|
Taipei - Taiwan's Buddhist groups have launched programmes to mobilise at least half a million followers to raise relief funds for the thousands killed by the devastating tsunamis in Asia, officials said Wednesday.
The move came as the United Nations said international aid needed for the affected areas was likely to exceed the record UN appeal of 1.6 billion US dollars for Iraq last year.
One of Taiwan's leading Buddhist organisations, Tzu Chi, said it planned to mobilise at least 500,000 followers here and elsewhere in the world to raise money in a campaign called "Let Love Flow into South Asia; Let Sympathy Sooth Painful Suffering".
"At least 500,000 Tzu Chi people will take to the streets for a week or two," a Tzu Chi spokesman told reporters, without specifying the targeted amount to be raised.
Tzu Chi followers in the United States, Malaysia and Canada will kick off the global roadside fundraising campaign Thursday and Friday, to be followed by their peers in Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan.
Several other Buddhist organizations, such as Fo Guang Shan Monastery and Lingyen Mountain Buddhist Temple, are also mobilizing to raise money and materials.
The government Wednesday pledged five million US dollars in aid to tsunami-devastated countries and said it was organizing a 100-member medical team.
Taiwan's national space programme, meanwhile, offered to provide satellite images of the damage to affected countries and aid groups for free.
Two relief teams from Taiwan on Tuesday left for Indonesia and Thailand, taking with them tons of medical and relief supplies.
One Taiwanese national was killed when tsunamis devastated Phuket island in Thailand. Two Taiwanese are still missing. [AFP]
 News in pictures
Group of Buddhist monks and villagers search for the missing along railroad tracks at Telwatte, about 100 kilometers (63 miles) south of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2004. The massive tidal waves that slammed into Sri Lanka flung a train off its tracks, leaving many of its 1,000 passengers dead or missing, police said Tuesday, while rescuers uncovered thousands of bodies across the country. (Eranga Jayawardena/AP)
Buddhist monks led services for the dead in southern Sri Lanka as scores of bodies from a train hit by the tsunami were laid in a mass grave.
A Buddhist monk distributes food to survivors of Sunday's tsunami in Ambalantota, Sri Lanka December 29, 2004. Buddhist monks handed out rice and curry parcels to grieving tsunami survivors in Sri Lanka and aircraft dropped food to isolated Indonesian towns on Wednesday as Asia's disaster relief operation struggled to kick in. (Thomas White/Reuters)
Marvelling Laotian temple and its architecture
By William Foreman
Vientiane - A slow, thumping drum beat summoned about 15 Buddhist monks wrapped in orange robes as the sun began to rise, and they gathered at a massive gold stupa called Pha That Luang - the most important national symbol in Laos.
Buddhist monks gather at Pha Tha Luang in Vientiane, Laos, in November. Vientiane is a flat, dusty city of 133,000 people that's so laid back that chickens peck and scratch along the roads in the town's center. It's the hub of Southeast Asia's poorest and most isolated country, gripped by a creaky, often uptight communist system. (David Longstreath/AP)
It was 6 am and I met up with the drowsy but smiling monks as I began a one-day tour of Vientiane, the Lao capital that wraps around a bend in the Mekong River - one of the world's great waterways.
Vientiane is a flat, dusty city of about 133,000 people that's so laid back that chickens peck and scratch along the roads in the town's center. It's the hub of the region's poorest and most isolated country, gripped by a creaky, often uptight communist system.
But Vientiane - which means Sandalwood City - is full of surprises for travelers expecting to find a shabby, depressing city stuck in the 1970s. By wandering the capital for a day, visitors can see bustling markets, quirky museum exhibits, beautifully restored temples, cyber cafes, pubs, steamy noodle shops, pizza joints and friendly people who never seem to stop smiling.
The best way to get around is to hire a three-wheel taxi, called a tuk tuk, for about $10 a day.
I started my day of rambling at Pha That Luang, or the Great Stupa, on the eastern outskirts of Vientiane. The huge gilded monument with a cluster of pointed stupas - which are Buddhist shrines - looks like a square missile launcher surrounded by thick, tall walls. The main stupa in the middle is 148 feet tall.
Stupas were originally built to house a Buddha relic, and legend has it that Pha That Luang holds a chunk of the Buddha's breastbone brought by Indian missionaries about the 3rd century B.C. But some excavations suggest the monument - featured on Laos' official seal - marks the spot of a monastery.
As the sun rose at 6 am, the drum beat called the monks to the stupa and they lined up single file and began walking through neighborhoods of rundown, squatty wooden homes with corrugated steel roofs. The air was thick with one of the common smells of the developing world: people burning the previous day's trash in small fires outside their homes.
Women in long traditional skirts stood by the roadside waiting for the monks with bags of bananas, plates of dried fish and baskets full of sticky rice. As the monks file by, the women placed the food in their alms bowls and knelt down as the holy men chanted for a few minutes before moving on to the next home.
I broke away from the Buddhist parade as it passed a crowded morning market just a few blocks west of Pha That Luang. The market has rows of fruit and vegetable stands, and your nose is bombarded with smells: salty dried squid, steaming fragrant rice, piles of fresh mint and charcoal fires under bubbling pots of soup broth.
Vendors sat behind large piles of pumpkins, cucumbers and bright red chilies, calling customers with the soft, nasal sound of the Lao language.
After an hour wandering the market, I headed over to central Vientiane for breakfast. Along the way, I passed the odd mix of low-rise architecture. Drab concrete storefronts were next to colonial-style buildings with verandahs and tall shuttered windows - leftovers of five decades of French rule. Many were crumbling but some have been skillfully restored.
One of Vientiane's main landmarks is the Fountain Circle, an area packed with Western restaurants and guesthouses popular with the backpacking crowd. I stopped at a guesthouse to have a cup of strong coffee, fruit salad and warm, crusty French bread - some of the best I've ever had in Asia.
The rest of the morning was spent at Lao National History Museum, a few blocks east of the Fountain Circle. The museum is housed in a weathered white two-story mansion with faded blue shutters that was built in 1925 for the French governor.
The museum features everything from dinosaur bones and sandstone sculptures of the Hindu god Shiva to machine guns and black and white photos of guerrillas fighting U.S.-backed troops before the communists came to power in 1975.
Most exhibit labels have English translations and refer to Americans as the "US imperialists."
The French are also portrayed in an unflattering way. A large undated oil painting shows a French soldier throwing a boy down a well as another prepares to hit a woman with his rifle butt as he rips a child out of her arms. A village burns in the background.
But despite the "imperialist" references and the depiction of French soldiers, today Americans and Europeans - along with their cash and their backpacks - are generally welcome throughout Laos.
After the museum, I had a light lunch at one of the noodle shops that seem to be everywhere in Vientiane. I had the popular dish foe, rice noodles with slices of beef served with a plate of fresh mint, lettuce, bean spouts and lime wedges. The vegetables are mixed into the soup along with sugar, fish sauces and chili powder.
Afternoons can be sweltering in Laos, so I decided to tour the shady Wat Si Saket in central Vientiane. Built in 1818, the wat, or temple, is surrounded by a wall. The wall's interior features thousands of niches or tiny grottos that contain silver and gilded clay Buddhas. The wat also includes a sim, or ordination room, with an altar displaying more Buddhist sculptures.
Across the street is the Haw Pha Kaew, a former royal temple built in 1565 that's now a museum for religious objects. The museum displays some of Laos' best Buddhist sculptures.
During the afternoon's peak, I tried to stick to air-conditioned places. I checked my e-mail at one of the many cyber cafes in central Vientiane, and I got an hourlong massage for $4. I also browsed the neighborhood's numerous antique and silk shops.
As the sun began to set, I went to a restaurant on the Mekong and watched the burning orange orb gradually sink below the tree line on Thailand's side of the river.
I dined on beef with red curry sauce, a spicy minced chicken dish and a Vietnamese salad with clear rice noodles. The setting would have been perfect if I didn't have to share the food with a swarm of persistent flies.
I ended my day with some pub-crawling that took me to the British-style Samlo Pub, just a few blocks from the river. Teak shelves behind the bar were well-stocked with the big names of the liquor world. The bottles were neatly organized around a television that played a DVD of the "Lord of the Rings." Stereo speakers blared "Pretty in Pink" by the Psychedelic Furs.
The day began with drums - a Buddhist alarm clock for monks. It ended with a Western pop tune. Perfect musical symbols for the broad spectrum of experience in this sleepy but often surprising river town.
More information
LAOS: www.visit-mekong.com is the official Web site for travel and tourism in Laos. November to April is considered high season for travel to the country because it is dry. |
