Tag: Vietnam

Travel Tips

Southeast Asia Does Not Have One Wet Season. It Has Eleven Timetables, and Most Visitors Read the Wrong One

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

October 10, 2026

a couple wade through flood waters on a Bangkok street during monsoon

Newsletter

Unmasked Weekly – Issue No. 28 | 8 October 2026

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

October 8, 2026

A tall golden stupa rising above a ring of smaller golden spires and a cloister wall, against a golden morning sunrise

Newsletter

Unmasked Weekly – Issue No. 27 | 24 September 2026

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

September 23, 2026

A shallow, clear river running over pale stones through dense tropical rainforest, with overhanging branches forming a canopy above the water.

Newsletter

Unmasked Weekly – Issue No. 26 | 17 September 2026

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

September 17, 2026

Wading birds foraging in the mudflats of Xuan Thuy National Park, Nam Định

Conservation

Malaysia and Vietnam Just Added Six Parks to an Exclusive List. The Badge Is the Easy Part.

Six new ASEAN Heritage Parks were declared this week. What happens to them next depends on money nobody has fully worked out how to raise. There is a particular kind of conservation news that reads as an unambiguous win right up until you ask the second question. The first question, the one that made headlines

September 12, 2026

Telok Pandan Kecil bay framed by sandstone headlands, Bako National Park, Sarawak

Newsletter

Unmasked Weekly – Issue No. 25 | 10 September 2026

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

September 10, 2026

dragon bridge in Vietnam's Da Nang illuminated in green lighting in the background a firework explodes colour across the night sky

Eco-tourism

Da Nang Just Wrote a 219-Point Rulebook for What “Green” Actually Means. Here’s What’s in It.

A new certification scheme wants to separate genuine sustainability from the towel-reuse card on your pillow. I went looking for the detail behind the headline. [COVER IMAGE GOES HERE – set as WordPress Featured Image only, not embedded in body. Description: Dragon Bridge in Da Nang lit up at night during a fireworks display, editor-owned

August 29, 2026

coracles on a sandy beach in Da Nang, Vietnam with early morning mist hanging over the sea

Newsletter

Unmasked Weekly – Issue No. 23 | 27 August 2026

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

August 27, 2026

Traditional tuk-tuks parked Bangkok old city street Thailand

Opinion

Southeast Asia Is Finally Getting Serious About Its Air, but It’s the Tuk-Tuk Drivers Who Are Expected to Pay for It.

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

August 8, 2026

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

August 6, 2026