Travelfish #453: Watch out for waterfalls
Influencers swimming nude are invariably the ones to blame
Hi all,
This week I lead with an amazing story about an amazingly close call—in Guyana. Some very very lucky people in that one. As the story suggests, I’m firmly with the influencers swimming nude angering the river gods angle.
Elsewhere, there’s another piece in the Couchfish series on “rethinking travel,” looking at Community Based Tourism. I know I promised last week I’d be done with it last week, but it didn’t happen. It will be done this week if it kills me.
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 a couple of waterfalls—with Guyana in mind.
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)
Couchfish: Foundations Matter (On Community Based Tourism)
Tumpak Sewu, East Java, Indonesia
Whatever you do Will, don’t smile for the camera. Photo: Stuart McDonald
⭐️ Story of the week
Deep in Guyana’s Jungle, Just Upriver From a Thundering Waterfall, My Boat Began to Sink . . . from The Financial Times ($)
📚 What I’m reading
The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise Of The East India Company by William Dalrymple
🇲🇲 Burma
Rohingya Caught Dangerously In The Middle Of Rakhine War from Frontier Myanmar
UN Says Myanmar Has Sentenced Seven Students To Death from CNA
🇰🇭 Cambodia
Mass Evictions At Angkor Wat Leave 10,000 Families Facing Uncertain Future from The Guardian
Artistic Freedom in Cambodia: When Legal Safeguards Are Not Enough from Arts Equator
Ad: Phnom Penh’s Penh House, from US$70 per night. Click here for the details.
🌴 Environment
France Bans Short Haul Domestic Flights In Favour Of Train Travel from Euronews
The Travel Industry Has Ambitious Climate Goals. How Will It Meet Them? from AFAR
🇮🇩 Indonesia
Ambitious Plans To Build Indonesia A Brand New Capital City Are Falling Apart from Bloomberg ($)
Would You Pay $1,000 To See The World’s Biggest Lizards? from The New York Times ($)
Is This New 132km Eco-pilgrimage A Win For Locals And Travelers? from Adventure
🇱🇦 Laos
Thriving On China’s Belt And Road Initiative, Laos Border Town Ditches Kip For Yuan from NikkeiAsia
Laos-China Railway Unveils Ticket Reservation App On First Anniversary from Laotian Times
🇲🇾 Malaysia
So, It’s Anwar Ibrahim from Dari Mulut ke Mulut
Forest City - Futuristic City Or Farcical Folly? from Future Southeast Asia
🇸🇬 Singapore
Cheers To Death: The Hospice Confronting Mortality With Cocktails from Rice Media
More Than Monkey Business from Kontinentalist
🇹🇭 Thailand
The 38 Essential Bangkok Restaurants from Eater
Ad: Bangkok’s Sala Arun from US$73 per night. Click here for the details.
🇻🇳 Vietnam
Hanoi Construction Density From Above from dti News
In Đà Nẵng, Dì Gái's Bún Chả Cá Is A Family Heirloom from Saigoneer
Random other stuff
The FT’s Travel Editor Talks Tourism from The Financial Times (Podcast)
A Travel Writer Reflects on Her Profession, Overcrowding, and Hate Mail from Outside
The Dirty Road To Clean Energy: How China’s Electric Vehicle Boom Is Ravaging The Environment from Rest of World
Behind the falls, Banlung, Cambodia
It was prettier in real life! 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
I am interested in understanding your reasons for leaving Twitter?