Travelfish #489: The Cebu edition

A wrap on stuff worth reading

Hi!

I’m not one to go on much about companies that I admire, but Patagonia is one such firm and I lead this week with a piece by them on what they’re trying to do.

For the first time in, checks watch, 13 years, I’m currently in a new country—the Philippines! Yes, finally. No, I’m not here to look at adding the country to Travelfish, instead, I’m here at the invitation of a fine company who I contract with. Their get-together though was for only four days, and I thought “Hell no,” so after some ticket adjustment, I’m here for three weeks cruising around Cebu by motorbike. My daughter is with me for the first week, then I have the rest to poke around myself.

Initial impressions: Cebu is beautiful, the food swings between delicious and ahhh not so delicious, and the people are some of the friendliest and most obliging people I’ve come across. They also like to sing, sing a lot, sing loudly, and on occasion, sing somewhat out of tune. At a mountain-top farm-stay the other day, 7am Roy Orbison renditions at eleventy million decibels were really a bit much.

Anyways, we’re down the southwest corner at the moment in Moalboal while my daughter gets her Open Water diving certificate, then some vrooming up the east coast, first to drop off Lyla at Cebu City, then to Malapascua off the northern tip—yes, I’ll be getting my money’s worth out of that motorbike.

Anyways, more on the trip soon.

Over on Couchfish, there were two paid pieces on Probolinggo, one on a bad day in a coffee field, and the other on a haunted house. On the free read side of things, I had some thoughts on a different approach destinations could take. I also launched a new Wednesday edition of the Travelfish newsletter looking at a few special spots to stay each week. If you missed it, you can read it here.

Cheers

Stuart

PS: If you’re a travel writer, Talking Travel Writing are running a survey at the moment and would appreciate your input.

Love Lechon

First meal off the plane in Cebu City. No complaints. Photo: Stuart McDonald.

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⭐️ Story of the week 

• What Patagonia’s CEO Has Learned A Year Into The Company’s ‘Radical Experiment’ from TIME

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📚 What I’m reading

• Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe

🇲🇲 Burma

• The Myanmar Junta’s Census Heralds A Totalitarian Nightmare from Frontier Myanmar ($)

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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

• Cambodia’s Thin-Skinned Princelings Are Forcing Newspapers Out Of The Country. It Isn’t All Bad. from The Diplomat

• Traffic Fatalities Decline But Remain A Concern from The Phnom Penh Post

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

• If Companies Had To Pay For Their Carbon Emissions, Nearly Half Their Profits Would Evaporate, Study Finds from Fortune

• Revealed: Top Carbon Offset Projects May Not Cut Planet-Heating Emissions from The Guardian

• Extreme Weather Is Forcing Redesign Of World’s Busiest Airports from The Japan Times

🇮🇩 Indonesia

• Meet The Indonesian Volunteers Fighting To Save Their Coral Reefs from Blue Dot Diving

• ‘Do You Know How Many Followers I Have?’ Dodging Influencers In Bali from Traveller ($) [Ed: This is what happens when a newspaper is too cheap to pay for pics—the peak in the last photo is Abang, not Batur, plus the swing photo is taken nowhere near where the writer is talking about. Sigh.]

• Why The Next Decade Will Be So Critical For Indonesia: It’s Not Simply About Getting Rich from Fulcrum

• Rhino Numbers Rebound As Global Figures Reveal A Win For Conservation from The Guardian

🇱🇦 Laos

• Fuel Company: Laos Could Face Renewed Fuel Shortages from The Laotian Times

• An Automobile Guidebook For Tourists In Indochina From 1930 from Southeast Asia Library Group

• Taking The Homegrown Way To Self-Reliance In Food from Reporting Asean

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Planning a holiday in Southeast Asia and need a sim card? Why not pick one up upon arrival?

Indonesia
Telkomsel 4G Sim Card with 35 Gig of data for 250,000 rupiah

Malaysia
Digi 4G Sim Card with 30 Gig of data for 35 ringgit

Singapore

Starhub 4G Sim Card with 100 Gig of data for S$9.70

Thailand
DTAC Happy Tourist 4G/5G Sim Card with 15 Gig of data for 150 baht

Vietnam
Vinaphone 30 days unlimited data for 265,000 dong

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🇲🇾 Malaysia

• Kampung Spirit: A Journey Through Malaysia’s Traditional Village Life from BBC (Ad)

🇸🇬 Singapore

• How To Cool Down A City from The New York Times ($)

• Meet Singapore’s Next Generation Of Traditional Craft Makers from Silver Kris

• The Weight Of The Departed: Finding Meaning In Transporting Dead Bodies from Rice Media

• Chicken Rice: Part I from Singapore Noodles

🇹🇭 Thailand

• Inside The Northern Thailand Town Reviving Indigo Textile Production For A New Generation from National Geographic

• Thailand’s Ancient Town Of Si Thep Added To World Heritage List from RFI

• Controversy Highlights Room Rate Issue from Bangkok Post

• 57-Year-Old Man Arrested For 10-Year-Old FB Posts from Prachatai

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

• Tien Hai Nature Reserve Latest Battleground In Vietnam’s Push For Development from Mongabay

• Yes, The River Knows. from Around The World In 80 Scrapes

• In The Mekong Delta, Ferries Are Childhood Friends And Daily Companions from Saigoneer

• Seafood Treats In Phan Thiet from Vietnam Coracle

Random other stuff

• Are We Finally Turning The Tide Towards Sustainable Tourism? from World Economic Forum (Ed: Hell no!)

• Whatever Happened To The Off-Season? from The New York Times ($)

• Tourism Shaped By “Unseen” Communities Surfaces Unheard Stories, Infuses Capital Into Destinations from Sustainable Brands

• I’ve Loved Living As A Faux Local In Airbnbs, But They’re Destroying Cities from The Age

• In Nepal, Homestays Offer Tourists Food, Culture, History While Empowering Locals And Women from SCMP

• The Island Seen And Felt from Places

• We’re Finally Figuring Out If Foreign Aid Is Any Better Than Handing Out Cash from Vox

• How The Ocean Shaped A Surf Town from National Geographic (Ad)

Oh Pretty Woman

To fully appreciate this photo you need to look at it with Orbison’s Pretty Woman blasting at full tilt. 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