The park reopened on 15 October after five months shut. The ticket, the sunscreen law and the choice of island all matter more than the choice of boat. More than 400,000 people visited the Similan Islands last season, and over 90% of them came from abroad. Tourism there brought in more than 215 million baht
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 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 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
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
A Few Words From Me The biggest story coming out of the region this week is the weather itself. Green season brings a wash of colour to the region yet it can also prove to be a wash out, with lives disrupted through incessant rain that brings flooding to low-lying areas. Laos is dealing with
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
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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