Travelfish newsletter Issue 261 : Southern Thai updates + Falling through the cracks + Back in the day
Hi everyone,
We've two southern Thai towns online this week. On the bookshelf we look at Afterland, a wonderful poetry collection and a snappy video traversing Asia. More below the fold.
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The week that was
This week we added the Thai town of Songkhla to the site for the first time, plus we updated the city of Hat Yai (both are in Southern Thailand). Coming in the next two or three days we have Melaka in Malaysia and Trang and Satun in Southern Thailand as well.
If you missed the last few newsletters, we've got a new book section. Got a favourite Southeast Asian-related title you think we should read and review? Do let us know. Unless you're Joan Didion, who blurbed that Shirley Hazzard's The Great Fire "unfolds like a dream: Japan, Southeast Asia..." Well we read it, and it is NOT set in Southeast Asia (she meant Hong Kong). It wasn't bad though.
For premium members, we have two new PDF guides online (for Songkhla and Hat Yai). 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.
On the road this week we're heading off to East Bali for a few days (again) before Stuart heads back east for Flores and more horrible islands, Sally is about to head to Semarang and Karimunjawa, and David is working through some downtown Bangkok research. This week's theme is "Back in the day".
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
Falling through the cracks
On my recent trip to Alor and Pantar in eastern Indonesia, I ended up in Baranusa (the main town on Pantar) a little longer than planned due to a misunderstanding about the ferry timetable. There's just the one proper place to stay in Baranusa, a humble losmen run by a local named Mukhtar. We ended up with plenty of time to sit around shooting the breeze.
It turned out he'd spent a spell in my hometown of Sydney, looking after the father of a traveller he had met and working as security on the Hornsby to Gosford train line—a line I've spent many hours on. He talked about his love for Australia and proudly showed me the pics of him by Sydney harbour and so on.
He also talked at length about the challenges of running a losmen in such a low traffic destination like Pantar—by his account he's lucky to see a few foreign faces a month—but he had been busy building (much improved I must say) quarters in a new building beside the original property. Anything substantial—glass, door frames, roof tiles and so on-had to come from Kalabahi, a four-hour ferry ride away. This distance slowed the construction and increased costs. As he walked me through the rooms and proudly showed me the enormous well they'd dug out back, he exclaimed that while it had been hard and expensive, he was almost there.
The only other guests I saw across my three nights at Mukhtar Accommodation were three young Timorese guys on their way to Ende in Flores. They were heading there to see some friends-the trip from Kupang was taking them over three days in each direction.
Later, when home, I wrote up my material, including my review of Mukhtar's, and published it. Yesterday I received a text from Mukhtar, telling me he'd been contacted by an Australian who was coming to Pantar and had read about his place on Travelfish. "Thank you and all the best. God bless you," was how he finished.
Mukhtar Accommodation is not listed on Agoda, Booking or Expedia. Mukhtar has no email address. To be honest, there is zero need to book in advance! But it brought a smile to my face–made my day, really–to see our efforts touching on a small, old-school, family-run business. These places still fall through the cracks of the digital travel economy.
Safe travels
Stuart
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Featured
Songkhla Old Town
Songkhla’s picturesque heritage district blends food, street art and lake views with beautifully restored 19th-century architecture. Of the many old towns that we’ve visited in Thailand, this is one of the best.
Film of the week
Asia is moving
A quick, snappy, look across the region. Film by Camille Marotte.
What we're reading
Afterland: Poems by Mai Der Vang
You might not immediately consider that the American War in Laos and the Hmong refugee experience form natural subjects for poems. But Afterland by Mai Der Vang is an extraordinary collection of powerful poems that excavate the humanity of those swept up in the war and the subsequent exodus of some 300,000 Hmong refugees to the United States.
Off the forum
Can you help with advice on any of these questions?
Southeast Asia Itinerary Advise
Road trip VN~Cambodia~Laos~VN~Thailand
Where isn't too hot mid May to mid June?
Notes from the road
BURMA: Old Bagan
Old Bagan can be toured on foot or by bicycle. Lying between Nyaung U and New Bagan, the old city is easily reached by bicycle from either. Here's our suggested itinerary for a half-day or so spin around, seeing the major highlights.
CAMBODIA: Preah Khan of Kampong Svay
A temple of unparalleled dimensions whose glories were for so long shrouded in mystery, inaccessible to all but the most determined — or deranged — of travellers, the magic of Preah Khan of Kampong Svay is now available to all.
INDONESIA: Prambanan
We’ll forgive you if you’ve never heard of Prambanan until now, as Borobudur certainly steals the limelight when it come to antiquities in Central Java. The UNESCO World Heritage-listed temple complex of Prambanan however is captivating in its own right.
ISLANDS: Ao Talo Wao historical trail
From 1937 to 1948, Ko Tarutao was "seen as a hell in the deep sea," according to an information board at the entrance to the Ao Talo Wao historical trail. Of the roughly 3,000 prisoners interned here at the Talo Wao Prison, hundreds died of disease and starvation, and many more became feared pirates. Informative signs and dilapidated buildings provide a glimpse into this riveting chapter in Thai history.
LAOS: Wat Phu
Located 10 kilometres from Champasak, UNESCO World Heritage-listed Wat Phu is one of the most impressive Khmer temples outside of Cambodia. A highlight of southern Laos, the temple complex demonstrates the dominance and religious commitment of the Khmer Empire.
MALAYSIA: Timeless views at the tip of Borneo
Sabah’s most northerly point, Tanjung Simpang Mengayu, has a wonderful air of falling off the edge of the map—sandstone fingers grasp at the sea, trailing into the treacherous waters where the South China and Sulu seas converge.
SINGAPORE: Fort Canning Park
Fort Canning, once a sought after vantage point over Singapore and rumoured to be the resting place of the spirits of ancient Malay kings, sits close to the centre of Singapore city, easy walking distance from the Quays to the south and Orchard Road to the north. It makes for a very worthwhile excursion for those weary of shopping malls and museums.
THAILAND: Prasat Phanom Rung
One of the most famous Angkor period temples in Thailand, Prasat Phanom Rung crowns an extinct volcano in the remote southern reaches of Buriram province. It was never completely ruined, overtaken by jungle or defaced by battles, and consequently it remained in relatively good condition before a Thai Fine Arts Department makeover began in 1944 and restored it to the near-pristine state seen today.
VIETNAM: My Son
Quang Nam's efforts to market My Son sanctuary as the "Angkor of Vietnam" are a little misguided, but that's not to say it isn't well worth seeing. Those who make the trip expecting to see a vast well-preserved city on par with the incomparable Angkor Wat will be disappointed. However, as the religious and political capital of the Champa Kingdom, it is one of the most significant Cham sites in Vietnam.
News from the region
HEALTH: The shrinking malaria map
"Today, 107 countries are malaria-free. Another 28 are in the elimination stage, meaning they have less than one diagnosed case per 1,000 people per year." This is good news.
BURMA: How a two-week army crackdown reignited Myanmar’s Rohingya crisis
"Myanmar’s march to democracy, beginning in 2011, uncorked long-suppressed ethnic and religious tensions between Rakhine’s Buddhists and the Rohingya. Clashes between the two communities in 2012 killed at least 192 people and displaced 140,000, mostly Rohingya."
INDONESIA I: A refuge for orangutans, and a quandary for environmentalists
"But the foundation’s partnership with a palm oil company worries some environmentalists, who are concerned that it provides a flawed company an easy cloak of respectability. The huge expansion of palm oil plantations is widely acknowledged to be a key driver of rain-forest destruction in Indonesia, which deprives the orangutans of habitat."
INDONESIA II: In Muslim Indonesia, tiny Jewish community lives on
"The red-roofed building on Sulawesi island is the only synagogue in the nation of 255 million people. Here, unlike other parts of the country, the Jewish community feel safe to practise their faith openly."
INDONESIA III: Gold Coaster tells of Bali threats and extortion
"McKenzie Weir was robbed during a trip to Bali last year, but thought he would give it another go and went back to celebrate his birthday in mid-April, along with his step-brother." This story strikes us as quite peculiar.
INDONESIA IV II: Scientists find new population of endangered cats in Borneo
"Researchers plan on continuing the survey of the forest with hopes of new discoveries. For ecologists and conservationists in Borneo, where natural resources are under threat of development, the stakes are always high as they race to catalogue the island's rich biodiversity."
LAOS: Love Laos: Keep it clean
"However, awareness of the negative impacts from improper waste disposal, including environmental issues caused by the leaching of hazardous substances into soils and water, and human health problems due to inhalation of the smoke given off by burning plastics and other hazardous materials, remains low in Laos. "
MALAYSIA I: Illegal and exotic meats on Sabah’s menus?
"Ah Tan is a freelance guide catering to Chinese tourists and makes a living by knowing their holiday desires. For the most part, these revolve around Sabah’s natural jewels: the beautiful islands and beaches, forests and mountains. In the last few years, however, Ah Tan said that Chinese tourists have begun to associate Sabah with something more exotic ? exotic meat, that is."
SOUTHEAST ASIA: Efforts to ease congestion threaten street food culture in Southeast Asia
"Southeast Asia is famous for its street food, delighting tourists and locals alike with tasty, inexpensive dishes like spicy som tam (green papaya salad) in Bangkok or sizzling banh xeo crepes in Ho Chi Minh City. But major cities in three countries are strengthening campaigns to clear the sidewalks, driving thousands of food vendors into the shadows and threatening a culinary tradition."
THAILAND: Are Thais getting the dictators they deserve?
"Not a week goes by without some kind of questionable government actions and top-down decision-making without public input and any semblance of accountability." Sounds like another country that is in the news a lot.
WORLD: China’s appetite pushes fisheries to the brink
"Indonesia has impounded scores of Chinese boats caught poaching in its waters, and in March last year, the Argentine authorities sank a Chinese vessel that tried to ram a coast guard boat. Violent clashes between Chinese fishermen and the South Korean authorities have left a half-dozen people dead."
Travel writing
LONELY PLANET: Tony Wheeler, the Lonely Planet founder still living the dream
"Travel has changed a lot since the '70s, with the internet, budget airlines and more wealth making travel one of the world's biggest industries. But despite recommending in 1973 that readers get to Bali soon, because "the charm of Bali shows every indication of being rapidly eroded by tourism", he doesn't buy into the idea that travel is more dangerous now or there's nowhere left to discover."
BURMA: Heading for the hills
"Northern Chin State has barely appeared on the radar for most visitors to Myanmar, but a campaign aimed at highlighting its stunning landscape could change that."
SINGAPORE: Secrets of the world’s biggest gin collection
"In the venue’s previous incarnation, the tower was a wine refrigerator. When a customer selected a bottle from the upper reaches, a “wine angel” bartender would don a pair of wings before being whisked to the top with a pulley system, where she would pluck it from its shelf. “At the time, it was incredible. Twelve years later, it was a bit gimmicky,” said Hwang." A bit?
SOUTHEAST ASIA: Why Southeast Asia is perfect for your first long-term travel adventure
"So I bought a plane ticket from Seoul to Bangkok. I had only ever travelled in Europe, and only to the most obvious locations: France, Italy, Spain and England. Southeast Asia was something completely new, and I wasn’t sure how to plan for it."
THAILAND: Inside Bangkok's first-ever department store
"The Nightingale-Olympic department store is a peculiar anomaly in Bangkok's lustrous, tech-fluent cityscape. Constructed in 1966, it remains – madly and somewhat mightily – untouched, refusing to modernize its distinctive Brutalist façade, sun-bleached signage and novel interiors."
Interesting site
Adventure
"We believe adventure has no bounds, no definition—it’s a frame of mind, a spirit, a choice. It’s a participation with the world. It’s the everyday venture that lies before us, if we choose it." Intrepid-owned Adventure reinvents itself.
Travel shot
A quiet moment on Ko Yo. Photo: David Luekens
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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