Travelfish #475: The well rested edition
A wrap on stuff worth reading
Hi!
This week’s lead is a good-with-a-morning-coffee circuitous piece on dodging flights, sort of. Enjoy.
I’m taking a break from Couchfish for a couple of weeks (back on Monday!), so nothing new going on there. This Friday I’m for to Sarawak for a few weeks with my son—the plan is to hopefully not only go plane-spotting and hang out in the Cat Museum (yes, such a thing exists). More on that soon—including more than a bowl or two of laksa.
As I’m on the tail end of my rest stop, the pics this week are of good spots I’ve found for just that—a rest.
Cheers
Stuart
This will do nicely
A bit of sand, a bit of water, a bit of shade—what more does a rest stop need? This one in Raja Ampat, Indonesia. Photo: Stuart McDonald.
⭐️ Story of the week
📚 What I’m reading
We Have Tired of Violence: A True Story of Murder, Memory, and the Fight for Justice in Indonesia by Matt Easton
🇲🇲 Burma
‘They Ignore Us On Purpose’: Cyclone Deepens Rohingya Suffering from Frontier Myanmar ($)
Looking to book your transport online when you’re on the road in Southeast Asia? For Vietnam, look no further than Baolau. For the rest of the region, 12Go should be your first port of call.
🇰🇭 Cambodia
“Formidable” Journalist Nate Thayer’s Ashes Scattered In The Mekong from KiriPost
Facebook’s Litmus Test In Cambodia from Foreign Policy
How A Statue Looted From A Cambodian Temple Revealed A Vast Smuggling Network Dealing In Stolen Cultural Artefacts from SCMP ($)
Did someone order a beach view?
Ad: Salad Hut on Ko Pha Ngan’s beautiful west coast, from US$118 per night. Click here for the details.
🌴 Environment
18 Brands Called Out For Greenwashing In 2022 from Eco-Business
Ten Ways To Unlock An Ocean Of Opportunity from The Nature Conservancy
Vital Learnings From Our Work In Building Inclusive Plastic Waste Systems In South And Southeast Asia from Second Muse
🇮🇩 Indonesia
Lords Of The Seas from The Lombok Diaries
For Me, Yearning Has A Taste, And It’s Oily, Spicy, And Delicious from This Is Southeast Asia
🇱🇦 Laos
Oldest Human Fossils, Dating Back 86,000 Years, Found In Laos In Breakthrough Discovery from The Laotian Times
Laos Gears Up To Launch Ambitious Tourism Campaign, Visit Laos Year 2024 from The Laotian Times
I Really Messed Up This Trip To Laos. But That’s Okay from Poste Restante
Looking for deals on organised tours **with no domestic flying**? Here are a few for Southeast Asia via Travelfish partner TourRadar. (Prices are in US$)
Cambodia
Cambodia Explorer (11 days, $920)Indonesia
Komodo Island Hopper (9 days, $1,196)Laos
North Laos by motorbike (7 days, $2,062)Malaysia
Sabah Highlights (7 days, $1,243)Thailand
Bangkok to the North (9 days, $1,130)
🇲🇾 Malaysia
Malaysia To Ask Interpol For Help To Track Down Comedian Over MH370 Joke The Guardian
Dreams Of An Integrated Borneo from From An Equatorial Lens
🇸🇬 Singapore
Wah, Singaporeans Might Actually Get To Vote For A President from We, The Citizens
The Last Generation Of Singapore’s Newspaper Stand Vendors from Rice Media
🇹🇭 Thailand
Tensions Flare In Ancient Thai City Over New Chinese-backed High-speed Railway from China Global South Project
The Last Stand Of The Dinosaurs from Secret Siam
Thailand’s PM Frontrunner Pita Faces Election Commission Probe from Aljazeera
T.I.C.D.: Prachuap Khiri Khan Coast & Islands (Part I: Hua Hin To Kuiburi) from Thai Island Quest ($)
The Enigmatic Sister-Queens Of Thailand from Travel: NE Where
Looking for somewhere special in Penang?
Ad: Campbell House in Georgetown, Penang from US$72 per night. Click here for the details.
🇻🇳 Vietnam
Vietnam Focuses On Developing Cultural Tourism from Mekong Tourism
Tourism Threatens Efforts To Save Endangered Cat Ba Langurs from VNExpress
The Attack In Dak Lak from Vietnam Weekly
Random other stuff
50 Years Of Lonely Planet: Revisiting Across Asia On The Cheap In Thailand from Nomadic Notes
Asia And Pacific Unite In Support Of The International Code For The Protection Of Tourists from UNWTO
On The Intersection Of Ethics And Travel from The Cairo Dispatch
Sustainable Slum Tours: Can Poverty Tourism Be Ethical? from NZ Herald
The Quest To Save Chili Peppers from The New Yorker ($)
Their Crypto Company Collapsed. They Went To Bali. from The New York Times ($)
Definitely time to put the feet up
Sometimes getting to the ideal resting spot causes a desperate need for a rest. And so it is with Phu Chee Fah in northern Thailand. Photo: Stuart McDonald.
See you next week!
So that’s the wrap. I hope you are all in good health, and thanks for reading.
Cheers!
Stuart