Travel Newsletter: 5 April 2024
Climbing Malawi’s Island in the Sky, onboard the biggest cruise ship ever, what Instagram thinks matters in Laos, and more travel reads.
This week I made my way from Saigon to Nha Trang to Danang by train. After arriving in Danang I stayed in Hoi An, and I’m now by the beach in Danang. Whenever I visit Hoi An and Danang I usually split my time between the two beach communities of An Bang and My An. They both have their distinct flavours, with An Bang having village vibes and My An having urban beach vibes. I have friends in both places and I like both areas, so I just stay in both rather than picking one spot.
I go to Malaysia next week where I will continue my Southeast Asia rail research for Nomadic Notes and Future Southeast Asia.
Here is this week’s travel reads I found.
Travel reads
• Climbing Malawi’s Island in the Sky
“A steep, lush massif—the country’s highest peak at 10,000 feet—beckons adventurers.”
• Crying myself to sleep on the biggest cruise ship ever (Archive link)
“Seven agonizing nights aboard the Icon of the Seas.”
“A look at what Instagram thinks matters in Laos.”
• How to plan a food tour around northern Thailand, from Chiang Mai to Phrae
• Not Old World Europe, this is India’s ghostly town of Sidhpur
• When the travel high wears off
“I learned the hard way that you can't run from your problems.”
• Hilary Bradt: The female explorer who transformed travel
• Paris cycling numbers double in one year thanks to massive investment and it’s not stopping
I was last in Paris in 2014, and according to all the urbanist YouTube videos I watch there has been a cycling revolution since then.
• Walking London’s unsung waterway: the River Lea rises again
• Thailand has a plan to contain the monkey mayhem in the popular tourist town of Lopburi
🛏️ Accommodation
• ‘A family used to live here’: The Spanish sticker rebellion battling tourist lets
🚆Train travel
• France set to launch €49 rail pass this summer: Who is eligible and when will it start?
✈️ Air travel
• JetZero: Groundbreaking ‘blended-wing’ demonstrator plane cleared to fly
…
James Clark – Danang, Vietnam.
I've no desire to cruise on the Icon of the Seas, but only an asshat would write "It is unfair to put a thinking person on a cruise ship."
What a surprise that the intellectual trashed a cruise ship. Yawn...