Travelfish newsletter Issue 283 : Village living + Swimming lightly + Agoda discount
Hi everyone,
This week we’re all about village living. We’ve got a review of Simon Winchester's 2015 book on the Pacific Ocean, and a soapbox on coral reefs and idiots. More below the fold.
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The week that was
We're just back from a short family holiday spent floating around Komodo National Park in eastern Indonesia. If you have the chance to spend time in the park—and it need not be all that expensive (though you can spend loads)—do so. It was an excellent four days. If you don’t already, you may want to tune into the travelfish_road Instagram account to see what we got up to.
This week we've also got a special deal for all newsletter readers: a 7% additional discount off hotels booked with Agoda. To get your discount, go to the page listed below, search for a hotel you want to book and, as long as it is marked "Promotion Eligible", the discount is good. Enter the coupon code Tfishpromo (note it is case sensitive) and you'll score an extra 7% off. Small print: Pay at hotel room types do not qualify, and you must book through the following URL: https://www.agoda.com/travelfish
On the road, Mark is back in Thailand and Sally is still in southwest Java, where getting around can be, well, time consuming. David is on holiday and Cindy is contemplating a return trip to the region... Hmmm, where should we send her?
You’re able to access all of Travelfish.org's information via our website. But if you'd like another way to support independent, informed coverage of how to travel around and what to see in Southeast Asia, we'd be grateful for you chipping in. It costs a very reasonable A$35 per year to become a premium member (please note: Australian not US dollars!). Membership gives you access to our forum plus more than 200 downloadable guides (231 to be exact) and a special deal with both roundtheworldflights.com and All Points East. We've been covering Southeast Asia since 2004 and we plan on doing so for many years to come.
This week’s theme is on village living, where we try to highlight a few villages worth a peek. We’ve also got a review of Simon Winchester's Pacific: The Ocean of the Future. We enjoyed it, which is lucky, as Sam will be interviewing the author at a fringe Ubud Writers and Readers Festival event on October 31.
Please forward this newsletter on to any friends, family, strangers in bars, bus drivers, som tam ladies or massage men you think might be interested to receive it.
Good travels,
Stuart, Sam and the Travelfish team
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Soapbox
Swimming lightly
After a morning snorkelling at Kanawa Island I sat in the shallows and asked our guide what had happened to the reef. It used to be one of the best house reefs we'd seen in Indonesia. He explained that over the last couple of years, against the wishes of the resort on the island, travel agencies in Labuan Bajo had been bringing 100+ tourists from Jakarta per day to snorkel the reef—even at low tide.
According to our guide, many of the tourists doing day trips (not just the groups from Jakarta) are not very good swimmers (if they can swim at all) and struggle to control themselves in the water. He'd seen people walking on the reef and even breaking bits off. We'd seen a Japanese tourist the previous day walking around with coral at Pink Beach, whose reef is also badly damaged.
If you can't swim to the standard where you can control your buoyancy, you don't belong anywhere near a coral reef—especially at low tide. It is as simple as that.
Guides need to be clearly trained to be assertive with their guests and, when they see people walking on the reef or breaking bits off, they need to clearly explain to the guest that what they are doing is idiotic and ruining the reef for future visitors—and the current ecosystem.
Guests need to be given a presentation on the trip, before getting in the water, explaining what they should be careful not to do. Break a rule, back in the boat.
Coral reefs face enough challenges without needing to deal with idiot tourists who are actively damaging the reef.
Good travels
Stuart
Featured
Handicraft villages
Some of the lake’s villages specialise in various handicraft and cottage industries and the workshops form regular stops on most Inle Lake itineraries. Some are indigenous to the lake and others more contrived, but they are on the whole at least traditionally Burmese—even the contrived ones create work and income for the villagers.
What we're watching
A peek into Northern Laos
"I visited Laos in June for one week. Laos people have a very simple way of living and are blessed with astounding scenery which brings one peace. Laos is definitely a place to go if you want to get away from a busy atmosphere and just relax." Film by Layered Visuals.
What we're reading
Pacific: The Ocean of the Future by Simon Winchester
Simon Winchester’s 2015-published Pacific: The Ocean of the Future (or, in other editions, Pacific: Silicon Chips and Surfboards, Coral Reefs and Atom Bombs, Brutal Dictators and Fading Empires ) is an erudite series of compelling historical vignettes that together create a colourful portrait of the Pacific Ocean and its modern past.
Notes from the road
BURMA: Jaun Yua
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: Chambok Community Based Ecotourism Project
In Chambok, that is done through a system of homestays, the community kitchen, local guides and the opportunity to partake in cultural experiences. This helps to ensure that the benefits of tourism are spread as widely as possible and creates an incentive within the community to preserve the forests and natural environment that attract the tourists.
INDONESIA: Prai Ijing, Bondo Marotto and Gollu villages
Prai Ijing, Bondo Marotto and Gollu are three attractive villages built from natural materials and are within reach of each other around three kilometres east of Waikabubak.
ISLANDS: Homestays in Batu Bute village
Amid the east-coast village of Batu Bute (pronounced ba-too-boo-tay) and its stilted houses overlooking a calm bay, two modest homestays offer travellers a chance to be immersed in Ko Libong’s traditional Muslim fishing lifestyle. If you don’t require a beachfront location and are happy with simple accommodation, consider settling into the village.
LAOS: Muang La
Just north of bustling Udomxai, small and picturesque Muang La sits nestled beside the Nam Pak River and surrounded by tranquil farmland, traditional Khmu villages and rolling mountains. Once an off-the-grid spot with no tourist accommodation, Muang La is gracefully making a name for itself, no doubt helped by the opening of a luxury lodge.
MALAYSIA: Rungus villages
The Kudat area is home to the Rungus ethnic people, a sub-group of the Kadazan-Dusun, Sabah’s largest indigenous group. Traditionally Rungus folk live in low stilted longhouses with characteristic split bamboo outward sloping walls. About 40 kilometres south of Kudat, a group of Rungus villages open their doors, for a small fee.
SINGAPORE: Kampong Buangkok
When Singapore split from Malaysia in the early 1960s, the government implemented a number of policies to rapidly modernise the newly independent city-state. One of them was to move all the people from Malaysian-style kampong villages to the high-rise public housing apartments. Somehow, one of these traditional villages was spared from the bulldozer and still survives today. It’s called Buangkok, but is better known as “Singapore’s last kampong”.
THAILAND: Wiang Haeng
Blink and you’ll miss Wiang Haeng, one of Chiang Mai province’s remotest little towns. It lies in a fertile valley surrounded by rugged mountains close to the Burmese border.
VIETNAM: Cam Kim and other islands
In the middle of the northern shore of the island are a few must sees. At Kim Bong carpentry village, watch artisans craft sculptures, decorative pieces and furniture, and pick up a few souvenirs.
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News from the region
BURMA: Rohingya crisis: Finding out the truth about Arsa militants
"His and other accounts describe a movement with a small core of several hundred full-time militants, with perhaps a handful of foreigners among them, and many thousands of untrained and unarmed followers who joined the attacks only at the last minute."
CAMBODIA: The future of Cambodia: Tourism
"'Chinese and European tourists are different,' explained Ming. 'The Chinese come to Cambodia for four days. They stay in Angkor Wat for three days and Phnom Penh for maybe one. The Europeans spend longer and spend more.' "
SINGAPORE: Redevelopment of Lor Buangkok kampong likely ‘several decades later’
"The last remaining kampong on mainland Singapore, Kampong Lorong Buangkok, is likely to be redeveloped only 'several decades later', Second Minister for National Development Desmond Lee said on Monday."
THAILAND I: One year after King's death, Thais prepare for final goodbye
"As the massive funeral draws nearer, TV channels have been ordered to reduce their colour saturation, refrain from overly-joyous content and roll out documentaries highlighting the the king's good works."
THAILAND II: Thailand bans smoking on popular tourist beaches
"The ban, which will come into effect next month, will apply to beaches in the provinces of Phuket, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Chon Buri and Songkhla, and includes the popular resorts of Koh Samui and Pattaya."
VIETNAM: Vietnam on flood alert again
"Vietnam's disaster prevention agency said 72 people died in last week's floods. According to the government and state-run Vietnam Television, those floods were the worst in decades. Thousands of homes were submerged. Another 200 houses collapsed, and several towns remain cut off by the floodwaters. The floods also damaged more than 22,000 hectares of rice fields."
Travel writing
CHINATOWN: Farewell to the fairy palace: are Chinatowns obsolete?
"Chinatowns, according to Tsui, serve 'as a spiritual and historical touchstone for older generations, and as a physical home for new immigrants', continuing to provide a way-station for the most economically precarious new arrivals."
INDONESIA: Is coffee culture of Indonesia’s capital Jakarta becoming one of world’s best?
"“We are Indonesian and we get a lot of support from our country, and we want to be able to give that back,” Dipura says. “That’s why we source our beans from local growers.”"
INDONESIA II: The world's most dangerous megacities for women
"Jakarta was ranked as the ninth worst megacity for women. The Indonesian capital, with an estimated population of 10.5 million, was named as fourth worst when it came to harmful cultural practices such as female genital mutilation and forced marriages. The city came seventh best for women to have access to economic resources such as education, land, and financial services such as bank accounts and loans."
SINGAPORE: The sounds of Singapore’s underground defy labels
"In recent years, a wave of emerging and established talents have sparked fresh life into Singapore’s underground circuit. These artists are increasingly cross-pollinating genres to create rich sonic tapestries that resonate as well on festival stages as they do in smoky rooms."
THAILAND: Tourist attractions, shops and other places closed on 26 October 2017
"As you are probably aware by now, the whole of Thailand has been in mourning for the past year due to the death of King Bhumibol. He passed away on 13th October 2016. His funeral will take place from 25th to 29th October 2017."
TRAVEL WRITING: Travel guide
"Once again, these logics of differentiation are not equal: They feed into those wider relations of inequality and injustice sustained by the tourism industry."
VIETNAM: Smile for the camera: Reconsider Réhahn’s works
"Had Réhahn understood that culture is not a static entity, more than just costumes and festivals, his photos would perhaps have been more nuanced and thought-provoking."
Interesting site
Matca
"Matca, whose name means fisheye in Vietnamese, is born solely out of our passion for and beliefs in photography as a form of narration and visual arts. We intend for Matca to be a collective, an alternative gathering space for the Vietnamese photographic community to seek inspiration and bounce ideas off one another."
Travel shot
Wild and stormy seas.
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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