Catching up on a month’s worth of rojak, so some of the stories may be a little dated. Today’s assortment takes us to the ongoing culture war between Malaysia and Indonesia, the origin of the Komodo Dragon (no, it hasn’t gone to Malaysia), and Java Man’s eating habits (no, they didn’t eat at Malaysia either).

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!