Blog Topic #3 -- What's up with Southeast Asia?

Today we strangly head north to Southeast Asia.  Consisting of primarily of islands and a tiny penisula off of Asia, Southeast Asia has some of the most diverse collection of countries ranging from advanced countries, such as Singapore, to the least developed countries of the world, such as Myanmar.  It is located in the tropics just above the equator giving most of it a tropical climate although some areas are more subtropical or highlands.  This is, in fact, the vision I and most people think of when Southeast Asia is mentioned.  A tropical paradise located on sandy beaches or in tropical jungles.  However, such is not the case for many inhabitants, especially in the LDCs of the area.  In fact, Southeast Asia contains four out of the nine least developed countries in Asia.  The tropical climate is not always swaying palm trees either as these areas often have monsoon seasons dominated by rain.

One of these countries is that of Cambodia.  This country was of particular intrest to me after seeing a presentation in class of my professor's mission trip there.  So I searched Cambodia on National Geographic to see what my first hit would be.  This video, which describes the Angor Wat, was the first video listed.  It portrays this poor country as a spectacular tourist destination.

In fact, the country's second greatest source of income through tourism.  The greatest source of income for it, however, is through the textile industry, a trait that is common in most LDCs.  I would not immediately think of an LDC country with the conditions that it currently has as a prime tourist attraction.  However, through this video, one would not immediately gain the sense that the country is impovish not evening drinking clean water!  This picture is from the capital city of Phnom Phen and shows the conditions of the main city (as well as the large amount of Motorbikes)

Perhaps the greatest geographic feature that is demonstrated in this video is the diversity of religion.  Religion plays a key role in all civilizations and cultures as well as being geographical.  The temple of Angor Wat was built for King Suryavarman II and was dedicated to Vishnu, a Hindu god.  At the time, Hinduism was the main religion of the area.  This changed however with the spread of Buddhism from India and into areas of East and Southeast Asia.  Now the temple, although the main tourist attraction in Cambodia, serves as a temple for Buddha.  It also is the largest religious center in the world.  The Angor Wat is of such great importance to the people of Cambodia that it is the symbol on their flag! 

Buddhism is the main religion in Cambodia with 96% of its citizens following Buddha's teachings.  It is not uncommon to see Buddhist monks walking down the streets.  In fact, most of the penisula of Southeast Asia is Buddhist.  This changes, however, as you head south into Indonesia, the area changes rapidly from primarily Buddhist to the largest Islamic country in the world, Indonesia.

Once again, I, regretfully, must end the post.  More geographic topics coming soon!

 

Okay maybe I couldn't end my talk about Southeast Asia without a picture of a Tuk Tuk....what can I say except that its fun to say!