The Orang Laut, who mainly settle in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, the Moken in Thailand, and the Sama-Bajau who mainly live in East-Malaysia and the Philippines are ethnic groups that have a seaborne or amphibian lifestyle and culture. The Malayan name Orang...
The famous Thai architect and artist Sumet Jumsai speaks about solutions for building houses with and not against nature. Here is an excerpt:Our built environment evolved with nature, not against it. Our national trait is marked by resilience, inventiveness,...
Three texts, three authors, three different contexts - all describing the amphibious but perilous life style of the inhabitants of Bangkok, the capital of Thailand: In her essay from 2018 on contemporary flood protection in several metropolises across Asia, researcher...
UNESCO World Heritage site in Ayutthaya (Thailand) province - inundated with floodwaters on October 10, 2011. More than 250 Thais have died after two months of heavy rainfall have inundated large swathes of the country and hit provinces on the northern outskirts of...
Manimekhala is a budddhist goddess regarded in Southeast Asia as guardian of the Seas.
This painting shows a scene from early buddhist texts from the 3. and 4. Century AD: When Mara, the God of Death, attacked Siddhattha, Siddhattha called on Vasundhara, also referred to as Bhumi or Mother Earth, to save him. Vasundhara creates a massive flood by...