Travelfish #483: The waves edition

A wrap on stuff worth reading

Hi!

This week I’m leading with a Washington Post piece on Indonesia’s Mentawais, and a forecast shift into the fancy pants end of the tourism stick. I’m seeing similar transitions play out right across the region (see also for instance the Kep story in the Cambodia section below), and I wish there was more comprehensive surfacing in these stories of what this transition means for local people. In the WashPo piece for example, the vast majority of commentary comes from two foreign business owners, while the local voice is one of their employees. This sort of thing matters as these changes are rarely win win—instead the big wins are often hoovered up by out-of-towners, while the in-towners are left with a few bones of benefit plus a whole skeleton of downsides. Oh, I guess they get to sell their land—great!

Over on Couchfish, there’s a couple of issues for paid subscribers regarding my travails around Java’s Gunung Bromo, but then, thanks to some ahhhh Substack technical issues, I didn’t have time to write the free-to-read piece. Will be out next day or so. Apols.

Thanks to the above-mentioned Washington Post piece, plus the Inertia story below in Random Other Stuff, the theme this week is waves, as who doesn’t like a beautiful one, and you know what, stand on the beach to enjoy them and they’re free!

Cheers

Stuart

Nyang Nyang

My fave beach of Bali—it gets wild. Photo: Stuart McDonald.

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⭐️ Story of the week 

• The Next Bali? A Surfers’ Paradise Sees A Future In Resort Tourism. from The Washington Post ($)

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📚 What I’m reading

• Kopi Dulu by Mark Everleigh

🇲🇲 Burma

• Five Dead, 40,000 Evacuated As Monsoon Floods Hit Myanmar from Frontier Myanmar ($)

• Key Singapore Bank UOB Moves To Cut Off Myanmar from NikkeiAsia ($)

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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.

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🇰🇭 Cambodia

• Kep Master Plan Lays Out Luxury Destination Vision from The Phnom Penh Post

• Cambodia: Thousands Of War-Era Explosives Found Buried At High School from BBC

• A Brutal Dictatorship Decimated Cambodia’s Culinary Heritage. This Self-Taught Chef Is Bringing It Back. from The Robb Report

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.

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🌴 Environment

• Eco-Tourism: Is It More Than A Guilt-Free Indulgence For Guests Seeking A Lavish Experience? from Cosmos

• Klook To End The Sale Of “Cruel Wildlife Attractions” from Travel Weekly

🇮🇩 Indonesia

• Wallacea Is A Living Laboratory Of Earth’s Evolution – And Its Wildlife, Forests And Reefs Will Be Devastated Unless We All Act from The Conversation

• Nomads Of The Sea: Stateless Bajau Face Up To A Future On Land – Photo Essay from The Guardian

• Is This The Best Dive Resort In The World? from The Australian Financial Review ($)

• Bali Rice Experiment Cuts Greenhouse Gas Emissions And Increases Yields from Mongabay

🇱🇦 Laos

• High Water Levels In Mekong River Causes Collapse Of Vientiane Flood Protection Embankment from The Laotian Times

• Vang Vieng Forced To Suspend Tourism Activities Amid Torrential Rain And Floods from The Laotian Times

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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)

Vietnam
North Vietnam by motorbike (7 days, $1,026)

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🇲🇾 Malaysia

• Six States In Malaysia Head To The Polls from Dari Mulut Ke Mulut

• Owners Of ‘LGBT’ Swatch Watches Could Be Jailed For Three Years In Malaysia from The Guardian

• Photo Drop: Glimpses Of KL, 2015- from Movable Worlds

• Life In The Well from This Is Southeast Asia

• Cultural Threads And Historical Ties from Tribal Stories

🇸🇬 Singapore

• Rediscovering Singapore’s Bugis Community Through A New Book from The Straits Times

• Forget Chilli Crab. Singaporeans Tell Us What The National Dish Ought To Be from Rice Media

🇹🇭 Thailand

• Learning About The Wild Men Of Borneo ... In Chiang Mai from The Star

• A Coup By Any Other Name from New Mandala

• Koh Si Chang Guide from I Am Koh Chang

• Thailand As It Was Before Mass Tourism: On Koh Kood And Koh Phayam, Get Up Close With Nature And Have White-Sand Beaches Almost To Yourself from SCMP ($)

Looking for somewhere special in Penang?

Ad: Campbell House in Georgetown, Penang from US$72 per night. Click here for the details.

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🇻🇳 Vietnam

• 36 Hours In Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam from The New York Times ($)

• Mountains Of Waste from Vietnam Weekly

• Three Days Away: Hội An Pt.2 from Around The World In 80 Scrapes ($)

Random other stuff

• Tea, Tuk-Tuks And Homestays: How This 300 Km Walking Trail Is Empowering The Women Of Sri Lanka from Euronews

• Communities Define Demand: A Pivotal Shift In Traveler Needs from TNMT

• DMC Tripseed Gets Transparent With Its Climate Action Plan from TTGAsia

• Extreme Tourism – Into The Danger Zone from ITIJ

• The Case For Surf Travel from Inertia

• Disaster Is On The Horizon For Travel And Tourism If We Don’t Start Doing Things Differently from Euronews

• Under A Hellish Ocean Habitat, Bizarre Animals Are Lurking from The New York Times ($)

• A Sunday Escape #3 from NE Where (watch the video of Heinz prepping his books—classic!)

Size doesn’t matter

Sometimes the smallest wave creates the biggest smiles. On Pulau Liukangloe, Sulawesi. 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