Travelfish newsletter Issue 303 : Ko Kut + Solo + Getting offline
Hi all,
New on Travelfish this week is an update of Indonesia's fascinating Solo and in Thailand, we have full fresh coverage of spectacular Ko Kut—our favourite island in the country.
This week’s soapbox looks at getting offline, which we’re about to do for a stretch. The book review is of Italian author Tiziano Terzani’s A Fortune Teller Told Me: Earthbound Travels in the Far East.
There will not be a newsletter next week as we’re going to be totally offline for the Easter holidays (see Soapbox below for more information).
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Soapbox
Getting offline
A few years ago I was asked to make a prediction of a new trend in travel and I suggested “dark travel”—by that meaning travelling somewhere where there was no phone nor internet connectivity—sort of like a forced digital detox.
At the time is was still relatively easy to find such places without needing to walk for days into some national park or boat to some remote atoll. The world though has got increasingly smaller over the intervening years and it is becoming very difficult to find such places without also needing to pack a tent and water purification equipment. (and you’ve seen our packing list right?!)
But we’re off to such a place this Friday for a school holidays Easter break. From Bali it will take us three flights, two cars and one boat to reach—at least we won’t need a tent. As someone who spends far too long online, I’m quite looking forward to it.
I’ll still have my laptop of course as I plan to do some writing while offline, but we’ll have no internet connectivity, nor a phone signal. When I asked the owner about a signal, she said, “You can get a boat to another island, then a motorbike taxi to the top of the hill, then walk into a nearby forest and wave your phone around—that sometimes works." No word on if I’ll need to make a blood sacrifice or burn ginseng roots as well.
The phone really has become part of the travel experience for me—as it can be just so damn useful. I use it for photos, video and sound, for browsing websites for travel information and/or the news, for translating, for mapping, for keeping in touch with family, and yes, I confess, the occasional game of Clash of Clans...
All I need to do to get offline in reality is turn my phone off. But really I only ever manage this involuntarily (when the battery goes flat). It is the hardest of habits to break, yet with all the hoo haa over the last few days regarding Facebook and information gathering, I wonder if perhaps I should be switching it off more often.
Safe travels
Stuart
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What we’re reading
A Fortune Teller Told Me: Earthbound Travels in the Far East by Tiziano Terzani
Travel memoir A Fortune Teller Told Me: Earthbound Travels in the Far East sees Italian journalist Tiziano Terzani roam mostly across the Southeast Asia of the early 1990s, introducing us to some intriguing characters and fascinating anecdotes. Published in 1995, the book shows a snapshot of Asia back then, a meandering and enjoyable read for those particularly interested in the region.
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Other advertisers include Asia Highlights offer tailor made travel through Vietnam, Take Me Tour offer experiences with locals out of Chiang Mai, Akha Kitchen offer Thai cooking classes in Chiang Rai, WWOOF Thailand connect hosts and organic farm volunteers and VD Travel offer trending itineraries across the region.
Featured destination
Ko Kut
Extraordinary beaches ring deep wilderness and mangrove-draped rivers on Ko Kut, one of the most beautiful islands we’ve seen in more than two decades of travel in Thailand.
When calm, the crystal-clear sea meets soft coral sand in settings that could be mistaken for the Maldives and its size and relatively pristine condition make it unique among Thai islands considering that no national park oversees its protection. The beaches here are truly superb.
When we first visited the island a few years ago, we were taken aback by the beauty of the beaches—all this stunning yet largely undeveloped beachfront within a day of travel from Bangkok—how could this be?!
We’re delighted to say that on a return visit in 2018 we found the island to still be quite fantastic and it holds special appeal for families, lovers, and those looking for a sleepy beach break without the crass development and sleaze common on many of Thailand’s other islands.
Off the beach, old-growth trees tower above waterfalls and wildlife in hills reaching above 300 metres. Even on the west coast with its patches of tourism-related development, some beaches back into nothing but coconut groves.
For now, Kut really delivers if you’re after a quiet holiday in a spectacular setting with family or a sweetheart. Small pockets of backpacker accommodation exist along with a few dozen pricier resorts that lend the island an upscale, impersonal vibe (with plenty of exceptions).
We say: Go today, not tomorrow.
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Travel insurance: World Nomads
News from the region
CAMBODIA I: Kak Channthy, Cambodian Space Project frontwoman, killed in crash at 38
“Kak Channthy, frontwoman of popular The Cambodian Space Project, was killed Tuesday morning in a traffic accident in Phnom Penh. She was 38.” Tragic.
CAMBODIA II: Wildlife sanctuaries in Kratie, Battambang and Banteay Meanchey closed
“Land inside the sanctuaries 'was granted to private companies', and the forest was also cleared for private ownership, he added. Timber was logged for businesses, he continued, involving government officials and powerful tycoons.”
CAMBODIA III: Australian dead, 1 hurt in Cambodia blast
“The ABC reports the Australians were 'likely tourists visiting a shooting range run by the Cambodian military for profit'.”
INDONESIA I: Shoestring expedition returns with wild photos of Sumatra
“The team found that this remote area is especially important for Sumatra’s wild predators. In addition to tigers and clouded leopards, they recorded golden cats and marble cats.”
INDONESIA II: The 'lovably weird' creature facing extinction
“But I don’t really care about all these arguments, no matter how convincing. We should save the Sumatran rhino because we can.”
INDONESIA III: Indonesian province considers beheading as murder punishment
“Yusuf said if sharia law was consistently applied, then crime, particularly murder, would decrease significantly or disappear.” No it won’t.
INDONESIA IV: Saving Lombok’s beaches
“The organisation promotes the reduction, reuse and recycling of waste, and shares information with schools, communities, businesses and government institutions.”
INDONESIA V: A 'millennials party' dares to break Indonesia's political mould
“Dubbed the ‘millennials party’, the PSI is an upstart on the political stage of this Southeast Asian nation that hopes to tap into young voters’ contempt for the entrenched corruption and divisive identity politics of the ruling elite.”
SINGAPORE I: New National Parks Board online map trees.sg lists locations, info of 500,000 trees
“NParks’ streetscape group director Oh Cheow Sheng said: "We want people to get to learn about the trees in their neighbourhood, and hopefully, this will progressively get them to be excited about what else they can do about the environment, and how they can contribute.”
SINGAPORE II: Singapore is the most expensive place to live in the world
“It found out that while Singapore had some competitive prices for personal care products, household goods, and domestic help, the destination is host to some of the highest costs in the world.”
THAILAND I: Commoner party seeks to put the poor in parliament
“Known in Thai as Pak Samanchon, the movement – whose ideology roughly coincides with that of the social democrats and the greens – talks not just about representing the voices of the grassroots, but about attempting to get them in power via the party so that they may speak for themselves alongside committed NGO workers.”
THAILAND II: Six deaths from rabies since start of 2018
“The death toll from rabies has increased to six while the epidemic remains present in 24 provinces, the health ministry said Monday.”
THAILAND III: Deal struck with Malaysia to build border wall in Songkhla
“The border wall is expected to stem the flow of drugs, weapons, illegal petrol and human trafficking between the two countries. Thailand and Malaysia share a 640-kilometre common border. ”
THAILAND IV: Road accidents involving foreign tourists using rented motorbikes on the rise in Pai
According to the hospital records, there were almost 6,000 road accidents in Pai district over the past four years from 2014-2017, mostly involving foreign tourists using motorcycles. During the same period, 4,750 foreign tourists and 1,818 Thais – both locals and tourists, were injured from road accidents.
VIETNAM: Photos show how sand mining threatens a way of life in Southeast Asia
“Why, you might ask, don’t we simply mine sand from the Sahara and other deserts? The answer is desert sand doesn’t work in concrete—the wind-eroded grains are too smooth and rounded. As a result, from China to Jamaica, from Liberia to India, sand miners are plundering riverbeds, floodplains, and beaches for the precious grains.”
Travel writing
BURMA: The best books on Burma
“Burma today is very much the same, they are trying to conquer these ethnic areas by force but they don’t know how to govern properly. The medieval kings are not very good role models for the state.”
TRAVEL I: All the things you're doing wrong when you travel, according to Anthony Bourdain
“Bourdain tells me he shuns the Yelps and TripAdvisors of the world. “I don’t see them as reliable, because you don’t know what people’s priorities are,” he says.”
TRAVEL II: Worried about sea turtles dying out? Here’s what you can do to help
“To have a lasting impact, seek out volunteer projects that address these issues, through beach clean-ups, nightly patrols, educating local communities and campaigning against over-development.”
TRAVEL III: Why virtual reality cannot match the real thing
“There is a further reason for preferring a real experience to virtual reality. Real experiences connect us to the deeds of past people and place us in contexts where history was made.”
VIETNAM I: Cha Lua: Five dishes with the versatile Vietnamese food
“Even if you’re not officially acquainted, you may have eaten the versatile cha lua in any number of Vietnamese dishes—amid the multi-textured chaos of a banh mi, or thickly sliced and sprinkled with shallots, and served alongside glutinous rolls of banh cuon.”
VIETNAM II: Vietnam's anti-war exhibition brings GIs and Viet Cong together
“Schnall, Johnson and Searcy all agreed that despite the multitudes of books and documentaries on Vietnam, the role that GIs played in fighting for peace from within has always been downplayed and overlooked.”
Interesting site
The Cambodian Space Project
Travel shot
Hello Ngam Kho. 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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