Indonesia (officially Republic of Indonesia) is a country in South East Asia. Indonesia is located in Malay Archipelago, consisting of more than 17,000 islands, with around 900 islands inhabited. Geographically, Indonesia is located between two continents (Asia and Australia) and two oceans (Indian and Pacific oceans). As it straddles equator, Indonesia has a tropical climate […]
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Malaysia offers two very distinct experiences: the peninsula and Borneo (an island shared with Indonesia and Brunei). The peninsula is a mix of Malay, Chinese and Indian flavors with the modern capital of Kuala Lumpur. Malaysian Borneo features a jungle with wild animals like orangutans, granite peaks and remote tribes. About 2 million tourists visit
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Many of the children songs have words that talk about animals and birds. There are songs that talk about things children do in the day. Popular clapping songs, movement, finger plays, and rhyme accompany the songs. Shadow puppets help tell some children’s stories. Shadow puppets are a traditional way to tell stories using shadows. Mana
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Malay traditional music is associated with the traditional theatre forms such as Mak Yong, Wayang Kulit, Joget Gamelan, Hadrah, Dabus, Kuda Kepang, Gendang Kling, Mek Mulung, and additional entertainment activities. This type of music is based on either the pentatonic 5-tone or heptatonic 7-tone scales. It is performed mainly by groups of instruments which include
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The Malaysian Chinese are the only large ethnic group in Malaysia to use family names. Most other groups use a personal name and then a patronym name. For men, the patronym consists of the title bin (from So, if Osman has a son called Musa, Musa will be known as Musa bin Osman. For women, the patronym consists
The Buddhist Kingdom of Srivijaya ruled Malaysia from the 9th-13th centuries. Then the Hindu Kingdom of Majapahit took over. The state of Malacca ruled by a Muslim prince ruled afterward. This is when Islam spread throughout the area. The first Europeans to arrive were the Portuguese. They took over Malacca in 1511 and then controlled the
Qeshm Island is Iran’s largest and the Persian Gulf’s largest island. It is famous for its Hara marine forests where 1.5% of the world’s birds and 25% of Iran’s native birds annually migrate. Susa (Shush) located north of Ahvaz was Iran’s most ancient city. The Zigurat of Chughazanbil, Darius the Great’s palace, the Jewish prophet
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Portugal may seem very small for a country, but with over a thousand years of history, it has many interesting places to visit and discover the past or just enjoy the landscape. All of its major cities are quite different from each other because of the geography, climate and cultural influences in them. The southern
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Learning to sing traditional Portuguese children’s songs is a great way to have fun whole learning how to pronounce words. This is because most of them are written around playing with vowel sounds, making the verses light and easy to remember, even if some words don’t make much sense. They’re just fun syllables to teach
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The Portuguese alphabet nowadays doesn’t look very different from the English alphabet anymore. It has 26 letters, but only 23 of them are used in Portuguese words. The other three, which are k, w and y, are there since 1990 so that foreign words can be spelled in their original way. Some of these foreign
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Most Portuguese first names are very simple and come from characters in the Bible, like Maria (Mary) or João (John). Some sounds found in names will be very different from English, like the tilde in Sebastião (Sebastian) while others will be almost the same as in English, such as David, which only changes a bit
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The Persian language is part of the Indo-European language family and is one of the world’s oldest languages still in use today. It has a rich literary tradition with many noted poets. The people who speak Persian call the language Fārsī which is the Arabic form of Parsi. Persian is a member of the Iranian branch of Indo-European languages
Portugal celebrates a lot of holidays throughout the year, and most of them have roots in Christian celebrations, while others are all about the seasons and some historical events. The traditions people follow are different from those in the United States, but most fall on the same days, like Christmas and Easter. Christmas time in
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A Persian or Iranian name is made up of a first name and then the last name of the family. Sometimes more than one first name is given. Many names are taken from Arabic, Greek, Assyrian and Armenian names. About 10-15% of the names come from a Persian literature book known as Shahnameh which means
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The country of Portugal is very old and has many exciting episodes in its history. It all started in 1143 when D. Afonso Henriques inherited the kingdom of Portugal from his parents, but wanted to keep it independent while his mother wanted to join Portugal with her kingdom of León. D. Afonso managed to claim
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Traditional Portuguese games are a great way to have fun with very little supplies! Grandparents have been passing on awesome activities to their grandchildren for generations. The best thing about them, and why they stayed so popular, is that they need very little, if anything at all, to be played. When toys weren’t available to
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The history of Iran is a mix of dynasties and invaders from the Greeks, Arabs, Turks, Mongols and others. It is one of the world’s oldest civilizations with historical and city remnants dating back to 4000 B.C. The Medes made the country one nation in 645 B.C. The Achaemenid Empire (550-330 B.C.) was the first
Traditional fashion in Portugal is still worn on special occasions, like holidays and culture shows. Portugal doesn’t have one national outfit, but many outfits according to the profession or occasion the person is dressed for. They’re usually very simple, but lovely and vary according to the region people are from. Most clothes are in basic,
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Persia with its long history has invented many things. From domesticating the goat and chicken, to the invention of the brick, wine, the lute which led to the guitar, the ziggurat, first banking system and systems of checks to peaches and tulips, the game of backgammon, polo, taxation system, the courier post, spinach cultivation, ancient
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Portuguese polite habits aren’t very different from American customs, but there are some small things that help making new friends easier. People are very warm and relaxed, so any mistakes are never a big deal, as long as you remember your “please, and thank you” (Por favor, e obrigado!). You’ll see many people greeting with
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Traditional dishes in Portugal are varied because people there like to take advantage of the best things each region has to offer. There’s a lot of fish by the coast and in the interior, pastures to raise cattle and cultivate great grains and fruit. Maybe you’ve heard of the Mediterranean diet before: it has a
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Bread is the most important food in Iran. It is baked in large clay ovens. Many dishes are made from dairy products. Yogurt is a popular food as well as rice dishes that include meats, vegetables and seasonings. Lamb is a typical food. Iranians love the dessert baklava and, of course, tea. There are many
People in Portugal have many interesting stories and legends that are almost as old as the country itself, and most of them explain something about the culture, the weather, and even why some items are special to a certain region. They almost always have a good moral behind them and that’s why parents have been
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Portugal is a small country in the Iberian Peninsula, an almost perfect rectangle facing the Atlantic Ocean and bordering Spain. The population is only a little over 10 million people, but the culture is very rich, with a long history and traditions for all sorts of aspects in their day to day life, like holidays,
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