commune, Y Yen district, but this craft village is still alive throughout the time and become more and more famous. With the tradition of a long-standing craft village, La Xuyen has been contributing to bring fame to motherland.


Note: Pictures are directly distracted from the original source. We are not credited for taking these pictures.

Source: