Travelfish #444: Very Pricey Lizards

There are smart and not-so-smart ways to do things                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 [Open in browser]( [Travelfish #444: Very Pricey Lizards]() There are smart and not-so-smart ways to do things. [Stuart McDonald]( Jul 4 [Comment]( [Share]() Hi all, This week, I’m leading with another “writery” piece discussing who does and doesn’t get to write about places. The big bit of travel news for the week is out of Indonesia, with plans to start charging an admission fee of US$260 per head for visitors entering Komodo National Park from August 1. This is the latest approach to re-pricing the park and a discounted rate for domestic tourists has not been announced, nor has it been clarified if this fee will be levelled at dive operators as well. One should expect this pricepoint to devastate visitor numbers to the park, and it would not be surprising to see the park struggle to reach its now-capped 200,000 visitors per annum. Assuming the new price goes ahead, I thought I’d include a coupla pics from the park this week, as I guess some will be shelving their trips. Cheers Stuart Kids meet dragon They’re not as close as they look. 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 is 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]( Pear Anderson summarises the state of play in the region as of Sunday, July 3, 2022. To receive Hannah’s report in your email mailbox every Sunday [you can sign up here (it is free!)]( Source: [The Impact of Covid-19 on the Southeast Asian Tourism Industry (PDF)]( --------------------------------------------------------------- ⭐️ Story of the week  - [Who Gets to Tell the Story of a Place? Well, It’s Complicated]( from Adventure --------------------------------------------------------------- 🇲🇲 Burma - [What a Hip-hop Star on Death Row Has to Do With Dictators Everywhere]( from CNN - [Myanmar Military Atrocities Laid Bare in Gruesome Footage]( from Human Rights Watch 🇰🇭 Cambodia - [Siem Reap: Cambodia's City of Hope, Hip Enclaves and Heritage]( from The Straits Times - [Small Monkeys Are Big Business in Cambodia’s Animal Trade]( from SEAGlobe ($) - [Discipline, Teamwork, Acceptance: Why Football Is a Lifeline for Queer Cambodian Teens]( from The Guardian - [‘How to Help Them?’ Volunteer Stonewalled in Scam Worker Rescues]( from VOD - [Mekong Dams Must Release Less Water in Dry Season to Preserve Habitats, Experts Say]( from RFA - [Gold Plated Ancient Stone Found at Temple Site]( from New Straits Times - [An Art Crime for the Ages]( from Bloomberg 🌴 Environment - [In the Mekong Delta, Sand Mining Means Lost Homes and Fortunes]( from Mekong Eye - [The Pandemic Changed How People Buy Fish—and Small Fishers Couldn’t Keep Up]( from Hakai - [A Plane of Monkeys, a Pandemic, and a Botched Deal: Inside the Science Crisis You’ve Never Heard of]( from Mother Jones 🇮🇩 Indonesia - [Komodo Park to Charge US$260 Per Visitor]( from Bali Discovery - [As Jakarta Chokes on Toxic Air, Indonesian Government Stalls on Taking Action]( from Mongabay - [BA.4, BA.5 Make Up 81 Percent of Indonesia's Covid-19 Cases: Minister]( from Antara - [Masks Can Remain Off Outdoors, Indonesia’s Health Minister Clarifies]( from Coconuts Jakarta 🇱🇦 Laos - [Laos Teeters Towards Economic Collapse as Kip Crumbles]( from Capital - [Happy Balloons Popular as a Party Drug in Laos]( from The Laotian Times 🇲🇾 Malaysia - [Hidden Bars Help to Revive Petaling Street, the ‘Chinatown’ of Malaysia’s Capital]( from The Rakyat Post - [Malaysia’s Skewed Transport System: Rising Costs Demand Bolder Solutions]( from Fulcrum - [Company Tries to SLAPP Away Malaysian Forest Advocates]( from SEAGlobe ($) Ad: [Looking for an affordable travel insurance policy? Consider SafetyWing.]( 🇸🇬 Singapore - [Singapore’s Proposed Online Safety Laws Look Like More Censorship in Disguise]( from Rest Of World - [Hangings Don’t Save Lives]( from We, The Citizens 🇹🇭 Thailand - [Thailand Expects Number of Visitors to Increase to 50,000 Per Day]( from Thai Enquirer - [Land of the Forest Temples]( from Bangkok Post - [The Timeline of Thailand’s Tourism Recovery]( from Asia Media Centre 🇻🇳 Vietnam - [Vietnam Halts Scuba Diving Off Popular Island to Protect Coral]( from Tuoi Tre News - [Phu Quoc Forests in State of Emergency]( from Tuoi Tre News - [Mang Thít, Vĩnh Long's 'Kingdom of Brick Kilns,' Is on Its Last Legs]( from Saigoneer - [Bancông Cafe]( from Vietnam Coracle - [Vietnam Lures Hollywood Crews but Censorship Hangs Over Film Sector]( from NikkeiAsia ($) - [Vietnam Warily Weighs a China Base in Cambodia]( from Asia Times Random other stuff - [Inside the Chaotic World of Whale Shark Tourism]( from National Geographic (2018) - [Dengue Fever and Zika Virus Make Humans More Attractive to Mosquitoes]( from Smithsonian Magazine - [The Ghostly Radio Station That No One Claims to Run]( from BBC - [Sustainability Is King in This Tiny Mountain Nation – Here's What Other Countries Can Learn From It]( from Euronews - [Lambasingi Is Sold as the Kashmir of South India, but Tribals Have Had Enough of Tourists]( from The Print - [Can We Please Stop With All the Nomad Hate?]( from Brent and Michael Are Going Places - [Amitav Ghosh Fable Pushes Us to Re-examine Received Wisdom]( from The Third Pole - [The Women Who Built Grunge]( from Longreads - [Travel Writer: Stuart McDonald]( from Rolf Potts Couchfish (Free-to-read) - [Couchfish: Southeast Asia’s New Borders]( (Old post, from November 2021) Couchfish (Paid subscribers only) - [Couchfish Day 312: Bad Advice]( - [Couchfish Day 313: You Should Have Been Here Yesterday]( - [Couchfish Day 314: Losing Time]( Slow days on Komodo They look slow but can move quickly when they want. Photo: Stuart McDonald. --------------------------------------------------------------- See you next week! So that’s the wrap. I hope you are all in good health, and thanks for reading. 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 Bali, Indonesia [Unsubscribe]() [Get the app]( writing](