Travelfish #452: Train trips are fun

Two great train trips—and plenty more.

Hi all,

This week I lead with an epic A to Z on climate change—to be honest, I’ve only made it to L so far and found it fascinating.

Elsewhere, there are two more pieces in the Couchfish series on “rethinking travel,” one looking at tour companies and another on where a traveller’s money really goes. There are two more pieces in the series to come (plus a conclusion), and I plan to have it all wrapped up by the coming weekend. I hope you’ve found it of interest so far, and sorry it has taken so long to get through them all—I am looking forward to getting back to the itinerary pieces!

In other news, I’ve added a new section, on whatever I’m reading at the moment. So if, like me, you’re finding flipping pages a handy refuge from everything else, I hope you find my suggestions of use.

Lastly, if you’re a social media person and have been following the never-ending drama on Twitter, I’ve left the platform and have moved to Mastodon. It isn’t the same as Twitter, but it is similar, sort of. If you’re floating around there, you can find me on Mastodon here.

The photos this week are from Malaysia’s Perhentian Kecil—thanks to the Washington Post story listed below for the inspiration.

Cheers

Stuart

Rethinking Travel

• 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)

• Couchfish: Zoom in to the Red Plastic Chairs (Slow travel)

• Couchfish: The Petro-bourgeoisie (On flying)

• Couchfish: Reality Check (On tour companies)

• Couchfish: Follow The Money (On where the money goes)

A shack with a view

A nice find on one of Perhentian Kecil’s back beaches. Photo: Stuart McDonald

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⭐️ Story of the week 

• Climate Change From A To Z from The New Yorker

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📚 What I’m reading

• Tourists: How The British Went Abroad To Find Themselves by Lucy Lethbridge

🇲🇲 Burma

• The Military Tried To Burn It Down: How An Underdog Myanmar Township Became A Resistance Stronghold from Time

• Uncovering Myanmar’s Rare Earth: The Hidden Side Of Clean Energy from Kontinentalist

🇰🇭 Cambodia

• The Precarious State Of The Mekong from The Diplomat

• “Why Do We Have No Rights?”: Phnom Penh Lake Community Make a Last Stand Against Developers from The Guardian

Ad: Phnom Penh’s Penh House, from US$70 per night. Click here for the details.

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🌴 Environment

• When It Becomes Too Hot To Work from Noema

• Elderly Fleeing Mekong Delta As Climate Change Hits from Mekong Eye

🇮🇩 Indonesia

• Why Indonesia Matters from The Economist ($)

• Dispute Over Java Man Raises A Question: Who Owns Prehistory? from The New York Times ($)

🇱🇦 Laos

• The New Long Distance Train Journey Through The Spectacular Countryside from The Times ($)

• What’s Driving Laos’ Debt Crisis? from The Diplomat

🇲🇾 Malaysia

• A Long-awaited Journey On Malaysia’s “Jungle” Railway from The National News

• One Man’s Lonely Quest To Save The World’s Corals Draws A Following from The Washington Post ($)

🇸🇬 Singapore

• Singapore’s Hell Museum Demystifies Death—With A Smile from CNN Travel

• The Ex-Journalist Who Turned His Sengkang Home Into Boutique Bar Section D from Rice Media

🇹🇭 Thailand

• Stories From The Streets Of Bangkok from The Footpath Files

• Khao San Road Calls Out For Help from The Bangkok Post

Ad: Bangkok’s Sala Arun from US$73 per night. Click here for the details.

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🇻🇳 Vietnam

• The Quiet Evolution Of Vietnam’s Digital Authoritarianism from The Diplomat

• Đồng Dương: The Cham Buddhist Monastery Of Ancient Indrapura from Paths Unwritten

Random other stuff

• What I’ve Learned: Ewa Wojkowska, Cofounder COO Of Ngo Kopernik from The Jakarta Post

• Spaghetti Whiplash from LRB

• Should The Australian Museum Return Papuan Artefacts? from The Monthly ($)

• Asia’s Scamdemic: How Covid-19 Supercharged Online Crime from Nikkei Asia ($)

• Just Like The Satire In The White Lotus, Tourism Campaigns Often Perpetuate Colonial Stereotypes About The Countries They Are Selling from The Conversation

• Tales From My Grandfather: Hoa Huynh’s Vietnam—Photo Essay from The Guardian

• Digital Nomads Push Southeast Asia’s Boundaries from Nikkei Asia ($)

• Thinking Allowed: Tourism & Travel from BBC Sounds (Podcast)

• How Ethical Is Your Vacation from Low Season Traveller (Podcast)

This will do nicely

The worst thing to find while researching: A beach you’d happily spend the rest of the day on. 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