Travelfish #450: Rainy days
A new series on Couchfish and a newish format here
Hi all,
I need to stop saying “see you next week” as I last wrote that a couple of months ago. Sigh. This week, a slightly different format—just two stories for each country. If you feel that is too few, please let me know. Thanks!
Aside from the stories below, you might like to read a recently published interview with me on Tales of the Orient. It was fun to answer Simon’s questions, and he clearly had some fun with the photo captions. The newsletter has both free-and paid flavours, so do take a look—you can subscribe with a click via the button below.
In other news, I’m currently running a series on Couchfish looking at tourism. Inspired (that’s one word for it) by the sloganeering around World Tourism Day, I thought I’d put some of my own thoughts down on the concept of “Rethinking Tourism.”
Each post looks at a different aspect of travel, and while in the first few I’ve concentrated on dealing with some of the base definitions and theories, it should (I hope!) get more interesting going forward, as I’m going to be using different destinations across the region to illustrate my thoughts. All the posts are free-to-read, and the first four are linked below. Next one it out in a day or so.
Across the region there has been awful rain and floods—I’m just about ready to rename “wet-season” to “flood season.” Fittingly, the pics this issue are inspired by rain—the beauty it can deliver and the opportunities it brings.
Cheers
Stuart
Rethinking Tourism
Couchfish: National Chocolate Milk Day (World Tourism Day)
Couchfish: Nice Tourism (Sustainable Tourism)
Couchfish: The Benevolent Lie (Responsible Tourism)
Couchfish: The Year Is 2006. The Town Is Luang Prabang (Pro-Poor Tourism)
Slightly rainy
Heaving in the hills of Tabanan, Bali. Photo: Stuart McDonald.
⭐️ Story of the week
Cambodia’s Land Grab Endangers People, Forests, and the Climate from Camboja News
🇲🇲 Burma
Israel Saw Brutal Myanmar Regimes as a Business Opportunity, Documents Reveal from Haaretz ($)
The Gentle Giants in Service of the Revolution from Frontier Myanmar ($)
🇰🇭 Cambodia
Ghost Mountain: The Second Killing Fields of Cambodia from PCPTV (Will need a VPN if outside the USA)
How Cambodia’s Statues Ended Up in the World’s Biggest Museums from Bloomberg ($)
Ad: Phnom Penh’s Penh House, from US$62 per night. Click here for the details.
🌴 Environment
A Cleaner Future for Flight — Aviation Needs a Radical Redesign from Nature
The Hotel Industry’s Big Carbon Lie from Bloomberg ($)
🇮🇩 Indonesia
Indonesia’s History, Annotated from Quotidian Amateur
Color and Magic Fill Bali’s Skies With the Return of a Beloved Kite Festival from National Geographic
🇱🇦 Laos
China-Owned Gold Mine in Laos Ordered to Temporarily Close from RFA Lao
China Won’t Let Laos Become a Belt and Road Debt Trap from Asia Times
🇲🇾 Malaysia
South-East Asia’s Monarchies Struggle With Succession from The Economist ($)
In Penang, 138-year-old Tomb of Kapitan Cina’s Wife Quietly Destroyed Despite Preservation Bid from Malay Mail
🇸🇬 Singapore
Great Short and Succinct Singapore Food Reviews at The Traveling Hungry Boy
Why Did the Junglefowl Cross the Road to Everton Park? from Rice Media
🇹🇭 Thailand
Forget California and Amsterdam: Thailand Wants to Become the New King of Weed from Los Angeles Times
The True Curse of the Blue Diamond from Secret Siam
Ad: Bangkok’s Sala Arun from US$116 per night. Click here for the details.
🇻🇳 Vietnam
Fuelled by Meth Addiction, Vietnam’s Drug-treatment Centres Are Rife With Abuse from SEAGlobe ($)
Whales in the Temple from Hakai
Random other stuff
The Billionaire Behind New York’s Most Luxe Hotel from Curbed
Is Algeria the Next Great Travel Destination in Africa? from National Geographic
War Hotels from AlJazeera (video series)
Wine Media is Broken: A Case Study from Every Day Drinking
Couchfish (Free-to-read)
Couchfish (Paid subscribers only)
Colourful breakfast
What do you do when it is heaving rain? Eat of course!. 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