10 Reasons We Love Asean

10 REASONS WE LOVE ASEAN A baby orange utan chills out at Sepilok, East Malaysias world-famous centre for rescured orange utans. Smart, strong and found only in southeastern Asia, the orange utan was an easy choice to launch our lists of the 40 things we love most about this region. 1. ORANGE UTAN Smart, attractive and much stronger than they look, orange utans are Asias largest apes. Scientists look at disc everywhereed that orange utans even have their own cultures, with different groups developing their own style of tools. several(prenominal) orange utans have even taught to use sign language.There are fewer than 55,000 left in the wild, on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. 2. CORAL REEFS Life gets pretty complicated in Tubbataha Reef Marine Park, Phillippines. With 396 coral, 479 fish, six shark and two sea turtle species, it has greater biodiversity than any other reef of its size in the world. This World inheritance Site was once threatened by pollution but the Filipinos are fighting to save it for the next generation to swim in. Tubbataha is part of southeastward Asias coral triangle, which also covers Malaysia and Indonesia. . ELEPHENT Southeast Asia has marched to war and riches on the back of the elephant. These intelligent giants have carried kids and kings, and are still used for heavy lap up in Myanmar and other countries. Theyre also worshipped in Laos and Thailand especially if theyre white or albino. Laos used to be called Pathetlao Lanexang, or Land of a Million Elephants, but the region now has fewer than 30,000 in the wild. 4. ORCHIDS What do Queen Elizabeth, Kofi Annan and Laura Bush have in common?Theyre all orchid hybrids that can be found in capital of Singapores famous National Orchids can be found in many parts of the world, Southeast Asia has one of the widest collections. Singapore and Indonesia have orchids as their national flowers. These flowers dont just attract bees they can also be used in forage and medicine. 5. KIT ES Kites have a long history in Southeast Asia, with the Sejarah Melayu mentioningkite fighting as far back as the 1400s. Each village has its own style, lots drawing inspiration from batik designs, architecture or gods. There are fighting kites and singing kites, and giant ones as much as 6 metres in width.Major kite-flying festivals and competitions take place during the northeast monsoon, when strong winds carry the kites even through the night. 6. ROLLER-COASTERS Lifes full of ups and downs in Brunei in a good way. The plain holds the world record for the most roller-coasters per person there are 0. 8 for every 100. 000 Bruneians. To join in the fun, visit Jerudong Park, the countrys theme park. 7. BAKILBAYAN BOXES Millions of Southeast Asians live and work in foreign countries, but they dont forget everyone at home. Filipinos working in faraway places love sending wide gift boxes to their families.These care packages are called balikbayan (meanine returnee) boxes, and conta in novelties from the foreign country, like food and toys. 8. SMS Southeast Asians dont need a lot of space to have a lot of fun. Just look at how wild we can go on our mobile phone screens. Young Singaporeans won the title of rapid SMS-fingers in the world, not once, but twice. The Philippines, sometimes known as the SMS capital of the world, uses SMS for everything from poetry to political protests. 9. PUPPETS After a hard day working in the rice fields, its great to chill with a fun puppet show.Southeast Asia has a puppet love affair, celebrating it every year with the ASEAN Puppet Festival. Vietnam is famous for its water supply puppets, with carvel wooden puppets (above) making a splash on the surface of flooded rice fields. Then theres wayang kulit the shadow plays that have entertained villagers and kings from Indonesia to Thailand for over 800 years. 10. FORMULA ONE Every year, thousands satisfy their need for speed with the F1 Malaysian Grand Prix, Racing legends like Mi chael Schumacher have burned rubber on the Sepang circuit. Singapore will have F1 races from 2008.