Travelfish #392: This is why I do this + we need your help
Hi everyone,
Ok, big issue this week—so big it is a day late. Why so big? Because we need your support to help us get through this godawful period—and there I was thinking 2019 was a shocker! Scroll down to the feature for the nitty gritty. Thank you.
The pics this week are, well, from all over the place—enjoy!
Checking in on Uncle Ho in Hanoi. Photo: Stuart McDonald.
On Couchfish I’ve been in Hanoi—walking, eating a bit, checking in on Uncle Ho and then bailing to Mai Chau, though I did get lost on the way.
On the free to read side of things, I cover Kompong Thom in Cambodia and then retold the story of the day when we offered up our daughter to immigration to get an exit stamp—I mean what parent hasn’t ever been there?
Over on David’s Thai Island Time, he has a cracking post, dare I say, possibly his best yet. Hot off the press right here—if you are into Thailand’s islands read it.
Cheers and thank you for your support
Stuart
This is why I do this
Hi everyone,
Late last year I’d finished a research trip on Malaysia’s east coast and was boarding my flight from Singapore back to Bali. As I wriggled into my seat, a woman in the row behind me leaned forward and asked me if I was “Travelfish”.
Taken aback a bit, I said yes I was. She smiled and nudged her partner. “I told you so!”
Yes, this really did happen. Also, yes, I was exhausted as I look—OMG. Photo: Stuart McDonald.
“He’s been following your travels down the coast on Instagram,” she said. “We knew you were in Johor the other day and were heading home. I thought, I wonder if he’ll be on this flight. Then I saw you walking down the aisle, and I knew it was you.”
“We love Travelfish.”
It brings such a smile to my face typing the above. Despite travelling Southeast Asia for the last 16 years for Travelfish, it is surprising how rarely I meet Travelfish readers. When I do, they’re always great people.
In many ways, these two were quintessential Travelfish readers. A self–employed Argentinian/European couple, on the road travelling whenever they could. We met a month or so later at a cafe near my house in Bali for lunch and swapped travel tales. Listening to them laugh about places they’d found via Travelfish, I sat there thinking:
“This is why I do this.”
The entire planet has changed in the six months or so since that flight.
Good times, good people. By the Mekong, Laos. Photo: Stuart McDonald.
Years earlier, I was travelling in northern Laos when I met a French family with their young son. We met in a cute garden guesthouse by the Mekong and, like the couple above, they were Travelfish readers.
Through a lazy afternoon and a few too many Beerlao, we swapped tales. It was remarkable how many of the same places we all loved. Not only the towns and islands, but also specific places to stay and the people that ran them. Many they had discovered through Travelfish. It felt like we were talking about old friends rather than funny homestay owners and bedlamite bar staff. As with the couple above, I thought:
“This is why I do this.”
I often joke that we’re not business–people, rather we’re reformed backpackers. Travelfish started out as a hobby. We made it up as we went and rode the ups and downs like we would the longtail out to Ko Kradan. There was never a business plan.
Pulling up at Ko Kradan. Photo: Stuart McDonald.
Who could have planned for 2020?
That flight from Singapore to Bali feels like a lifetime ago. Today travel for me is a walk down the rice field road to the minimart. The places I talked about with the French family are most likely closed. Owners out of work. Who knows when they will re–open—if ever.
A driver friend here in Bali now works as a painter. An award–winning guiding friend in Thailand sells noodles. And they’re the lucky ones—many others are jobless—holding their breath.
We’re holding our breath too. I imagine you are as well.
Travelfish as a going concern is, well, not going—but I don’t plan to take this sitting down. Travel will restart sometime in the future. I don’t know what form post–Covid19 travel is actually going to take, but I want Travelfish to be around when it appears.
Keep on truckin. Also, put your glasses on straight and get a decent helmet—and a shave. In Hue. Photo: Stuart McDonald.
Next week, on Travelfish’s 16th birthday, I’m announcing a crowdfunding campaign. Our goal is to make sure we’ll be around for the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th cake days.
Research in the current climate is impossible. Instead I plan to focus on feature stories that will bring the region and its people to you. I imagine you’re as frustrated as we are at not being able to travel. Likewise as concerned as we are for the people in the region doing the hardest of yards.
There is one problem. As I hinted at above, Travelfish is deep in the red. The business earned around $500—in total—in June. Most of that $500 was in new memberships, and, for us, that is our most secure long–term future.
Nothing is out of reach—you just need to swing hard. Lyla on Sumbawa. Photo: Stuart McDonald.
The crowdfunding will give us the financial security to commission the feature stories we want. In turn we hope the stories will encourage more members. More members will mean we’re around for all those future birthday cakes—and, most importantly, for your next trip.
We’ll be announcing the campaign target—US$10,000—next week. (There’s an important correction here, the target is in US$ not A$, my bad sorry!) With the campaign to run for three months. I’ll have the full breakdown on how we’d like to put this money to work next week.
In the meantime, there are three ways you could help us before we even get started.
First. If you found somewhere (or someone!) special in part thanks to Travelfish, please send me an email and tell me all about it. I’d love to be able to run some of these stories in newsletters during the campaign. Some past Travelfish writers are doing the same.
We do this stuff properly—please help us continue to do so Lake Toba, Sumatra. Photo: Stuart McDonald.
Second. When I start running these features, please tell me what you think. If you like the piece, share it with your friends. For obvious reasons, traffic to the site has collapsed, and we’d like all the eyeballs we can get. Every new pair of eyes is a potential member.
Third. If you’re a Travelfish member, I’ve set up a page where you can renew your account at a discounted rate. We’ll all get to travel again one day right?
Renewals are A$30 for one year, A$25 per year for two years (so A$50) and A$20 (so A$100) for five years. You want to be around for Travelfish’s 21st right?!
If you’re interested in taking advantage of this renewal deal, please see this page (you’ll need to be logged in to see it and the page is a bit rough and ready, but it works—I’ve just spent $180 to check!)
In case you forgot, the regular price is A$35 per year.
Last of all. Pre–launch donations are welcome! The main donation campaign page is here.
I hope that in these challenging times, you’re able to help us in one of the above manners. Your actions will directly help us be around when sanity returns. If you can’t, no worries, I understand and respect that—why not forward my missive to a friend who might be able to.
Thank you for making the time to read this and for your support
Stuart
PS a big thank you to the good friend who looked at the first version of the above and basically said “that’s rubbish—do it again”. Thank you—coffee on me next time we cross paths!
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Ten things worth reading
Why are there roving gibbons and hornbills in Phnom Penh?
Last time I was in Phnom Penh there was a hornbill right outside my hotel window. I almost fell over when I saw it!
On Hanoi’s Streets in 1979: Trams, Bicycles, Buffaloes and Peace
Who doesn’t like a few old pics.
Aboriginal Australians in early modern Makassar
This is easily the most interesting thing I read all week.
After Fighting Plastic in ‘Paradise Lost,’ Sisters Take On Climate Change
The best thing about getting kids into activism is they have more years to burn through getting stuff done.
What if aviation doesn’t recover from covid-19? $
So many what ifs. This one on the airline industry—which, in my humble opinion, is in dire need of change.
23 of the Best Beaches in Southern & Central Vietnam
Indonesia reopens national parks to tourists as COVID-19 cases rise
Trying to make sense of policy decisions in Indonesia in the age of Covid19 are beyond me.
The legacy of slavery and emancipation in Thailand
No this is not about the monkeys pulling coconuts.
Looters target Myanmar temple treasures in tourist slump $
These monuments, and those elsewhere in the region have been looted for centuries. Here is a report on the latest sorry saga.
Locked Up in Malaysia's Lockdown
And there I was thinking Singapore’s government had the thinest skin in the region. A solid and very interesting report.
Bonus link
If you’d like to see me babbling away in a hammock, knock yourself out with this three part series courtesy of the smart cookies at Phanganist.
Something to read
The Ideal Man: The Tragedy of Jim Thompson and the American Way of War
A detailed biography of the American spy-turned-silk-king Jim Thompson, The Ideal Man explores decades of intriguing US-Thai relations as a necessary backdrop to his life.
Photo of the week
Wandering Tana Toraja, Sulawesi. Photo: Stuart McDonald.
Thank you!
Thanks from reading the Travelfish newsletter. Please feel free to forward it to all and sundry and your feedback, as always, is much appreciated.
Travel light!
Stuart & the Travelfish team
Which of these options is the best for you, in terms of taxes, fees, etc.? Which choice gets the most ca$h to Travelfish? Cheers.