Amidst the hustle and bustle of a fast-growing Southeast Asian city, Bangkok is fast becoming a capital of POP culture – hello Kitties, Doramon, and icons are popular among the youthful – a sure sign of its growing cosmopolitan status.

Thailand is the only southeast Asian country NEVER colonised in the last 100 years.

I was walking in a park and looked up to see this abstract pattern, almost modern art like Jackson Pollock style.

“The modern artist is working with space and time, and expressing his feelings rather than illustrating.”

– Jackson Pollock

ART is everywhere if you look for it.

A perfectly-shaped European couple checking out a local village making SALT in Amed, Bali.

I can’t help looking either.

Facing the strong waves at the Padang Bai Beach, East Bali.

A little remote spot where the waves break against the rocks in east Bali port town of Padang Bai. Very majestic sight – like watching a storm in a teacup.

“When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. “

Matthew 3:16

This is a view from the room where I work from at home. One day, two pigeons came to rest at my balcony.

“the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”

Genesis 2:7

I shot this amusing ‘artpiece’ at a hostel in Salta, Argentina in 2005.

But only recently, I’ve been smitten with the enigma of Ernesto Che Guevara after watching the Steven Soderbergh two-parter epic bio-movie…

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1866273,00.html

“”Many will call me an adventurer, and that I am… only one of a different sort: one who risks his skin to prove his truths” – Ernesto Che Guevara.

Environmental and human rights group in Peru have denounced the government’s campaign to auction off large swathes of the Amazon to oil and gas companies.

They say the amount of Peruvian Amazon territory open to exploration has risen from 13% to 70% in two years.

They say this is putting at risk the biodiversity of the Amazon and the lives of indigenous people.

Peruvian President Alan Garcia has said the plans are part of his investment programme to tackle widespread poverty.

Of 91 oil and gas concessions currently on the books, many approved during Peru President Alan Garcia’s term, 59 are in the jungle.

Investment in exploration will top $1 billion this year from U.S. oil companies, something the administration does not want to lose to protests.

reports from Time magazine and this > BBC report <

A stern Lion guards the door at Singapore’s High Court building.

DON’T KNOCK FOR NO REASON.

“The Government of Singapore generally respected the human rights of its citizens; however, there were significant problems in some areas. The Government has broad powers to limit citizens’ rights and to handicap political opposition, which it used in practice.

Government leaders continued to use court proceedings and defamation suits against political opponents and critics. These suits, which have consistently been decided in favor of government plaintiffs, chilled political speech and action and created a perception that the ruling party used the judicial system for political purposes. “

- from 2005 U.S. state department country report.