Travelfish #312: Nusa Penida + Kids on board + A Cook's Tour

Everywhere is on the way to somewhere Hi all, New on the site we have [Phrao]( in northern Thailand—think of it as a laidback alternative to the backpacker hub of Pai. South of the equator, we have a complete rewrite and expansion of our coverage of [Nusa Penida]( in Indonesia. Go there today, not tomorrow, as it's changing super quickly. This past week brought the sad news of the tragic death of Anthony Bourdain—a great loss for many, including anyone who holds food or travel (though perhaps not durian) close to their heart. We’ve reviewed his A Cook's Tour, which touches a little on Southeast Asia, in his honour. RIP. For our soapbox Stuart asks why people get so wound up about kids flying. We have no idea what the big deal is. Do you? Meanwhile on the forum, we recently added a callout for some feedback about the site. We’re slowly working through each of our page templates, looking to see how we can make them more useful for you, dear reader. At the moment we're redoing the transport page—if you’ve got any ideas or pet hates about what we do here, please let us know, either by posting a reply on the forum or just dropping us an email. Thank you to those who have already made the time to leave some thoughts—much appreciated. Good travels Stuart, Sam and the Travelfish crew Support Travelfish! If you'd like to chip in (if you haven’t already) for using the site, we'd love you to sign up for a year-long subscription for just A$35. [See more here](. Soapbox Kids on board Our kids (aged 9 and 11) are soon flying down to Sydney unescorted by us to spend some of the school holidays with their grandparents. When we booked, Garuda staff couldn’t have been more helpful, explaining how the kids are escorted through the entire check-in, boarding and alighting process. While ours are experienced flyers, I think, for the first time around, having the service for that first unaccompanied flight really counts (Garuda provide it for a reasonable 300,000 rupiah per child). It gives us, as parents, that extra peace of mind. In the back of my mind while booking were the various “complaining about kids on flights” stories often featuring vox pop from passengers with all manner of “solutions” from designated kid areas on the aircraft through to banning kids entirely. I am yet to see anyone seriously suggest the refashioning the overhead lockers, but I’m sure that is on the way. I just don’t get what the drama is. The child is a person and is just as entitled to a seat on the flight as any other paying passenger. Yes, I'm a parent, and I’ll never forget the AirAsia flight from Jakarta to KL where our daughter (then about one and a half years old) was inconsolable, screamed her head off for much of the flight, and, upon landing, let fly an explosive poo that no nappy could ever contain. I will never forget that—and I’m sure many of our fellow passengers won’t either. We didn’t though catch any grief though, I think because the other passengers understood that we were hardly making our daughter behave like this and were trying everything we could—trying to explain equalising to an 18-month-old can be a challenge! But our kids are now 9 and 11 and fly regularly within the region, and that is the only “event” I can recall—perhaps the others I’ve just removed from my memory. On the other hand, my flights are routinely loaded with adults who are drunk, suffering from eye-watering BO, generally obnoxious (the woman who threw her phone across the cabin then screamed about it springs to mind), but I don’t see the opinion pages filling up with calls to stick these passengers in cargo. Yes, I know, there can always be that one awful child (or more often perhaps, awful parents who don’t make the effort), but really ... pick your battles. If you’re going to write a letter to the newspaper about a poor flight experience, pick something that actually really matters—start with the obnoxious drunk phone chucker, but don’t forget the seats that are packed too closely to allow passengers to assume the crash position in (pretty much every LCC on the planet), airlines that refuse to fill emergency exit seats unless a passenger pays a surcharge (hello AirAsia), or inconsistent application of carry-on rules. The list goes on. And if you’re on a flight with a parent struggling with a child, if all else fails, perhaps offer to help rather than penning a letter of complaint. Good travels, Stuart Premium members only: Book a round the world with [roundtheworldflights.com]( (must travel from the UK via Asia, Australia, New Zealand AND the Americas) and get £30pp off your trip. Offer valid for departures to December 2018. Log in to the Member Centre on Travelfish now for your coupon code and [start designing your own round the world trip »]( What we’re reading A Cook's Tour by Anthony Bourdain If you’re looking for a page-turning description of what it used to be like to travel and eat in Vietnam or Cambodia as a hungry and curious white American dude back in the day, then Anthony Bourdain’s 2001-published A Cook’s Tour [is the book for you](. Thank you Just a few quick words of thanks to businesses who have decided to advertise direct with us on Travelfish recently. If you know a business, small or large, who may be interested in advertising on the site, please send them our [One Page Media Kit!]( Other advertisers include [Asia Highlights]( offer tailor made travel through Vietnam, [Take Me Tour]( offer experiences with locals out of Chiang Mai, [Akha Kitchen]( offer Thai cooking classes in Chiang Rai, WWOOF Thailand [connect hosts and organic farm volunteers]( and VD Travel offer [trending itineraries across the region](. Featured Nusa Penida When we first went to [Nusa Penida]( perhaps six or seven years ago, the island seemed devoid of tourists—it was the hilly island you flew over on the way to landing at Bali’s international airport and it didn’t seem to have more than a dozen or so places to stay. Eating and drinking were likewise quite limited. But it was spectacularly beautiful, with staggering cliffs, turquoise waters and an “antidote to Bali” kind of vibe. In an entire day touring the cliffs, beaches and waterfalls I saw not one other tourist—I loved it. Sally was recently there doing a complete update for Travelfish, and the amount of change the island has seen really took my breath away. Smoothie bowls have well and truly arrived, along with more than 100 places to stay (and they are only the ones that can be booked on Booking.com)—Sally selected just ten which she thought were great. Meanwhile, the seaweed farming industry is tapping out thanks to a combination of pollution affecting yields and the possibility of locals earning more carting tourists around than farming the weed. The island still remains beautiful, but you will be sharing it with plenty of other, often selfie-stick wielding tourists—most often in the traffic jams as people bump their way along to the various [“top Instagram locations”](. Our advice? Go today, not tomorrow. The island has [some excellent places to stay]( and Sally certainly made a big effort to [eat just about everywhere]( on the island. There is plenty enough [to keep you busy there for three days]( but don’t make the mistake of sticking to the [popular Instagrammable locations]( is plenty more to do. The island has convenient [ferry connections]( to neighbouring Nusa Cenningan and Lembongan along with access to multiple ports on Bali, so if you’re already on the Island of the Gods, then you have no excuse to pop over for a look see. But we’re not joking when we say go soon—the scale and speed of development on the island is very concerning. [Read more about Nusa Penida here](. Travelfish partners [Liveaboard]( offers online bookings, detailed write-ups and reviews of live aboard operators across Southeast Asia. Liveaboards are available for booking in [Burma]( [Indonesia]( [Philippine]( [Thailand]( and more. News from the region BURMA I: Myanmar risks falling into a China debt trap “But as China’s intentions come into clearer view, concerns are rising about the terms of the US$10-billion project, with top government economic advisor Sean Turnell recently saying the US$7.5-billion price tag on the project’s port component was [“crazy” and “absurd.”]( ” CAMBODIA I: Resisting Phnom Penh’s beautification plan “In that spirit, Phnom Penh has become a city of cranes. But with many of the new buildings only affordable to a small elite, [resistance to this top-down modernisation is growing]( CAMBODIA II: Hope for a blacklisted Cambodian park? “Nonetheless, the park should be taken off the blacklist. After all, [it’s really in no worse shape than any of Cambodia’s other 'protected' areas]( and in fact, few Cambodian parks can match what our camera traps have uncovered. Welcome to conservation in Indochina in the Anthropocene!” INDONESIA I: Indonesia's religious leaders join fight to cut waste “Indonesia currently [uses a whopping 9.8bn plastic bags per year]( many of which end up in the country’s rivers and oceans, according to data from the Indonesian environment and forestry ministry.” INDONESIA II: Nam Air launches Semarang-Karimunjawa route “[Launched on Sunday]( the 30-minute flight is served three times a week using the ATR 62-600 twin-engine turboprop and departs from Semarang at 6 a.m. on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.” THAILAND: Not following junta plan could soon be a crime “Some have already expressing [incredulity]( at the notion that future duly elected governments would be made to stick to plans laid out by unelected junta appointees.” Travel writing ENVIRONMENT: 10 top tips for a plastic-free holiday this summer “A worrying amount of [single-use plastic]( gets used on holidays. Catherine Mack from Responsible Travel, shares advice for cutting it down.” OVERTOURISM I: The next trend in travel is… don’t “It’s reaching a breaking point. “The last time I went, [I swore never again]( a friend recently told me, horrified by the number of people and amount of trash he saw. On his next vacation, he visited a small, relatively unknown island off Bali’s coast, thinking it would be quieter. It wasn’t. Tourists arrived by the boatload on the small island’s shores.” OVERTOURISM II: The “travel like a local” travel ethos has failed—the question is what will replace it “However, there’s just one problem with our fervor for Airspace apartments and Instagrammable cafes: Our love of living like a local has [consequences for actuals locals’ lives]( OVERTOURISM III: Having a yarn with Bangkok Podcast A short interview between Stuart, Greg and Ed from Bangkok Podcast about some of the overtourism issues facing Thailand and the region. Note we had to record most of this twice as Stuart accidentally [turned his microphone off without realising](... RIP: On Bourdain “The message was [uncomplicated]( Go to the place. Eat the thing. Talk to the person.” THAILAND: The re-emergence of Bangkok Chinatown “On my last few visits to Bangkok I’ve been spending more time in Chinatown. The nearest metro station is Hua Lamphong which sits on the boundary of Rattanakosin. Once you cross the canal next to the station [you are in the old city]( VIETNAM I: Phở heterodoxy on the high plateau “When I first started working in Cao Bằng, I frequently heard visiting Hanoians comment on [how friendly the local people were](. They said it with equal parts confusion and delight. When I brought this up with prominent Cao Bằng natives I knew, they all laughed in a knowing way.” VIETNAM II: The Theatre of Rice: Mù Cang Chải “On this page, I’ve made a photo-essay of an early morning ride through the Theatre of Rice, including my annotated map of the Harvest Route with accommodation, food, and places of interest marked on it. Be warned that the area is very popular these days: on the weekends between spring and autumn [it can get very crowded indeed]( VIETNAM III: Saigon without the traffic An interesting collection of [pics from 1965](. Interesting site Failed Architecture Not explicitly travel–related, but [some interesting stuff here](. Travel shot [Defining spectacular. Photo: Sally Arnold] Defining spectacular. Photo: Sally Arnold Till next time [Sam and Stuart.] That’s it from us for now. As usual, enjoy the site’s new additions and drop us a line if there’s something in particular you’d like us to cover in Southeast Asia. Travel light! Stuart, Sam & the Travelfish team [( You're receiving the Travelfish newsletter because you signed up at Travelfish.org. Not interested anymore? [Unsubscribe Instantly](. Make sure you're getting our emails! If you're a Gmail user and would prefer your Travelfish newsletter in your Primary in-box rather than Promotions, just drag this email from the Promotions tab to the Primary tab, and click "yes" when it asks if you want to do that for all of our emails. Better still, [read this newsletter online.]( [Disclosure]( | [Privacy]( | [Unsubscribe]( We want travellers to love Southeast Asia as much as we do. 9 robinson close, hornsby heights, nsw 2077, AUSTRALIA [Unsubscribe]( | [Change Subscriber Options](