Travelfish newsletter Issue 257 : Silence
Hi everyone,
We have laidback Savannakhet online, two new PDFs for premium members, more Hanoi, a Thai book review to go into our fancy new book reviews section, and a flick from Angkor. See more below the fold.
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The week that was
Last week Bali celebrated Nyepi, the Balinese New Year and annual day of silence. For those not familiar with it, Nyepi ushers in the year with a day of contemplation and reflection. You're not allowed outside (no pool parties), lighting is kept to a minimum (candles please) and all traffic vanishes (even the airport closes). We heard the distant surf from our veranda and at night gazed at the kind of starscape you expect to see from the middle of Australia. We didn't want to break the silence with our tapping keyboards, so there was no newsletter last week, but this week's is here, with its theme of... silence, naturally.
One of the final key pieces of our Southern Laos jigsaw has fallen in to place: Savannakhet, in all its crumbling glory. This means we just have Paksan to come—end in sight, thank you Cindy! To the northeast, Sam has been getting more of her Hanoi research online and she writes of her trip in this week's Soapbox.
We've also got a fancy new book review section. The individual titles were previously buried in the forum, so we've given them the dedicated part of the site they always deserved. Got a favourite travel title you think we should read and review? Do let us know.
Back at his desk, David will have Ko Lipe to us any moment (along with a stream of other Southern Thailand material) while Sally is working through Johor Bahru and Melaka, with JB arriving shortly...
For premium members, we have new PDF guides online for Savannakhet and Pakse. Not a premium member? It costs a very reasonable A$35 per year for access to almost 200 guides (among other things). Find out more here. The more premium members we have, the more coverage we can keep fresh for you on the site. We’ll hopefully be announcing some new deals for Premium Members in the coming weeks as we get some partners on board to offer some premium discounts—making that $35 better and better value.
Stuart is off to eastern Indonesia tomorrow, commencing at Alor and hopefully hitting Larantuka for the Easter celebrations there. In between, think snorkelling, deserted beaches, volcanoes and he's determined to find a village decorated with elephant tusks obtained by trade centuries ago on Pantar that he's been told about. As internet may be a bit iffy, next week's newsletter may be delayed or skipped—we'll do our best. Keep an eye on the Travelfish Instagram feed for some live armchair travel to see just where he is at (and what he is whining about).
We highlight below some spots where you could perhaps arrange your own personal Nyepi at any time of the year, in keeping with our theme of silence.
As always, please feel free to forward this newsletter on to your friends, family, strangers in bars, bus drivers and massage man.
Good travels,
Stuart, Sam and the Travelfish team
Soapbox
Find it yourself
Wandering down a street in Hanoi I noticed a shop window with an array of enticing pates and cold cuts in the window—I took a photo, it looked so good. The second time I noticed the old-fashioned photos above the window display, so I stuck my head in and discovered that this was a packed-out, old-school, locally run French restaurant.
The waiter motioned upstairs, found by squeezing down a hallway and winding up some steps to an unlikely second storey of similarly crowded tables. The decor featured wall-mounted fans, photos of the dishes circa-1982, and no-fuss tables and chairs. The menu arrived: Nguyen Sinh has been around since 1942, it said.
What a fluke! I felt a little thrill at uncovering a find like this, particularly when my affordable glass of red, plate of finely shaved cold cuts and rich pate, and warmed crispy baguette arrived. I went back another night and tucked into their Hanoi-style beef steak, with a side of peas and hot pate, and more wine.
I hadn’t researched Hanoi restaurants too hard before arrival, but this spot had still not appeared on my radar. I had plenty of spots to chase up thanks to our old listings and suggestions from friends, but this one I found just by following my nose and stomach.
My meals at Nguyen Sinh were among the most satisfying I had this Hanoi trip, possibly because I had discovered it myself. Sure, Hanoians have been flocking here for 75 years, and I did end up unearthing a blogger or two who had written about it, but this was my own serendipitous find.
Part of the thrill of travel is finding stuff yourself. Ditch your guide. Forget Google Maps. Ignore your friends. Go for a walk and see what you find. I could not have been more deliciously rewarded for doing so at Nguyen Sinh.
Best
Sam
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Featured
Ko Taen
Lying off the southwest coast of Ko Samui, out from the small fishing port of Thong Krut, sits the island of Ko Taen. Despite its proximity to Samui, this is an island the world has just about forgotten and if you were ever in need of a holiday from a holiday, this is the place.
Film of the week
A Moment of Silence in Angkor
There's an air of mystery surrounding the ruins of Angkor in Cambodia. The experience of playing "A Moment of Silence" in this fascinating part of the world was simply magical. Film by Max LL.
What we're reading
The Sad Part Was by Prabda Yoon
Prabda Yoon won the prestigious SEA Write Award for Kwam Na Ja Pen (Probability) in 2002, but it’s only now that these stories have been translated into English for The Sad Part Was. As his translator Mui Poopoksakul writes in a final note in the book, Prabda was “hailed as the voice of a new generation, of those Thais whose collective consciousness is tied to the experience of growing up in a fast-urbanising country”.
Notes from the road
BURMA: Silence on the hill
A trip to Jaun Yua can include a wander around the remote and friendly village, a boat trip up the picturesque Ye River and a spectacular sunset visit to a hilltop pagoda.
CAMBODIA: Silence by the river
With just seven grass-roofed chalets tucked into the forests along the Tatai River, Rainbow Lodge offers a gentle immersion into the natural world of the Cardamom Mountains and a genuine retreat from whatever stresses you might be hoping to escape.
INDONESIA: Festival of silence
Nyepi, or the Balinese day of silence, is one of the world's most unusual festivals. For 24 hours, the Hindu-majority island of Bali completely shuts down to mark the beginning of the Balinese New Year.
ISLANDS: Silence for the soul
The simple cottages, facilities and religious buildings at Wat Kow Tahm are spread over a tree-lined piece of land that tumbles down to wide boulders affording views across much of Pha Ngan’s south coast and beyond. While the vista is worth a quick trip up here, the temple is primarily a venue for meditation retreats conducted by English-language instructors.
LAOS: Gilding in silence
A trip through the wetlands in a dugout canoe is an absolute highlight. Glide through the grasses, the silence and stillness interrupted only by a lone fishermen, a flock of birds, a wallowing water buffalo. It’s a serenity, landscape and experience not found anywhere else in Laos.
MALAYSIA: Trudging in silence
I've lived in Southeast Asia for more than 15 years and would say I'm relatively acclimatised to the humidity, but under the canopy it gets raised another notch. The amiable banter and laughter quickly dissipated into silence as we trudged along.
SINGAPORE: Sworn to silence
We’ve had claypot rice in one back corner, there’s a boutique beer house (yes really, but we were sworn to silence) and enough carrot cake and chicken rice stalls to, well, fill up your belly.
THAILAND: Peaceful silence
Wat Nong Pah Pong’s broad forested grounds are still a tranquil place for a stroll or meditation. An on-site museum exhibits a life-like wax sculpture of Ajahn Chah along with his personal effects and a few old ox carts and animal skeletons. You might also see the resident monks dying their signature brown-orange robes in water boiled with the natural dye of jackfruit trees, which are abundant on the grounds.
VIETNAM: Reverent silence
Yet as we finally make it over the mountain of large boulders, our pulse quickens, our mouth drops agape and a string of ecstatic expletives escape before we are humbled into reverent silence.
News from the region
BURMA I: A Chinese-backed dam project leaves Myanmar in a bind
The decision is a daunting test for Myanmar’s leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who risks angering China, the region’s economic powerhouse, if she cancels the project, or the public if she lets it go forward.
BURMA II: Aung San Suu Kyi: Myanmar's great hope fails to live up to expectations
"Aung San Suu Kyi’s questionable leadership style, her inability or unwillingness to communicate a vision, and her reluctance to speak out against the persecution of minorities have raised the question of whether the popular narrative is misplaced."
BURMA III: Days of discontent
"Perhaps, as the daughter of Gen Aung San—independence hero, politician, and founding father of Burma’s armed forces—she feels entitled to solve the country’s issues and assumes everybody will follow her. But this is not the case."
CAMBODIA I: Why does sunny Cambodia attract such shady characters?
"Whatever the outcome of their case, that such a sordid affair should be linked in some way to Cambodia will do little to help efforts to rehabilitate the country from its reputation as an exotic – and sunny – safe haven for criminals, terrorists, child sex offenders, drug addicts and even a prime minister on the run."
CAMBODIA II: Cambodia's LGBT community struggles for identity
"Southeavy has many scars from her difficult journey through life. She suffered physical violence when she was expelled from her family home by her parents when she was only a teenager."
INDONESIA I: Missing man found dead in belly of 7m-long python
"A search found the giant python sprawled out next to his garden with the 25-year-old’s boots clearly visible in its stomach, according to a report in the Tribun Timur. Villagers then used a large knife to cut open the snake’s belly slowly revealing the father-of-two’s body."
INDONESIA II: Fears for Indonesian park's rare species as Trump town rises
"Over the next four years, a sprawling "Trump Community" will be built in this pocket of Indonesia's most densely populated island, with a new road leading to it. It's part of broader plans, including a massive theme park, that have alarmed conservationists who fear development will overwhelm a refuge for some of the archipelago's most threatened species."
INDONESIA III: Palm oil plantations displace more than orang-utans
“Instead, it has caused conflicts among the community, mutual suspicion and corruption at the local level because of the physical project that is not transparent. Moreover, the threat to community rights, including the prohibition of access to the project area and the threat of livelihood for the local community, the Dayak Ngaju, who rely on forests as a source of livelihood.”
LAOS I: Tourist dies at popular gibbon zipline park in Laos
A tragic accident sees an American tourist dead at Laos' famous Gibbon Experience.
LAOS II: Report shows Laos’s different timber tactics
"Relative to Cambodia, Laos has made huge inroads into curbing timber flowing out of its territory, the customs data show, a success that forestry analysts yesterday attributed to genuine political will from their recently elected premier, a relatively more disciplined bureaucracy and fewer familial ties between ruling elites and the timber trade."
PHILIPPINES: Thousands dead: The Philippine president, the death squad allegations and a brutal drugs war
"The death toll of the president’s drug war in the nine months since he took office at the end of June has topped more than 2,500 killings by police and 3,600 by vigilantes. Agencies including Amnesty quote a total figure of more than 7,000 dead. But many Filipinos gloss over the killings and Duterte’s poll ratings remain high."
THAILAND I: Elephant handler takes case to court
"Mr Somsak said around the time Phang Yo was pregnant, he would tie her to a tree in the woods in case she gave birth. When he returned one morning, the elephant was missing. "
THAILAND II: Ex-TAT governor Juthamas jailed for 50 years for corruption
"The Central Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases on Wednesday sentenced former Tourism Authority of Thailand governor Juthamas Siriwan to 50 years in prison for demanding and receiving a bribe of more than Bt60 million so an American business couple could manage the Bangkok International Film Festival."
THAILAND III: The untouchable Red Bull heir in Thailand
Killing a police officer in Thailand is no problem if you are loaded. Disgusting.
THAILAND IV: Those who toil for Bangkok deprived by loss of street food
“There will be no people strolling around here anymore,” he said. “Just like Silom, there will be only mangy dogs.”
THAILAND V: Huge centre planned for old Suan Lum Night Bazaar site
THAILAND VI: Thai jungle seen as breeding ground for Indochinese tigers
"Conservationists say they have evidence that the critically endangered Indochinese tiger is breeding in a Thai jungle, giving hope for the survival of an animal whose total population may be less than 300."
Travel writing
INDONESIA I: Nyepi. In two acts.
"Pigeons coo in unison. Later, from my bedroom, I can hear the distinct sound of their wings flapping in a distant tree – a courting ritual. (I would never hear that on a ‘normal’ day.)"
INDONESIA II: Indonesia from space
"As an equatorial country, Indonesia is often obscured by cloud cover. An astronaut aboard the International Space Station recently seized the opportunity of a relatively storm-free day to photograph nearly half the length of Indonesia’s main island chain."
MALAYSIA: Getting tattooed in an Iban village in Borneo
"The young men in the villages we visited knew little about their grandfathers’ tattoos, but they did know a thing or two about getting so drunk in the mornings that the communal space in front of the private long house sections had turned into alcohol graveyards by mid-day. They called the stuff they drank langkau. It was made from rice, and perhaps lighter fuel, judging by its taste."
VIETNAM I: Cool, calm and collected: Life in Cau Hai Lagoon
Forty kilometers southeast of Hue, Cau Hai Lagoon is among the largest freshwater lagoons in Southeast Asia.
VIETNAM II: The Nui Chua Coast Road: Phan Rang to Cam Ranh
"It’s a fabulous and easily manageable little road trip, perfect for those seeking to leave the well-trodden beaches of Nha Trang and Mui Ne behind."
Interesting site
Roam Indonesia
"Based on our personal experience and firsthand accounts from other travellers, we’ve pulled together the ultimate adventure guide to Indonesia."
Travel shot
Savannakhet's banged up charm.
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
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