I missed blogging about the video of Thandar Shwe's wedding video when it first hit the internet a few weeks ago. If you happened to have missed all the fuss, there are now multiple video clips from what would appear to be nearly an hour-long video up at YouTube. Odds are slim I'd be able to find the reference, but I seem to recall one commentator referring to the wedding of Senior General Than Shwe's daughter as having the style of the gaudy (or was it tacky?) nouveau-riche. That sums it up fairly accurately.

One of the YouTube users who's posted multiple clips of the wedding is maungde, from whom I received an email last week about his (or her) most recent video posting. Thanks to Google Earth, we are treated to rather clear footage via sattelite of the new capital of Naypyidaw, as well as the General's own home. The video clips go by pretty quick, so it's worth pausing at the end to get a decent look at his palace. It comes complete with an inground pool and what's likely a pool house, and more rooves than you could shake a stick at.

I also received an email last week from a friend about a new blog, called Hugawng Kachin. Many of the posts are actually written in the Kachin language, but there are also a number of informative English posts as well. They cover some of the basics of Kachin State and Kachin culture, so do go over there and read up! There are a lot of Burmese bloggers out there, but there are a limited number of blogs that actually focus on Burma and political or cultural issues. Even fewer of these blogs are written by people from Burma. Of course, with the prevalence of independent Burmese and ethnic media groups, there are many many people from Burma who are writing and speaking out, but the journalistic medium tends to limit one's personal voice. It's great, then, to see the writers at Hugawng Kachin taking up the blogging medium. I hope they'll be able to continue with the frequent updates in both Kachin and English. I also hope I can locate a Kachin-English dictionary so I can get to studying and learn to read it all myself. If anyone happens to know where to find one, please let me know.