Tag: Newsletter

The entrance to Kong Lor Cave (Tham Kong Lo) taken from within the cave showing daylight from within darkened stonework
Newsletter

Unmasked Weekly – Issue No. 22 | 20 August 2026

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,

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Newsletter

Unmasked Weekly – Issue No. 21 | 13 August 2026

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

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Traditional tuk-tuk Bangkok old city street Thailand
Newsletter

Unmasked Weekly – Issue No. 20 | 6 August 2026

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

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image shows an orange robed monk walking alongside a man in a straw-brimmed on the long road towards Angkor Wat
Newsletter

Unmasked Weekly – Issue No. 19 | 30 July 2026

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

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Farm and river landscape in Vietnam's Mekong Delta region.
Newsletter

Unmasked Weekly – Issue No. 17 | 16 July 2026

Around the Region There’s a particular kind of travel news that never quite makes it past the trade press, and this week’s edition is a good example of that. UNESCO quietly added three new biosphere reserves to the map last month, one of them is a first for a country most readers have never had

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Kuala Lumpur skyline at sunset with Petronas Towers and modern developments reflecting Malaysia's appeal for long-term luxury residency
Newsletter

Unmasked Weekly – Issue No. 16 | 9 July 2026

Around the Region I’m not going to lie, the durian museum that just opened in Kuala Lumpur isn’t tempting me onto a flight this week. I don’t find the notoriously pongy fruit as intrusive as some, but I did once convince myself that there was a gas leak in the apartment (which isn’t connected to

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A derelict French colonial villa near Kep, Cambodia, the kind of ruin Knai Bang Chatt's own buildings once were. Image by Adam Jones
Newsletter

Unmasked Weekly – Issue No. 15 | 2 July 2026

Around the Region Hello from Europe, where I’m currently trading Bangkok’s humidity and incessant rain for a rather more restrained kind of summer, though I won’t pretend I don’t miss the smell of a night market and being able to grab a bite to eat from a street stall at 9pm. Westerners do have stricter

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the view over Luang Prabang from Mount Phousi
Newsletter

Unmasked Weekly – Issue No. 14 | 26 June 2026

Around the Region We’re well into the wet season here in Bangkok and the city has settled into its slow, sweaty rhythm. The roads are always busy but the streets are much quieter, the afternoon rain is reliable, and anyone who knows Southeast Asia knows this is actually a good time to be paying attention

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Aerial view of Bohol's coastline in the Philippines showing turquoise water with boats moored along a white sand beach, framed by lush green hillsides
Newsletter

Unmasked Weekly – Issue No. 13 | 18 June 2026

Around the Region Low season is upon us, and the region is feeling a reduction in visitor numbers at community level. Each nation has its own way of attempting to plug the gap – and in Thailand’s case, that means taxing your arrival and your departure. If you’re flying out of Thailand this weekend, your

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Aerial view of a white sand beach and turquoise water at Koh Kong, Cambodia, with traditional wooden fishing boats and palm trees
Newsletter

Unmasked Weekly – Issue No. 12 | 12 June 2026

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

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