Travelfish #435: Khao soi and a birthday

Plenty of links to read over a bowl.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 [Travelfish #435: Khao soi and a birthday]( Plenty of links to read over a bowl. [Stuart McDonald]( Apr 4 [Comment]( [Share]( Hi all, Another month, another “I am going to get this newsletter out every Monday” moment! Before I get on to the nitty-gritty, there’s a birthday announcement to make. Couchfish is two years old! On March 30, Couchfish turned two years old. To celebrate, [I’m offering a 50% off deal until April 14 on annual subscriptions](. So this means it costs US$35 instead of $70—for the year. Already a subscriber? First, thank you, second, feel free to [send the link]( to your friends—all are welcome! [Get 50% off forever]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Up top is a read I simply really enjoyed from Emergence Magazine. It goes well with a coffee and something yummy, like, I dunno, khao soi. Elsewhere, as Burma moves to re-open tourism, calls are increasing to not go. In related reading, see the piece about boycotts towards the end of the newsletter. There is plenty out of Cambodia, I especially enjoyed the NYT piece on Angkor and the two education ones—so much work to do on that front. Bhutan sneaks into the environment section, while in Indonesia we have the rain shaman and a ship of fools. Quite a few stories out of Laos this week, with a dam and trains tilt, though to have some (rare) goodish news for animals was nice. Penang fans may enjoy the oldish pics from the island, while sadly Singapore went ahead with their execution—idiots—the Malay-Buginese piece is worth a read before you keep scrolling. In Thailand, it is mostly elephants and the Andaman Coast this week, while in Vietnam, a great piece from the coal face (no it isn’t about journalism!), plenty more to eat and some more scooter rides. The photos this week, are a couple of quick bowls of khao soi in Thailand—there’s always time for a bowl after all. Cheers Stuart Bowl one Khao soi, Chiang Mai. Photo: Stuart McDonald --------------------------------------------------------------- Vaccinations snapshot The following chart is per capita—not total numbers. The dark green bar is the one that matters—it represents the percentage of the eligible population that are fully vaccinated. You can see [a full-size and interactive version of the chart here](. Source: [Our World in Data]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Travel summary So where is open and where is closed? This chart by [Hannah Pearson]( at Pear Anderson summarises the state of play in the region as of Sunday, April 3, 2022. If you’re after a detailed weekly report on the region, Hannah’s report [is the absolute business](. To receive Hannah’s report in your email mailbox every Sunday [you can sign up here (it is free!)](. This is my go-to report for where things are at in the region. If you have any queries or suggestions about how the chart could be improved, please drop her a line via the Pear Anderson website here. Source: [The Impact of Covid-19 on the Southeast Asian Tourism Industry (PDF)]( --------------------------------------------------------------- ⭐️ Story of the week - [False Passives]( from Emergence Magazine --------------------------------------------------------------- 🇲🇲 Burma - [Tourists Urged to Avoid Myanmar as Junta Prepares to Reopen to World]( from The Guardian - [Junta’s Political Prisoners Since Coup Now Number 10,000]( from The New York Times ($) - [Myanmar’s ‘reluctant’ Resistance Fighter]( from Aljazeera - [Safety, Decent Income Weigh Heavily on Myanmar’s Journalists]( from Reporting ASEAN 🇰🇭 Cambodia - [At Angkor Wat, ‘You Have One of the World’s Wonders to Yourself’]( from The New York Times ($) - [Cambodia Strives to Protect the Mekong’s Last Dolphins]( from The Third Pole - [Crocodiles Set Loose to Save Their Lives]( from Southeast Asia Globe - [‘They Don’t Know About War’: the Legacy of Forgotten Horrors]( from The New York Times ($) - [Cambodia’s Education System: Looking Back to Move Forward]( from Fulcrum - [American Bombing 50 Years Ago Still Shapes Cambodian Agriculture]( from The Economist ($) - [Cutting Down Thomacheat]( from VOD 🌴 Environment - [Why Do Corporations Greenwash?]( from Aljazeera - [Online Trade in Rare Silvery Pigeon Is Cause for Concern]( from Mongabay - [China Is Choking Off Asia’s Most Important River]( from Foreign Policy - [Research Shows More Travelers Looking for Sustainable Options]( from Travel Pulse - [This One Small Country in Asia Is Beating Climate Change]( from Ecomadic - [Resetting the Throw-away Lifestyle]( from Fulcrum - [Carbon Credit Rush Hits Papua New Guinea]( from Sarawak Report 🇮🇩 Indonesia - [Negara Takluk Oleh Oligarki Sawit]( from Berdikari Online (Story is in Indonesian, but Google translate will give non-speakers the gist.) - [Indonesian Rain Shaman at MotoGP Is Latest Lightning Rod for Religious Pluralism]( from South China Morning Post - [In a National Park Plagued by Encroachers, Indonesia Tries a New Approach]( from Mongabay - [A Ship of Fools at Komodo National Park]( from Bali Discovery 🇱🇦 Laos - [Laos’ Logistics Vision for Asean: All Rails Lead to Vientiane]( from Nikkei Asia ($) - [Averting Fiscal Crisis in Laos]( from East Asia Forum - [Rare Mammals Caught on Camera Highlight Value of Annamite Mountains]( from Mongabay - [Rebuilt Dam Near Site of Devastating Collapse Releases Water, Scaring Residents]( from Radio Free Asia - [Lao Villagers to Be Displaced by Dam Want More Money for Their Trouble]( from Radio Free Asia - [Lao-China Railway: an Opportunity for More Sustainable Transport in ASEAN]( from ESCAP 🇲🇾 Malaysia - [Sarawak’s Travel Industry in No Rush to Go Back to Work]( from The Malaysian Insight ($) - [Malaysia’s One Step Forward, One Step Back in Forestry Management]( from Sahabat Alam - [1972, the Year That Transformed Penang]( from Southeast Asia Globe - [Is There Still a Chance to Save the Malayan Tiger?]( from Aljazeera 🇸🇬 Singapore - [Singapore’s First Execution in Two Years]( from We, The Citizens - [Scamming the Scammers — Rise of the Scam Syndicates]( from Rice Media - [I Thought I Was Malay-Buginese — My DNA Test Said Otherwise]( from Rice Media 🇹🇭 Thailand - [Thailand's Elephant Tourism Endangered by Covid Blow to Global Travel]( from Nikkei Asia ($) - [Thai Tourism Elephants Are ‘Far Better Off’ in Forests: Q&A With Photographer Adam Oswell]( from Mongabay - [A Little Thai Town and Its Vulnerable Fairy Tale Treasure]( from The Daily Beast - [Bangkok’s New Chinatown: Waiting for Another Ka-ching]( from Fulcrum - [The Desolation of Khao San Road]( from Nomadic Notes - [Headwinds Buffet Thailand’s ‘Sea Nomads’]( from Nikkei Asia ($) - [Hale and Hearty Plans for Thailand’s Andaman Coast]( from Fulcrum 🇻🇳 Vietnam - [Dalat by Motorbike: 5 Routes & Loops]( from Vietnam Coracle - [During the Vietnam War, Three Trailblazing Female Journalists Changed the Way War Is Reported Forever]( from ABC News - [Inside the Backbreaking Work of Quảng Ninh's Coal Miners]( from Urbanist Hanoi - [Hẻm Gems: Cô Thủy and 25 Years of Breakfast Bò Né in D4]( from Saigoneer - [The Charm of Hòn Yến, Where Coral-watching Doesn't Involve Diving]( from Saigoneer - [The Vietnamese Secret Agent Who Spied for Three Different Countries]( from Smithsonian Magazine Random other stuff - [Striking for Reparations]( from Atmos - [Disaster Tourism: Blackouts, Shortages Hit Sri Lanka Recovery Hopes]( from International Business Times - [Fights Over Illegal Fishing Lead to Armed Conflict, Deaths]( from AP - [Your Attention Didn’t Collapse. It Was Stolen]( from The Guardian - [Uganda’s Batwa People: Evicted From Forests to Help Save Gorillas]( from BBC - [The Boycott Dilemma]( from Travel Weekly Couchfish (Free-to-read) - [Couchfish: Golden Kids]( - [Couchfish Turns Two]( - [Couchfish Turns Two, Part Two]( Couchfish (Paid subscribers only) - [Couchfish Day 290: Paying It Forward]( - [Couchfish Day 291: Backpacker Bitcoin]( - [Couchfish Day 292: Shut Up and Eat]( - [Couchfish Day 293: This One is For Aziz]( Don’t forget, Couchfish just turned two, and … … to celebrate, [I’m offering a 50% off deal until April 14 on annual subscriptions](. So this means it costs US$35 instead of $70—for the year. Already a subscriber? First, thank you, second, feel free to [send the link]( to your friends—all are welcome! [Get 50% off forever]( Bowl two Still khao soi, still in Chiang Mai. Photo: Stuart McDonald --------------------------------------------------------------- See you next week! So that’s the wrap. I hope you are all in good health and weathering Covid19 as well as possible. See you next week, Stuart [Like]( [[Comment]Comment]( [[Share]Share]( If you liked this post from [Travelfish weekly newsletter](, why not share it? [Share]( © 2022 Stuart McDonald [Unsubscribe]( Bali, Indonesia [Publish on Substack](