Couchfish

Seems weird to have four thousand islands to choose from but pick from one of four. Ok, I am being unfair. Many of the other 3,996 are but low tide rocks with a tuft of grass. Still, it seems like a bunch of wasted real estate. So which of the four should you go for? I say Don Khon , the southern most of Laos’ inhabited 4,000 islands . Why Don Khon and not Don Dhet just to the north, or a ways upr...

A persistent stereotype about Vietnam is that it’s hot year round. The quip, “There’s two seasons in Vietnam: hot and hotter” applies only to the south. I’m delighted when beachwear-clad tourists arrive into Hà Nội airport in January. No doubt they spend their first day panic shopping for knock-off North Face gear that is too small and reeks of plastic. Video by 10th grade English majors at Vo Ngu...

The first time I went to Ko Tao in the Gulf of Thailand was in the early 1990s. It wasn’t a very successful visit. I didn’t dive at the time and was just looking for a quiet island. It turned out to be quieter than I planned. A day after we arrived, the weather turned unseasonably ugly. Ugly. At the time there were no flash Lomprayah catamarans , rather the ferries were old and not great. The nigh...

Towards the end of last year, before the madness hit, I was in Cambodia for a spell on two Khmer islands. Personally, it was an extremely rough trip, but two beaches on two islands made the whole trip almost worthwhile. That is Long Set in the distance. Photo: Stuart McDonald. For me, it is hard to write about Cambodia and not get upset. I only lived there a couple of years, but of everywhere I’ve...

This is an old story, more suited to my Friday afternoon entries on mishaps and mayhem , but I figured as I’m in Hanoi, why not? On one of my early trips to Hanoi, in 1995 I think, I spent some time visiting spots like Tam Dao , Ninh Binh and Cuc Phuong . Between the visits I’d just hang out in Hanoi, mostly in the Old Quarter. The Old Quarter then still had a bunch of places to stay, but a fracti...

At the time the road from Luang Nam Tha to Huay Xai in Laos was a scar in the earth. A long bauxite trail running southwest through towns and hamlets, you’d never read about. Vieng Phou Kha and Ban Donchai some how stick in my mind, but there were plenty of others. Rustic clutches of wood and bamboo huts. Battered palm leaf roofs. It was dry season, so everything had at least a half an inch of the...

Over the last eighteen days Couchfish has been all about the Dien Bien Phu Loop in northwest Vietnam. This loop was one of the most popular bike trips to do in the country through the 1990’s and 2000’s. More recently it has been eclipsed by the Ha Giang Loop in the country’s far north. It is still well worth doing and I hope you’ve found the last 18 days of travel interesting. This post is part of...

You’ve been baking on the beaches of Lombok’s Gili Islands for the last week or so and your next notch to mark off, is Komodo. There’s a problem though. Your guidebook says Sumbawa is kind of crap. So, you’re edging towards a backpacker boat to Flores instead. Don’t do it—Sumbawa rocks! It has everything—except tourists. Whales and Waves now has a skate ramp—time to return! It has a magnificent vo...

It is 2 am when Jones* shows up—he’s only two hours late. To Pete*, Matthew* and I, waiting at the less than salubrious nightclub at Bangkok’s Grace Hotel, those two hours feel like an eternity. Jones is drunk and short on apologies—both typical of him. He’s a journalist who I’ve known for some years. Pete and Matthew are both diplomats, and friends. At the time, the Grace Hotel has a notorious re...

I like to surf. I’m not very good at it, but I enjoy it. Actually, it is not so much the surfing as the sitting out the back, behind the break. Straddling the board, feet dingle dangling in the water, rising and falling with the swell. I muse over sharks and wonder if I look like a delicious enough morsel from the depths. I reckon yes! This wave size is suited to my ability. Photo: Stuart McDonald...

Fred*, an Australian media celebrity, and his wife were in Thailand to Do Good. They’d raised a significant amount of money down under and were here to disperse it to the “poor people of Thailand”. A mutual acquaintance in Bangkok had hired me as their guide. After Bangkok, the first stop was antique shopping in Chiang Mai, then to Chiang Rai to visit their target village. I got the gig as their g...

I first met Ariel* in Prachuap Khiri Khan, a low key beachfront town on Thailand’s south coast. Robbed recently, he had lost everything and was helping out in a grimy guesthouse for food and board. Prachuap was an odd place to meet a twenty–something Israeli—but there was little normal about him. He’d been there for some time, waiting for his family to send him money (again). He’d hitched down fro...

Side note: There was no Couchfish this morning and this post is late. Sorry— I motorbiked through a swarm of wasps yesterday . They got stuck under my shirt and stung the hell out of me. As a result I’ve been feeling a little out of sorts. No, this is not the Indonesia version of the dog ate my homework. My apologies. All the photos in this post are from Kep—it is far prettier there than a back ro...

Last year I was in Phnom Penh and needed to be in Siem Reap in a few days, but I had some loose time up my sleeve. So where to break the trip? I like my ruins, but didn’t want loads of people, and so Kompong Thom was the ideal choice. The video above is worth the clickthrough to watch. They’ve disabled sharing. The afternoon bus from Phnom Penh got me in to Kompong Thom mid evening without too muc...

Just a quick note—this is a very long issue—I’m actually combining the Friday morning paid post with the Friday afternoon free one, as this forms a part of the itinerary, but is also clearly loopy enough for the Friday afternoon post! After the Vieng Xai caves the four of us ride back to Sam Neua to arrange transport to Hanoi. The Namsoi Nameo crossing is notorious for scams and rip offs so we ask...

Most first–time visitors to Hue set up camp south of the Perfume River, crossing it only for the occasional bout of sightseeing. I suggest doing the opposite, making the Old City your diversion —don’t be surprised if you don’t cross the river at all. For years just about all downtown Hue’s hotels were south of the river, meaning tourists had no choice in the matter. In recent times though, homesta...

You know the story. You’re sitting around in some traveller cafe and you get chatting to another traveller who has met so and so who was working for so and so as a travel writer. The tales are often not complimentary. This story is a little different. About a fifteen minute walk north of Khao San Road, just over the khlong where the road name changes from Chakrabongse to Samsen, on your left, walk...

After all the riding yesterday I end up at Cranky T’s . The cafe/bar is Phonsavan’s best nightlife option—or the best karaoke–free one anyway. It attracts what few travellers are in town on any given evening, so is a good spot to meet others. I’d hoped to catch up with Poon and Heather who I’d met in Luang Prabang, but they’re nowhere in sight. Instead there’s just one occupied table, hosting an o...

Lembata resembles a flying dog in Indonesia’s Lesser Sunda Islands. The island is home to a “traditional” whaling village on the south coast and Ile Api volcano on the north. It also has glorious beaches and that laid back vibe that makes Indonesia so great to travel in. Despite this, it attracts few foreign tourists. Jim, the owner of the long–running, though now closed, Ile Api Homestay explains...

Another day another boat ride—or so it seems in northern Laos anyways. I grab the morning public boat from Nong Kiaow to Muang Ngoi and it is, for reasons unknown, jammed with locals. Jammed. A couple of hours later I uncurl my body and head to Nicksa’s .  These guys stayed at Nicksa’s too! One of the signs out front reads “Bungalow River View Nice Garden” and if you had to sum it up in five words...

Less diversion and more stopover, Labuan Pandan sits on the east coast of Lombok, a little north of the ferry to Sumbawa. A blink and you’ll miss it village, it boasts scenic black sand beaches and excellent offshore islanding. Perfect for small budget families. She sells sea shells by the sea shore.... Photo: Stuart McDonald. While there are half a handful of places to stay, I always settle in at...

What am I doing writing about the Boxing Day Tsunami? In June? Good question. Having lived through one cataclysmic event you hope you won’t experience another, yet here we are. The events of December 26, 2004 have been on my mind for a while now—I don’t think they ever really left—and the more I’ve thought about it, the more I can see a parallel between it and Covid19. We were staying with journal...

If you’re killing time in Bangkok, Ko Samet to the east or Kanchanaburi to the west are the logical options. I say go west, break it with a night or two in Kanchanaburi, but then keep going—to Sangkhlaburi . Spitting distance from the Burmese border, it’s an ideal diversion from the Thai capital. I grab a morning minibus from Kanchanaburi for the roughly three and a half hour run west along Route...

Tim and I walk out of our guesthouse in Bac Kan, northern Vietnam. It is 7:30 am, early 1995, and we’ve spent the previous few weeks hitching Vietnam’s northwest. We’ve now turned to the far north and while parts of the northwest were challenging, the far north is moreso. We don’t really talk to each other much anymore. * Note: An apology on the photos in this piece. All my pics are on slide, so I...

Anyone who knows me knows I’m not a particularly loud speaker. I’m not a whisperer, but unless I’m really off on a rant (as has been known to happen on occasion), even if you’re at the next table you’ll struggle in your eavesdropping efforts. Others, like the Australian at the end of the boat, are the opposite. I cannot not hear him—no matter how much I try. Ho hum, just a day and a half of the bo...