A Few Words From Me Most decisions that change how we travel this region are made somewhere we will never see, by people we will never meet, and announced once everything is already settled. This week four countries showed their hands at once, and the common thread is who gets to set the terms. Laos
A country-by-country guide to travelling the region from October to December, from the flooded central coast of Vietnam to Timor-Leste’s whale season Bangkok is wet again. This week the city’s drainage department reported standing water on five main road sections, and the Thai Meteorological Department expects isolated heavy to very heavy rain across the central
A Few Words From Me Some good news from the Mekong to start with, and it’s been a while since I could write that sentence with a straight face. In Kratie, up in Cambodia’s northeast, the Irrawaddy dolphin count is heading the right way, and after writing in August about the Laos side of the
Nakai-Nam Theun is being assessed for international recognition. Its most famous resident hasn’t been confirmed alive since 2013. No scientist has ever seen a saola in the wild. Not once, not briefly, not through binoculars from a safe distance. Everything known about the animal comes from a handful of camera-trap images, a few individuals that
A Few Words From Me As the region embraces green season, news on the ground is typically thin, and that’s the case this week as some countries in the region move from headline announcements to the quieter work of planning ahead. That’s especially true in Laos, where authorities are making good use of their time,
A Few Words From Me Lampang doesn’t get that much attention – even from people like myself who’ve spent years in Thailand. This week its lac-dyed textiles earned official protected status, the same kind Champagne has, which feels overdue in the best way, a craft that could easily have been left to fade (no pun
There are 8,582 registered tuk-tuks in Bangkok. As of the end of May this year, 1,056 of them, nationwide, were electric. Hold those two numbers next to each other for a second, because they explain almost everything about what’s actually happening across Southeast Asia right now, and why I think the region’s sudden enthusiasm for
A Few Words From Me Three governments seem to have landed on the same idea this week: that how people move through a place matters as much as where they go. Thailand has started training its first proper hiking guides, launched at Khao Yai, one of the national parks that together see more than ten
Around the Region There is a particular kind of trip I keep thinking about this week: the one you take somewhere precisely because it is quiet, not despite it. Siem Reap is having a hard year for reasons that have nothing to do with Angkor Wat itself, and everything to do with jet fuel prices
Around the Region Monsoon rain has put five eastern Thai provinces on flood watch this week, with harvests at real risk, while much of Western Europe swelters through drought conditions. Against that backdrop, this issue leans on recovery and renewal. Southeast Asia’s mangroves have quietly flipped from decline to regrowth, driven mainly by Indonesia and
The Similan Islands Took 400,000 Visitors Last Season. Before You Book This One, Read the Rules.
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Malaysia and Vietnam Just Added Six Parks to an Exclusive List. The Badge Is the Easy Part.
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Da Nang Just Wrote a 219-Point Rulebook for What “Green” Actually Means. Here’s What’s in It.
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