Southeast Asia History

After being captured in Singapore and transported to the infamous Burma railway, Colonel Owtram was appointed the British Camp Commandant at Chungkai, one of the largest POW camps. Many ex-prisoners testified to the mental and physical courage that he showed protecting POWs from the worst excesses of their captors. Of course his account does not admit to this, but what is clear is that in addition to the deprivation and hardship suffered by all POWs, the author bore heavy responsibility for those under his charge and the daily trauma of dealing with the unpredictable Japanese.

The English Governess at the Siamese Court, written in 1870, vividly recounts the experiences of one Anna Harriette Leonowens as governess for the sixty-plus children of King Mongkut of Siam, and translator and scribe for the King himself. Bright, young, and energetic, Leonowens was well-suited to her role and her writings convey a heartfelt interest in the lives, legends, and languages of Siam's rich and poor.

Singapore is often known as a ‘clean’ country and its citizens ‘law-abiding’. However, every once in a while, the island has been shocked by an incident or a crime so unexpected and shocking, it grabs headlines and piques the interest of locals and international press alike. Spanning across all kinds of crimes, this collection has one thing in common–shock value.

From the glorious days of the Khmer Empire to the harrowing period under the Khmer Rouge, every chapter unveils a new layer of Cambodia's multifaceted past. As you listen, you'll gain a deeper understanding of the resilience and determination that have propelled the country forward, despite the many challenges it has faced.

Nous vous ferons parler l’indonésien en un rien de temps ! La méthode audio d'apprentissage des langues de Lingo Jump facilite l'apprentissage de l’indonésien à votre guise. Que vous vous détendiez ou que vous soyez en déplacement, nos leçons audio simples, claires et ludiques vous aident à apprendre en imitant nos conférenciers. Plongez-vous dans la langue indonésienne en toute confiance - nous sommes là pour vous aider à parler indonésien en utilisant des phrases que vous apprendrez facilement grâce à l'audio en parallèle.

Based on extensive interviews and archival material, The First Wave tells the story of the opposition in Singapore in its critical first thirty years in Parliament.

Less than a decade ago, China did not have a single high-speed train in service. Today, it owns a network of 14,000 miles of high-speed rail, far more than the rest of the world combined. Now, China is pushing its tracks into Southeast Asia, reviving a century-old colonial fantasy of an imperial railroad stretching to Singapore, and kicking off a key piece of the One Belt One Road initiative, which has a price tag of $1 trillion, and reaches inside the borders of more than 60 countries.

Hinduism is one of the world’s great religions, dominating the Indian subcontinent for most of the last millennium, and its largest temple is an unbelievably magnificent structure located in Angkor, Cambodia. Known in English as Angkor Wat (“City Temple”), the gigantic complex was built by King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century to serve as the king’s state temple and capital city. Since it has remained so finely preserved, it has maintained religious significance for nearly 900 years, first dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu, and then Buddhist.

Despite its ubiquity and popularity, Mala Xiang Guo's history and origins are unknown. Search results on Google or Baidu throw up approximately 9 million recipes but not a single reliable account of how the MLXG was invented, or by whom. Find out how this spicy dish arrived on the sunny shores of Singapore and how the craze for this Mala dish all began.

During the course of a single day in 1569, Patik’s and Meno’s lives transformed from a routine of poverty and convention to lives filled with promise and adventure. On that day, a datu’s grandson killed their family and stole their land, and also on that day, Spanish explorer Miguel Lopez de Legaspi arrived in Panay.

Durante años, el tema de la Compañía Británica de las Indias Orientales ha fascinado a historiadores, así como a economistas, antropólogos, sociólogos y otros tipos de estudiosos. Algunos consideran que la Compañía es un ejemplo perfecto de un imperio que drena los recursos de las personas desfavorecidas y destruye sus culturas enteras en un abrir y cerrar de ojos.

Si quiere descubrir la fascinante historia de la guerra entre Filipinas y Estados Unidos entre 1899-1902, siga leyendo.... En La Guerra Filipina-Estadounidense (1899-1902): Una fascinante guía de la insurrección filipina que comenzó cuando los Estados Unidos de América reclamaron la posesión de las Filipinas, descubrirá temas como.

The epic story of the world's last subsistence whalers. At a time when global change has eradicated thousands of unique cultures, The Last Whalers tells the stunning inside story of the Lamalerans, an ancient tribe of 1,500 hunter-gatherers who live on a volcanic island so remote it is known by other Indonesians as 'The Land Left Behind'. They have survived for centuries by taking whales with bamboo harpoons but now are being pushed toward collapse by the encroachment of the modern world.

School-taught 'Social Studies' is a fairly sanitised affair. We learn about Britain, Lee Kuan Yew, and the paramount importance of free trade. We also learn about food and the origins of Chicken Rice. However, what comes out is just as important as what goes in, because Singapore's history is also a fecal history—of dysentery, nightsoil, quacks and more. In short, it's a story of shit.

1943. Major-General Orde Wingate startles the military world by commanding a daring raid in the heart of Japanese-occupied Burma. But this was just the beginning. In the following year, Wingate spearheaded an even more ambitious operation, flying 10,000 men and 1,000 animals behind Japanese lines to disrupt communications and harass the Japanese forces. With close tactical support from Colonel Philip Cochran, Chindit was the name given to these operations and the men who made them happen. This is their story, told by one man who was at the heart of it all.

When a Vietnam Veteran and his wife return to Vietnam in the 1990s, they become involved with returning MIA remains from the war. It isn't as easy as it would seem. Listeners will enjoy the attitude of the author and the passionate, down-to-earth style in which this book is written. The Bones of Pleiku will give you chicken skin at times, and at other times will give one tears that say, “Right On!”

Super Cheap Singapore is a travel guide for people seeking cold-hard facts to enjoy the biggest Singapore adventure on the smallest budget. Choose from city adventures, or mix it up with our nature suggestions. Either way, our plans and Singapore’s fascinating history and culture will blow your mind, not your budget. Instantly discover everything you need for a luxurious trip to Singapore on a backpacker's budget.

Beginning in the 1800s, Asian nations were gradually falling under European rule. Yet, despite Europe’s growing military, economic, and political dominance in the Eastern hemisphere, one country prevailed as the sole nation untouched by colonialism: Thailand (then known as Siam). Under difficult yet unprecedented circumstances, Thailand maintained its sovereignty. Their biggest challenge would come 20 years later, with the introduction of World War II.

Among the famines of the Second World War, the Great Famine of Vietnam (1944-1945) remains little known outside of Vietnam, especially compared to its contemporaries in Bengal, Henan, and the Soviet Union. Though natural disasters catalyzed the famine, the scope of the famine was exacerbated by the brutal French extraction of resources in northern Vietnam at the command of the Japanese military. However, the famine's seeds were sown long before the disaster, with the arrival of the French in the Mekong Delta and their subsequent colonization of Dai Viet.

For American children raised exclusively in wartime - that is, a Cold War containing monolithic communism turned hot in the jungles of Southeast Asia - and the first to grow up with televised combat, Vietnam was predominately a mediated experience. Walter Cronkite was the voice of the conflict, and grim, nightly statistics the most recognizable feature. But as involvement grew, Vietnam affected numerous changes in child life, comparable to the childhood impact of previous conflicts - chiefly the Civil War and World War II - whose intensity and duration also dominated American culture.