Travelfish #457: Happy New Year, Again!

Chúc Mừng Năm Mới!

Happy New Year all, again!

Yes it is still the new year, just a different one. Lunar New Year is here, and as I’m still in Vietnam, Chúc Mừng Năm Mới!

In the week gone, Tourpreneur published an interview with me, though it wasn’t till this morning I realised it was on Youtube! I thought it was podcast only. Anyways, if you’ve an interest in responsible and sustainable travel, or how the sausage gets made behind the scenes of many travel companies, you might find it interesting. If you are a tour provider, definitely give Tourpreneur a look—a lot of smart cookies over there.

On Couchfish, the itinerary series for paying subscribers touched on the food scene in Medan and then arrived in Berastagi—Lake Toba coming soon!

For free reads, I have a piece on the awful state of Cửa Đại and An Bàng beaches near Hội An. I see in those two beaches a canary in the coal mine for many beaches in the region.

I’ve been in Hội An for the last few days, and tourism is back—the joint is heaving—as the photos in this issue indicate.

Cheers

Stuart

A quiet evening in Hội An

This joint is opposite the Japanese Bridge in downtown Hội An. Photo: Stuart McDonald

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⭐️ Story of the week 

• Welcome To Digital Nomadland from Wired

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📚 What I’m reading

• This Is How They Tell Me The World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race by Nicole Perlroth

🇲🇲 Burma

• Myanmar Jails 112 Rohingya Who Tried To Leave Country from Aljazeera

• Debt And Desperation Driving Overseas Kidney Sales from Frontier Myanmar ($)

🇰🇭 Cambodia

• $300m Int’l Airport To Be Built On Koh Rong Island from Khmer Times

• Restoration Of Angkor Wat Causeway Almost Complete from CNE

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

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🌴 Environment

• Facing Headwinds At Home, Europe And Japan Are Pushing Waste-to-energy Technology Across South East Asia from Energy Monitor

• How To Create The Sustainable Travel Products Customers Want from World Economic Forum (White Paper)

• This Year, I Want To Travel Better — But How? We Asked Three Sustainable Travel Experts from Toronto Star

🇮🇩 Indonesia

• 16 Years On, Jakarta’s Weekly Kamisan Protests Still Demanding Justice from SEAGlobe ($)

• More Marine Protected Areas Planned For Indonesia’s Maluku After 2022 Spree from Mongabay

🇱🇦 Laos

• Is Laos’ Prime Minister On His Way Out? from The Diplomat

• 3 Days In Luang Prabang, Laos: Sacred Rituals, Waterfall Hikes And Elephant Encounters from CNA

🇲🇾 Malaysia

• “Undercover” Ministers In Malaysia from Fulcrum

• Election Victory Brings Hard Questions For Malaysian Islamic Party from SEAGlobe ($)

🇸🇬 Singapore

• A Uniquely Peranakan Cny: Blessing Oranges And A Catholic Mass In Baba Malay from Rice Media

• In Defence Of Shrinking Food Portions, From The Daughter Of A Hawker from Rice Media

🇹🇭 Thailand

• A Search For Land Justice On Koh Lipe from Bangkok Post

• Phong Tuk Archaeological Site: The First Monuments Of Dvaravati from Paths Unwritten

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

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🇻🇳 Vietnam

• Tet In Saigon Is Oh So Quiet from A story from Connla

• A Political Earthquake by Vietnam Weekly

Random other stuff

• A Tragedy Pushed To The Shadows: The Truth About China’s Cultural Revolution from The Guardian

• Who’s To Judge? from The Newyorker ($) (2015)

• Jonathan Raban, Adventurous Literary Traveler, Dies At 80 from The New York Times ($)

Visit Hội An with 50 of your friends

Big tour groups are back. Big time. 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.

Cheers!

Stuart