A Few Words From Me
Most of this week’s news is about numbers, and I keep wondering what the places behind them make of it. Xuan Thuy, Vietnam’s first Ramsar wetland, gets 20,000 to 25,000 visitors a year and its province would like 80,000, which is a lot of people for a mudflat that exists for the birds, so how the park manages them will be worth watching. In Thailand, Ang Thong is closed until mid-December, which I’d say is a park doing its job rather than failing at it. Wat Phra Mahathat was given World Heritage status in July and has a management plan on paper, and how it will handle visitors to a working monastery is the part still to come. Then there is the Nam Ha study in Laos, which found fewer species of mammal near the trekking trails and left me with an uncomfortable thought: even good tourism leaves a footprint, although the authors are clear that tourism can still help conservation through livelihoods, fees and reporting illegal hunting. Saturday’s article picks that up, so I’ll stop there. On a practical note, the high season is under way in Thailand, so book the Andaman side with some confidence and keep it flexible enough to switch to the Gulf side in case the sea has other ideas. Loy Krathong falls on 24 November, for anyone who hasn’t seen it: Thais float small decorated baskets called krathong, with a candle, incense and flowers, on rivers, canals and lakes on the night of the full moon, to thank the water spirits and let go of the year’s bad luck. If you join in, choose one made of banana trunk or bread rather than foam, because it’s the river that has to deal with whatever is left afterwards.
This Week in Southeast Asia
Xuan Thuy’s Bird Season Is Here, and Vietnam Wants More Visitors
Xuan Thuy National Park sits where the Red River reaches the sea in Ninh Binh province, and between October and April its mudflats fill with migratory birds, among them the black-faced spoonbill, which park officials say turns up here in significant numbers. It is Vietnam’s first Ramsar wetland, it covers more than 7,000 hectares, and it welcomes only 20,000 to 25,000 visitors a year. Ninh Binh would like 80,000 a year by 2030, according to its own ecotourism plan.
Black-faced spoonbills are the species park officials single out.
For visitors the offer is low-key, with boat trips through the waterways (sunset departures among them), birdwatching tours, countryside excursions, and overnight camping if you register with the park management board in advance and bring your own kit. Behind that sits a 464 billion dong plan for 2026 to 2030, covering a service centre, two experience sites and four visitor routes, with officials inviting investors to lease forest land for ecotourism services. Issue 30 covered a similar leasing plan at Phu Quoc, and Issue 25 covered the park’s ASEAN Heritage status, which is the other half of this story.
Tripling or quadrupling the visitors on a mudflat that feeds migrating birds is not a small ambition, and it will only work if guides are trained, boats keep their distance from roosting birds and someone has the authority to cap numbers when the season peaks. If you want the birds without the crowds, this winter is the time to go, while the figures are still small, and it is worth asking your guide before you book how close the boats get.
Wat Phra Mahathat Is Now World Heritage, and You Can Still Visit Like a Local
Wat Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan in Nakhon Si Thammarat became Thailand’s ninth World Heritage Site on 25 July, and the first in the South, so a monastery that locals have visited for centuries is suddenly on the tourist itinerary. It stands on Ratchadamnoen Road in the city centre, and its centrepiece is the Phra Borommathat chedi, a Sri Lankan-style bell rising to about 56 metres with a spire sheathed in gold. Issue 18 told you the monastery was under consideration, and UNESCO has now settled it.
Monks still live in the monastery around the chedi.
It is a working monastery, which is the point of going. Monks follow their routines, locals stop to make merit, and the best-known tradition is the offering of cloth at the chedi, said to bring wishes true, with a cloth-wrapping procession around Magha Puja in February that is the busiest day of the year. There is a temple museum with Buddha images and manuscripts, the grounds are free to enter, and one visitor guide gives opening hours as 08:30 to 16:30, though ceremonies can change what you can reach, so confirm on the day.
Go early, before 09:00 if you can, for the light on the gold and fewer tour groups, cover your shoulders and knees, and ask before photographing monks or flying a drone, which needs separate approval. Nakhon Si Thammarat has its own airport, and the city museum and the Wat Chaina meditation centre are close enough to fit into the same morning.
What UNESCO has asked of Thailand is mostly behind the scenes. It wants the protected buffer zone around the monastery completed, the conservation guidelines from 1990 updated and the structure of some of the older halls studied, with a progress report due by 1 December 2029, all set out in the World Heritage Committee’s decision. It made no request on visitor numbers, and the government’s announcement describes no caps, fees or access rules, so for now the monks and local guides set the tone, which is worth remembering when you visit.
Ang Thong Is Shut, Similan Is Open, and Plastic Is Banned
If you were planning a day trip to Ang Thong from Koh Samui or Koh Phangan, it will have to wait. The park is closed from 1 November to 15 December, and a tour operator’s guide says it reopens on 16 December if sea conditions allow, with no tours, private boats, kayaking or overnight stays in the meantime, while Samui and Phangan stay open. Operators are selling Koh Nang Yuan and Koh Tao day trips, and a Pig Island and Koh Tan speedboat tour, as substitutes. I couldn’t find any official notice for this year’s dates, so check with your boat operator before you pay a deposit.
On the Andaman side, Similan reopened on 15 October for a season that runs to 15 May 2027, and Pattaya Mail counted 1,409 visitors on the first day, 50 of them divers. Officials say they are watching numbers against the islands’ carrying capacity, marine patrols continue, boat passengers must wear life jackets and visitors are encouraged to use coral-friendly sunscreen and cut back on single-use plastic. Tickets are electronic and sold in advance, and you need your passport. Our Similan and Surin season guide has more.
Whichever park you choose, the plastic rules apply. Single-use plastic and foam containers have been banned in Thailand’s national parks since April 2022, with fines of up to 100,000 baht, so bring a refillable bottle and a cloth bag. For context, the Tourism Authority of Thailand reports arrivals to September down 3.8% on last year.
Laos Study Finds Fewer Animals Near Trekking Trails, Even Well-Run Ones
A study of Nam Ha National Protected Area in northern Laos found 4.58 mammal species at camera sites near trekking and kayaking routes and 8.39 at sites more than a kilometre away. The authors, led by William Bleisch, published it in Global Ecology and Conservation, and the title says it plainly: wildlife-friendly tourism is associated with lower wildlife availability.
Nam Ha covers 222,400 hectares of forest in northern Laos.
Nam Ha has hosted community-based ecotourism since 1999, which makes it a test of the best case, not the worst. Sambar deer, wild boar and crab-eating mongoose were the clearest avoiders. The authors found no sign that tourist routes acted as a refuge, and say the animals kept away whether or not hunters were around. They also note the limits: there was no experiment, and local people used the trails long before tourists did.
Hunting is the open question. Hunters were recorded at only 11 camera stations, two of them within a kilometre of tourism, and the authors say they may have avoided tourist areas or followed the animals elsewhere. Mongabay’s report on the study quotes Bleisch suggesting animals struggle to tell tourists from hunters, and the outside reviewer Paul Ouboter saying ecotourism is still a good thing.
The authors’ own advice is practical. Plan routes to avoid key habitat for threatened species, monitor and limit the number of trekking groups, and train guides and tourists not to frighten wildlife. They add that tourism can still help conservation through livelihoods, reporting illegal hunting, park fees and support for enforcement. Mongabay adds that an emerging union of tour companies is already pressing the government for better protection.
The timing matters. On 3 November, Laos’s tourism ministry and the World Bank met in Vientiane to feed a 2026 to 2030 tourism plan, Xinhua reported, with 3.28 million international visitors from January to August, up 7%. No projects or funding were reported. Nobody has said yet what the plan will do for places like Nam Ha. Our pieces on zero-dollar tourism in Laos and the park Laos barely shows anyone cover the same tension.
Before you book a trek, ask the operator how many groups use the route, whether its guides are trained to keep visitors from disturbing wildlife and how its fees support enforcement. Expect fewer animals near popular trails. Our guide to judging an ecotour operator in Southeast Asia, using Nam Ha as the case, will be published on Saturday, so keep an eye out for that.
What’s On
This Week
UDON THANI INTERNATIONAL HORTICULTURAL EXPO 2026 – Udon Thani, Thailand | 1 November 2026 to 14 March 2027
A wetland site in Thailand’s northeast hosts gardens from about 20 countries and organisations, with a theme built around water, plants and people, and the official Thai government listing has the details.
BANGKOK ART BIENNALE 2026 – Bangkok, Thailand | 29 October 2026 to 28 February 2027
More than 200 artworks by 72 artists sit in 11 venues, including Wat Arun and Wat Pho, and the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s briefing lists the venues.
DEEPAVALI PUBLIC HOLIDAY – Singapore | Sunday 8 November, observed Monday 9 November
The Ministry of Manpower dates, as one holiday guide lists them, make a three-day weekend, so book transport and tables early.
Coming Up
VIJIT CHAO PHRAYA 2026 – Bangkok, Thailand | 13 November to 13 December
Thirteen riverside sites between Rama III Bridge and Rama VIII Bridge host light shows, drones and fireworks for 31 nights, with the site list and programme published.
LOY KRATHONG AND YI PENG – Thailand | Loy Krathong 24 November, Yi Peng in Chiang Mai 23 to 25 November
Sky lanterns may go up only on 24 and 25 November between 19:00 and 01:00, and not at all in Mueang Chiang Mai district, so read the lantern rules and confirm them with your organiser.
THAT LUANG FESTIVAL – Vientiane, Laos | 24 November
The festival falls on the full moon of the twelfth lunar month and is a national holiday, as the Laos holiday calendar confirms.
Worth Reading
Nam Ha sits in Luang Namtha province, and this guide covers the province and its ethnic minority communities:
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