Travelfish newsletter Issue 310 : Bandung + Reader privacy
Hi all,
This week we have new coverage for Bandung in Indonesia's West Java on the site. I know we’ve been promising a raft of Laos and Thailand updates, and they will indeed be coming this week—we’ve just been snowed under with fun stuff like tax returns and GDPR. Happy days!
On the forum, we’ve added a call out for feedback. We’re slowly working through each of our page templates, looking to see how we can make them more useful for you, dear reader. This week it is the transport page—if you’ve got any ideas or pet hates about what we do here, please let us know (either by posting a reply on the forum or just drop us an email) so we can take your thoughts on board before starting to shake things up. Thank you.
Good travels
Stuart, Sam and the Travelfish crew
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Soapbox
On privacy
Chances are that in the last week or so you’ve received roughly eleventy million emails from all manner of websites, including many you probably forgot even existed, advising/asking/begging/demanding to let you know that they are changing their practices in regards to reader rights and privacy, and could you please click here/there/wherever to update your details.
This little email fun–fest has been kicked off by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR between mates), a regulation in European Union (EU) law on data protection and privacy that applies to all individuals within the EU. You can read all about it here.
While not perfect (it has some mind-bendingly grey areas from a web administration point of view), here at Travelfish we think overall the law is a good one. We’ve been busy making a lot of changes to the site to get our ducks in a row and while we’re not quite there, we should be shortly. Unlike some sites, we’re not making the changes for just readers in the EU, but rather we’re using it as our new baseline standard for our readers worldwide.
Practically, what does this mean right now?
1) It means I really would prefer to never read another GDPR think–piece.
2) It means we have removed all Google Adsense ads from the site. These have been replaced completely with in-house ads (for Cookly, GetYourGuide, Liveaboard and others) which do no tracking whatsoever on Travelfish.
3) We’ve disabled Google Analytics demographics and interest reports and have anonymised the IP addresses that Google Analytics records. In essence this means no personally identifiable information is transferred from Travelfish to Google Analytics when you are using the website.
4) We’ve rewritten our privacy policy from the ground up in terms that (we think!) make sense to people not versed in the dark arts of web server administration.
And in practice, what does this mean looking ahead?
1) The site loads more quickly. Removing the ads and all the other clutter has reduced page load time by almost half.
2) With a couple of exceptions (literally three: World Nomads, Mapbox and Stripe, which we will be sorting out this week), when you visit Travelfish, we connect with only one other third party website—Google Analytics. We encourage you to take a look at what other travel websites are doing regarding this—we hope we compare favourably.
Reader privacy has always been important to us. We removed social sharing buttons (arguably the most pervasive trackers on the planet) years ago because of the very concerns that have led to the introduction of the GDPR. We welcome the fact that we now have a legal baseline that we can work towards and (shortly) surpass.
For readers who believe online privacy is important, we hope that the above helps you rest assured that we do too.
Good travels,
Stuart
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What we’re reading
The Tower by Isa Kamari (translated by Alfian Sa'at)
A relatively short, crisp novel, The Tower by Singaporean Malay author Isa Kamari follows the journey of a famed architect walking up a 101-storey tower that he designed himself. Trudging up with an assistant on the eve of the new millennium, he reflects on his life and its highlights and lowlights along the way.
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!
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
Bandung
Fringed by volcanic peaks blanketed in tea and coffee plantations, Bandung is a hectic urban hub and the heartland of West Java’s Sundanese culture. While, like many Indonesian cities, first impressions are less than favourable, maybe it’s the traffic (yes, it is the traffic), but this response is only fleeting if you wipe back a layer of grime and discover Bandung’s charms.
Back in the day, quinine was found to be an effective antimalarial in the mosquito infested colonies, but unfortunately it is extremely unpalatable, unless you mix it with sweet carbonated water (invented by Johann Jacob Schweppe and known as Tonic Water) and the taste improves ten-fold when you mix it with gin. We are assured that Bandung, a large producer of quinine at the time, was the place where this quintessential tropical cocktail was first sipped (for health, of course).
While domestic and regional tourists flood to Bandung for the shopping and the eating, the majority of Western tourists use the city as a base for exploring the spectacularly scenic countryside graced with volcanoes, hot springs and tea plantations. It is though also worthwhile spending a day delving into the city itself. Lovers of architecture will enjoy spotting some fading Art déco treasures along Jalan Braga and up in the hills around Dargo and a handful of museums will distract you from the drizzle on a rainy day.
Outside town, take a day trip to the north to visit a “drive-in” active volcano Tangkuban Parahu, the “upsidedown boat” shaped mountain that can be seen from the city, with nearby hot springs and tea plantations and if you have time on the way back, an enjoyable two hour hike can be had though the National Forest, Taman Hutan Raya Ir. H. Djuanda or skip over to Curug Cimahi, a magnificent waterfall. To the south, a day trip could encompass the impressive crater lake, Kawah Putih as well as the natural thermal springs at Kawah Rengganis and Situ Patenggang, a scenic lake surrounded by tea plantations.
Accommodation options in Bandung are generally good value across all budgets, particularly for midweek stays as prices rise considerably on weekends and holidays. While places to stay are peppered all over town, but it’s easiest for sightseeing and transport connections in the centre of the city.
A word or warning: try to plan your Bandung visit avoiding the weekend as the traffic is legendary—and not in a good way.
Travelfish partners
Liveaboard offers online bookings, detailed write-ups and reviews of live aboard operators across Southeast Asia.
Liveaboards are available for booking in Burma, Indonesia, Philippine, Thailand and more.
News from the region
INDONESIA I: Indonesia must deradicalize mothers and kids too
“Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population in the world, prides itself on its tradition of moderation, but intolerance is growing in a way that is making some fear for their hard-won democracy, restored in 1998 after more than 32 years of authoritarian rule.”
INDONESIA II: Indonesian plan to clamp down on foreign scientists draws protest
“Meijaard adds that overall the draft law seems vague and is 'certain to turn away foreign researchers and stop people from studying in Indonesia if there is an unclear risk of being fined or sent to jail.' ”
SOUTHEAST ASIA I: Southeast Asia sees unprecedented attack on press
“Save a few exceptions, Southeast Asia has never been known for vibrant journalism. But even with that history as a backdrop, analysts say the last decade has seen an unprecedented rollback of journalistic freedom due to rising authoritarianism and social media’s amplification of hate speech.”
SOUTHEAST ASIA II: Lots of elections, not so much democracy
“But caution is needed. There has never been a shortage of elections in South-East Asia, yet they are not sure-fire signs of democratisation.”
SOUTHEAST ASIA III: Unmapped roads raise risk to rainforests
“Deforestation and development of forests in the area studied have occurred at a rapid pace since 2000, said Hughes, while maps used by researchers do not regularly update their road data.”
THAILAND I: Thailand arrests senior monks in temple raids to clean up Buddhism
“Thailand’s temples, which earn billions of dollars every year from donations, have been embroiled in scandals ranging from murder, sex and drugs to shady financial dealings.”
THAILAND II: The Mlabri of Northern Thailand
“Today, they live in five permanent settlements in the Nan and Phrae provinces, engaging in wage labor, cash crop cultivation, and ethnic tourism.”
THAILAND III: Thailand is not lost
“Thailand’s traditional stance has been to keep all options open.”
TOURISM: Holiday giants including TUI and TripAdvisor 'profiting from animal cruelty'
“Which? Travel, which researched 10 holiday firms, said many were making grand-sounding pledges on animal welfare that were ultimately empty promises.”
VIETNAM: Vietnam's downtown dwellers cling to tiny plots
“The "micro-house" dwellings are dotted throughout Vietnam's bustling southern hub, occupied by families clinging to tiny plots of land in a city developing at breakneck pace.”
Travel writing
BURMA: Art arrives at The Secretariat
“In 2017, authorities breathed life into the Secretariat's dusty halls with a reported $100 million investment, making it Myanmar’s largest restoration project to date. For this, authorities have contracted Italian firm Pomeroy Studios to renovate the interiors, revive the surrounding gardens, and repurpose the heritage site to better suit public cultural needs.”
INDONESIA I: Bali's top secluded beaches
“Sculpted, towering limestone cliffs create myriad little bays, with sand in hues from gold to creamy white. Challenging descents—sometimes involving hundreds of rock-cut steps—promote seclusion every bit as dramatically as they tone the quadriceps.”
INDONESIA II: New Order child
“Honestly, I don’t know much about romance. The way I see it, it’s about two people longing for something despite hindrances. I think good romance should have a happy ending; that’s the classic formula.”
THAILAND: Eating Ko Chang
TRAVEL TECH: How to pack and prepare your smartphone for travelling this summer
“Fret not, traveller. To help you plan a smooth summer vacation, here’s an overview of the tech you should pack to use a smartphone abroad, and more important, what you need to do with your phone before you depart. ”
VIETNAM I: When good fences made bad neighbors in Hanoi
“Friends visiting from overseas cannot help themselves. They just can’t. After a few days in the current that is Hanoi’s social life?—?the overflowing streets, the neighborhood cafes, the cascading dinner conversations?—?they just have to try and draw some big conclusion about how wonderfully together everybody is compared to their own society. They can’t not do it.”
VIETNAM II: Notes on Quy Nhon: The pleasant provincial city by the sea
“There are many seafood and snail restaurants and street stalls here. Snails are not the best solo traveller meal as you need lots of friends so you can order multiple plates. I contented myself with admiring the arrangement of snails.”
Interesting site
Privacy Badger
Privacy Badger is a browser add-on that stops advertisers and other third-party trackers from secretly tracking where you go and what pages you look at on the web.
Travel shot
Can’t say no to Bubur ayam Bandung. Photo: Sally Arnold
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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