At Ho Chi Minh Airport at the passport checking counter there are many lines you can join depending on your passport type. There was a line for Vietnamese passports, A line for foreign passports and a one for........ Asean passports!
We were laughing and saying, "from now on when you refer to something/someone being Asian - you need to pronounce it A-Shaun"
Then we realised that Asean means this.....
It's the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. It's a political and economic organisation to ten Southeast Asian countries, which was formed in 1967 by Indonesian, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Since then, membership has expanded to include Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (Burma) and Vietnam. Its aims include accelerating economic growth, social progress and sociocultural evolution among its members, protection of regional peace and stability, and opportunities for member countries to discuss differences peacefully.
Honestly, what would I do without Wikipedia?
I only feel a little bit silly though, because thinking that someone had misspelled 'Asian' at passport control is still pretty funny.
(the fact I hadn't heard of Asean is just sad and something that I need to live with)
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