Travelfish #307: Rocket Festival + Help us help you

Everywhere is on the way to somewhere Hi all, This weekend coming is [Yasothon’s Rocket Festival]( of our all-time favourite festivals in Thailand. Just in time, we’ve got full updated coverage on the northeastern town including how to get there and where to stay. If you are in Thailand with a few loose days, we’d say the festival is a must see, and the town is a lot of fun too. Also new on the site we have updated coverage for Thailand’s [Trat]( the last piece of our fresh coverage of Thailand’s eastern islands. Lastly, off of the back of Stuart’s recent trip to Bangkok, here are two newish hotels he quite liked—[103 Bed and Brews]( and [Oriental Heritage Residence](. Coming this week we have a raft of new coverage, primarily for travel in Indonesia's Java and northern Laos. This week’s book review is on Tim O'Brien's stunning The Things They Carried, while our soapbox is a bit of inside baseball—a special request for you to help us help others. If you’re looking for a quick break, adventure tour operator Intrepid is offering 15% off all Asia adventure trips from now till May 10. [Be quick—one day left!]( Good travels Stuart, Sam and the Travelfish crew Support Travelfish! If you'd like to chip in (if you haven’t already) for using the site, we'd love you to sign up for a year-long subscription for just A$35. [See more here](. Exclusive for Travelfish readers: Save an additional 7% at Agoda [Use promo code Tfishpromo »]( Soapbox Help us help you A bit of inside baseball this week—a request for our readers to help spread the word about Travelfish. As many of you know we’ve been writing about the region for well over a decade, and doing it in a way we believe is the right way to do it. A quick story. A friend who was travelling in Northeast Thailand recently mentioned to a guesthouse owner they had found their property via the site. The owner replied along the lines of, “Oh wow, yes, they actually send people here rather than others who just give me a call to ask if anything has changed. I have no idea how they make it pay, but I’m glad they do it.” We walk the walk. There are three main ways people find out about Travelfish. Word of mouth, this newsletter, and Google. All are really important to us and it's here that we’re asking for your help, in three ways. Firstly, if you have a friend or relative heading to Southeast Asia, please let them know about our site. See a traveller in the immigration queue at Don Muang with a guidebook in their hand, say “hello” and let them know about Travelfish—we know some people already do this, thank you! Secondly, if you haven’t already, please forward our newsletters to friends who are headed to the region. Thirdly, if you have a website you use to document your travels, when you find interesting snippets on the site, please consider adding links to the particular page on Travelfish. We ask this because one of the main (though not only) ways Google decides to rank a site is by looking at how many other sites link to a particular page. Some other travel websites spend a lot of money buying links like this (essentially buying their way into the rankings)—we refuse to do this, primarily because we believe that if something is worth linking to, people will link to it—and we think we produce quite a bit of useful material. These link-buying sites are burying us in some Google results and Travelfish is becoming harder and harder to find, so we’re asking for your help to stay in the story. If you do link to us, please let us know! So, please tell a friend, share the newsletter and pass us a link (or two). Doing any of these three things will help us stick around for another generation of travellers. If you have other suggestions on how to spread the word, please let us know! Safe travels Stuart Premium members only: Book a round the world with [roundtheworldflights.com]( (must travel from the UK via Asia, Australia, New Zealand AND the Americas) and get £30pp off your trip. Offer valid for departures to December 2018. Log in to the Member Centre on Travelfish now for your coupon code and [start designing your own round the world trip »]( What we’re reading The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien Tim O’Brien’s exquisite The Things They Carried is [an interwoven collection of stunning stories]( centred on the American War in Vietnam and its aftermath for a handful of American soldiers, and in particular the author. Thank you Just a few quick words of thanks to businesses who have decided to advertise direct with us on Travelfish recently. If you know a business, small or large, who may be interested in advertising on the site, please send them our [One Page Media Kit!]( Other advertisers include [Asia Highlights]( offer tailor made travel through Vietnam, [Take Me Tour]( offer experiences with locals out of Chiang Mai, [Akha Kitchen]( offer Thai cooking classes in Chiang Rai, WWOOF Thailand [connect hosts and organic farm volunteers]( and VD Travel offer [trending itineraries across the region](. Featured Yasothon Rocket Festival Usually held at the tail end of dry season over the second weekend in May (this year May 12 and 13), [Yasothon’s Rocket Festival]( attracts pyromaniacs and amateur rocketeers from around Thailand and beyond. It kicks off with dancing and a parade featuring the largest rockets carried on elaborate floats to the festival grounds at Phaya Thaen Park. Expect plenty of drinking during the only weekend per year—other than Songkran—when sleepy Yaso lets loose. The festival is based on the god of rain, Phaya Thaen, who gets distracted in his heavenly realm during dry season and needs to be reminded that the water he controls is needed for cultivating rice down on earth. What better way to get his attention than to launch hundreds of rockets into his clouds? Some rockets are built to go as high as possible while others sport unusual designs created purely for the spectacle. Generally made of a PVC pipe or bamboo stuffed with a mix of nitrate and charcoal, the cores are outfitted with shells resembling normal rockets or naga-fronted sleighs, among others. They compete in classes, with the smallest containing just one kilo of the mixture and the largest stuffed with 120 kilos. Sold along roadsides for as little as 10 baht, small sparkler-like “rockets” also add to the atmosphere. We’re not talking NASA technology here: the rockets occasionally explode before, during and after takeoff, and some shoot off in random directions rather than going straight up and down. Throw in the alcohol along with minimal crowd control and it’s no surprise that deaths and lost limbs have occurred—you are well advised to not stand too close to the launching area. In 2018, Yasothon’s Bung Fai festival is scheduled for 12-13 May, while Phanom Phrai’s will lift off on 29-30 May. [Read more about Yasothon here](. Travelfish partners Asia may be on the other side of the planet, but if any continent is worth the long-haul leg cramps, this is it. Book an Asia trip from Intrepid between May 1 & May 10, 2018 and we will take 15% OFF [15% off Intrepid adventure trips to Asia]( News from the region CAMBODIA I: Phnom Penh Post sold to Malaysian investor ““Although ordinarily sales shouldn’t affect editorial policy, we are quite worried this is happening to the Phnom Penh Post,” Legaspi said, adding he thought it was “highly likely” that [the ownership would try to affect editorial independence]( Since publication of this piece, the editor in chief Kay Kimsong has been fired and multiple other staffers have resigned. A very sad day for Cambodia. CAMBODIA II: Newspaper takeover is 'staggering blow' to Cambodia's free press “And it has worsened further this week, with the sale of the Phnom Penh Post, seen as the last bastion of the free press in Cambodia, to the owner of a Malaysian PR company [who has links to the regime of the Cambodian prime minister, Hun Sen]( INDONESIA: Methanol poisoning: A silent epidemic “But Indonesia does have some unique alcohol-related issues that have led to the rise in methanol poisoning deaths across the country.” [A must read](. LAOS: 'Visit Laos Year 2018': A real boost for the tourism industry? “The Lao government is currently pushing a [Visit Laos Year campaign]( aimed at reversing the country’s declining tourism fortunes. It laid out an ambitious goal of attracting 5.2 million tourists, with projected revenues of approximately $910 million in 2018.” MALAYSIA: What is wrong with Malaysia? “[Yet 1MDB will play little to no part in Wednesday’s election]( SOUTHEAST ASIA I: Introducing Asia's new crop of co-working hotels “In Asia's major cities, a crop of new hotels has incorporated co-working spaces [to cater to remote workers and roving entrepreneurs]( SOUTHEAST ASIA II: Cities from the sea: the true cost of reclaimed land “The 72-year-old is the undisputed chief of Tanjung Tokong, a fishing village of 100 houses built by the community a few decades ago. He is also the leader of a movement of fishermen protesting against development projects they claim are destroying the island’s fisheries, [and with them their livelihoods]( SOUTHEAST ASIA III: Animal welfare: What travel agents aren’t telling you “Other facilities have been accused of drugging animals, or removing their teeth and claws to reduce the risk to tourists. [Tigers have even been killed when they became too large to handle]( THAILAND I: Last light at Lido “The Lido Theatre opened on June 27, 1968, a 1,000-seat movie palace in the fast-modernising neighbourhood of Pathumwan. The first title on the marquee was Guns For San Sebastian, a cowboy film starring Anthony Quinn. At the end of this month -- barring a miracle -- [Lido will end its 50-year run]( THAILAND II: Thailand's legendary marijuana “What made the criminalization of marijuana particularly difficult, not just in Thailand, but certain parts of Southeast Asia, was that [it was considered little more than a medicinal or cooking herb]( with little or no local legal or moral stigma attached.” THAILAND III: Meet the young activists brave enough to take on Thailand's military junta “Then I asked myself, how can I change the social structure? [But I noticed it’s like a pyramid](. It’s from top-down. How can I change this if we don’t change the political system and the political structure?” VIETNAM: Foreign tourist arrivals skyrocket in Vietnam “More than 5.5 million foreign visitors arrived in Vietnam in the first four months of this year, [up a staggering 29.5 percent over the same period last year]( according to the latest report from the General Statistics Office.” Travel writing CAMBODIA: French colonial-era architecture in the sleepy Cambodian riverine town of Kampot “The Cambodian coastal town of [Kampot still has a healthy dose of French colonial-era architecture](. Some have been restored and turned into boutique hotels, cozy restaurants and the like while others remain in a dilapidated state of disrepair.” TOURISM: Inside the controversial world of slum tourism “Slum tourism sparks considerable debate around an uncomfortable moral dilemma. No matter what you call it—slum tours, reality tours, adventure tourism, poverty tourism—many consider the practice little more than [slack-jawed privileged people gawking at those less fortunate](. ” VIETNAM: Ferries to Nam Du Islands in Vietnam no longer ‘sold out forever’ “Foreigners can now buy ferry tickets to Nam Du without having to obtain an official permit.” [Great news](. Interesting site Mekong Review “If delivery was the only work required, then we would be a runaway success, up there with Paris Review and the London Review of Books. [Alas and alack, deliveries do not a magazine make.]( It’s only the tail end of a long undertaking. First comes the commissioning, then the editing, subbing, designing, etc. Somewhere in the messy middle the photos and illustrations require attention. It takes two months, all in all, before each quarterly Review is ready for the printer. And after that, deliveries.” Travel shot [Yasothon has rockets for the whole family. Photo: David Luekens] Yasothon has rockets for the whole family. Photo: David Luekens Till next time [Sam and Stuart.] That’s it from us for now. As usual, enjoy the site’s new additions and drop us a line if there’s something in particular you’d like us to cover in Southeast Asia. Travel light! Stuart, Sam & the Travelfish team [( You're receiving the Travelfish newsletter because you signed up at Travelfish.org. Not interested anymore? [Unsubscribe Instantly](. Make sure you're getting our emails! If you're a Gmail user and would prefer your Travelfish newsletter in your Primary in-box rather than Promotions, just drag this email from the Promotions tab to the Primary tab, and click "yes" when it asks if you want to do that for all of our emails. 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