The waters off Koh Kong province, gateway to Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains and the Gulf of Thailand coast. Few travellers make it this far – which is precisely the point. Photo: Visit to Cambodia
Around the Region
Regular visitors to this region will understand that Southeast Asia’s natural environment is under more pressure than ever, yet the people working to protect it are making measurable progress. We attempt to champion the good, while recognising the bad. This week Thailand has announced a sustainable development plan for one of its National Park islands. Detail matters and this is more encouraging than most government announcements we see. We take a closer look at the Rainforest World Music Festival in Borneo and what this means for the region. Indonesia and Thailand’s coastlines just got hundreds of new marine protected areas. And in Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains, a model of tourism exists that actually funds conservation. Meanwhile foodies will be interested to learn that Vietnam’s restaurants are winning Green Stars, what that means, and where to eat if sustainability is a genuine travel priority.
The Rainforest Is Calling. If You’ve Not Visited, Borneo Has the Planet’s Most Compelling Reason to Go
Sixteen days from now, the Rainforest World Music Festival opens its 29th edition at the Sarawak Cultural Village, at the foot of Mount Santubong in Kuching. If you’ve been sitting on this one, it’s time to stop sitting. The festival brings more than 200 performers from 12 countries to one of the world’s most extraordinary natural settings – and it does something most festivals only claim to do: it takes its environmental obligations seriously.
Three days of world music in one of Borneo’s most protected rainforest settings. The festival reaches its 10,000-tree planting milestone a year ahead of schedule.
Since 2023, the RWMF’s EcoGreen Planet tree-planting programme has put more than 6,000 trees into Sarawak’s conservation areas, including Samunsam Wildlife Sanctuary and Bukit Lima Nature Reserve. The 2026 edition is on track to reach 10,000 trees planted ahead of the festival’s original 2027 target – a milestone arriving a full year early. On the ground, the Green Warriors volunteer team manages waste segregation across the site; water refill stations replace single-use bottles; and the Green Ruai space brings environmental education into the festival experience itself. New for 2026 is a BIMP-EAGA gastronomy showcase, presenting the culinary traditions of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines through a shared Borneo lens – food from the sub-region for the sub-region’s guests. The festival runs three days and three evenings, with more than 50 daytime workshops where musicians share their instruments and traditions directly with audiences. Pre-sale tickets are available now at £52 / US$70 for a single day and £140 / US$188 for all three* (RM283 / RM765), with Buy Now Pay Later options through Atome, GrabPayLater, and ShopeePaylater. Book accommodation in Kuching early; it fills months in advance.
*exchange rates correct as of 10 June 2026.
Vietnam’s Tables Are Set With a New Michelin Green Star
Vietnam’s culinary world reached a milestone last week that no one who has eaten their way through Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City will find surprising, but which Michelin has only just caught up with: for the first time in the guide’s four-year history in the country, Vietnam has ten or more Michelin-starred restaurants. The 2026 selection, revealed on 4 June at a ceremony in Hanoi, lists 11 One Star establishments – two of them new additions. One is ONVIT in Hanoi, the first Korean restaurant in Vietnam to earn a star, built around a Korean-Vietnamese tasting menu where fresh local ingredients meet the traditions of Chef Joon Huk Chi. The other is Upstairs in Ho Chi Minh City, a four-table room above a wine bar where Chef Hiep Truong’s modern Vietnamese menu is rooted in Central traditions. More significant for Asia Unmasked readers is a new Michelin Green Star – awarded to a Ho Chi Minh City restaurant for an inspiring commitment to zero-waste philosophy and plant-based gastronomy. The Green Star specifically recognises sustainable practice at the table. Vietnam now has three restaurants holding it. The full selection covers 193 establishments across Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Da Nang, including 72 Bib Gourmand – the most reliable guide to where to eat well and eat thoughtfully on your next Vietnam trip.
Thailand Is About to Reinvent One of Its Most Loved Islands – and the Plan Is Built Around Nature
Koh Chang has long been Thailand’s overlooked great island – quieter than Koh Samui, less trampled than the Phi Phi group, with a national marine park wrapped around it and forests that still reach the shore in places. This week it got a plan to keep it that way. Thailand’s Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration – Dasta, the government body responsible for the country’s most ecologically sensitive tourism zones – advanced a strategic development plan for the Koh Chang archipelago at a public consultation in Trat on Tuesday. The plan outlines 72 projects with a combined budget of 4.16 billion baht and sets out a draft vision that is worth quoting directly: “a model natural archipelago for ecosystem regeneration in the eastern Gulf of Thailand, serving as an international nature tourism destination that attracts high-quality visitors, creates economic value, and sustainably distributes income to local communities.” That is not the language of a beach resort expansion. The plan is built on the concept of regenerative tourism – not simply managing the impact of visitors but actively restoring natural resources and local communities in the process – and targets high-value visitors over volume throughout. For anyone who has been considering Koh Chang and wondering whether to go before development changes it – the development that’s coming is, by design, meant to protect rather than exploit what’s already there. The consultation process is ongoing and the plan is still being refined, but the direction is set, and it is the right one.
A Landmark for the Ocean and for the Seas You Can Still Swim In
As of World Oceans Day on 8 June, marine protected areas cover 10% of the planet’s oceans – for the first time ever. It is, by any measure, a meaningful conservation milestone: one-third of the way to the 30% protection target set for 2030. The latest additions include 284 new marine or coastal protected areas across Indonesia and Thailand – two of the countries that most of our readers are planning to snorkel, sail, or scuba in this year. These aren’t abstract designations. Protected waters mean managed access, regulated fishing, and monitored reef systems. For snorkel and scuba divers, they’re the best guarantee that the underwater world you’re travelling to see will still be worth seeing. Indonesia has been working toward a target of protecting 10% of its own territorial waters by 2030, and this global milestone represents real progress on that domestic commitment. The news matters most not as a statistic, but as a reason to look specifically at marine-protected operators when you book. Verified sources – Green Fins certification, PADI conservation partners, and similar standards – are your filter.
Indonesia’s Most Spectacular Birds Are Being Sold on Facebook
A study published this week in the journal Wild documents what conservationists have been watching with alarm for years: Indonesia’s hornbills – all 13 native species, including three found nowhere else on Earth – are being traded illegally, predominantly online, and at a scale that is probably growing. Researchers analysed seizure records and online advertisements from 2015 to 2025 and found nearly 500 hornbills confiscated across 126 incidents; a further 560 were advertised for sale online, most of them alive, most of the sellers operating through Facebook. The critically endangered helmeted hornbill – hunted for its ivory-like casque, increasingly fashionable as home decor – topped the list.
The wreathed hornbill is among the most traded of Indonesia’s 13 native species – most sold alive through Facebook. Photo: Mongabay
The wildlife trade involved at least seven countries, with China the most prominent destination. For travellers, the implications are practical and specific: avoid wildlife markets in East Java, Jakarta, and Riau, which the study identifies as the primary trafficking hubs. Do not buy hornbill feathers, casques, or taxidermy mounts as trophies, regardless of where they are sold. If you’re planning time in Indonesian rainforest areas, book with operators who hold verified certification – GSTC-accredited companies have been independently audited on animal welfare and supply chain standards. These birds play an irreplaceable role in spreading seeds and helping forests regenerate and can not be replaced.
Cambodia’s Green Credentials Are Real – and Right Now, the Timing Is Good
Cambodia’s headline tourism story in 2026 has been a collapse in arrivals – down nearly 46% in the first four months of the year, a consequence of the border conflict with Thailand, the country’s scam-centre reputation, and a loss of confidence in two of its historically largest source markets. None of that is context to gloss over. What it does create, incidentally, is the quietest temples Angkor has seen in years and, in the parts of Cambodia that have always deserved more attention than they get, genuine space to travel without a crowd. The Cardamom Mountains in the country’s southwest represent something genuinely rare: a functioning model of community-based eco-tourism where the tourism itself is the conservation mechanism. The Chi Phat community project, managed in partnership with Wildlife Alliance, has produced a 100% reduction in forest burning and an 80% reduction in hunting in its area since it launched. Visitors who book through Chi Phat fund the anti-poaching rangers who make that possible. At the luxury end, Cardamom Tented Camp – a twelve-tent property within Botum Sakor National Park operated by YAANA Ventures, Minor Group, and Wildlife Alliance – published its 2025 Impact Report in May, showing measurable progress across 18,073 hectares of protected concession. Both are bookable. Both are the kind of operations that earn the term sustainable. Cambodia’s difficulties are real. They are also, for the traveller who knows where to go, an argument for going rather than waiting.
What’s On
Coming Up
PHI TA KHON GHOST FESTIVAL – Dan Sai, Loei Province, Thailand | 20-22 June 2026
One of Thailand’s most visually arresting festivals: residents of Dan Sai dress in handmade ghost masks and brilliantly coloured costumes for three days of processions, music, and Buddhist merit-making rooted in centuries of local tradition. The date is set annually by the town’s spirit medium – in 2026, confirmed as 20-22 June. Dan Sai sits approximately 520km northeast of Bangkok; fly to Loei, then take a car. Book accommodation early – the town is small and fills fast.
BALI ARTS FESTIVAL (PESTA KESENIAN BALI) – Taman Werdhi Budaya Art Centre, Denpasar, Bali | 13 June – 11 July 2026
The 48th edition of Indonesia’s longest-running arts festival runs for a full month, presenting daily performances of Balinese dance, gamelan, wayang kulit, and visual art from all of the island’s regencies. Most events are free and open to all visitors. This is not a tourist production; it is what Bali’s artistic culture looks like when it performs for itself. Check the schedule at @pestakesenianbali.official on Instagram before you go.
Worth Reading
This week’s stories sit inside a broader question that Asia Unmasked has been working through for some time: how do you tell a genuinely sustainable tourism experience from one that just uses the language? For a thorough answer to that question, applied to Vietnam specifically, this piece holds up well.
Vietnam’s Conscious Luxury Tourism: Genuine Achievement or Fragile Moment?
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