Travelfish #394: The price of a place
What a place is worth
Hi everyone,
I’m starting this week’s newsletter off with a huge thank you to all who have contributed to our crowdfunding campaign—we broke through US$7,000 from 95 people this morning! You can see our progress here and read more about the campaign here.
We’ve already started moving on the feature stories, commissioning the first yesterday and another hopefully tomorrow. These stories are happening entirely because of your support. Thank you oh so much all of you.
Last week on pay–to–read Couchfish, I’ve been riding the Dien Dien Phu loop in northern Vietnam. Starting in Dien Bien Phu, I then took a sidetrip to Muong Phang (no I hadn’t heard of it either!), then onwards to Muong Lay, Sin Ho and finally to Sapa. You may not be able to travel at the moment (unless you are lucky enough to already be in Vietnam) but I hope, in the mean time, these pieces keep your feet itching and mind travelling.
On the road to Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam. Photo: Stuart McDonald.
On free to read Couchfish, last Friday I wrote about my experience guiding an Australian celebrity who was trying to help out those in need for all the wrong reasons.
If you’re more Thailand– than Vietnam–inclined, check out David’s latest post on Thai Island Times—as always, packed with interesting information.
Lastly, for the divers, hot out of the water comes the first part in Chris’ wrap on diving in the Banda Sea.
Our feature this week is penned by Cindy Fan who has researched Vietnam and Laos exhaustively (I’m sure she’d agree with that adverb!) for Travelfish. If you’ve travelled there in the last year or so, it is most likely on the back of her outstanding work. I hope you enjoy her story. You can also read more of her writing here.
Late afternoon light at Muong Lay, Vietnam. Photo: Stuart McDonald.
The photos in this week’s newsletter are from the latest on Couchfish and some from Cindy’s travels in the Central Highlands.
Cheers and again thank you for all your support
Stuart
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Feature
The price of a place: What a place is worth
From my position on the empty strip of land once known as Dak To Base Camp, Rocket Ridge looked like the tail of a slain dragon. The chain of hills formed the jagged spine. Every poisoned, barren patch stood out like an injured scale.
Not the war relics you might expect. Photo: Cindy Fan.
To reach this site, which is famous in Vietnam War history but completely off the radar for the average traveller, my guide Huynh and I had motorbiked 50km north of Kon Tum, the northern most provincial capital of the Central Highlands region.
Standing there in person, I could clearly see why Dak To was a South Vietnam stronghold. The strategic position, less than 30 kilometres east of the Lao and Cambodian border, could monitor movement along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
Atop the ridge, the allied American forces had built a chain of fortified artillery positions known as Fire Support Bases (FSB) to shield the military airfield, roads and supply route, and to stop the enemy approaching Kon Tum from the north. If the North Vietnamese Army wanted to attack Kon Tum and advance southward down the Central Highlands, they would first have to break through the fire line of Rocket Ridge. The battle for Dak To’s hills would become some of the bloodiest, and most intense of the Vietnam War.
Walking the battlefield. Photo: Cindy Fan.
After a minute of combing the overgrown airstrip, Huynh found a rusted 1960’s Budweiser can, two US army spoons and artillery debris. A shiver flashed down my spine.
Those incongruous objects brought jarring immediacy. My brain struggled to compute and provide context: Those three things shouldn’t be here; thousands died fighting for this vacant piece of land where I stand; it happened less than five decades ago; the man holding these items lived through it and witnessed family members die.
All those hours spent researching the Vietnam War, debris is what brought it home.
Was it worth the effort (and money)? Maybe. Photo: Cindy Fan.
From a publishing standpoint, covering Dak To makes little financial sense. Very few travellers venture there. Tourism darling Hoi An, only 130km away as the crow flies, received 4.9 million visitors in 2017 and 6.7 million in 2019. In a printed travel guide an editor could not justify giving more than a paragraph to Dak To and likely wouldn’t send their researcher there.
Travel publications usually aim for mass appeal because higher readership translates to more revenue from advertising, ergo the never-ending rotation of “Insider’s Guide to Paris” or “Hidden Bali” on magazine covers. But Travelfish is for curious independent travellers of Southeast Asia, and that means both the first time visitor to Vietnam who wants the dependable itinerary of Hanoi, Hue, Hoi An and Ho Chi Minh City, as well as the more adventurous set who may read my research on Dak To and think, why not?
Scoffing down. Central Highlands–style. Photo: Cindy Fan.
Travelfish invests in covering big metropolises, the desolate frontiers and anything interesting in between. What did Dak To and Kon Tum cost Travelfish? They were part of a two-week research trip through the Central Highlands that included Buon Ma Thuot, Yok Don National Park, Pleiku and Ayun Pa, places that will not be declared “the new Hoi An” anytime soon. I experienced each in person. My expenses, my expertise, time and words were paid for by Travelfish. This level of professionalism and fair compensation is an endangered species in this industry.
What are places like Dak To worth to me personally? I feel privileged to have covered Vietnam and Laos extensively—well, everything except for the remnants of a bombed bridge in Salavan I motorbiked hours on hell’s road through godforsaken hinterland to confirm was still broken.
Ok I’m sorry Cindy! Photo: Stuart McDonald.
Guide writing is a unique form of storytelling. Travelfish invested in me so I could build up my knowledge for readers. Dak To has important history but, as I hopefully conveyed through my contributions, with centuries of history Vietnam is so much more than the war—and so much more than Hoi An’s tailor shops. The smaller places are worth it.
Cindy
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Ten things worth reading
No one knows what Thailand is doing right, but so far, it’s working $
“Though Thailand’s hospitals have not been overwhelmed by coronavirus patients, the country’s tourism-dependent economy has been battered.”
Snares empty forests in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam $
“For the most part, significant penalties are only applied after the poacher actually has an animal or carcass from a highly protected species in their possession.”
Ho Chi Minh Road: Motorbike guide
Thousands join biggest anti–govt rally since virus lockdown
“Under his deeply conservative leadership, the military and the royalist elite have consolidated their power, increasingly angering more progressive elements in Thai society.”
Illegal drugs have become deeply rooted in Burmese society
“Treatment consists of prayer, physical activity and the odd bath to dull the pain of withdrawal. Addicts there against their will are sometimes placed in stocks or shackled for the first few days, to ensure they do not escape.”
The boy who walked
“At the age of 7, Tan could take no more. One day, he simply walked out of his house and kept walking, determined to never return.” A must read.
Indonesia’s virus cases, deaths accelerate after reopening
“Indonesia had recorded 86,521 total cases and 4,143 deaths as of Sunday, twice the cumulative figure from the previous month.”
Tiger, pangolin farming in Myanmar risks “boosting demand”
“But conservationists say commercial farming in the long-term legitimises the use of endangered species and fuels market demand.”
Who really owns the past?
“Universalist language serves a double purpose. It justifies the urges of the developed world to acquire, often in effect to loot, heritage from developing nations. And it does so while presenting those same developing nations as less enlightened.”
Exploring kueh culture in Singapore
A sweet post to finish off the wrap, this one via Kate Walton’s Solidaritas newsletter.
Something to read
A Fortune Teller Told Me: Earthbound Travels in the Far East
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.
Photo of the week
Love me a rough road. Somewhere near Sin Ho, Vietnam. 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