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 Few Words From Me There are a few signs that the wet season is ending. In Bangkok, shops and bars are putting up Halloween decorations, which in my experience is when the capital’s streets start to fill again. The Similan Islands reopen today, which is the surest marker of all. Two other dates are
A Few Words From Me There was no issue last week, and I owe you a short explanation: I spent most of it getting back to Bangkok, a journey that always takes longer than the flight suggests. I arrived to serious flooding, and water is still standing in up country Bangkok and the provinces around
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.
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
A Few Words From Me Anak Krakatau has form for making headlines it would rather not, though I’ll say this for it, this time it let the world’s rarest rhino off comparatively lightly. Ujung Kulon has now sat out two Krakatau eruptions unscathed, which either says something reassuring about that stretch of coast or something
A Few Words From Me… Malaysia and Vietnam did something rather good for the region this week, six new names added to the ASEAN Heritage Park list between them, Bako and Lambir Hills among them. That sounds like the sort of thing that only matters to committee minutes until you realise Bako is a place
A new EU law bans vague sustainability claims from 27 September, applies to Southeast Asian hotels marketing to Europeans, and already has a real court case behind it. From 27 September, hotels marketing to European travellers can be fined for making sustainability claims they can’t back up. It’s a new EU law, the Empowering Consumers
A Few Words From Me… Money keeps surfacing as the theme this week, or rather the question of where it actually ends up once it’s left your hand. Marriott Bonvoy’s new partnership with the orangutan foundation in Perak is about as clean an example as you’ll find: scan a QR code at check-in in Malaysia
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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