Travelfish newsletter Issue 378 : Stay at home + Travelfish reader survey 2020!
Hi everyone,
Well, what a week it has been. As I write this newsletter Monday morning, friends are in the air flying from Australia to Argentina. They had planned on travelling to Southeast Asia, but given all the chaos around border regulations and quarantine (more on that below) they decided to switch to South America. This morning, while they were still in the air, Argentina announced it was closing its borders due to Coronavirus. That is how quickly the situation is changing.
While advice by countries varies somewhat, the general advice in response to this crisis is, wherever possible: stay home. The ramifications of this on the tourism industry and the millions of people who rely on it for an income will be undeniably catastrophic.
This week’s newsletter is all about what you can do to help “flatten the curve”, doing your bit to stem the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and to get the region (and planet) back on its feet.
These be wobbly times. Photo: Stuart McDonald
If you’re already under quarantine, and if you haven’t done it already, please consider setting aside the time to do the Travelfish reader survey. We have more than 550 submissions and it would be great to see even more! I will publish the full results at the end of the month. Thank you!
Please don’t forget we have a donate to Travelfish page. If you’d like to make a one-off (or regular even!) donation, please see here. Thank you!
Till next week!
Stuart
PS The redesign is almost done—happy days!
Support Travelfish!
If you'd like to chip in (if you haven’t already) for using the site, we'd love you to sign up for a year-long subscription for just A$35. See more here.
Stay at home
The most important thing you can do regarding the spread of COVID-19 (the disease caused by Sars-CoV-2) is to stop worrying about whether you are going to catch it. Instead, work on the assumption you already have it, and you need to do all you can to not spread it.
It's a slight shift in perspective from being fearful to being responsible and it can make all the difference in your outlook.
This can take many forms: washing your hands frequently, trying not to touch your face, not shaking hands and keeping at least two metres away from other people. But the most important (and challenging for those of us who love travel) is to practise social distancing and to stay at home.
It pains me to say this as not a day has gone by past this last week where I haven’t talked to a tourism-reliant business being crucified by COVID-19, but it is vital that non-essential travel—be it jumping on a flight or heading out to the local food hall—be curtailed as much as possible.
Even for those intent on still travelling or for those who are in the middle of a trip, Southeast Asia is becoming increasingly complicated to travel to/from/within. Cambodia and Vietnam have banned some nationalities. Singapore and Australia have mandatory 14-day self-quarantines for all international arrivals. I dunno about you, but being required to stay 14 days in some Singapore hotel when I only wanted to stay for a night would be a serious budget buster.
The regulations are changing daily, sometimes hourly, as countries grapple with the outbreak and in some cases (Hello Thailand!) mixed messaging is making an already challenging situation even worse. Travel is becoming a major headache for the traveller and travellers are a major vector for the virus.
So what are you to do if you are mid-trip?
If just packing up and going home is not an option (and jumping on a long-haul flight in the current environment may be unwise anyway), I suggest bunkering down where you are. With that in mind, I thought I’d take the opportunity to mention a dozen excellent family-run businesses in the region that would be an ideal spot to set up camp. Keep yourself off the streets and help support locally owned businesses while we all work together to try and ride this beast out.
Baan Lotus, Ayutthaya, Thailand
Good Karma, Amed, Bali, Indonesia
Keranji Beach Resort, Perhentian Islands, Malaysia
Le Domaine de Tam Hai, Quang Nam, Vietnam
Libong Beach Resort, Ko Libong, Thailand
Lonely Beach Eco Resort, Koh Rong, Cambodia
Mayow Bungalow, Ko Muk, Thailand
Mutmee Guesthouse, Nong Khai, Thailand
Outside Inn, Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand
Three J Guesthouse, Kamphaeng Phet, Thailand
I could happily put my feet up at any of these for two weeks. If you need some distractions to keep you indoors, here are 150 travel videos to watch!
Good travels
Stuart
Premium members only:
Book a round the world with roundtheworldflights.com (must travel from the UK via Asia, Australia, New Zealand AND the Americas) and get £30pp off your trip. Offer valid for departures to December 2021.
Log in to the Member Centre on Travelfish now for your coupon code and
start designing your own round the world trip »
Support independent journalists
In times like now all businesses, especially those that are tourist facing, are hurting badly. Another group, that of freelance journalists in the region, are equally doing it tough—often putting themselves at risk to get the stories to you of what is going on in the region. So with that in mind, here are a few newsletters that are well worth consideration. All have at least some free offerings, so you can try before you buy, but if you choose to sign up as a paying subscriber, you’ll be doing your bit to help them keep doing the valuable work that they do.
Asia Undercovered
A weekly newsletter covering topics the author feels to not get enough coverage in the mainstream press. Covers all of Asia, not just Southeast Asia. A good one for quirky and interesting stories. Free.
Between The Lines
A daily newsletter focussed on day to day developments in Malaysia. Tends to be politics heavy. Free.
Dari Mulut Ke Mulut
Weekly emails covering a wide range of topics in Southeast Asia. Easy to read and broken down by country. Both free and paid flavours.
Hukum
Occasional editorial pieces covering issues going on in Sumatra, with a focus on legal cases and crime. Both free and paid flavours.
Indonesia Intelligencer
A weekly blast focused on Indonesia. A part of the Coconuts network. Similar to Dari Mulut Ke Mulut (is by the same author) but covers only Indonesia. Both free and paid flavours.
Vietnam Weekly
Rather than a newswrap tends to pick up a few interesting stories from Vietnam and run with them. Free, with an option to support via Patreon.
We The Citizens
Weekly dispatches on what is happening in Singapore. Can be very dense, but packed with information. If you’re a Singapore watcher, an essential subscription. Both free and paid flavours.
Ten things worth reading
Walking tours
In quarantine but your feet itching like mad? This collection of walking tour videos might be just what the doctor ordered.
Overlooked No More: Ni Gusti Ayu Raka Rasmi, Balinese Dancer
“She embodied a quality the Balinese call “taksu,” which Ballinger described as “charisma, spiritual power, something that exceeds technical brilliance and is seen as a sort of divine energy.””
Cambodia's Prized Kampot Pepper, Nearly Wiped Out By Khmer Rouge, Makes A Comeback
“They came to this laid-back province on the Gulf of Thailand to look for a place to live quietly near the water. They decided on a whim to visit a pepper farm.”
Island-Hopping in Vietnam: A Guide
“Use this page as a starting point for creating your island-hopping itinerary: each island in the list below includes a brief summary and an illustration with a link to my full guide.”
Young, Confident and Flying, Virus Be Damned
Exactly what you should not be doing.
As Residents Grapple With Smog, Vietnam Pushes Renewable Energy ($)
“It’s not like Ho Chi Minh City is a stranger to polluted air. What’s new is the timing and consistency of the pollution experienced more recently.”
Caged and exploited: Animals come last at Yangon zoo
“Dr Chris Draper, the head of animal welfare and captivity at international wildlife charity Born Free, told Frontier in December 2019 that enclosures at the zoo were “almost universally barren and wholly unsuitable for the animals”.”
The Kep woman using education to inspire change in Cambodia
“Mom’s focus on early education has led to her connecting local women who didn’t finish secondary education with teacher training opportunities to train and become preschool teachers.”
Flight restrictions and cancellations by country
A good (albeit dense) page on flight restrictions and cancellations by country.
Cambodia’s Cham Muslims Fear Loss of Ancient Script and Language
“So Farina, from DC-Cam, said the growing influence of international mainstream Muslim practices among the Cham “could overpower the community traditions.”
Something to read
A Field Guide to Getting Lost
“Rebecca Solnit’s beautiful collection of nine essays, A Field Guide to Getting Lost, are a wonderful meditation on the transformations that take place when one gets lost. Whether it’s through travel, escape or internal disruption, getting lost is about new perspectives and interpretations, and often transformation.”
Travel shot
Quarantine me here. Photo: Stuart McDonald
Till next time
That’s it from us for now. As usual, enjoy the site’s new additions and drop us a line if there’s something in particular you’d like us to cover in Southeast Asia.
Travel light!
Stuart, Sam & the Travelfish team
You're receiving the Travelfish newsletter because you signed up at Travelfish.org.