This is a work of fi ction. The events and characters described herein are imaginary and are not intended to refer to specifi c places or living persons. The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.

WALKING the WORLD 2, A NovelSubtitle, Book Two of the Migration TrilogyAll Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2017 TERRENCE KEROv3.0

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Paperback ISBN: 978-1-946765-19-2

Table of Contents

Author’s Note .............................................................. i1. Soup and a Song ....................................................12. Henry and Leewan .............................................153. Hanna and Chaat ................................................254. Hong Kong and Thailand ..................................335. History Lessons ...................................................536. Domesticated Rice ...............................................687. The Last Ice Age ..................................................788. Upriver..................................................................999. Jealousy ..............................................................11410. Betrayal ...............................................................13411. Seismic Changes ................................................14912. The Ring ............................................................15613. Thesis Proposal ..................................................16114. Entry Points ........................................................16915. Tai Clan ...............................................................17716. Four Clans .........................................................18917. Professor Chakrii ...............................................21218. National Treasures and Global Warming .....22719. Baby Chaat .........................................................24220. International Conference .................................25921. The Beginning ....................................................27222. Ancestral Surprises ...........................................28523. Honeymoon Plans .............................................30024. Two Weddings ..................................................30925. The Scroll ............................................................317Epilogue ....................................................................323Family Tree Two .....................................................327Appendix ..................................................................329

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Author’s Note

Walking the World is a trilogy of historical novels centered on a San Francisco family, Andy and Eva Koskinen and their three children. Book One follows the oldest daughter, Lisa, as she and her father trace his Finnish ancestors all the way back to the first migration of homo sapiens, modern man, from Africa to Finland. The present volume, Book Two, follows Andy and Eva’s twins, Hanna and Henry, as they learn about the first migration of modern man from Africa to Thailand, with Hanna presenting a new theory about the origin of the Thai language and the earliest people who spoke it. In Book Three, as yet unpublished, the Koskinens will trace human migration from Africa to the Americas, specifically to the United States and Brazil.

During a rewarding career as an electronic engineer, and during my travels to eighty-eight countries all over the world, I became intrigued by the subject of the earliest hu-man migrations and the question of how prehistoric hunter-gatherer clans in Africa, the first homo sapiens, came to leave their homeland some eighty thousand years ago. And how, in the course of arduous journeys over many millennia, did they manage to survive and eventually populate the entire world—all on foot, with no other means of transportation? Walking the World is my answer, and I hope that through the vehicle of fiction it will help to educate readers about human-kind’s dramatic premodern history. Although each book of

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the trilogy is based on exhaustive research, I should mention that all the names, characters, and incidents are either the product of my imagination or are used in a fictional context.

For this second book, I want to express my deep grati-tude to the many academicians in Thailand who gave up their valuable time to share their expertise with me: pro-fessors Samerchai Poolsuwan and Ratana Tosakul of the Anthropology Department at Thammasat University; pro-fessors Rasmi Shoocongdej and Surapol Natapintu of the Archaeology Department at Silpakorn University; linguistics professor Suwilai Premsrirat, Mani tribe researcher Chumpol Pothisarn, biochemistry professor Patcharee Lertrit, and anat-omy professor Sanjai Sangvichien, all at Mahidol University; linguistics professor Theraphan Luangthongkum, history pro-fessor Chalong Soontravanich, and genetic diseases professor Rachaneekorn Tammachote at Chulalongkorn University; human genetics professors Daoroong Kangwanpong and Jatupol Kampuansai, and geography professor Arisara Charoenponyanet, all at Chiang Mai University; and pop-ulation genetics professor Wilbu Kutanan at Khon Kaen University.

I also want to thank several other individuals and organi-zations in Thailand: Dr. Niran Pitakwatchara, Commissioner of the Thailand Human Rights Commission, for informa-tion on the current status of citizenship and land rights for Thailand’s many indigenous tribes; John Spies, Aussie owner of the Pang Mapha Cave Lodge and renowned cave explorer, for his description of how indigenous hill tribes could have used mountaintop trails to travel to new locations instead of following rivers, as most hunter-gatherer clans did; Dr.

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Sissades Tongsima of Biotec, for his views on Thai migration and human genetics; Voranai Vanijaka, editor in chief of GQ Thailand, for information on unique aspects of Thai culture including a discussion on Thailand being called the Land of Smiles; and the staff of the Royal Thai Survey Department, for detailed maps of Thailand. In the Appendix, I have included photos of some of my many travels in Thailand including meetings with many of the professors, tribes, and people who helped me.

In addition, I greatly benefited from consultations with three professors at American universities: Mark Seielstad, of the Laboratory for Human Genetics at University of California San Francisco, for his insights on Southeast Asian popula-tion genetics and migration; James Matisoff of the Linguistics Department at University of California Berkeley, for his views on the languages of Southeast Asia: and Gregory Guy of the Linguistics Department at New York University, for his input on the possible origins of the early prototypes of the major Southeast Asian language families.

Finally, I especially want to thank my editor Joy Johannessen, my graphic designer Josh Wright, and my men-tor Terry Bisson, author of visionary works of fiction. Above all, I express my utmost admiration and gratitude to literary agent Frances Goldin for her professional guidance, encour-agement, and friendship from the very beginning of my long journey to research, develop, and write Walking the World.

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1Soup and a Song

September 2013

Hanna Koskinen walked through the open front door of her friend Leewan Somwan’s apartment, headed for the

kitchen, and stopped in her tracks.Leewan was standing at the stove, stirring a pot of tom

kha gai and humming an unusual melody that was as famil-iar to Hanna as her own name. She stepped closer and began to hum along. Leewan turned around, surprise in her eyes, and they hummed the rest of the song together.

“Where on earth did you learn an old Finnish lullaby?” Hanna asked. “Did someone from Finland teach it to you?”

“Finnish lullaby? What are you talking about? That’s a tra-ditional Thai hum song we use to put our kids to sleep.”

“No way,” Hanna said, her brow furrowed in thought. “Can Thais and Finns possibly be related somehow? Wouldn’t that be wild?”

“Yes, I guess it would.” Leewan turned back to the stove to stir the tom kha gai, Thai chicken coconut soup.

“You bet it would,” Hanna said. “I can’t get over it, our

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families having the same traditional lullaby.” She inhaled deeply. “God, that soup smells so good. You have to teach me how to make it.”

“Sure, it’s simple enough.”“Is it ready?”“Not quite, it needs to simmer for a while.”“All right, I guess I can wait,” Hanna said, holding out

the bottle of Chardonnay she’d brought. “Let’s have a glass of wine.”

Hanna and Leewan had met a few days earlier when Leewan moved into the apartment next to Hanna’s in a build-ing near the Berkeley campus of the University of California. They’d hit it off right away. Hanna was starting the third year of a five-year PhD program in anthropology, having already completed a bachelor’s in anthropology with hon-ors. Leewan was starting a two-year master’s program in fi-nance at Berkeley’s renowned Haas School of Business. She’d earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from a university in Thailand, and then spent two years working for her father’s rice export company in Chiang Mai, her hometown. Her old-er brother, Chaat, a professor of linguistics at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, had no interest in the family busi-ness, so her father decided that Leewan, his only other child, would be the one to take over when he retired. Chaat had heard great things about Haas while he was working on his PhD in linguistics at UC Berkeley, and he recommended that Leewan enroll there to get an advanced finance degree with a specialty in international business, and also to polish her English, which would be a particular help to her father in ex-panding his exports to the USA.

WALKING THE WORLD 2 3

Leewan was a very attractive young woman, tall like a model, with a radiant smile, penetrating black eyes, and long, silky black hair. Her parents worried that if she went to Haas, she would fall in love with an American man and end up living in the USA. Because she was keen on attending Haas, Leewan promised her parents that she wouldn’t date any Americans, and they grudgingly agreed with Chaat that it would be good for her to go to Berkeley for her master’s.

“Tell me about your family,” Leewan said as she and Hanna sat down in the living room with their wine. “Do you have brothers or sisters?”

“One of each. I have an older sister, Lisa, who’s married and teaches microbiology at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center, and as for my brother—well, he’s my twin, and you may find yourself in the same class with him one of these days.”

“What do you mean?” Leewan asked.“Henry graduated from Berkeley with a business degree

and took a marketing job in New York, where he’s been for the last two years. He loves it there, but his girlfriend works in San Francisco. He and Anna have been together for a long time, and he wants to be closer to her, so he’s going for an MBA at Haas, with a major in international marketing. He’s starting this fall, same as you.”

“Really? What a coincidence. I can’t wait to meet him, and I guess I won’t have any trouble recognizing him since he’s your twin. What about your parents?”

“They live in San Francisco, across the bay about twenty-five minutes from here. My dad is a biology professor at San Francisco State University, and my mom is a microbiology scientist at Genson south of the city. What do your folks do?”

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“Well, I already told you about my dad’s export business and how he wants me to take it over when he retires. That’s why I’m going to Haas. My mom used to teach English at Chiang Mai University, but after my brother was born, my dad didn’t want her to work anymore, so now she’s a house-wife. Here, I’ve got a picture of them,” Leewan said, reaching over to the end table next to the couch and handing Hanna an ornately framed photograph. “That’s my parents with my brother right before he went off to Berkeley.”

“You have a beautiful family, Leewan, and that’s one good-looking brother you’ve got. What’s his name?”

“Chaat. According to my parents, it means jewel.”“Is he one?”“He has his moments. But now it’s your turn to show me

some family photos. You must have a few on your phone.”Hanna tugged her phone out of her pocket and scrolled

to a photo of a striking African-American woman and a fair blue-eyed man holding hands under a banner that read “Happy Anniversary, Andy and Eva!” She handed the phone to Leewan. “That’s my parents at their thirtieth anniversary party a few years ago.”

“Oh!” Leewan said, startled. “Your mom’s African-American? I just thought you had a fabulous tan.”

Hanna laughed. “Yup, a fabulous DNA tan. That’s what you get when you cross an African-American with a Finnish-American.”

“When you cross a Thai with a Thai, you get a Thai,” Leewan said. “That’s me, Thai through and through.” She cocked her head. “What’s that noise?”