Travelfish #454: Islands and Palm Oil
A couple of islands to keep you guessing.
Hi all,
This week I kick off with an epic piece from The Gecko Project looking at palm oil in Indonesia—it is well worth your time to give it a read. Over on Couchfish, I’ve got a longish interview with David Luekens about what he is planning for his excellent newsletter that has been renamed to Thai Island Quest.
Elsewhere, still on Couchfish, I’ve finally wrapped up my “rethinking travel” series—the links to each piece are below.
The photos this week are of islands—a couple I’ve been to which I’m pretty sure David has yet to get to. No, island hopping is not at all a competitive sport between the two of us.
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)
Couchfish: The Writing On The Wall (Travel writing)
Couchfish: Taking A Long Term View (A conclusion—finally!)
Somewhere to the southeast of Bangkok
Just the one place to stay here, David I think you almost went here once. Photo: Stuart McDonald
⭐️ Story of the week
Promised Prosperity, Drowning In Debt from The Gecko Project
📚 What I’m reading
The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise Of The East India Company by William Dalrymple (Still reading it!)
🇲🇲 Burma
Myanmar Tourism -- To Go Or Not To Go? from NikkeiAsia ($)
Burma Past And Present: Same And Different from Reporting ASEAN
🇰🇭 Cambodia
No Justice For Indigenous Community Taking On A Cambodian Rubber Baron from Mongabay
“Placemaking” a Key Ingredient to Make Siem Reap More Attractive and Liveable from SEAGlobe
Ad: Phnom Penh’s Penh House, from US$70 per night. Click here for the details.
🌴 Environment
As Tiktoks About Antarctic Tourism Go Viral, Some Worry About The Environmental Costs from NBCNews
Café Culture and Sustainable Development in Southeast Asia from Fulcrum
🇮🇩 Indonesia
Indonesia’s New Criminal Code Turns Representatives Into Rulers from New Mandala
Indonesia’s Mangrove Revival Hindered By Conflicting Policies from Mongabay
🇱🇦 Laos
Gordon Ramsay Names Laos As World’s Top Food Destination from Laotian Times
After 10 Years, Civil Society Worldwide Is Still Asking: “Where Is Sombath?” from International Federation for Human Rights
🇲🇾 Malaysia
🇸🇬 Singapore
The 21-year-old Who Ditched A Vet Degree To Be A Professional Dog Walker from Rice Media
Creating Spaces For Dialogue: Exploring Queer Cinema In Southeast Asia from Kontinentalist
🇹🇭 Thailand
An Escape to Another World from Bangkok Post
Chinese Underworld Floods Thailand-Myanmar Border River from NikkeiAsia ($)
Ad: Bangkok’s Sala Arun from US$73 per night. Click here for the details.
🇻🇳 Vietnam
The Mekong Delta is Drowning in ‘Sand Debt’ – It Urgently Needs a Sand Budget from The Third Pole
Ho Chi Minh City’s Plastic ‘Habit’ Leaves Piles Of Waste from AlJazeera
Random other stuff
The Secret Lives Of MI6’s Top Female Spies from The Financial Times ($)
See The Relentless Beauty Of Bhutan—a Kingdom That Takes Happiness Seriously from National Geographic
What Does Regenerative Travel Actually Look Like? from Vogue
The Upsides of Feeling Small from BBC
Walking Is A State Of Mind—it Can Teach You So Much About Where You Are from Adventure
Why Are Travel Podcasts So Boring? from Talking Travel Writing
The Story Of English from ABC Conversations (Podcast)
Well south of Bangkok
I know David hasn’t been here as he said so in the interview. 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