Travelfish #448: Vietnam On Two Wheels

A great site turns ten, plus a week of procrastination

Hi all,

This week I’m leading with a nice piece on Vietnam Coracle celebrating ten years of being online (and on two wheels). I had a coupla coffees with the site’s founder Tom a few years back in HCMC, and it has been great seeing the site go from strength to strength. Well done! If you’re Vietnam-bound and prefer to be on two wheels, his site belongs in your bookmarks. In honour of ten years, the pics this week are from Vietnam—on two wheels!

A minor content note, I’ve removed the vaccination and state of Asia charts for now as the needle isn’t moving much on that front. If/when the situation changes, I’ll reinstate them.

Cheers

Stuart

Altitude

Getting a bit of air in Dien Bien. Photo: Stuart McDonald.

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⭐️ Story of the week 

• 10 Year Anniversary of Vietnam Coracle from Vietnam Coracle

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🇲🇲 Burma

• Four Executions from Dari Mulut Ke Mulut

• Dengue Worsens Under the Junta’s Watch from Frontier Myanmar ($)

• Myanmar Junta Extends State of Emergency from The Irrawaddy

🇰🇭 Cambodia

• Police to Inspect All Foreigners’ Housing to Combat Human Trafficking from VOD

• Rise in Thai Air Routes to Siem Reap Fuels Travel Hopes from The Phnom Penh Post

• Sambor Prei Kuk Temples Analysed from The Phnom Penh Post

Ad: Phnom Penh’s Penh House, from US$62 per night. Click here for the details.

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🌴 Environment

• How Climate Change is Washing Away Precious Evidence of Our Distant Past from The Conversation

🇮🇩 Indonesia

• Fire Razes 94 Buildings on Gili Trawangan from Bali Discovery

• Bali Airport Has Become a Nightmare With Up to Five Hours Immigration Lineups! from Loyalty Lobby

• Bali Immigration Denies Over Five-hour Lineup at Ngurah Rai Airport from Antara

• Cultivating the World’s Largest, Stinkiest Flower is No Small Task from National Geographic

• Protests to Increase in Komodo Island Entrance Ticket Prices, Tourism Industry Players in NTT Will Strike During August from VOI

• Why Delivery Drivers Tried to Sew Their Lips Shut in Indonesia from Rest Of World

🇱🇦 Laos

• Laos-China Railway Proposes Standing Tickets from The Laotian Times

• Wildlife Sold Openly at Markets in Vientiane Capital from The Laotian Times

• ‘Hungry River’ Phenomenon to Blame for Severe Erosion of Mekong River Banks in Laos from RFA

🇲🇾 Malaysia

• “We Thought It Was a Shooting Star”: Uncontrolled Chinese Rocket Fragments Seen in Malaysia from The Guardian (Video)

• Where Has Jho Low Stashed His Cash? from The Sarawak Report

• The New Island City of Malaysia from Nomadic Notes

• He Got Away With Robbing a Bank. Here’s How to Hold Him Accountable. from The Diplomat

🇸🇬 Singapore

• Honor the Dead at Haw Par Villa’s First-ever Spirits Festival from Coconuts Singapore

• Changi Prison Turns Into a Slaughterhouse from We, The Citizens

• The Secrets to Cooling Down, According to Singaporeans With No Air Conditioners from Rice Media

🇹🇭 Thailand

• Thailand Sees Hopes of Achieving 7-10 Million Tourists Arrivals in 2022 After It Breaks 3 Million in July from Thai Enquirer

• Into the Sea from Bangkok Post

• Thailand Tunes In and Turns On from Asia Sentinal

• Thailand Tiger Rescues Hold No Guarantee of Safety from SEA Globe ($)

Ad: Bangkok’s Sala Arun from US$116 per night. Click here for the details.

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🇻🇳 Vietnam

• Vietnam’s ‘Coral Grave’ at Nha Trang Bay a Wake-up Call on Climate Change Destruction from SCMP ($)

• Exploring Chợ Quán Asylum, Saigon’s Oldest Prisoner-of-war Camp from Saigoneer

• Trouble for Vietnam's New Passport from Vietnam Weekly

Random other stuff

• Tourist Traps in South-east Asia: Fake Orphans and Floating-market Scams from The Straits Times ($)

• Fleets of Airbnbs in Region Run by Management Companies, Out-of-town Owners from The Traverse City Record Eagle

• Barcelona Targets Cruise Ships in Its Latest Fight With Tourists from Bloomberg ($)

• Visiting Venice? Make a Reservation and Be Ready to Pay. from The New York Times

• The West Hasn’t Got a Clue About Bamboo from The Financial Times ($)

• The Mysterious Inner Life of the Octopus from BBC

Couchfish (Free-to-read)

• Couchfish: The Deportation Daily

Couchfish (Paid subscribers only)

• Couchfish Day 319: Trang Time

• Couchfish Day 320: Getting Crabby in Krabi

Layering

Somewhere in Son La. Photo: Stuart McDonald.

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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