Travelfish newsletter Issue 293 : Hostel ageism + Kuala Lumpur
Happy New Year all!
We’ve taken a bit of a New Year spring cleaning broom to the newsletter—we hope you like it. We’ve kept the book review and the soapbox but we’ll now just be talking about a single destination each week. The news and travel writing wraps will remain as always. Feedback, as always, is appreciated.
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Soapbox
Ageism in hostels
On my recent spell in Kuala Lumpur I fit in a few stays at various hostel dorm rooms. KL has some excellent hostels (some of which we list) and some truly not-excellent ones (which we don’t), but something that I encountered more than once was an underlying vibe of “Hey, old guy, why do you want to stay here?” Thankfully nobody actually came out and said that, but here is a typical example.
When I checked in, the staffer was, to say the least, nonplussed at needing to deal with me. He walked me half way to the dorm, pointed me to the door, pointed in the other direction to roughly indicate where the bathrooms were, and walked off. That was it. Later I saw the same staffer giving a woman in her mid-20s a very detailed walk-through, including showing her the rooftop area (which they didn’t tell me existed). When I checked out the next morning, a different staffer took my room key and said exactly two words: “Thanks. Bye.”
Bye indeed.
Of course, I know my way around a hostel and a dorm, and to be honest I don’t really need a detailed blow by blow explanation of how to use a keycard—but there was no way the staff knew that. In their eyes, I’m a less desirable guest and how a hostel in an ultra-competitive market like KL can afford to have staff with an attitude like that is totally beyond me.
No, I didn’t list them.
Good travels
Stuart
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What we’re reading
The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui
The Best We Could Do, by Thi Bui, is a beautifully drawn graphic memoir that tells the story of Thi’s parents before they fled Vietnam in 1978 with her and her siblings. More than this though, it’s also a quiet meditation on becoming a parent, and considering where she, her parents and her son sit in the generational story of their family.
Thank you
Just a few quick words of thanks to businesses who have decided to advertise direct with us on Travelfish recently. If you know a business, small or large, who may be interested in advertising on the site, please send them our One Page Media Kit!
Asia Highlights offer tailor made travel through Vietnam, Take Me Tour offer experiences with locals out of Chiang Mai and, last but not least, Akha Kitchen offer Thai cooking classes in Chiang Rai.
Featured destination
KUALA LUMPUR
The Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur is not at the top of all Southeast Asian travellers’ most-want-to-see lists. But in part due to the wild success of low-cost carrier AirAsia, they are passing through KL more than ever before. Heading from Bali to Siem Reap, and you’ll most likely have at least a few hours laying over in KLIA2. Likewise Krabi to Saigon, Medan to Manila or Jakarta to Johor.
But the airport is just a one-hour bus ride from downtown and most nationalities get 90 days visa-free entry into Malaysia. So maybe next time you’re whizzing through on the way to somewhere else, consider breaking the trip up and giving KL more than a couple of hours—we’d say it is easily worth two days, if not maybe three or four. Why? Keep reading.
We think of KL, which kicked off as a malarial jungle with mine-able tin not even 200 years ago, as being midway on a continuum between totally functional and predictable Singapore and, at the other end, the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. All three feature wildly laid out roads with spaghetti flyovers, towering condominiums and shining towers of glass and brass, with impressive stands of greenery here and there.
While in Kuala Lumpur we did a series of of food walks and tours. On one of them, the KL Food Experience, two Singaporeans discussed near endlessly the origins of the dishes we were eating—was it a Singaporean original or Malaysian. Regardless of origin, which was better? The food, like the traffic and the trees, is also on a continuum linking up the three cities.
KL is affordable (yes, you guessed it, more expensive than Jakarta but cheaper than Singapore) and there are plenty of great places to stay. The mass transit system continues to expand (though it can be confusing at times—we repeatedly caught the wrong train), making it easier than ever to get around.
The city has some excellent museums, including the stunning Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia, which is one of the best museums we’ve seen in the entire region. Another, the Heritage Centre, was as understated as it was fascinating. There is no shortage of Chinese and Hindu temples to visit, and of course, if you’d prefer a view from above, choose from the Petronas Twin Towers, KL Tower, or, our personal favourite, Heli Lounge Bar—an open-air bar atop a helipad.
On the topic of bars, boozing isn’t cheap in KL, but there’s a solid speakeasy scene for those who want something more than a tall Tiger Beer to cool off with—though if you want an affordable Tiger, head straight to Jalan Alor (and have some chicken wings while you’re there).
Spend an evening doing a night food tour by bicycle with Bike With Elena, or try the KL Food Experience for daytime scoffing. If you’d like a guide but prefer not to pay, VisitKL run free walking tours throughout the week.
In 17 days, we managed to get down over 100 meals (and came home with an extra two kilos for our troubles) which we’ve summed up in our KL food write-up. Overall though, we had just one very poor meal and that, more than almost anything else, says something about KL’s food scene. There’s Malay fare in Kampung Baru, Indian in Brickfields and Little India, Chinese in Chinatown and Western in Bukit Bintang—this is a town where it’s hard to go hungry.
So do get off your plane. Book a three-day stop-over between flights and give Kuala Lumpur a chance. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself returning again and again.
Travelfish partners
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Flights: roundtheworldflights.com
Places to stay: Agoda, Booking
Tours and activities: TourRadar, GetYourGuide
Ground transport: 12Go Asia
Travel insurance: World Nomads
News from the region
BURMA I: Explainer: Two Reuters journalists due to make second Myanmar court appearance
“The government only announced the arrest of the reporters some 24 hours after they were detained and the two were held at an undisclosed location without contact with families or lawyers for two weeks.”
BURMA II: As Myanmar’s elephants vanish, artists bring them to life in downtown Yangon
““I’ve always wanted to make giant elephant sculptures but they also reflect the current situation of elephant killings,” said graffiti artist Arker Kyaw, who led a team of artists in the construction of the sculptures.”
CAMBODIA: Why the West was doomed to fail in Cambodia
“Perhaps the most decisive factor behind the government’s crackdown on domestic dissent has been its increasing reliance on China’s rising star for political and economic support.”
INDONESIA I: Like biting into a durian: Indonesia’s weird architecture of the ’50s and ’60s
“Khalil was beguiled by the fusion of geometric forms from southern California. A touch of Hollywood - fast-food drive-ins and flamboyant motels - was transplanted to Java.”
INDONESIA II: Deradicalisation Schools: The Answer to Terrorism?
“Ghazali now runs Al-Hidayah Islamic Boarding School on the outskirts of Medan in Deli Serdang. It’s a small establishment with just 20 pupils, but what makes it different from the thousands of other schools across the archipelago is that all its students are the children of convicted terrorists.”
INDONESIA III: Bali beaches buried in rubbish as Indonesia battles oceans of plastic
“But the scale of the problem was most poignantly illustrated by something quite tiny. While diving off the Indonesian island of Sumbawa, US photojournalist Justin Hofman captured a seahorse clinging to a cotton bud.”
LAOS I: With its Environmental Crisis, Is Laos Missing the Forest for the Trees?
“The huge industry has proved so vital to Laos and the region it now plays a role in how the country deals with neighbors, with many commentators pointing to illegal timber as a major cause in last year’s long-running spat between Laos and Cambodia.”
LAOS II: Revolutionary monument to CIA’s fall in Laos
“Once locked in remote jungle fastness, northeast Laos’ tallest peak is a scenic attraction itself, but the official opening of a steel staircase to allow visitors access to its eastern ridge-line is expected to come on the 50th anniversary of the one of the North Vietnamese Army’s (PAVN) greatest feat of arms.”
MALAYSIA I: Long-time autocratic ruler could be key to ending Malaysia’s one-party rule
“But few could have imagined an election such as the one expected here early this year. The campaign will see the country’s long-time autocratic ruler, Mahathir Mohamad, recast as the man who just might bring an end to six decades of one-party rule in the country.”
SOUTHEAST ASIA: New Mandala’s top posts of 2017
Plenty of interesting reading here.
THAILAND I: How to register your drone in Thailand [Important]
A must read if you are a casual drone flyer thinking of droning in Thailand.
THAILAND II: Blind Thai woman jailed for sharing “royal insult” on Facebook
“A blind woman was jailed for 18 months by a Thai court on Thursday for sharing a Facebook post deemed defamatory to the royal family, her lawyer said, the latest victim of a tough law that shields the monarchy from criticism.”
VIETNAM I: The rise of the tourism mafia in Da Lat, Vietnam’s holiday heaven
“Vietnam’s government has ordered immediate measures to protect visitors from new groups of gangsters in the Central Highlands town Da Lat who have reportedly forced tourists to pay for unwanted products and services.”
VIETNAM II: The ghosts of My Lai
“I wanted to know whether Calley, a convicted mass murderer and one of the most notorious figures in 20th-century history, had ever expressed true contrition or lived a normal life.”
Travel writing
CAMBODIA I: Immigrants Find Homes in Colorful, Floating Villages
“In her series “Icons on Water,” Fedorenko looks into the living spaces of stateless Vietnamese immigrants living in the Tonle Sap lake and river system in Cambodia. The families build floating dwellings on top of waters where citizenship papers are not required.”
CAMBODIA II: Cambodia’s bamboo train back on track
“"We have six lorries to operate and provide service to the national and international tourists visiting the Banan temple area," said Soy Bora, a representative of the new train’s operators.”
SAFETY: How to spot a rip
While focused on Australia, this is essential viewing for any beachgoers.
Interesting site
Overtourism
A Twitter account focused solely on overtourism.
Travel shot
Food coma incoming at Vishal Food & Catering. Photo: Stuart McDonald
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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