LAKENLA, Tibet — The view from the prayer-flag covered mountain pass of Lakenla in Tibet is expansive.

The endless vista is rendered tapestry-like by a collection of sapphire lakes and jagged peaks. This is Namtso — Tibetan for "Heavenly Lake." On its high plateaus, rockslides echo like thunder in the valleys, and geography makes that shift from classroom dullness to vibrant story of man’s interaction with the Earth.

CHAING MAI, Thailand — Burma held its long anticipated by-elections on April 1 for 45 seats in the national parliament. What was variously hyped as “Myanmar Decides,” “Burma’s Decision,” and “Myanmar’s Historic Vote” really achieved three things: it granted the democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi a seat in parliament, gave President Thein Sein and his reformist camp significant international cachet, and demonstrated that even with serious limitations, Burma was on the road to reform.

Suu Kyi herself set the tone in a news conference on March 30, when she said, “I don't think we can consider it a genuine free and fair election if we consider what has been happening here over the last few months … (irregularities are) … really beyond what's acceptable in a democratic nation. Still, we are determined to go forward because that's what our people want.”

At the same time, the by-election results show just how much the Burmese people want reform and respect for human rights, and the depth of their support for Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD).

The National League for Democracy has announced it won all 44 seats for which it fielded candidates, although official results won’t be available until later this week. Suu Kyi won in Kawhmu township, in the outskirts of Rangoon. She voted early in the morning and was received by exuberant supporters, after weeks of nationwide campaigning that drew unimaginable crowds of supporters. The NLD says it won three seats in the capital, Naypyidaw, including one for the former political prisoner and hip-hop star Zayar Thaw.

YANGON — On election day in Myanmar, the music blasts in downtown Yangon.

Rappers riff on Burmese politics and the crowd sings and shouts the chorus: “Stand up Myanmar, Myanmar stand up!”

In front of National League for Democracy headquarters, traffic crawls by a sea of people waving red NLD flags. The crowd roars when the numbers show up on the JumboTron. By evening it seems certain: the NLD has won by a landslide.

After years of house arrest and humiliation, after surviving an attempt to kill her, NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi will take a seat in Parliament.

The day after the election, in one of the big hotels where dignitaries stay, the lobby buzzes. People mill about and call to each other. That man over there used to head the UN mission here, an acquaintance tells me. The one in the blue longyi works closely with Aung San Suu Kyi. I hear the man say that he’s not excited by the election results because he expected the victory. The NLD has apparently won 43 of the 44 seats in which its candidates ran against those from the military’s proxy party. But this was only a by-election to fill a few vacancies; the opposition will control only a fraction of the more than 600 seats in Parliament.

For now, someone says, it’s better that the NLD won’t control Parliament, as they won’t have to form a government from scratch.

TOKYO, Japan — North Korea has been the target of much criticism by the United States and other countries for its nuclear program and aggressive behavior against South Korea. The North Korean population is now faced with a serious food shortage. Its people are starving. And I believe it is our duty to help.

I have visited North Korea a number of times, and will be returning there in May on a mission to distribute food, medications and medical equipment. My commitment to extending a helping hand to the North Koreans is grounded in my experience as a journalist in the Far East, first as a correspondent for Newsweek and then Fortune magazine, and in my current role as publisher of The Cambodia Daily.

Following a trip to North Korea in the mid-'90s to see firsthand the devastation and hunger caused by massive flooding, I arranged to donate tons of rice, medications and clothing. I have created a website (www.northkorea.org), which explains my continuing efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to the people in North Korea. I have posted stories from The Washington Post and BBC describing efforts of the world community to provide food aid and the view of critics who say Pyongyang spends most of what little hard currency it earns maintaining a million-strong army and developing nuclear weapons and missiles instead of feeding its millions of malnourished people. Consequently, the regime's appeals for massive food aid have gone largely unanswered by a skeptical international community.