photo credit: magiceye

• How has Indian influences permeated Filipino culture? Find out in The Indian in the Filipino.
• The Hindu celebration of Diwali has just passed, and this article takes a look at the Hindu temples in Malaysia.
• A historian recounts Thailand’s selective memory when it comes to Preah Vihear.
• Take a look at the Khmer Archaeological Society for some of the latest in archaeological research in Cambodia. (Thanks to Alison for the link)
• Heyzanie blogs about catching the sunset at Bakheng and climbing steep flights of stairs.
• And finally, it looks like the culture wars plaguing Malaysia and Indonesia has come to an end, or least, some sort of peace accord with a signing of a MoU on Cultural Heritage.

In this series of occasional rojaks (published on Wednesdays) I feature other sites in the blogosphere that are related to archaeology and culture in Southeast Asia. Got a recommendation for the next Wednesday rojak? Email me!

photo credit: dalbera

• No rest for the dead – even if you’re a tree! Gold miners in Vietnam find fossil tree remains instead… and proceed to mine and sell them.
• Timothy Allen, photographer for the BBC series Human Planet makes a stop at Angkor’s Ta Prohm
• Taiwan’s aborigines, possibly ancestors to Southeast Asia’s Austronesian population, move out of their ancestral home in the wake of last month’s typhoon
• Craif Ferguson visits the once-capital of Angkor at Koh Ker
• Things aren’t looking so good for Hanoi’s 1000th anniversary celebrations as half the projects planned are behind schedule
• Still stung by the recent Pendet dance controversy, another culture war may be brimming between Indonesia and Malaysia over the traditional music ensemble Gamelan
• John Hawks  ponders the dietary habits of early hominins while discussing a paper on The Shells of Trinil – home to the Java Man.
• The latest research indicates that the Komodo Dragon may not be native to Indonesia, but may have crawled its way north from Australia. I hope Indonesia doesn’t cry foul…

In this series of occasional rojaks (published on Wednesdays) I feature other sites in the blogosphere that are related to archaeology in Southeast Asia. Got a recommendation for the next Wednesday rojak? Email me!

photo credit: a.r.hilmi

• Take a walk through the joint World Heritage Site of Malacca and Georgetown through the eyes of some recent visitors.
• Amidst the recent furore of Malaysia appropriating a Balinese dance for its tourism advertisement, the Indonesian government has admitted that it cannot protect the nation’s culture on its own.
• Check out this short film Sacred Angkor by Chris Rainier and Ethan Boehme. I’m a little puzzled about the choice of music though.
• Some of the few remaining jungle dwellers left in Borneo, the Penan are slowly losing their way of life to illegal logging.
• While on the Malaysian Peninsula, the Mah Meri’s medicinal wood-carved totems are still being produced, albeit for the tourist market.
• The Asia Sentinel comments on Indonesia’s Tourism Malfunction, that a country that boasts a multitude of tourism draws (such as Candi Borobudur), routinely draws significantly less visitors than its neighbours.
• The small Portuguese community of Malacca, descendants of the first Europeans to colonise the region, celebrate their 500th year of settlement in conjunction with Malaysia’s Independence Day.

In this series of occasional rojaks (published on Wednesdays) I feature other sites in the blogosphere that are related to archaeology in Southeast Asia. Got a recommendation for the next Wednesday rojak? Email me!

photo credit: roktobaren

• Gong tuning is a fine art in Vietnam, especially since there are only a handful of people left who are able to teach the gongs how to sing.
• Where’s the most spectacular place for an Angkoran ruin? Consider Wat Phu Champasak in Laos.
• Malaysia’s gone and done it again – for this year’s tourism campaign, they seem to have stolen a traditional Balinese dance in an attempt to pass it off as their own.
• And for people like me who weren’t able to make it to Stony Brook for the Hobbit symposium, fear not! Videos of the sessions have been posted online here.

In this series of occasional rojaks (published on Wednesdays) I feature other sites in the blogosphere that are related to archaeology in Southeast Asia. Got a recommendation for the next Wednesday rojak? Email me!

photo credit: plassen

• Tian Yake features the Bujang Valley Archaeological Museum in this flickr set
• Martino, reporting at New Mandala, blogs about the protests and sentiments from the ground on the Thai side of the border of Khao Phra Viharn – better known as Phra Vihear.
• Alison, freshly back from fieldwork in Cambodia, recounts her day trip to Kampong Cham and the Memot Center for Archaeology Museum
• Ashley Hay unravels the the history of the hobbit discovery and the subsequent and ongoing debate in Lovely Bones.

In this series of occasional rojaks (published on Wednesdays) I feature other sites in the blogosphere that are related to archaeology in Southeast Asia. Got a recommendation for the next Wednesday rojak? Email me!

• Trista di Genova writes about the prehistory of Taiwan, and how Taiwan plays a central role in the dispersal theory of Austronesian-speaking peoples into Southeast Asia.
• Explore Singapore’s medieval past in the 14th Century Fort Canning Walk.
• Take a video tour of Ancient Angkor in this 3-D recreation by Monash University entitled Cambodia’s Medieval Splendour.
• Still in Cambodia conducting fieldwork, Alison shows us what she’s been up to surveying in Takeo Province.
• Another digital recreation of a site Cambodia, this time by the University of California in Berkeley shows us a virtual tour of Sambor Prei Kuk.

In this series of occasional rojaks (published on Wednesdays) I feature other sites in the blogosphere that are related to archaeology in Southeast Asia. Got a recommendation for the next Wednesday rojak? Email me!

photo credit: andy_carter

• Anton Diaz takes us inside the Balangay boat, which is due to set sail this weekend in a historic journey to retrace the ancient maritime routes through the Philippines. (Read more about it tomorrow!)
• Why should we be surprised that the small-brained hobbits used tools? Eric Drexler shows us examples of tool use in animals with much smaller brains in Homo floresiensis, Crows, and the Baldwin Effect

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• Nina wanders her way into Angkor with some beautiful shots of Angkor Wat.
• From Anthropology.net, read about the new paper in Anthropological Science about homo floresiensis’ relation to homo erectus.
• The Open Anthropology Cooperative is a new web resource for anyone with an interest in the subject – form groups, hold discussions and collaborate with friends. The last I checked, there wasn’t a Southeast Asian Anthropology yet.
• This Bangkok Post editorial sheds some light on why the thorny Preah Vihear issue may be too important for Thai politics.

In this series of occasional rojaks (published on Wednesdays) I feature other sites in the blogosphere that are related to archaeology in Southeast Asia. Got a recommendation for the next Wednesday rojak? Email me!

photo credit: saumilshah

• Veron visits Siem Reap and posts some pictures of Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom, along with scenes from inside the new Angkor National Museum.
• New Mandala weighs in on the Thai proposal to build a replica of Preah Vihear one kilometre away from the real site.
• Read the abstracts from the latest papers presented at the Cambodian Studies Forum hosted by Ohio Oniversity.

In this series of ocassional rojaks (published on Wednesdays) I feature other sites in the blogosphere that are related to archaeology in Southeast Asia. Got a recommendation for the next Wednesday rojak? Email me!

photo credit: abbeyman2002

• Knight Carl visits the Jesuit House of 1730 in Cebu, Philippines, a Spanish colonial house that has seen nearly 300 years of history.
• Dan at Archaeolog reasons why archaeologists should embrace the image of Indiana Jones, rather than be embarrased by it in Archaeology, Science Fiction and Pop Culture.
• For those of you in Facebook, lend your support to the cause, Save the Majapahit Trowulan Site!, a site which has been damaged in large part due to the sheer incompetence of the government.
• If you can’t go to Angkor, then perhaps Le Grand Tour d’Angkor can bring the stunning temples to your desktop. This website gives you a preview of the virtual tours you can take through the CD. Pick up a CD for yourself and visit 120 sites from the Angkor Archaeological Park and beyond.

In this series of ocassional rojaks (published on Wednesdays) I feature other sites in the blogosphere that are related to archaeology in Southeast Asia. Got a recommendation for the next Wednesday rojak? Email me!

• The Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian Institute has a website featuring their collections of Southeast Asian Ceramics.
• Simon Usborne asks in The Independent if Unesco is damaging the world’s treasures more than it is protecting it, and whether the World Heritage stamp is a mere marketing gimmick aimed as increasing tourist visitors. (For a more imformative read about the meaning of heritage and Unesco’s role in defining heritage, I recommend The Uses Of Heritage by Laurajane Smith).
• Over at our Facebook page, Alfa Noranda from the community heritage advocacy MADYA posts and appeal concerning the plans to build a cement factory on the archaeologically rich region of Mount Kendeng.
• On a lighter note, Dan’s Toy Museum has fun with the Indiana Jones Akator Temple Race game here and here.
• And finally, learn how you can make a papercraft model of a Buddha at Borobudur here. (Bonus assignment: If you make one of these, send me a picture and I’ll feature it in a rojak!)

In this series of ocassional rojaks (published on Wednesdays) I feature other sites in the blogosphere that are related to archaeology in Southeast Asia. Got a recommendation for the next Wednesday rojak? Email me!