OF THE WORLD’S MOST INSULTED COUNTRIES

The name of our country represents us. It is the one single word we are proud of and held *almost* sacred. We make sure it is respected and we don’t tolerate insults. But what if our country name always gets misspelled, mispronounced and misrepresented? Won’t we take it as an insult? *I would!*

If that is the case; SE Asian countries I’m afraid, are some of the world’s most insulted countries.

Laos has to be the most mispronounced country name in the whole world. The French f*cked it up! They spelled the name of the country the French way when they colonized in the 1600s and didn’t correct it when they left – the “S” is silent. Now the world read it as LAH-‘OS or sometimes with too much American twang “LAY-‘OHS”. *Pffft!* The proper way to say Laos is without the “S” – LAO, as simple as that.

Now, how many books, magazines and other printed medium misspelled the word “Philippines”? It has to be the most maligned country name in the world. I have seen variations of “Philipines”, “Phillipines”, “Phillippines”, “Philipine”,”Philupins” written in the English context. They can’t seem to decide if it’s a double “L” or a double “P” or just double everything altogether! And not too many people know that they don’t have to put the “S” at the end all the time, ex. "Philippine Republic" and "Republic of the Philippines".

Thailand doesn’t have any problem with the spelling -- but a lot of people pronounce it as “THIGH-LAND”. *Whadda’?!!* This is not the "Land of Limbs and Lower Extremities” for christssake! It’s “TAI”. Although we love to put “H” on just about any English transliteration of our proper names, its not included in the pronunciation just as Phuket is not “Foo-ket”. Ha!

I don’t know how the Bruneians feel whenever their country pronounced as "Broo-neigh". Or maybe written without “Darussalam”. The proper pronunciation is "Broo-nai".

Honest mistake or not – it’s still a mistake and needs to be corrected. Now that you know; once is ok, twice is forgivable and the third is asking for war.*just kidding*



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LOST KINGDOMS OF SE ASIA: Tambora Kingdom

The eruption of the volcano Tambora in 1815 killed 117,000 people in Southeast Asia, including those believed buried under ten feet (three meters) of pumice and ash in the recently discovered village.

The researchers found the remains of two adults and their belongings: bronze bowls, ceramic pots, iron tools, pieces of furniture, and other artifacts. The design and decoration of the artifacts suggest that the Tamboran culture was linked through trade to Vietnam and Cambodia.

Records from a historian who visited the village prior to the eruption further suggest that the Tamborans spoke a language unlike others in Indonesia but similar to the languages of Cambodia and Laos.

The most surprising find were the elegantly decorated pieces of china likely from Cambodia or Vietnam, which suggest the Tamborans were wealthy traders. Researchers said that the Tamborans were well off and great horse traders. They also traded honey, sappanwood used to make red dye and sandalwood for incense and medications.

Anthropologists also added that many of these villages converted to Islam in the mid to late 17th century and took on the hierarchal religious and political structures of Islam.

Tambora's eruption in 1815 was the largest volcanic eruption in human history and resulted in a period of global cooling the following year that became known as the year without a summer. The eruption wiped out the tiny "kingdom" of Tambora that had lived in the volcano's shadow.


The designs and writing on several of the artifacts found at the excavation site suggest that Tamboran culture was related to those of Vietnam and Cambodia. The Tamboran language has been linked to the group of languages used in various places throughout Southeast Asia.

Among the artifacts found at the Tambora excavation site were ceramic pots, bronze bowls, iron tools, and a metal bracelet.

At the excavation site, about 15 miles (25 kilometers) northwest of Tambora's crater, scientists found the remains of a Tamboran home. Much like current homes in the region, the dwelling had been built on stilts.

The ancient kingdoms of Southeast Asia are the realms of our ancestors. Some are found, some are yet to be found. These kingdoms are an undeniable proofs that we belong to a proud and noble race.



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-- National Geographic

SOUTHEAST ASIA'S PASSPORTS

The citizens of the 10 ASEAN countries can travel freely without

a visa to other member states for 30 days (except Cambodia

issues 21 days and Laos charges $30 upon entry. Argh!).

How do ASEAN passports look like?

Malaysia is the first country in the world to issue a Biometric passport in 1998.

Singapore is the only other ASEAN country with a Biometric passport which

they first issued August 2006.

All ASEAN passports are Machine Readable

except the Philippines and Laos.


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SOUTHEAST ASIA'S TOURISM SLOGAN MANIA

The slogan mania for tourism in Southeast Asia started in 1997 when Thailand came up with "Amazing Thailand" to promote our lovely country and attract dollar spending tourists. It was one of the world’s most successful tourism campaigns which gave Thailand its first million visitor mark. Almost 10 years later, it’s still in use.

Neighboring countries soon followed and invented new and improved slogans in their sorry attempt to imitate Thailand, but in many cases the slogans themselves have proven somewhat ridiculous, even today!

What does Malaysia mean with their current slogan "Truly Asia?" Are they implying that the rest of us are somehow “not really” or less Asia? Or is this just to tease Singapore? Nevertheless, the slogan proved to be one heck of a success for them.

The Philippines went with "Philippines Wow" which said absolutely nothing about their country. WOW WHAT? A few more words won’t hurt. “Wow naman pare! Wow talaga!” LOL. I'm almost pretty sure the one who came up with it was holding a bong! -- the old "Pearl of the Orient" is one of the best I have ever heard. But Hong Kong started to use it in the late 80's and I'm not sure why the Philippines didn't say anything about it. It was an obvious robbery! "Emerald Islands of the Orient"? Hmmm...very Irish. They should snatch it back from Hong Kong! NOW!

My favorite weekend destination came up with – Uniquely Singapore. That lovely little island bullied by Malaysia. Hey! DON’T QUOTE ME ON THAT! It came from my friends. I’M quoting them. Anyway, Uniquely Singapore is the bomb! Nothing can beat that, I must say. So, way to go Singapore!

I noticed lately that ... ALL of our neighbors have already come up with their own slogans!... I thought it was just limited to a few. Wasn’t it just last year when Vietnam conducted a nationwide contest to come up with a slogan for luring tourists? As it turned out the winning entry is this – Vietnam, The Hidden Charm.

Ok, simple, rhyming and intriguing. But what’s the big idea with Laos – Jewel of the Mekong? How many people in the whole world know what the heck a Mekong is? I know what it is but do you? And that guy across the room? – I don’t think so.

I say it’s a sloppy job they did coming up with that. But hey! Still better than the “WOW”. (I’m am so dead to my Filipino readers) LOL. They should’ve opted to MY OWN slogan – Laos, The Enigma of Southeast Asia. Now there! That’s a slogan. Take that!

Indonesia - The Ultimate in Diversity... It sounds playing safe. 13,000 islands with almost equal amount of different cultures must be stressed to explain it. I always thought Indonesia is the land of brave warriors. Power, fire, water! This is what I envision when I think of Indonesia. They should’ve capitalized on it.

Brunei, the Kingdom of Unexpected Treasures. To be quite honest, I have seen their tourism website only TODAY, just before I wrote this. Not that I’m not interested but uuuhmmm…nothing, just forget it…ok, I’ll say it…It’s just that I always thought that Brunei is so rich, they don’t need any tourists at all! When I was in Bandar SB all I see is golden this and golden that. Huge palaces, splendid mosques… and whatever treasures they say was unexpected – must be oil, yeah?

Cambodia, Home of World Heritage. Hmmm…lame! How many World Heritage sites do they have? 2? 3? 69? How many? And the slogan sounds out of tune to me (if ever it is a song). Totally out of tune! Huh? WAIT! I get it!—it’s because the Angkor Wat WAS the first ever World Heritage site? OH YEAH! I get it now!...but still lame, lame, lame. But this slogan is never in their tourism official website. Who came up with it? Bring him to me NOW for some serious questioning! OOPS!-- I think that's a bad thing to say to a Cambodian (Pol Pot and all). Sorry :-(

Mystical Myanmar. Ok…cute. But I still prefer the name Burma. That’s all I can say.

Timor Leste-- Discover the World’s Newest Nation. Now that’s catchy! But how long can a new country stay new? 5 years? 10 years? Or until another country goes to war and declare itself independent? How long are they gonna capitalize on this slogan? They better have a back up.

So there, a round up of the slogans that lured tourists to our paradise. I really enjoyed it. I hope you did.

In addition, although these slogans play a great part in "baiting" tourists...an efficient and effective tourism program wraps it all up. AND -- the safety reputation of course.

Do you know the slogan that sums it all up?

East Timor was obviously left out.

They should come up with the membership fee very soon.

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P.S. Please note that starting tomorrow, Sofia Dansk would be posting entries on this blog. I'm flying to Brussels today -- lotsa activities; Pasar Malam Besar in Den Haag and of course, the annual, World's Most Annoying Song Contest... the Eurovision!!!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, MOM!

Catch y'all later! Take that!

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