Couchfish

With all this staying at home and wondering when one will be able to jump on a plane again, I often find my mind straying. To the destinations yes, but moreso to the food. Here’s eight meals from eight countries I’d be making a beeline for. Burma: Aung Thukha Yangon has to be one of the best walking cities in Southeast Asia—do watch out for traps though. On an early visit I spent much of my time i...

So if my dire forecasts of last week come to pass , at least we have time to sort other things out. This week, I look at vaccine “passports”. My take—we don’t need a new solution when one already exists. Attention should be concentrated on increasing vaccination rates. It should not be focused on forcing the adoption of technology whose painful legacies will far outlast Covid. Arabic papyrus with...

I mentioned the other day that Nakhon Si Thammarat isn’t only a provincial capital but a historical one as well. With a spare day, you can walk the lay of the land from bottom to top and make your way through the history of the town. Nakhon Si Thammarat’s glory days hark back to the Srivijaya period . Centred on Sumatra in modern–day Indonesia, the Buddhist empire’s influence spanned the 7th to 12...

Hello to all the new subscribers off the back of yesterday’s post on Covid and Southeast Asia ! A quick explainer on Couchfish, this is primarily a travel newsletter—it isn’t always about Covid! The paid version ( from US$7 per month ), comes out Monday, Wednesday and Thursday and traces a fantasy itinerary through Southeast Asia— you can see the itinerary so far here . The free posts, like this o...

Doom–scrolling through the Friday morning news isn’t a great way to finish the month—and what a shocker it has been. I thought 2021 was going to be better than 2020, not worse! To be honest, I’m not getting my hopes up about 2022 either—I’m on the 2023 train, and here’s why. You must be the first mover Dr Michael Ryan is an Irish epidemiologist and executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies...

Leaving Ko Samui I grab a car ferry heading back to Don Sak on the mainland. While many of the travellers on the ferry are heading elsewhere, I turn south. To the west lies Surat Thani , the transport hub for the region. Once there, many will continue west to Khao Sok or Krabi , or turn north to Chumphon or Bangkok. To the south though, lies roughly 50 km of beach backing onto the towns of Khanom...

New! You can see all the free Couchfish reads plotted on a map here! On the northwest corner of Indonesia’s Sumbawa , a peninsula juts into the Alas Strait like a stray chicken leg. Along the leg’s east side, a narrow road runs up to Pelabuhan Pota Tano. From here car ferries shuttle back and forward, night and day, to Lombok. Weather allowing, the trip takes around an hour and a half. The trip is...

One side effect of Covid19 is it has brought out the inner statistician in pundits–a–plenty—yours truly included. This can be a good thing—numbers matter. They can provide often missing context and help educate readers. It helps though, if the numbers are correct. I first came across fuzzy Covid math early last year. The planet was in the virus’ early throes and stories kept stating 70% or 80% of...

Who hasn’t been there? You’re relaxing in a hammock under a couple of palms out front of your bamboo and thatch beachside hut. It is late afternoon, with a light sea breeze and the sun is getting ready to set. Someone just brought you an iced Chang beer and a plate of noname. Then you think “Hell, I could run a place like this. How hard could it be?” The sun setting from Bang Rak Beach, Ko Samui....

While this is part of the itinerary series, I’ve made it a free–to–read post, as everyone wants to walk around an island. Some people see a mountain and have to climb it. I’ve some of that in me, but give me an island and that is something I must walk around. Few islands are higher up on the circumnavigate by foot rankings than one of my favourite Thai islands , Ko Pha Ngan. Some spots are worth t...

It is four in the morning. We left the wooden bungalow doors open overnight, forgoing the chilly air–con in favour of the sea breeze. Outside it is still pitch, but the fishermen are already up and about, pushing their jukung into the sea. The jukung’s keels rumble over the rocks, waking me. Metres away, the small waves, churned up by last night’s storm, roll against the charcoal grey pebbles. The...

About five minutes after sending this, I realized Travelfish is 17 years old—not 15. Says a lot about the last two years I guess…and my math skills. Apols! I’d be lying if I said it feels like it was only yesterday that Sam and I launched Travelfish.org way back when on July 12, 2004—fifteen years and a day ago. Somedays, particularly over the last 18 months, it has felt like a lifetime ago—on ano...

Let me preface this by saying, while I’ve always thought the Phuket Sandbox was a flawed and premature concept, I did want to see it succeed. Through fault not entirely of its own though, Phuket’s sandpit is doomed. I’d love to see recreational travel restart—with the provision it protects the well being of locals. Not just locals—tourists as well—both foreign and domestic. Not Covid, just a deadl...

Sorry about the recording quality—I’m at a cafe right by the surf! I’m standing with Richard in knee–high grass looking across the water towards Adonara. There’s a long stretch of sandy beach and a beautiful shade tree set just back from the high water mark. His block runs a long way back up a gentle rise from the sea and he’s explaining what he wants to build. Richard runs Hotel Rejeki , Lewoleba...

The other day, referring to Thailand’s Ban Krut, I wrote “On a travel writer’s watch, somewhere like Ban Krut earns about four hours.” It earned me an incredulous email from a reader asking how could one hope to gain the nuance of a place in four hours. As answering this appeals more to me than writing about Covid in Indonesia or Phuket’s Sandpit, here we go. More research required. Alor Kecil, In...

A few years ago I helped out a group who were in Bali looking for something “different”. I bring on board a high caste local friend who is better versed and connected than I’ll ever be, and we explore. Part of the trip is visiting the less visited. Think waterfalls and eateries you’d never see on a top ten list—at least not one aimed at foreigners. We spend time in a Muslim village out West where...

There’s a beach bar a five minute bike ride from where I live and I head there most afternoons to write—I’m there now actually. I like it because it is right by the crashing ocean, but also because, even pre Covid, it was almost always empty. Save the staff of course, but half the time they’re not there either—I leave the money under a book on the bar when I leave. It is a small, ramshackle place,...

Yes, I’m back! After a longer than expected hiatus I am back in front of the keyboard. I’d planned to re–start yesterday, but still wasn’t quite up to it, and it felt better to restart with a free post for all readers. So while this is a part of the paid–for itinerary series, I hope it appeals to all. My heartfelt thanks for the kind comments over the preceding month—much appreciated. Phetchaburi...

As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, my health took a bad turn that had me taking a couple of weeks off, well, everything. I spent the first week at home, sleeping, and much of the second week at Bingin , a beach I love in South Bali. At Bingin I also spent much of my time sleeping, but as matters began to improve my fingers started itching. The result? A Southeast Asia Tube Map . To see a large vers...

As I wrote the other day, I met a group of Thai campers who invited me out for a night on the town . Their goal? To show me the “real Bangkok”. The one bit of input I was allowed, was selecting our rendezvous. Multi–storey Phra Nakorn Bar is part gallery, part venue, part rooftop restaurant. It is a short walk from where I’m staying, on Khao San Road. We agree to meet in the late afternoon. This v...

Technology is all about making life easier right? I must confess today has not been a day made easier by technology. Fact. It started at 2 am with an email (thank you dear sender!) and my day has been careening downhill ever since. It is days like this though, that have me harking back to the lesser–tech days of travel. Pre internet. Pre social media. Where, as soon as you hit a new town you’d be...

At the height of my bad fashion sense, I bought a fake lapis necklace off a street vendor on Bangkok’s Khao San Road. I write “bad fashion sense” but at the time everyone wore fisherman pants, fake Birkenstocks and Hmong–print vests. Right? Oh. A few months later, I was in a backpacker bar on Thailand’s Ko Phi Phi . It was about a decade before the Boxing Day Tsunami , but the island was already w...

It took me about fifteen years of living in Southeast Asia to cross the equator on the ground. Sure I’d flown over it numerous occasions heading to and from Sydney, Australia, but on the ground? Never. It wasn’t until I was returning from an uber–relaxing stint on the Togean Islands that I managed it. The Togeans are an archipelago sitting in the Gulf of Tomini towards the north of Sulawesi. They’...

In early February 1992, when I left Australia on what became a two year overseas trip, my first stop was Hawaii. My companion and I spent a couple of days being silly on Oahu, then took a short flight over to Maui. We were both keen windsurfers at the time, and Maui was one of the top spots for the sport. While there we met a flight attendant and she gave us a lift up to Haleakala . At just a smid...

So today I have a special podcast—a near hour–long chat with David Luekens—the founder of the best email newsletter on Thailand’s coast and islands, Thai Island Times . We talk about Covid in Thailand, sustainable tourism, David’s newsletter, and, of course, his pick of the crop. Enjoy! Peak hour on a southern Ko Lanta beach. Photo: David Luekens . Stuart OK, so I’m here with David Luekens and if...