Travelfish #433: The hunk edition

Hunks of ice and hunks on the street                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 [Travelfish #433: The hunk edition]( Hunks of ice and hunks on the street [Stuart McDonald]( Feb 28 [Comment]( [Share]( Hi all, Yes, the world has gone mad, and here are a bunch of interesting things I’ve read this week that have nothing to do with the latest bout of insanity to hit the planet. Up top is the latest IPCC Report on the state of the planet, need I point out the news is not good. I’ve not read the whole thing—it comes in at a mere 3,675 pages, so please feel free to email me a summary if you do. Also of interest are a couple of reports from the street in Burma and how each tourist to Antarctica gets to melt their own 83-tonne hunk of ice. Talking about hunks, we have a cadre of shirtless fried rice vendors in Phnom Penh, a terrific podcast about Bali’s Nyepi, a search for swings in Singapore, more monkey business in Lopburi and an interesting piece on B-52s in Hanoi. And plenty more of course. The photos this week are from Si Phan Don in southern Laos—for no other reason than because I miss Laos. Cheers Stuart Slow afternoon Somewhere between Don Dhet and Don Khon, Laos. Photo: Stuart McDonald --------------------------------------------------------------- Vaccinations snapshot The following chart is per capita—not total numbers. The dark green bar is the one that matters—it represents the percentage of the eligible population that are fully vaccinated. You can see [a full-size and interactive version of the chart here](. Source: [Our World in Data]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Travel summary So where is open and where is closed? This chart by [Hannah Pearson]( at Pear Anderson summarises the state of play in the region as of Sunday, February 27, 2022. If you’re after a detailed weekly report on the region, Hannah’s report [is the absolute business](. To receive Hannah’s report in your email mailbox every Sunday [you can sign up here (it is free!)](. This is my go-to report for where things are at in the region. If you have any queries or suggestions about how the chart could be improved, please drop her a line via the Pear Anderson website here. Source: [The Impact of Covid-19 on the Southeast Asian Tourism Industry (PDF)]( --------------------------------------------------------------- ⭐️ Site of the week [What Is at Stake? In Short, Everything]( from The Guardian ( [full IPCC report here]( ) --------------------------------------------------------------- 🇲🇲 Burma - [Why the West’s State-building Practices in Myanmar Are Part of the Problem]( from Frontier Myanmar - [Chronicle of a Coup: May 13, 14, 15 & 16]( from Tea Circle - [Myanmar’s Drone Wars]( from The Diplomat - [Myanmar: ‘Our Opportunity Has Now Come’]( from Reporting ASEAN 🇰🇭 Cambodia - [Vandalism of Ancient Temples Prompts Ministry’s Legal Action]( from The Phnom Penh Post - [Shirtless Fried Rice Sellers Stir Fry Controversy in Phnom Penh]( from SEA Globe - [Siem Reap Foodie Forays Give Tourists Taste of Cambodia]( from The Phnom Penh Post - [Away From Angkor Temples, Historical Sites in Cambodia Are Being Neglected in Its ‘scramble for Development’, With Tourism Potentially a Loser]( from SCMP ($) 🌴 Environment - [Each Antarctic Tourist Effectively Melts 83 Tonnes of Snow]( from The Conversation - [How a Dramatic Win in Plastic Waste Case May Curb Ocean Pollution]( from National Geographic - [Of Parachutes and Helicopters: Reconstructing the Decolonisation Agenda in Environmental Research]( from Fulcrum - [Almost 15,000 ‘Ghost Flights’ Have Left UK Since Pandemic Began]( from The Guardian 🇮🇩 Indonesia - [New Indonesian Capital Excludes Indigenous, Poor]( from Thomson Reuters - [Is Time for Jakarta to Address Its Own Dark Past of Racial Violence, Genocide?]( from SCMP ($) - [Whose History, Whose Future? Creating a New Legacy of Shared Maritime Heritage]( from New Mandala - [Illegal Mining Fuels Social Conflict in Indonesian Tin Hub of Bangka-Belitung]( from MongaBay - [Pandemic Keeps Jakarta Walking Tour Operators on Their Toes]( from Nikkei Asia ($) - [Bali Berani Berhenti]( from A Soundtrack of Resistance (podcast) 🇱🇦 Laos - [Vang Vieng Experiences Unseasonal Flooding]( from The Laotian Times 🇲🇾 Malaysia - [For Malaysian Tourism, Decision on Borders an Anxious Wait]( from Al Jazeera - [1MDB Cases in US, Votes in Johor]( from Dari Mulut Ke Mulut ($) 🇸🇬 Singapore - [Where Have All the Playground Swings Gone?]( from Rice Media - [Singapore’s Migration Laws Trap Women With Abusers]( from New Naratif - [Singapore: Lion]( from SEA Globe 🇹🇭 Thailand - [Selling Drugs Put Him Behind Bars, Making Art Set Him Free]( from Coconuts Bangkok - [An Uncomfortable Truce in Lop Buri Thailand]( from Rice Media - [Activist Arrested While Conducting Poll on Royal Defamation Law]( from Prachathai - [Thailand at 'Crossroads' as Covid-19 Surges Amid Tourism, Economy Rebound]( from VOA 🇻🇳 Vietnam - [An Unexpected Charm at the B-52 Victory Museum]( from Urbanist Hanoi - [19 Coffee Shops in Đà Lạt With a View]( from Vietnam Coracle - [Vĩnh Long's Rich Architectural Heritage Tells Stories of Taste, Time, and Turbulence]( from Saigoneer - [13 Dead After Tour Boat Capsizes in Vietnam]( from Reuters Random other stuff - [Disappearing Language: a Reading List on Losing Your Native Tongue]( from Longreads - [Six Days Afloat in the Everglades]( from The New York Times ($) - [The Futurist]( from Tales of the Orient Couchfish (Free-to-read, from the week before last) - [Baby Steps]( - [Couchfish: Don’t Leave the Lights on]( - [Couchfish: Tourism’s Bloody Shin]( Couchfish (Paid subscribers only) - [Couchfish Day 286: The Searing Memory]( - [Couchfish Day 287: Stretching Out Singapore]( - [Couchfish Day 288: Random Bowls]( Slow evening Don Dhet sunset, Laos. Photo: Stuart McDonald --------------------------------------------------------------- See you next week! So that’s the wrap. I hope you are all in good health and weathering Covid19 as well as possible. See you next week, Stuart [Like]( [[Comment]Comment]( [[Share]Share]( If you liked this post from [Travelfish weekly newsletter](, why not share it? [Share]( © 2022 Stuart McDonald [Unsubscribe]( Bali, Indonesia [Publish on Substack](