Travelfish newsletter Issue 284 : Delta + More Delta + media madness
Hi everyone,
This week we’re all about deltas. We’ve got a review of (decidedly unriverine) Krakatoa: The Day The World Exploded, and a soapbox on media perhaps being a bit more responsible. More below the fold.
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The week that was
This week we have two destinations in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta completely updated—My Tho and Can Tho. Both are hotspots for doing tours in the Delta. More still of Penang is online, and yes the PDF will be finished this week if it kills us.
Also, there’s a changing of the guards as David is due back from his North American vacation today and Sally is off to walk across Spain (well, some of it at least)—Travelfish writers, even when on holiday, are still travelling.
As with last week, we’ve 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 polishing off research from Mae Hong Son, Mae Sariang and Soppong, Cindy is trying really hard to be dispatched to Castaway Island and Stuart is to head to northern Laos soon.
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!, so around US$27, C$35, EU23, GDP20 or VND 620,000!). Membership gives you access to our forum plus more than 200 downloadable guides (234 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 deltas.
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Good travels,
Stuart, Sam and the Travelfish team
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Soapbox
Kidnapped!
The other day the social interwebs were alive with pleas for locating a British tourist who was allegedly “kidnapped” by a taxi driver while in Hanoi.
Travelling companions stated he’d been “taken against his will” at around 2:30 in the morning by a local taxi driver and the posts, initially posted on Facebook, went viral, with two British tabloid rags running pieces and the British Foreign Office and embassy in Hanoi getting involved.
You know where this is going right?
The guy had been out drinking with friends and was so hammered that when his companions got out he was too drunk (or asleep, depending on which story you read) to move. After they got out, the driver drove off with him still in the back.
The driver (who could well have driven off not even knowing there was a sleeping passenger in the back) was found by his friends a couple of hours later (or arrested by police, again depending on which story you read). The “victim” wandered back (or was found by police, again depending on which story you read) a few hours later (or almost 24 hours later). He’d been out of contact because he’d lost his phone (or it was stolen by the driver).
The important thing of course is that, save a hangover (though according to media reports he can “hold his drink”), the guy is okay and plans to go on with his trip—and that is regardless of which story you read. Great.
Of course, there is a case for being legitimately concerned when the unexpected happens, but simple concerns can rapidly spin out of control on social media—and the media for that matter, especially by outlets driven by outrage and drama like the two UK tabloids concerned.
As a traveller, what is the right thing to do? Drink responsibly, stay under control and know your limits. Carry some emergency cash and a hotel business card. Don’t lose your phone. Seek help and assistance locally. Your guesthouse or hotel is generally a good starting point, as there is a better chance they will have a staffer with language skills to assist and they’ll know who to contact—be it the police, a hospital or an embassy. This is simple stuff.
What you do on the ground is one thing, but the media also should have a clearer head in deciding what gets published when. There are a wide variety of points above, all of which were presented as facts by different outlets—they can’t all be true. What ever happened to getting the facts straight before you hit “publish”?
Good travels
Stuart
Featured
Cai Rang floating market
Touring a floating market in the Mekong Delta is a box that many travellers to Vietnam wish to check, and none are bigger or more popular than Can Tho’s Cai Rang Floating Market. Here’s what to expect and how to book a boat tour.
What we're watching
Into the Mekong
A snapshot of life along one of the world’s largest rivers: a source of life to millions in Southeast Asia. Film by Kent Truog.
What we're reading
Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded, by Simon Winchester
Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded by Simon Winchester is the incredible tale of the Indonesian volcano that exploded into smithereens in 1883. Jam-packed with fabulous twists, turns and diversions into geology, history, politics, technology and evolution, it’s a rollicking traipse across continents, disciplines and history.
Notes from the road
BURMA: Two weeks in southern Burma
Southern Burma is a fascinating, varied, picturesque and, especially south of Mawlamyine, rarely visited region, and with a couple of weeks up your sleeve, there is a lot you could see and experience. Here are our suggestions for planning what would be a highly rewarding trip.
CAMBODIA: Takeo
Takeo’s best sights are all out of town. The ancient Funanese capital, now named Angkor Borei, is located at the joining point of the delta and plateau. The area lacks the spectacular limestone outcrops found further south in Takeo but the picturesque landscape here is dotted with sandstone hills rising out of the flat rice fields, many of which house significant archaeological sites.
INDONESIA: Umabarra and Pau villages
Umabarra and nearby Pau villages are an hour’s pleasant walk or a 10-minute ojek ride through the Melolo River delta, four kilometres from the centre of Melolo. Umabarra is the more interesting of the two villages. Both produce very appealing weavings, so if that tickles your fancy, visit the two, but architecturally Pau isn’t worth visiting.
ISLANDS: The Island Lodge
OK, it’s a hotel on a delta, with island in its name... we had to think laterally here. But The Island Lodge may just be the perfect excuse to linger in My Tho—if you can afford it.
LAOS: Don Dhet
Fringed by palms, cheap bungalows and bathed in golden sunshine, the Mekong island of Don Dhet is the most “beach” like destination of landlocked Laos.
MALAYSIA: Kinabatangan River
For the most accessible wildlife adventure in Sabah, the Kinabatangan River, Sabah’s longest, offers easy packaged experiences. Known for its remarkable wildlife, you are almost guaranteed to see one or several of Borneo’s endemic species in the wild here.
SINGAPORE: Boat tours of the Singapore River
Whether you’re on a tight schedule or just have aching feet, a cruise along the Singapore River is a great way to sit back and soak up Singapore’s sights.
THAILAND: Boat ride in the Tapi River delta
Cross the Tapi River from Surat Thani’s urban congestion and you’ll be swept into a lush, rural landscape defined by tropical flowers, dragonflies, coconut orchards, palms and reeds that often stand taller than the humble stilted houses. From the Bandon pier in Surat city, it’s possible to arrange a boat trip into the picturesque Tapi delta, known locally as Nai Bang.
VIETNAM: Mekong Delta boat trip
The most common reason to visit My Tho is for the Mekong Delta boat trip, a tour on and around a few islands in the Mekong river.
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News from the region
BURMA: Marketing a massacre
"The popular support in Myanmar for the military’s campaign has revealed a violently chauvinistic prejudice against Rohingya."
BURMA II: Across Myanmar, denial of ethnic cleansing and loathing of Rohingya
"The Buddhist abbot tucked his legs under his robes and began to explain. Rohingya Muslims do not belong in Myanmar, and they never have, he said. Their fertility allowed them to overwhelm the local Buddhist population. But now, somehow, many Rohingya seemed to be gone."
CAMBODIA I: China to fund restoration of Angkor Thom site
"Ly Vanna, director of the Department of Conservation of Angkor Monuments, said the project will include restoration of the northwest and southwest gates and wall enclosures, as well as brick and stone structures inside the central Phimeanakas temple."
CAMBODIA II: Vietnamese migrants could be on borrowed time in Cambodia
"Those with documentation, notably missing a Royal Decree now deemed necessary to be valid, are allowed to stay but will effectively need to rescind any rights as a Cambodian."
INDONESIA I: What the United States did in Indonesia
“It’s easy for American commentators to fall into that approach, but the U.S. was part and parcel of the operation, strategising with the Indonesian army and encouraging them to go after the PKI.”
INDONESIA II: Indonesia’s secret nudist community defying the law
INDONESIA III: Ten questions you always wanted to ask a flat earther
LAOS: Government seeks to restart flights at shuttered Attapeu airport
"Nearly a year after Lao airlines stopped offering flights and the airport fell into disuse, local villagers use the grounds to let their buffalo graze." Laos. It’s complicated.
MALAYSIA: Concern grows as Kuala Lumpur’s historic buildings crumble
"But even as the government spends billions of ringgit to improve the river that skirts Dataran Merdeka, the building that is so integral to the city’s history is crumbling."
SINGAPORE: The silhouette of oppression
"The message to Singapore’s tiny civil society circle was clear: This is what can happen. This is what we can do. Activism and dissent became muted for years, disrupting the continuity of a resistance that was itself a tentative resumption of an earlier era of political activity and community organising."
THAILAND I: Krabi residents vow to fight on against junta’s power plant plan
"Abdulla Matosot, 57, a fisherman in the village, said about 70 per cent of the villagers are small scale fishers and they are gravely concerned about the construction of the pier. “It will surely affect our livelihood, since it will be within walking distance of the village.”"
THAILAND II: Jim Thompson disappearance: Case solved?
"The filmmakers acknowledged the murder theory’s not new, but they believe their version is more substantial."
THAILAND III: Thailand's monarchy: where does love end and dread begin?
“This is so sad for Thailand,” says Pavin, now based in Japan after his Thai passport was cancelled. “We know there is a big hole, we are continuing to march towards it — and eventually we will fall into it.”
VIETNAM I: Vietnam’s last chance: Sustainable tourism
"Apart from foreign investment-driven industrialisation, another important factor behind the continuing degradation of Vietnam’s environment is mass tourism." See next story for evidence of this.
IETNAM II: Mass tourism changes Vietnam’s Sa Pa
"According to a local tourism plan, Sa Pa is set to become a major tourist area, attracting about 5.2 million visitors by 2030."
Travel writing
INDONESIA I: In search of peace and quiet...
"I thought I was headed for an Indonesian beach town abandoned by tourists too fearful of tsunamis and other recent seismic rumblings off nearby Sumatra to go anywhere near the beach." An oldie but a goodie to tie in with this week’s book review.
INDONESIA II: Trailblazers Q&A: Luke Mackin of Wild Sumatra
" I feel strongly that for this to succeed, it must be community-based and led, hence I see my role as one of support and advocacy. The guides I work with are all their own bosses who I assist and work with only at their request."
THAILAND I: 2017 Vegetarian festival
THAILAND II; Floral display for King Bhumibol at the Flower Market in Bangkok
"His acceptance of her small, poor lotus offering was like the streams of love and care he had for his Thai people and shared similarities with rainfail which gives life to all plants, including lotus flowers, all over the nation."
Interesting site
21st Century Tiger
21st Century Tiger channels money raised by the public, international zoo community and corporate supporters, to carefully chosen wild tiger conservation projects which provide the best conservation value and make the most difference.
Travel shot
Time to leave the market behind. 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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