The international border crossing on the beach

[Travel Newsletter: 5 May 2023] Hotel Pennsylvania, Koh Mak, Tokyo's public water bus, low-cost railways of Europe, and more travel reads

Hello from Hua Hin! I have booked an Airbnb near the beach for a month, so I will hunker down and work on some projects while I am here. I am a block from the beach on the wrong side of the highway, but my room is high enough to have a sea view, and I watch the sunrise every morning.

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Here is this week’s new articles and the best travel reads from around the web.

Latest posts at Nomadic Notes

• How to go from Koh Lipe to Langkawi by boat

I got a ferry from Koh Lipe to Langkawi, and I was surprised to find that the immigration office was on the beach.

• Where to stay in Hoi An: The best areas and hotels

Travel reads

• Once the world’s largest, a hotel goes ‘poof!’ before our eyes

“The Hotel Pennsylvania in Manhattan was a virtual city within a city. But in the end, nothing could save it.”

• Amid the rush for more tourist arrivals, Thai island Koh Mak is deliberately taking it slow

• I took Tokyo's public water bus instead of a cruise. The $13 ticket was a cheaper, no-frills way to see the city.

• The transformation of a creative capital

“For centuries, Battambang, Cambodia, was renowned for the arts – until its artists were targeted by the Khmer Rouge. Now, its troubled history is informing its creative spirit.”

• Maps distort how we see the world

“30 maps to rethink the world.”

• A rare glimpse into Afghanistan’s spectacular, vanishing forests

• The coast-to-coast road trip is 120 years old

• Ouigo, Avlo and Lumo: These cheap European train companies are competing with budget airlines

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The Nomadic Notes Travel Newsletter is a weekly newsletter of the best travel reads and interesting travel news from around the web, and random ramblings by the editor.

- James Clark