Hi all,
This week I have a bunch of Sri Lanka-related stories in the “Random Other Stuff” trying to unravel the roots of the debacle taking place there. It should come as no surprise that appalling governance appears to be a common denominator.
In other news, Travelfish turns 18 today. The last two years have been slow ones for sure, but I do hope the next 18 are better. Thanks for your support over the years!
Cheers
Stuart
Send me a postcard
Lazy days on Lonely Beach, Koh Rong, Cambodia. Photo: Stuart McDonald.
Vaccinations snapshot
The following chart is per capita—not total numbers. The dark green bar is the one that matters—it represents the percentage of the eligible population that is fully vaccinated. You can see a full-size and interactive version of the chart here.
Source: Our World in Data
Travel summary
So where is open and where is closed? This chart by Hannah Pearson at Pear Anderson summarises the state of play in the region as of Sunday, July 10, 2022. To receive Hannah’s report in your email mailbox every Sunday you can sign up here (it is free!)
Source: The Impact of Covid-19 on the Southeast Asian Tourism Industry (PDF)
⭐️ Story of the week
Out of the Forest from Aeon
🇲🇲 Burma
🇰🇭 Cambodia
Conservationists Look for ‘Divine Intervention’ From Forest Development from SEAGlobe ($)
Mega Cultural Park Breaks Ground in Preah Vihear from Khmer Times
Rock ‘n’ Roll Stars from Tales of the Orient
Notes on Koh Rong – an Island in Transition from Nomadic Notes
🌴 Environment
In Thailand’s Deep South, a Fight to Stop Quarrying in a Global Geopark from Mongabay
How Plastic Is Fuelling a Hidden Climate Crisis in Southeast Asia from The Third Pole
🇮🇩 Indonesia
Using Puppets to Teach Threat to World’s Rarest Rhinos from Borneo Bulletin
As Dry Season Starts in Indonesia, Risk of Fires — and Haze — Looms from Mongabay
🇱🇦 Laos
Laos Mask Mandate Still Unclear from The Laotian Times
Spotlight - Laos: June 30, 2022 from CSIS
🇲🇾 Malaysia
Malaysia’s Political Clown Show from Asia Sentinal
🇸🇬 Singapore
Singapore Hangs Drug Traffickers Despite Opposition from The Sydney Morning Herald ($)
At Least S$34,000 Lost This Year to Scams Involving Fake Travel Agent Websites from CNA
🇹🇭 Thailand
Is There a Chance for Peace in Southern Thailand's Insurgency? from DW
Troops Kill 2 Linked to Pulo Militant Group in Deep South from Benar News
Govt Plans to Charge Foreigners More Than Thais for Hotel Rooms from Bangkok Post
🇻🇳 Vietnam
Gold Rush Turns Vietnam Forest Into Construction Site from VNExpress
In Đà Lạt, Greenhouses Revolutionize Farming, but at What Environmental Cost? from Saigoneer
Seven Moon Bears Freed After 20 Years in Metal Cages from VNExpress
Vietnam’s App-based Driver Protests Surge Amidst Rising Petrol Prices from Fulcrum
Random other stuff
Ways of Writing from Movable Worlds
Covid Changed Travel Writing. Maybe That’s Not a Bad Thing from The Conversation
Twitter Thread Debunks China Debt-trap Sri Lanka Debacle from Marina Rudyak
Sri Lankans Persist With Calls for President to Resign Immediately from Arab News
Sri Lanka Crisis: Daily Heartbreak of Life in a Country Gone Bankrupt from BBC
A Reckless Dynasty Has Brought Calamity to Sri Lanka from The New York Times ($)
How Tech Rescued Sri Lanka’s Tanking Tourism Industry from Rest Of World
Why Simple Is Smart from The Atlantic
Travel Chaos in Europe Is a Glimpse of a Future With Few Spare Workers from The Economist
Couchfish (Free-to-read)
Couchfish (Paid subscribers only)
Couchfish Day 268: Seven-metre backpacker-eating lizards (from October 2021)
Couchfish Day 257: Take Me to the Waterfall Waterfall (from September 2021)
Couchfish Day 231: The Northern Lights of Ban Krut (from June 2021)
Pier-day.
Perhentian Besar in Malaysia has a variety of piers. Photo: Stuart McDonald.
See you next week!
So that’s the wrap. I hope you are all in good health, and thanks for reading.
See you next week,
Stuart
Speaking of waterfalls... I visited one in Laos an hour or so from Vientiane towards Vang Vien. It was actually more of a slow moving river and there was a large smooth rock formation you laid upon as water coursed over you. It had a large gabled structure (homemade) at the entrance. Does this ring a bell to you? I don’t recall the name —do you?
Happy Birthday! I believe there was mention of cake?
I'm in Thailand at the moment, and the single-use plastics issues here seem worse than ever. Something that used to be handed to me in a banana leaf is now wrapped in plastic and put into a plastic bag. Explaining that I don't need the second layer of plastic creates confused looks.
I also got a kick out of the article on dual pricing for hotels. After decades in Southeast Asia, the dual pricing at Thai archaeological sites, for example, no longer bothers me. It is still only 100 baht FFS. But that's also a government monopoly situation. I have no idea how hotel dual pricing would escape the basics of supply and demand. It seems well-heeled Auslanders such as myself would simply pick a less expensive hotel or find one that doesn't dual price. This seems like another example of the difference between how government, any government, thinks and how the real world works. Regards.