Travelfish newsletter Issue 260 : Thai island + Indonesia updates + The travel fantasist + Blue
Hi everyone,
We've some southern Thai islands online this week plus some remote Indonesian getaways. On the bookshelf we look at Asian Godfathers, and a video of northwest Southeast Asia. More below the fold.
Travelfish premium members are growing like mushrooms in the wet season.
Learn how you can become one now! »
The week that was
We've added complete updates to Thailand's Ko Tarutao, Ko Adang and Pakbara in southern Thailand plus Paksan in Laos this week. New research brings the remote Indonesian islands of Alor and Pantar into the fold, too.
This week coming we have Melaka, Songkhla and Hat Yai to come.
If you missed the last few newsletters, we've got a new book section. Individual titles were previously buried in the forum, so we've given them the dedicated part of the site they deserve. Got a favourite Southeast Asian-related title you think we should read and review? Do let us know.
For premium members, we have six new PDF guides online (for Ko Tarutao, Ko Adang, Pakbara, Paksan, Alor and Pantar). Not a premium member? It costs a very reasonable A$35 per year for access to more than 200 guides (among other things). Find out more here.
This week's theme is "Blue". Blue like the ocean, blue like the sky and blue like maybe how you're feeling when you're not travelling.
Please feel free to forward this newsletter on to your friends, family, strangers in bars, bus drivers, som tam lady and massage man.
Good travels,
Stuart, Sam and the Travelfish team
Soapbox
The travel fantasist
Years ago we had a Travelfish member who had a habit of answering questions on the forum by researching their answer from guidebooks. This was problematic for a few reasons, but the main issue was they were acting as if their answer was based on their own experiences, when in fact it wasn't. They had no idea if what they were writing was accurate (other than that it was in a guidebook).
On my recent trip to eastern Indonesia I met a traveller who said they had climbed a volcano I was headed to. I asked them a lot of questions, and the answers all seemed very helpful. That was until I reached the volcano myself, and realised that just about everything they had told me didn't add up. All I can assume is that they didn't actually climb the volcano.
So why say that you had?
On the same trip, reading a trip report on another travel forum, a poster talked, with considerable authority and detail, about somewhere else I was headed. Again, when I got there myself very little of what they said proved to be correct. I don't mean prices and that kind of thing, but basic geographic information that doesn't change, and suggesting using ferries that don't (and according to locals, never did) exist.
Why post about places you've never been?
Travel fantasists are like a subspecies of the Competitive Traveller genus. You know, the type who has always been to a better beach/dive site/destination than you have. But fantasists are more problematic, because they are giving information that can actively damage a person's trip.
You shouldn't need to ask, "Is what you're telling me true?" But it seems in some cases, you need to.
Safe travels
Stuart
Travelfish partners
We work with a number of partners on a commission basis and this helps keep us in business. Please consider using the following links to make any reservations as a commission may end up being paid to us, with no impact on what you pay. Thank you!
Places to stay: Agoda, Booking
Tours and activities: TourRadar, GetYourGuide
Ground transport: 12Go Asia (Thailand), Camboticket (Cambodia), Baolau (Vietnam)
Travel insurance: World Nomads
Featured
Blue like the waters off Kepa Island
Just off the southwest tip of Alor, Kepa Island is home to the lovely La P’tite Kepa, but it can also be visited on an easy day trip from Kalabahi should you not want to stay in the resort (or they’re full).
Film of the week
North West Southeast Asia
"Asia is like nothing you've ever experienced: It's like a sweaty dream of lush forests and barren land, crazy bustling megalopoleis and wide blue oceans. Nothing can quite prepare you for the thrilling tastes, vibrant people and awesome sights you encounter along the way. Enjoy!" Film by IKWAI visual.
What we're reading
Asian Godfathers by Joe Studwell
The underpinnings of Southeast Asia’s various economies—and by extension, societies—are superbly explained by Joe Studwell in this comprehensive look at the tycoon families of Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.
Off the forum
Can you help with advice on any of these questions?
Travel around Northern Vietnam for 10 days
Route through Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia
Diving/snorkelling with sharks in August
Five weeks in Thailand with three small children
Notes from the road
BURMA: Blue waves
Past the mall the Chinese/Burmese offerings of Shwe Yar Su and Shwe Beik come recommended and serve draught beer and the ubiquitous seafood. Before the mall are a couple of Thai places offering a slightly different slant on similar seafood offerings, with Blue Wave looking the pick of the bunch.
CAMBODIA: Blue statue
With a rich architectural heritage, an increasingly confident art scene providing a cradle for many of Cambodia’s top talents, and stunning surrounding countryside, Battambang is a tranquil respite from the boom and hustle of Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.
INDONESIA: Blue Lagoon
Sapphire waters, palm-tree-fringed horseshoe bay, decent snorkelling directly from the beach — yes, please! One of the best reasons for taking a day out of your transit between Bali and Lombok or the Gilis is to spend an hour or three on lovely little Blue Lagoon Beach.
ISLANDS: Blue upon blue
Glistening Pulau Lapang and Pulau Batang sit off the north coast of Pantar, roughly an hour or so by sampan from Baranusa, and make for a fun and relaxing half-day outing should you have time on your side and your own snorkelling gear.
LAOS: Another blue lagoon
It’s crowded these days, but Blue Lagoon is a great spot to relax and cool off, especially as a reward after a hot sweaty bike ride on bone jarring dirt road.
MALAYSIA: A bit blue
Three little blips on the radar form the Mantanani Islands, laying about 40 kilometres northwest of Kota Belud. Mantanani Besar, Mantanani Kecil and Lungisan are your quintessential alabaster-fringed tropical archipelago, reef ringed and sitting in crystal-clear aquamarine waters.
SINGAPORE: Feeling blue?
You wouldn’t know it by walking past or from reading the sign outside, but Chye Seng Huat Hardware brews some of the best coffee in Singapore. This retro-chic cafe roasts their own beans and has a coffee bar where you can sample their different blends and brewing methods as well as some delectable pastries.
THAILAND: Big Blue
So you've made the decision – you want to learn to dive on Ko Tao. Congratulations! Here is an outline of what learning to dive on Ko Tao actually entails along with some guidance regarding the common questions you're most likely to encounter.
VIETNAM: Blue plastic tables
Eating Viet Nam: Dispatches from a Blue Plastic Table is a memoir of avid street-food-diner-turned-blogger Graham Holliday. It’s not a guide to Vietnamese cuisine or where to eat — though the more enthusiastic reader might take some notes and be well rewarded — but rather it’s a bit of a potted history of street food in both Hanoi and Saigon, from when it reappeared during the “doi moi” or economic renovation period of the late 1990s, and into the 2000s.
News from the region
AVIATION: China Southern Airlines bans shark fin cargo, joining over half the world's carriers
"In a move that is sure to please shark-lovers everywhere, China Southern Airlines has announced that it has banned shark fin shipments from its flights."
BURMA: These Burmese palm oil workers say they're trapped on plantations
"Withholding wages falls under the US State Department’s definition of debt bondage, but the palm oil companies don’t see it that way. They say they’re calling in a debt owed by workers who didn’t pay their way to the job site."
CAMBODIA: Grandmas ‘play vital family role’
"Grandmothers would stay behind and look after the children, but would also travel frequently to the city to care for their migrating offspring and assist with household duties. The elderly women generally viewed their activities as having intrinsic economic value."
INDONESIA: Jakarta vote result marks return of Indonesia’s political elite
"Just how much the establishment supported that hard line became clear at Mr. Baswedan’s victory celebration, when a cast of tycoons dating back to the Suharto era gathered alongside him."
LAOS: Khmu community’s memories of living with the Ou River
“A Chinese company brought them here last year and installed them for free. No-one uses them though, as there’s no money for electricity.”
MALAYSIA: David Attenborough’s ‘Guardian headline’ halts Borneo bridge
Officials in Borneo have cancelled plans to build a bridge across the Kinabatangan river, after warnings from Sir David Attenborough and other conservationists that it would gravely endanger pygmy elephants, orangutans and many other jungle species.
SINGAPORE: How Singapore is creating more land for itself
The Jurong Rock Caverns are just one answer to a pair of intriguing questions: What does a tremendously rich and ambitious country do when it is running out of land? And what can the rest of the world learn from these experiments?
THAILAND I: Is Bangkok really banning street food?
No.
THAILAND II: Park official charged with reselling entry tickets
"Teerasak Khanantai, kamnan of tambon Ao Nang, said the practice of recycling tickets for sale to tourists had long existed and been carried out by a group of officials. "
VIETNAM I: Keeping Vietnam afloat
"With a dire forecast and limited resources, Vietnam doesn’t have a lot of options."
VIETNAM II: Vietnamese villagers release 19 officials held hostage in land dispute
"Villagers near Vietnam’s capital on Saturday released 19 officials they had held hostage for about a week, ending a rare standoff that underscored tensions over land rights in this Communist country."
Travel writing
On the sublime
"The Sublime foregrounds a sense of equality, which we can otherwise find it hard to hold onto. In the face of vast things, the grades of human status lose meaning. The CEO and the intern are an equally transient arrangements of atoms."
INDONESIA: The Kingdom of Bantar Gebang
Towering mountains of malodorous, contaminated waste dominate the horizon, and among them, hundreds of families make their living. One young girl had the chance to leave the landfill and to gain an education. Now she has chosen to return, determined to change the lives of those children less fortunate than her.
VIETNAM I: Bring Rachel Home
"My best friend Raquel took a trip to vietnam this spring. She met up with some friends there, but spent the last little while travelling on her own. Unfortunately she got into a bike accident and broke her spine and her pelvis in two places. Unable to move, she is by herself in Da Nang Hospital. The travel insurance she purchased will not cover the accident." We've written at length about the need to read your travel insurance documents carefully before you decide to ride a scooter in Vietnam.
VIETNAM II: Vietnam’s disappearing vintage signs are pop culture remnants of a bygone era
"Generally, there is little appreciation of the heritage value of old signs, so the thief who stole Vinh’s lettering is unlikely to have prized the sign as an antique, as the shop owner likes to think. It seems more plausible that it was sold as scrap metal: the bronzed colour of the piece could have led a thief to hope for a high price."
VIETNAM III: Vietnam's Central Highlands with Easy Riders
In Spanish, but the pics look great.
Interesting site
Maptia
We've plugged the smart cookies at Maptia before, but they're recently redesigned and it is gorgeous.
Travel shot
Cool and refreshing mountain waters around Lu Du Waterfall, Ko Tarutao.
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.