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Tag: South East Asia

From island lagoons to temple-lined rivers, South East Asia is rich with places where remembrance meets living culture. This tag curates human-interest stories and timely news from Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Laos and the Philippines — boat scatterings...

Asia’s Columbarium Culture: Ancestors, Altars, and Architecture

Columbarium Cultures Across Asia – and Why They Feel So Different I’m not a death tourist. Admittedly, when I travel I do take an interest in graveyards, burial grounds, and how different cultures care for their dead. Visiting Vietnam this year, I was struck by how distinct its approach felt compared with other parts of […]

Explore how Shanghai’s sea burials blend tradition, sustainability and remembrance — a modern, dignified alternative to land burial in an overpopulated city.

China: Scattering at Sea – Shanghai offers a subsidised service.

Scattering Ashes at Sea in Shanghai, China I’ve written before about the sea-burial service offered by the authorities in Hong Kong — a thoughtful, if somewhat bureaucratic, attempt to ease the pressure that traditional burials place on precious land. I’ve always been a supporter of green burials, but it’s rare to see the subject discussed […]

South Korea has Adopted Cremation in a Big Way

South Korea’s Remarkable Shift to Cremation: From 20% to 86% in a Generation In less than a generation, South Korea’s cremation rate has soared from 20% to 86%. Discover why this cultural transformation happened so fast — and what it reveals about modern attitudes toward death, religion, and the environment. In 1994, just 20.5% of […]

Sandalwood Flowers used in Thai Cremation Ceremonies

The Thai king King Bhumibol Adulyadej was cremated last month (October 2017) and he has two cremation ceremonies, the first cremation is ceremonial and not actual, in the first ceremony they burnt ashes of sandalwood flowers. When I first saw this I was slightly confused, I thought they were referring to flowers of the sandalwood […]

David Bowie’s Ashes Scattered in Bali

David Bowie’s Ashes – A Direct Cremation and a Buddhist Farewell Few artists have shaped modern culture like David Bowie — a man who reinvented himself more times than most of us change hairstyles. And even in death, Bowie remained the ultimate trendsetter, rejecting tradition and opting for a direct cremation with no service or mourners present. According to his […]

Iconic Buddhist monk’s cremation relics go on display

The Rosemead Buddhist temple in Los Angles is opening its door to the public, displaying a huge collection of relics. This year the collection has even more artefacts, perhaps the most notable of its new relics from the Venerable Thich Quang Duc. The Buddhist monk who in 1963 in south Vietnam set fire to himself […]

The Balinese Ceremony of Ngaben: Turn to Ash

Balinese Ngaben Cremation Ceremony — Turn to Ash The beautiful Island of Bali in the Indonesian archipelago has a predominately Hindu population, whose belief system varies slightly from the Hindu doctrine in India. And from time to time they hold mass cremations. The cremation ceremony know as Ngaben (which means ‘turn to ash’) is elaborate […]

Ashes of Malaysian Communist leader – State try to intervene

Ashes of Malaysian Communist Leader and State Opposition The ex communist leader of Malaysia, Chin Peng passed away in a hospital in Thailand in September, he had been in exile in Thailand since signing a peace accord with the Malaysian Government in the late eighties. Now his cremation ashes have sparked a row, the Malaysian […]

Can you send cremation ashes in the post?

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Royal Mail Policy on Sending Ashes in the Post If you’re planning to send cremation ashes by post within the UK or abroad, it’s essential to understand the Royal Mail and Parcelforce regulations. The rules are quite strict — and for good reason — but there are safe, legal, and reliable ways to transport ashes […]

The King of Cambodia – Ashes Scattered on the Mekong

Royal farewell along Southeast Asia’s great river King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia has been cremated, he had abdicated twice, led his country into the terror of the Khmer Rouge and then out again. He was cremated in a custom made 15 storey crematorium and then his ashes were scattered on the Mekong where hundreds of thousands of […]

Malaysian Religious organisation seizes cremation ashes

Authorities intervene after cremated remains are brought into a mosque Here we have first case I that I have read about, where someone’s ashes have been seized. Mrs M Nagamah passed away on the 14 August and “According to her family, she lived her life as a Hindu and died a Hindu. They were preparing […]

Buddha Beads: Cremation ashes into glass beads

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Meaning and use of cremation glass beads in memory and mourning Well it is not exactly cremation jewellery, but it is another unique way of keeping a loved one ashes. I have previous posted about the rise in cremation in South Korea in south east Asia. The ancestor in holds a very special place within […]

Using Cremated Ashes to get high! New craze in Thailand

Unusual trend mixing cremation ashes with recreational drugs Is ‘good gracious’ a very British term? Maybe. Talking about cremation and cremated remains, I should not really be surprised about the stranger aspects of the human psyche. But (note the use of the full stop) this story has surprised me for two reasons, the fact that […]

Not allowed alongside fallen comrades…

Vietnam refuses request to scatter a French general’s ashes at Dien Bien Phu Vietnam has turned down a request to scatter the ashes of General Marcel Bigeard, a highly decorated French war veteran, at the site of a pivotal battle that contributed to the end of French colonial rule. General Bigeard, who passed away last […]