Travelfish #436: Satay smells good

What goes better with a newsletter than a clutch of satay? Nothing.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 [Travelfish #436: Satay smells good]( What goes better with a newsletter than a clutch of satay? Nothing. [Stuart McDonald]( Apr 19 [Comment]( [Share]( Hi all, This week I kick off with a great piece on “Extractive Tourism,” a topic I’ve written on a bit over on Couchfish—well worth a read. In Burma, a writer reflects on the year after the country’s coup, while in Cambodia, there is a bunch of stories from a bar-hopping guide through to the risks activists face there. In the environment, the NatGeo piece on The Future of Forests is excellent. In Indonesia, we touch on forestry, farming, and a ghastly story about some lowlife deliberately poisoning dogs in Bali. Parts of Laos saw crowds over Pimai, even if the country is ranking last in recovering from Covid-19. More trees in Malaysia, but also, what is it with the obsession over artificial islands? Singapore is all about the death penalty, while in Thailand there are khan bowls, Ko Chang and a holiday gone badly wrong. For Vietnam, stuff to eat on an island plus a worrying piece about the country’s floodlands. Last but not least, a couple of pieces on fabulists. Over on free-to-read Couchfish, readers are enjoying my piece asking [what does travel smell like?]( [Travel insurers compared]( The photos this week, are a couple of quick smells of Southeast Asia. Cheers Stuart Satay One Satay, Kota Kinabalu. 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 17, 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 - [What Is ‘Extractive Tourism’? And How Can We Stop It?]( from Adventure --------------------------------------------------------------- 🇲🇲 Burma - [Soul-crushing Experience: A Reflection on One Year After the Return to Military Rule in Myanmar/Burma]( from Tea Circle - [Smuggled Sketches Offer Glimpses Into Harsh Myanmar Prison]( from Reuters - [A Brief Story of Myanmar (Burmese) Cuisine]( from Banyan Canopy (LinkedIn) - [‘Quick Profits’: Activists Fear for Environment Under Military Rule]( from Frontier Myanmar ($) 🇰🇭 Cambodia - [Bar-hopping Phnom Penh’s Bassac Quarter]( from Move to Cambodia - [A Heart Out of Sync at the “Chaktomuk” in Cambodia]( from Los Angeles Review of Books - [Attacks on UN Special Envoy and Human Rights Staff in Cambodia Reminiscent of Pol Pot Tactics]( from Asian Human Rights Commission - [The Cambodian Activists Risking Their Freedom for the Environment]( from BBC News - [Koh Kong’s Ecotourism Island Marred by Waste Pollution]( from Camboja News - [Eviction Stalled for Floating Communities, but Options Limited for Ethnic Vietnamese]( from VOD - [White Building Review – Cambodia’s Modernist Masterpiece Is Centre of Attention]( from The Guardian - [D.O. King- the First American at Angkor, 1858]( from CNE 🌴 Environment - [The Future of Forests]( from National Geographic - [Seagrass Joins Other Marine Life in Accumulating Sunscreen Compounds]( from Mongabay - [Biodiversity: Why Should Business Care?]( from INSEAD Knowledge 🇮🇩 Indonesia - [Plan to Carve Up Indonesian Papua Rings Alarm Over Fate of People and Forests]( from Mongabay - [A Land Without Farmers]( from The Jakarta Post - [Joy as Indonesia Passes Bill Outlawing Sexual Abuse and Forced Marriage]( from The Guardian - [Silencing the Din in Indonesian Cities]( from Fulcrum - [Who Killed the Berawa Beach Dogs?]( from Coconuts Bali 🇱🇦 Laos - [Vientiane Remains Quiet but Luang Prabang Witnesses Large Crowds During Pimai]( from The Star - [Laos Ranked Last in Nikkei Covid Recovery Index]( from The Laotian Times - [Big Trouble for Tigers in Laos]( from Asia Sentinal ($) - [Laos Farmers Turn to Game Theory in Bid to Outsmart Rats]( from Aljazeera 🇲🇾 Malaysia - [Outcry in Malaysia as Failure to Replant Forests Sparks ‘Cover-up’ Accusation]( from Mongabay - [Malaysia Has One of Asia’s Longest Coastlines. So Why the Obsession With Artificial Islands Affecting Environment and Fisherfolk?]( from South China Morning Post ($) - [Boy, 14, Missing in Malaysia Diving Trip Believed to Have Died]( from The Guardian So how do you compare different travel insurance companies? [Read a comparison of Insured Nomads, SafetyWing and World Nomads here.]( 🇸🇬 Singapore - [Over 400 Singaporeans Protest the Death Penalty]( from We, The Citizens - [There’s Idealism at the Recent Death Penalty Protest but Is That Enough?]( from Rice Media 🇹🇭 Thailand - [Redefining My Thai Identity]( from New Mandala - [The Khan Bowl: Relying on Songkran to Survive Cultural Extinction]( from Rice Media - [Rediscovering Bangkok]( from Bangkok Post - [Koh Chang Revisited: Kai Bae Beach 2022]( from Thai Spicy - [How Our Dream Holiday to Thailand Ended Before It Began]( from The Times ($) 🇻🇳 Vietnam - [Floodplain Wetlands of the Mekong – Going, Going, Gone?]( from The Third Pole - [Nuclear Moves Up the List of Vietnam’s Power Mix]( from Southeast Asia Globe - [Where to Eat Seafood on Phu Quoc Island]( from Vietnam Coracle Random other stuff - [Does Traveling to Every Country Count if You Don’t Post on the Internet?]( from The Washington Post ($) - [His Tale of Crossing Antarctica Was Riveting. But How Much Was Fiction?]( from National Geographic - [Dying Food Traditions]( from Vittles - [Holidays in Soviet Sanatoriums: The Wierd and Wonderful Wellness Palaces of the USSR]( from The Calvert Journal - [Paradise Squandered: What Really Happened to Sri Lanka’s Economy?]( from The Asia Foundation Couchfish (Free-to-read) - [Couchfish: But What Does It Smell Like?]( Couchfish (Paid subscribers only) - [Couchfish Day 294: Eating KL]( - [Couchfish Day 295: Bad Hostel]( - [Couchfish Day 296: The New Village]( - [Couchfish Day 297: The Flight Attendant]( Satay Two Satay, Gorontalo. 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? 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