Travelfish newsletter Issue 276 : Lembongan + backpackers + motion
Hi everyone,
This week we’re all about motion. We’ve got a review of a 1904 guidebook, a film from Vietnam and a soapbox on giving backpackers a break. More below the fold.
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The week that was
Travelfish being a website and all, having a decent internet connection is kind of useful for when it comes to getting material online. Suffice to say this week gone has not been one of our ISP’s better weeks—so we’re a little behind schedule.
We do however have a complete update of activities, including a wrap on our pick of the best beaches on Bali's Nusa Lembongan, along with plenty of suggestions on where to eat. Further north, our Saigon sights have been updated (though with the pics to come this week). If you're considering a trip to the Mekong Delta or the Cu Chi Tunnels, please do take a look.
Also, we've got more Pai, and more Bangkok sliding online shortly—imagine what we could get sorted with more reliable internet.
Premium Travelfish members now have access to more than 200 downloadable guides (226 to be exact) and a special deal with both roundtheworldflights.com and All Points East. Not a premium member? It costs a very reasonable A$35 per year (please note: Australian not US dollars!) for access. Find out more here
On the road, Mark is in Sihanoukville—he called us last week and we could barely hear him for the torrential rain—those Cambodian monsoons do not mess around. Elsewhere, David is in Bangkok on some final wrap work before taking a break Stateside while Cindy and Sally are chained to their desks.
This week's soapbox is “motion”—you’ll see it in many forms on your travels through the region.
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Good travels,
Stuart, Sam and the Travelfish team
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Soapbox
Lay off the backpackers
Vice has a fresh piece out bemoaning backpackers in Bali being responsible for the author having to make do with insufficiently spicy sambal.
Takes a breath.
You live in a place that is literally being touristed to death, facing... jeez, where to start? Filthy wet-season beaches, Jakarta-esque traffic, illegal hotels, massive land grabs and encroachment, rubbish dumping, poisonous fake liquor, mafia-manipulated transport extortionists, that bloody train wreck of an airport and yet you write a column on your sambal being not spicy enough?
Best of all, the title of the story is "Backpacker bros are ruining the world"
Are you freakin' kidding me?
Bashing backpackers is all the rage at the moment. Lazy journalist? Got a deadline due? Check Twitter for the latest individual idiocy and tease it out into a diatribe. Begpackers. Gawd how I hate that word. Show me a single story, ONE, that actually interviews one of these people.
It's ok, I can wait.
Now I'm the first one to admit I'm very glad Instagram wasn't around when I was a fisherman-pant and Birkenstock wearing hammock-bound 22-year-old on Ko Pha Ngan, but like most travellers of the day, I travelled local, slept local, ate local, and most importantly, spent local.
And so while I'm sure I did my share of idiotic things, and I'm glad there are not too many photographic records of how I looked at that time, I'm also very proud to say that yes I may have been low spend but I was most certainly long stay and low impact.
Plenty of backpackers continue to travel this way today.
Discussing overtourism is all the rage at the moment. If you’re going to do that, skip the cheap shots, get off your butt and level your aim at the right target.
Enjoy your smoothie bowl.
Good travels
Stuart
Featured
The beaches of Nusa Lembongan
Sea, sun and sand are Nusa Lembongan’s hook, line and sinker with a mixed bag of beaches to lure all varieties of beach lovers, from gently lapping waves on white sandy shores to wilder lashing seas pounding rocky cliffs.
What we're watching
Vietnam
From Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh, a route of contrasts, mixing the most primitive jungles of Sa Pa and Tam Coc, with the wild movement of motorcycles and Vietnamese in the big cities. A tour of the country by motorcycle, bike, train and boat in December 2016. Film by theroutefilms.
What we're reading
The 1904 traveller's guide to Bangkok and Siam by J. Antonio
Falling firmly into the “you should have been here yesterday” genre of travel guides, J. Antonio’s travel guide offers a quirky yet interesting look at the Thai kingdom during the years of Chulalongkorn’s reign.
Notes from the road
BURMA: Yangon Circle Train
An average of 100,000 daily commuters including monks plus their wares and food trays ride the loop through the city, its suburban areas and its satellite towns. Local interaction is unavoidable, friendly and incredibly photogenic.
CAMBODIA: Northwest Cambodia by motorbike
We took off on a ten-day motorbike trip around the region, one of the most exciting, exhilarating and fun trips we’ve undertaken in Cambodia. It’s also one of the rawest. There is not always much in the way of tourist infrastructure, especially in places like Anlong Veng.
INDONESIA: Pasola
The teams gathered as speeches were made. We recognised several of the riders from “our house”. They then divided to either side of the field. We had a prime position, the field before us, and the rooftops of the village visible behind the crowds in front. A thunder of hooves, shouts from the crowds and spears began to fly.
ISLANDS: Exploring Ko Chang Noi on foot
Ko Chang Noi offers some terrific options for long strolls on the sand or hikes that pierce into farms and forests before ending at secluded bays. Few places to buy food and drinks are found beyond the beaches and it’s easy to get lost on inland lanes that often take you beyond the range of cell service. Do bring water and a compass if going exploring.
LAOS: Activities in Ban Khiet Ngong
We think the absolute highlight is the boat trip through Xe Pian’s serene wetlands, and by boat trip we mean a dugout canoe pushed through the marshes by a man using a bamboo pole, a man who defies every wobble like a pro surfer.
MALAYSIA: Kinabatangan River
Warning! Don’t swim in the Kinabatangan River. Not only is the current very fast flowing, there are crocs, and we don’t mean the footwear variety.
SINGAPORE: Ice skating
Did you know ice skating was a thing in Singapore? It’s possibly not the first activity that springs to mind when you think of the tropics, but it’s a great way to cool down.
THAILAND: Exploring Kanchanaburi by train
The train crept over the River Khwae Yai before cruising alongside vertical cliffs and through windswept fields of tapioca and sugarcane. More of a leisure activity than transport option, a ride on the Death Railway is one of Southeast Asia’s more memorable train journeys.
VIETNAM: Mekong Delta Day Tour
The Mekong Delta is the region where the Mekong River empties into the sea through many distributaries, a vast watershed of over 40,000 square kilometres across 12 provinces—how much can you really see in a day?
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Travel insurance: World Nomads
News from the region
BURMA I: ‘Like the grass beneath fighting buffalo’
"The corporate elites – and by extension, the military – have significant economic stakes in everything from breweries to banking. Profits from investment and development are likely to wind up lining the pockets of veterans or flowing indirectly into military coffers."
BURMA II: Mangrove-planting drones on a mission to restore Myanmar delta
"An annual climate risk index by Germanwatch, a green research group, ranked Myanmar - which suffered decades of military rule - second among the 10 countries worst-affected by extreme weather from 1996 to 2015."
CAMBODIA I: Cambodian request renews question: Who cleans up after war?
"Ethicists have debated 'just war' issues for centuries, but some say modern warfare demands new attention to post-conflict responsibility, particularly for conflicts that ended long ago. "
CAMBODIA II: Chinese scam suspects took over 11-storey block in Cambodia
Reminds us of the boiler rooms in Bangkok a decade ago.
INDONESIA I: 16,000 Indonesian islands registered at UN
INDONESIA II: Jakarta, the city where nobody wants to walk
The (male) journalist missed a big contributor to this—the amount of harassment women receive walking around the streets of Indonesian (and other) cities. See also ihollaback—a crowd-sourced platform detailing street harassment in Jakarta.
LAOS I: Could new China railway put Laos on the tourist map?
"While these properties are a step in the right direction, other tasteful, high-end hotel options are generally lacking." Good. Stay in a homestay and keep your money in the local community.
LAOS II: Chinese firm to build US$40m elephant centre in Laos
“In fact someone may think that breeding elephants to have many calves is called conservation. That does not increase the number of elephants in the forest, but rather it is only breeding for business.”
THAILAND I: Postal boating: The Bangkok mailman still bringing word by canal
"The genial postman criss-crosses the swampy canal in Bang Khun Thian district twice a week. Residents know their mail has arrived by the sound of his rusty engine - and the barking it provokes from the suburb's dogs.
THAILAND II: Fine Arts stands by Wat Arun stupa repair effort
"Assistant abbot Phra Sakkaya Puttiyawong explained the dark-green colour which was familiar to visitors to the famous temple resulted mainly from "stains left by moss" which was removed after the five-year restoration revealing the white exterior of the stupas. "
THAILAND IV: A four year "professional" visa
We'll wait for the small print before getting excited about this one.
THAILAND V: Poisonous jellyfish invade Pran Buri beach, sting tourists
"Sawang Phaepaisan Thammasathan Foundation, a rescue volunteer agency, said Chrysaora jellyfish were found for six kilometres along the beach from Khao Kalok to Pak Nam Pran."
VIETNAM I: $4-billion south Hoi An casino starts construction
VIETNAM II: Thousands ill in Vietnam dengue outbreak
"Mosquito-borne disease outbreak stretches Vietnam medical system as officials report 10,000 new infections in one week."
VIETNAM III: Six die in Vietnam while sawing off leftover mortar shell
The dead included four kids from one family. Terrible. See also Cambodian story above asking "Who should clean up the mess?"
Travel writing
CAMBODIA: The birth, death and resurrection of South East Asian rock'n'roll
"Based on the extraordinary life and disappearance (assumed murder) of Cambodian songstress Poev Vannary – Msel Mehn Mdong Tiet is CSP’s most ambitious work-to-date."
INDONESIA: Riding G-Land: Indonesia’s big-wave surfing wonder of the world
"When an offshore trade wind blows in peak surf season from April to September, the result can leave the world’s best in awe."
LAOS: Vientiane: The new Doi Ka Noi
"The ethos of Doi Ka Noi is simple, organic, homegrown food that's tasty and true to its Lao origins."
THAILAND: This Bangkok hostel offers the prison experience. Yes, you can check out and leave.
"The hostel’s design includes blackout doors and windows in two rooms to create the feeling of being in solitary confinement. Showers are located on a caged-in rooftop."
VIETNAM: Cafe Saigon 1975 – a war memorabilia cafe in Ho Chi Minh City
"There is a bar in the entrance which is decorated as a tank. I was beginning to worry I had stumbled into a secret commie den and I wouldn’t be welcome. I was then greeted by two friendly waiters who suggested I go upstairs to the lounge."
Interesting site
Beautiful maps
Who doesn't like a beautiful map?
Travel shot
Colourful to say the least. Photo: Cindy Fan
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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