A camera-trap study in one of Laos’s best-known ecotourism areas found fewer mammals beside the trekking routes. Here is what the evidence does and does not show, and what to look for in a trek operator. Nam Ha National Protected Area in northern Laos has run community-led treks and kayaking trips since the nineties, and
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
The 2026 quota ran out in August, you must now enter on the date printed on your e-ticket, and walking in without one costs five times the normal fee. Planning to see the dragons before the year ends? Then the first thing you need is not a boat. It is a ticket for a named
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
Thailand’s first national park has just hosted the launch of a hiking school programme built around leaving nothing behind. Here is what it means for your visit: which trails you can walk alone, how to behave around wild elephants, and when to go. Khao Yai will not let you walk four of its seven nature
The Lao capital is planning new routes, night-time shows and a city pass to turn a one-night stopover into a proper stay. Some of it you can use now. Some of it is still on paper. Updated 25 September 2026. This article was first published in December 2024, the week the Vientiane Heritage Route launched.
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
Angkor’s visitor numbers have fallen by a third, for reasons that have nothing to do with the temple itself. Turning up still matters. I have stood in front of Angkor Wat at sunrise exactly once, shoulder to shoulder with several hundred other people, all of us holding phones over each other’s heads trying to catch
Thailand tested its sustainable tourism model in Krabi. Now the same blueprint is heading north, and it changes how you should plan a Chiang Mai trip. Five years ago, Krabi became the testing ground for an idea Thailand’s tourism authority wasn’t sure would work: that a destination could be rebuilt around certified low-impact routes, trained
Penang Is on National Geographic’s 2027 List. Here Is What It Costs and What Is Changing.
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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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