Covering the Mekong

The Mekong River--which translates to the "mother of all rivers"--starts in the mountains of Tibet, flows through China's Yunnan province and then into Myanmar (Burma), Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. It's an extraordinary region, home to 250 million people and some of the most dynamic and troubling developments in the world.

In the vivid new book Crossing Borders: Reportage from Our Mekong, the Inter Press Service has assembled articles and photo essays from 17 journalists who scramble around the region to ferret out unusual stories. They have gone after the stories that rarely make it into the U.S. press--the underside of China's development projects in Laos and Cambodia, the lives of sex workers in Vietnam, the decline of Dai culture in Yunnan province. It is an impressive compendium of Inter Press Service journalism from and about Asia.

According to Heritage Watch, "at least 20% of tourists have unknowingly bought ancient Khmer artifacts, often thinking that they are just ordinary items."

"The monk said it was not easy to get the radio station off the ground," reports Ung Chamroeun, "because some government officials were not too keen on efforts that would undercut the profitable activities of corrupt officials. But today, with the help of Cambodia-based NGO Mlup Baitong, environmental topics get the lion's share in programming. Commercial advertisements, including those pushing beauty products, are politely refused."

Crossing Borders is a superb way to indulge in political tourism without getting on a plane. The articles are written by journalists from the region, who know it intimately. They neither turn their eyes away from the seamier side of the region's development nor ignore the inspiring of examples of civic and cultural activism. It is a region "rich in stories," as editor Johanna Son relates in her introduction. "Several Mekong countries are grappling simultaneously with trends that other nations have dealt with over much longer periods of time: the transition from a centrally planned economy, recovery from years of conflict, the pressure to open up markets under a freer-trade regime, and the opening of borders."