Travelfish #246 A year in review

[Visit Travelfish.org] Hi everyone, While we're yet quite ready to put a cork in what has been a bitter vintage of a year for many, the end of 2016 is on the horizon and this will be our last newsletter of the year. We're taking a bit of a different approach for this issue, looking back at the year that was. Thank you all for reading and see you in 2017. Till next week Stuart and Sam A year in review January: "I wanted the sapphire.” [January: I wanted the sapphire.] The passing of David Bowie on January 10 opened the year on a sad note. "I wanted my own bit of the ring of fire. I wanted the sapphire,” Bowie said, [speaking of the influence on Indonesia] on his holiday estate on the Caribbean island of Mustique in a 1992 issue of Architectural Digest. January saw us feature the [An Thoi Islands] off the south coast of Phu Quoc Island in Vietnam, review Elisabeth Pisani’s beautiful [Indonesia Etc: Exploring the Improbable Nation] and we particularly liked this piece in the Smithsonian on "[A Journey to the Oldest Cave Paintings in the World]". --------------------------------------------------------------- February: Old school Thailand [February: Old school Thailand] [Khanom and Sichon] are two little-visited beach areas in southern Thailand, and the area was our favourite feature for February. The area really feels like a throwback to how Thailand used to be before it became, well, what it is today. Easily our favourite book review of the month was [The Trouser People: A Story of Burma in the Shadow of the Empire], by a friend of ours, Andrew Marshall. The Cultured Traveller [journeyed by Yogyakarta] while this piece on a father-son relationship during a scuba trip to Thailand highlighted [the complexities of family travel] — and the challenged state of some of Thailand's underwater world. --------------------------------------------------------------- March: Re-exploring the explored [March: Re-exploring the explored] This year saw some of the first of our revitalised Bali material rolling on to the site (thanks Sally!) and our feature on trekking from Candi Dasa was a reminder that even in destinations the guidebooks like to palm off as tired and tapped out, all you need do is [try something different for a memorable experience]. We peeled [King Norodom's Head] off the bookshelf for a review and if you're a fan of Phnom Penh, you'll love it. Two travel pieces jumped out this month: [Maddy Crowell on Kampot Pepper] for R&K and these lovely photos from [Bai Tu Long Bay] in Vietnam. --------------------------------------------------------------- April: Places where nobody goes [April: Places where nobody goes] April saw us roll out our [Sumbawa] coverage onto the site — next to nobody goes there, which is all the more reason why you should (we've already returned once for fun). Sumbawa is famous for its surfing and so we'll stick to theme with our review of [Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life] — you'll find it interesting even if you've never swum in the waves in your life. Meanwhile in Cambodia the [ghosts preferred dollars] and over the border in Vietnam, Tom had [five scooter routes on Vietnam Coracle]. --------------------------------------------------------------- May: The pleasure and the pain [May: The pleasure and the pain] We managed to cram five newsletters into May so I'm choosing two features to highlight: [East Sumba] and [climbing Rinjani] — think of them as the yin and yang of pleasure and pain (you can figure out which is which). [The Garden of Evening Mists] by Tan Twan Eng was our favourite book of the month — haunting, beautiful and serious. A lot of great travel writing came out this month, with highlights including the life of the [Mentawai tribe], [Bangkok’s River of Kings], [Seven days to Pasola], a [guide to Thai noodle soups] (burp!) and a well-informed piece on [the human cost of elephant tourism]. --------------------------------------------------------------- June: Off the map travel [June: Off the map travel] Far northern Cambodia sees few foreign eyes so this [northwest Cambodia by motorbike itinerary] by Nicky was a welcome piece. In a month heavy with war-era book reviews, refreshing, shocking, beautiful and thought-provoking [The Sympathizer] by Viet Thanh Nguyen was the stand out choice (actually, it's our book of the year, if we have to pick). A piece on [bahn mi] — that famous sandwich — was our pick of the month. We did also like this coverage of the [rock scene in Bangkok]. June saw [the passing of Michael Herr], author of Dispatches. --------------------------------------------------------------- July: Subversion [July: Subversion] July saw the winding back of [Bangkok's famous flower market], so as a bit of an in memoriam, we highlighted it. Sticking with the subversive theme, [Sarong Party Girls] is light and breezy but at its core is a subversive message about Singaporean society and the place women have in it. Meanwhile Lucky Peach [took a stab at pho], the Atlantic looked at [what happens to childhood memories] and Mitchell Kanashkevich headed to [breathtaking Kawah Ijen in East Java]. --------------------------------------------------------------- August: Offbeat [August: Offbeat] People often think Bangkok is all wats and shopping but when was the last time someone told you [to go to the flute village?] Well, we did this month. We reviewed five great books in August, but [In The Time Of Madness] by Richard Lloyd Perry stood out. On the stomach front, our own Cindy Fan [wrapped her noodle around Lao noodles], Mark Bennetts wrote and photographed [Cambodian jungle bikes] and Harpers told us [why you must shop in Hanoi] ... dahhhling. --------------------------------------------------------------- September: Ruins and gang-bangers [September: Ruins and gang-bangers] September saw a raft of our Burma updates rolled onto the site including [a complete rewrite of Bagan] by Mark Ord (who described our existing food coverage for there as being "pathetic" — ouch). So enjoy the temples, and eat loads. In what felt like a quintessentially Indonesian beginning, our book of the month, [Beauty is a Wound] by Eka Kurniawan opened with a main character rising from the dead after 21 years in the ground... of course. In travel we had [former gang-bangers switching to cubans in Cambodia], the Washington post went [zip-lining in Laos], [Singapore's punk scene] (yes really) got photographed and James Clark [wandered Soi Ngam Dupli]. --------------------------------------------------------------- October: The end of an era [October: The end of an era] October saw the passing of Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, aged 88 — leading to the embarkation of Thailand into new and unknown seas. A raft of obits followed, but we particularly liked [the one by Denis Gray for AP]. After a massive tour of duty for David and Stuart through Thailand's Gulf Islands, [a wrap on Ko Pha Ngan viewpoints] seemed a good pick for a feature — not that they actually had much time to enjoy them... really! And, if you were looking for something to read in said viewpoint bar, you could do worse than have a copy of [Glamour of Strangeness: Artists and the Last Age of the Exotic] by Jamie James in your pack. In travel, James Clark released [an astonishing map of all current and "proposed" railways in Southeast Asia] and it is completely mental. Richard Friend looked at [the changing face of Bangkok]. --------------------------------------------------------------- November: Why do we travel? [November: Why do we travel?] In November we launched [Travelfish Premium] and then, in a soapbox, we asked, "Why do we travel?" Featuring [Sangkhom] seemed like a fair answer, as did reading our favourite book of the month, [Eating Viet Nam: Dispatches from a Blue Plastic Table] by Graham Holliday. Sticking with the food theme, Austin Bush (who should be a LOT fatter than he is) covered [Thai street snacks] for Lucky Peach, US President Barack Obama reflected on [why travel gives him hope] and Jodi Ettenberg deftly [wrapped up Chiang Mai]. --------------------------------------------------------------- December: Slow down [December: Slow down] December is easy as there is just last week's newsletter. Slow down and [take a trip on a river] was our advice. For end of year reading, you can't go wrong with the wonderfully wise and reassuring [Art of Travel] by Alain de Botton. In travel, the New York Times looked at how the modern world tugs at [Indonesian tribes on the Mentawais], The Diplomat covered [Thai "magic tattoos"] and Frontier Myanmar [took a journey down south]. Till next year! [Your hosts, Sam and Stuart] The year is almost done and we'll be downing our virtual tools at the end of this week to take a family holiday to Japan. We'll be back in your mailbox again in early January. This is the 44th newsletter we've sent in 2016. Thanks to everyone who makes the time to read us and pass our emails on to friends and family. A special thanks to those who make the time to email us back with responses, thoughts and corrections. You can read [the full archive of our newsletters here]. If you're after still more holiday reading — or gifts for the traveller in your life — here is our collection [of all 44 book titles] we reviewed in 2016. Also, a big thank you to our team of writers who work super hard to make Travelfish the reliable resource it is. And that's a wrap! See you in 2017. Stuart and Sam [ Travelfish.org 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. Better still, [read this newsletter online.] [Unsubscribe] 9 robinson close, hornsby heights, nsw 2077, AUSTRALIA [Unsubscribe] | [Change Subscriber Options]