Travelfish #493: The flat surface for a plane edition

A wrap on stuff worth reading

Hi!

Many moons ago, Sam and I were bumming around in Laos when a job offer came up and Sam had to head back to Bangkok quicksmart. I saw her off from Laos’ Luang Nam Tha airport, which back then was a bit of a hovel, and while I waited for her decidedly dinky plane to actually make it into the air, I cooled my sandal-clad heels with a large BeerLao at the shack that doubled as an airport bar. I can’t remember what it cost, but I do remember it was a lot, as here I am telling you about it 25 years later! When I queried the price (after drinking the beer of course) the staffer looked at me like I was an idiot and said “This is the airport man.” So I was a bit sad to not see Luang Nam Tha’s flat surface for a plane feature in James Clark’s list of defunct airports in Southeast Asia—the piece features as this week’s read of the week.

I’d also like to take a moment to highlight a newsletter I’ve been really enjoying of late. Titled Around the World in 80 Scrapes, it traces the travels and no-bullshit thoughts—often with an environmental tilt—of freelance journalist Kate Walker. I’ve mentioned the newsletter quite a bit in this newsletter over past months, but it was Walker’s recent three-part series on Battambang (part 1, 2 and 3, all paid-for reads) that really got my feet itching—far out I miss that joint. The newsletter has both free and paid flavours and if you have an interest in travel in Southeast Asia (which I hope you do as you’re receiving this newsletter!), at a minimum a free subscription is worth a go. Paid subs start at a little under $6 a month—about the same price as a big BeerLao at Luang Nam Tha Airport in 1998!

Over on Couchfish I had three pieces, one on Alfred Wallace and the merits of old guidebooks, another on yet more personal waterfall woes (an endless resource for me), and one on the (miss)treatment of animals in Southeast Asia. They are all free to read.

Later this week, I’m a guest alongside Sarah Payne of UnTours on a Travel Massive live webinar asking the question How Does Slow Travel Impact Local Communities? Registration is free! Hope to see you there.

Thanks to Clark, the theme this week is flat surfaces for a plane—if you’ve spent much time in the back-blocks of this part of the world, they are often little more than that.

Cheers

Stuart

Flash in the pan: President Airlines

President Airlines at Cambodia’s Banlung Airport. From memory this was Cambodia’s 76,875th airline. Photo: Stuart McDonald.

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⭐️ Story of the week 

• Defunct Airports of Southeast Asia from Nomadic Notes

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📚 What I’m reading

• Doppelganger by Naomi Klein

🇲🇲 Burma

• Inle Lake’s Boat Festival’s Return Brings Joy And Sorrow from AFP

• As Global Calamities Pile Up, UNHCR Worries For The Rohingya from Dari Mulut Ke Mulut ($)

• Children In Myanmar: Caught In The Crossfire from Fulcrum

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If you’re looking for relatively affordable travel insurance for your travels in Southeast Asia, take a look at SafetyWing. Their standard package (excluding travel within the US) for four weeks of coverage costs (according to traveller age):
18 to 39 from US$45
40 to 49 from $74
50 to 59 from $116; and
60 to 69 from $157
For more information, details on their policies and optional add-ons, please refer to the SafetyWing website.

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🇰🇭 Cambodia

• ‘I Am Afraid I Will Kill Myself, Like My Husband’: Spotlight On Loan Firms In Cambodia After Indigenous Suicides from The Guardian

• Cambodia Opens New Airport Near Angkor Wat Amid Low Tourism Numbers from RFA

• Famous Cambodian Elephant Sambo Dies After 9 Years Of Retirement from The Star

• Three Days Away: Battambang Pt.3 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

• Think That Your Plastic Is Being Recycled? Think Again. from MIT Technology Review

• The Great Cash-For-Carbon Hustle from The New Yorker ($)

• It’s Time To Close The Sustainable Energy Gaps In Asia And The Pacific from Mekong Eye

• I’m A Travel Writer Who Stopped Flying. Can I Keep It Up For The Climate? from Chatelaine

• Cambodia’s Tonlé Sap Lake Is Running Out Of Fish from Geographical

🇮🇩 Indonesia

• Joko Widodo’s Son Can Run For Indonesian Vice-President After Controversial Court Ruling from The Guardian

• Bali Declares 14-Day Emergency In Face Of Escalating Drought Crisis from Coconuts Bali

🇱🇦 Laos

• Frankly, My Dear Laos from Around the World in 80 Scrapes

• Major Laos Dam Project Sparks Fears For Environment And Local Heritage from France24

• Laos Becomes Top Destination for Dispersed Tourism as Authentic Alternative to Overpopular Neighbors from The Laotian Times

• Laos-Vietnam Railway Project Officially Approved from The Laotian Times

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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

• Peering Around River Bends from Mekong Review (free to read this week only)

• A Love Letter To Hawker Spaces from This Is South East Asia

• 3 Theories On The Origins Of Vaie People from Tribal Stories

🇸🇬 Singapore

• A Eulogy For Flash Coffee That’s Just As Miserable As Their Coffee from Rice Media

• Mianjin 面筋: Part I from Singapore Noodles

🇹🇭 Thailand

• Turning The Tide: How Bangkok Is Reclaiming Its Canals & Waterways from Thailand Now

• The Elephant I Was Riding Threw Me, Then Rolled Over Me Like A Steamroller. All My Bones Broke At Once from The Guardian

• Appeal Court Sentences Woman To 6 Years In Prison For Royal Defamation from Prachatai

• The Little Jazz Bar With Legendary Status In Chiang Mai, Thailand from Thrillist

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

• HCMC’s Rising “Sleep Box” Trend Could Be Dangerous from VNExpress

• A Glimpse Into The Epic Underground Shows Of Vietnam Pro Wrestling from Saigoneer

• Trans-Northern Belt Road: QL279 from VietnamCoracle

Random other stuff

• The Case For Bettering One’s Cultural Competence from The Global Jigsaw

• Millions Of Workers Are Training AI Models For Pennies from Wired

• High Steaks Society: Who Are The 12% Of People Consuming Half Of All Beef In The US? from The Guardian

• The Future Of Travel Writing: How Can You Future-Proof Your Career? from Talking Travel Writing ($)

Carbon-friendly flying in Sen Monorom

I never got to fly in or out of Sen Monorom as the loons running Cambodia closed it to flights supposedly because you could see too much illegal logging during the flight. So I heard anyway…in a bar. Still, back then it was way better than the road to Banlung! Photo: Stuart McDonald.

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Wednesday Deals recap

More Wednesday Deals still:

Penang

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