Travelfish #492: The my god it’s hot edition

A wrap on stuff worth reading

Hi!

This week I’m leading with a piece on fisheries—and it’s a cracker. It also reminds me of an AP series a few years ago which covered slavery in the industry and it’s sad to see how little anything has changed.

Over on Couchfish, I had final paid piece looking at the time I’ve spent in Java and then a free to read piece on Bali. Meanwhile, last week’s Wednesday Deals looked at three choice places to stay in Penang.

Lastly, I’m a guest in a few weeks time on a Travel Massive live webinar asking the question How Does Slow Travel Impact Local Communities? Registration is free!

After a lovely seven hour transit stretch through the middle of the night in Manila, I’m back in Bali for a spell. As I may have mentioned, my time in Cebu was characterised by much whining about the heat, and yet, now back in Bali, it is just as hot. We’ve been here a good long spell and I don’t recall ever experiencing heat like this—and so there’s this weeks’s theme.

Cheers

Stuart

The sun’s anvil

One of my many Bali beach photos that are impossible to take today due to resort etcetera construction. Photo: Stuart McDonald.

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⭐️ Story of the week 

• The Crimes Behind The Seafood You Eat from The New Yorker ($)

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📚 What I’m reading

• Doppelganger by Naomi Klein

🇲🇲 Burma

• ‘Hard To Breathe’: Myanmar Communities Forced To Live Among World’s Trash 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

• Communities Track A Path Of Destruction Through A Cambodian Wildlife Sanctuary from Mongabay

• Should Readers Trust “Inaccuracy” In Memoirs About Genocide? from JSTOR Daily

• Booming Investor Interest In Agritech Is Inspiring A Wave Of Cambodian Entrepreneurs. But Can The Solutions Scale? from Eco-Business

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

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

• Forget Your Carbon Footprint. Let’s Talk About Your Climate Shadow. from Mic

• Is This The End Of The Mediterranean Beach Holiday? from BBC

• Why Summers May Never Be The Same from The New York Times ($)

• Licence To Pollute — Carbon Offsets Are A Disaster In The Making For Africa from Daily Maverick

• Plastic Policies Across Southeast Asia Attempt To Stem The Tide: How To Adapt Your Business And Act On Plastic Today from The Third Pole

🇮🇩 Indonesia

• Indonesia’s Most Dangerous Job: Mining In An Active Volcano from Catalyst Planet

• Report: Half Of Plantations In Indonesia’s Palm Oil Heartland Are Illegal from Mongabay

• Bali: One Morning In Time from NW Where

🇱🇦 Laos

• Lao Residents Continue Crossing To Thailand Amidst High Inflation from The Laotian Times

• China’s Promise Of Prosperity Brought Laos Debt — And Distress from The Washington Post, Archive.org

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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

• Is Malaysia Becoming A Mass Tourism Destination? from Reef Check Malaysia (LinkedIn)

• Above A Drowned World, Existence Is Resistance from This Is Southeast Asia

🇸🇬 Singapore

• How Singapore’s Jurong Lake District Reimagines Business Districts For A Climate-Conscious Era from GovInsider

• The Big Read In Short: What Drives Singaporeans’ Car-Owning Dreams Amid Soaring COE Prices? from Today

• ‘Blueprint For Disaster’ Singapore’s Carbon Hub Threatens Global Climate Targets from SourceMaterial

• Tempeh: Part I from Singapore Noodles

🇹🇭 Thailand

• An Extraordinary Mountain Farm In Trang from Thai Island Times ($)

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

• Tightening Gun Control In Thailand Requires Dealing With Entrenched Interests from The Straits Times

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

• Rediscovering The Nanyue Kingdom: An Ancient Beacon Of Cantonese And Vietnamese Unity from Southeast Asia Society

• Hẻm Gems: A Trip To Bàn Cờ For Lạng Sơn’s Sweet And Sour Dry Phở from Saigoneer

Random other stuff

• Capping Visitor Numbers To Protect Cultural Sites From Overtourism from El País

• The Wild Business Of Desert Island Tourism from The Hustle

• New Culinary Conversations In South East Asia from Asia Media Centre

• The Cruel Fantasies Of Well-Fed People from George Monbiot

• Youth Hostels Face Tough Times – But They Are Perfect For Authentic, Spontaneous Experiences from The Conversation

• Have These Changes Altered The Way You Travel? Because They Should from Traveller

• #182 – Travel In The Age Of Artificial Intelligence from Talk Travel Asia (Podcast)

• The Future Of Travel Writing: What The Editors Say from Talking Travel Writing ($)

Perfect weather for hotel research

Shlepping it from hotel to hotel in Siem Reap Cambodia. I still remember this day. It was … rather warm. Photo: Stuart McDonald.

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Wednesday Deals recap

More Wednesday Deals still:

Huế

Phnom Penh

Bangkok

See you next week!

So that’s the wrap. I hope you are all in good health, and thanks for reading.

Cheers!

Stuart