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JustPlainBill's avatar

In reading of your conversation with the Burmese man, I had the fleeting thought that most Westerners probably view Southeast Asian nations as interchangeable, a sentiment that seems faintly insulting to all of them.

I like those last few pictures; its interesting to look at the different facial expressions on your subjects and imagine what they are thinking...

"In any society, most people just want to be left alone..." I always thought that was true, but here nowadays we seem to have more than our fair share of those who not only don't want to be left alone, they don't want YOU to be left alone either. While hoping myself (probably in vain) for the former, I keep thinking of Pericles: "Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean that politics won't take an interest in you."

Happy New Year!

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Tom's avatar

Very nice, enjoyable piece. I admire Mr. Dinh's ability to talk to strangers and extract their best stories. I wish I could do that, but I'm usually too anti-social. I enjoy reading and writing about travels, tough. Happy New Year, Mr. Dihn!

https://contrarium.substack.com/p/strasbourg

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