Travelfish #494: The Prisoner Of Pics Edition

A wrap on stuff worth reading

Oct 30, 2023

Hi!

The other day I was reading an academic paper in prep for my dissertation at uni—due in a mere ten months. The paper was on about how destinations often become “prisoners” of their own images—often very old images—which are pushed in travel guides but don’t reflect well on what the place is today. The paper focusses on a European town—Girona in Spain—but this certainly holds for many spots in Southeast Asia. Think Bangkok and Wat Arun, Vietnam and the Mekong Delta, Cambodia and Angkor, etcetera.

It got me thinking about the change that many (including myself) are arguing for in travel more generally, and yet here we are talking about it while pushing a wheelbarrow of 19th century cliched exotica. I’m not sure what to do with this knowledge to be honest—I don’t think I’d ever say don’t go see Wat Arun, but maybe I should. I’ve been thinking, how would one experience Wat Arun without seeing it. No, I’m not sure what that would entail either—it’s been a long day! What do you think?

Over on Couchfish I had just the one piece as I’ve been bogged down in a long piece on Laos that has soaked up more time than expected—it will be out very soon. In the meantime, I wrote about two cocks and a rock—it is free to read for all.

Last week I was a guest alongside Sarah Payne of UnTours on a Travel Massive live webinar asking the question How Does Slow Travel Impact Local Communities? If you missed out, you can watch the recording here—it was a great chat and I think Sarah and I could have gone all night talking this stuff through.

The pics this week, fittingly, are of Wat Arun.

Cheers

Stuart

Take a peak inside Wat Arun

A quiet moment for a different angle. Photo: David Luekens.

⭐️ Story of the week

‘What’s The Point Of A Boat If There Are No Fish?’ from ABC

📚 What I’m reading

Doppelganger by Naomi Klein

🇲🇲 Burma

Ethnic Armed Groups Launch Attacks Across Northern Shan State from Frontier Myanmar ($)

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.

🇰🇭 Cambodia

Cambodian Court Convicts Opposition Figures For Facebook Comments from RFA
End To Mekong Delta Dispute? from Le Monde diplomatique
Counting On Coal: A Visual Guide To Cambodia’s Big Bet On Fossil Fuel from SEAGlobe
Three Days Away: Battambang Pt.4 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.

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

🇲🇾 Malaysia

Malaysia Moves To Tackle Rising Mental Health Crisis Among Children, Teens from SCMP ($)
The Bad Urban Design Of Cyberjaya: Malaysia’s ‘Failed Silicon Valley’ from Future Southeast Asia

🇸🇬 Singapore

‘I Don’t Want To Sit At A Computer In A Small Box’: S’pore Aunties Travel The World In Camper Van from The Straits Times ($)

🇹🇭 Thailand

Thailand’s Ruling Party Chooses A Shinawatra As New Leader from Reuters
The Most Popular Streets In Bangkok That Are Totally Walkable from T&L
The Raw Cool Of Bangkok from The Financial Times ($)
Ancient Thailand’s Top 10 City Walls: An Archaeological Travel Guide from Paths Unwritten
T.I.C.D.: Mu Ko Phuket (Part I: Main Island) from Thai Island Quest ($)

Looking for somewhere special in Penang?

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

🇻🇳 Vietnam

Phú Quốc's Rapid Decline from Vietnam Weekly
Man Spends 3 Decades Seeking Clean Water Sources For Southern Vietnam from Tuoi Tre News
Saigon Street Vendors, Authorities Battle For Sanctified Ground from VNExpress
Phú Quý Adventures from Around The World In 80 Scrapes
In Đà Nẵng, A Close-knit Surfing Community Rides The Waves from Saigoneer

Random other stuff

How Hostels Are Being Redefined In The Post-Pandemic Era from National Geographic
What Will Kill Us First: AI Vs Climate Change? From Talking Travel Writing ($)
As Digital Nomads Flock To Lisbon, Portugal’s Youth Are Leaving In Droves from Bloomberg ($)
Zoos Are The Opposite Of Educational: They Construct Fictions About Their Captives from The Guardian
The Best Apps For Nature Lovers – From Identifying Birdsong To Tracking Lions from The Guardian
Sergio Rodríguez Abitia: ‘Tourism Is Part Of The Extractive Economy That Everyone Complains About’ from El País
Your Face May Soon Be Your Ticket. Not Everyone Is Smiling. from The New York Times ($)

Talking about old photos

Bangkok’s skyline has changed a bit since I took this one. Photo: Stuart McDonald.

Wednesday Deals recap

Wednesday Deals

Wednesday deals: Singapore

October 18, 2023

Hi all, You know when you’re going somewhere you haven’t been before and you open the interwebs search for “hotels in …” and you get eleventy billion results? No? Please tell me your secrets! So where are we off to for the fifth edition? Crazy expensive

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