Travelfish #461: The Cambodian Government Are Vandals

Too much stupid to compute.

Hi!

This week’s newsletter leads with a bleak piece from Cambodia’s Koh Rong Samloem. It is hard to overstate the damage dictator Hun Sen and his mob of corrupt cronies are doing to the country.

On Couchfish, just two posts, both for paid subscribers and both on Indonesia’s Lake Toba—one on a rather large eruption and the other on first impressions of the place.

This week the photos are from Koh Rong Samloem.

Cheers

Stuart

Wedding times

Best get your wedding snaps in early. Photo: Stuart McDonald.

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⭐️ Story of the week 

• Development Sweeps Koh Rong Sanloem Amid Government Secrecy from VOD

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📚 What I’m reading

• The Holiday Makers: Understanding the Impact of Leisure and Travel by Jost Krippendorf

🇲🇲 Burma

• The CDM Doctor Performing Brain Surgery Amid The Bullets from Frontier Myanmar ($)

🇰🇭 Cambodia

• Cambodia’s Railway Wish List from Future Southeast Asia

• Monkey Abuse: Macaques Still Being Chased And Harassed In Angkor Wat from CNE

• Kep Cuts Down Beachfront Trees For SEA Games Beautification Plan from VOD

• Scams, Human Trafficking Thrived At Bokor Mountain Behind Tycoon’s Luxury Hotel from CambojaNews

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

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🌴 Environment

• Sea Level Rise Poses ‘Unthinkable’ Risks For The Planet, Security Council Hears from United Nations

• Carbon Colonialism: Can Carbon Credits Really Save The Planet? from ABC (Video)

• Airline Passengers Face Higher Fares Under New EU Emissions Rules from FT ($)

🇮🇩 Indonesia

• The Drowning Land: Indonesia’s Climate Crisis from NikkeiAsia ($)

• Bali’s Badly Behaved, ‘Sinful’ Tourists Push ‘Island Of The Gods’ To Debate Limiting Mountain Access from SCMP ($)

• Indonesian Video-On-Demand Films Take World By Storm from Aljazeera

• On Lombok, Rising Sea Levels Force Fishers Into Different Jobs from Mongabay

🇱🇦 Laos

• The High-Speed Train Opening Up The Wonders Of Laos from The Telegraph ($)

• Laos Begins Digital Currency Trial With Japan Blockchain Company from NikkeiAsia ($)

🇲🇾 Malaysia

• Malaysian Cabinet Agrees To Amend Citizenship Law Seen As Discriminatory Towards Women from BenarNews

🇸🇬 Singapore

• Northern Stretch Of Rail Corridor Opens To Offer 21km Of Green Trails from The Straits Times

• Wild Boars Likely To Recolonise Whole Of Singapore In Next Decade from The Straits Times ($)

🇹🇭 Thailand

• Tourist Entry Fees Confirmed from Bangkok Post

• The Real Value Of City’s Architectural Heritage from Bangkok Post

• Lèse Majesté Watchdog Urges More Commitment On Hunger Strikers’ Demands from Prachathai

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

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🇻🇳 Vietnam

• The Extraordinary Story Behind Saigon’s Four French Street Names from Southeast Asia Society

• Camping, Hiking & Cloud-Hunting In Cau Dat from Vietnam Coracle

• What To See, Taste, And Do If You Have 3 Hours To Kill In Chợ Lớn from Saigoneer

Random other stuff

• Chinese Travellers Shunning Tour Groups For Free And Easy Trips To Southeast Asia from SCMP ($)

• What I Wish My Father Had Taught Me About Fishing from Hakai

• Straight Talk Southeast Asia from Renegade Radio (Podcast)

• The Struggle For The Soul Of The B Corp Movement from FT ($)

• “Ground Zero Of The Fast Fashion World:” How Kenya Became The Fashion Industry’s Illegal Junkyard from Impakter

• ASEAN Cities Face Uphill Battle To Preserve Heritage from ANN

• Solving Your Travel Nightmare Is His Mission from The New York Times ($)

The sun sets on another great island?

Never under-estimate the ability of the Cambodian government to destroy a destination. 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