Lockdown 2 - Social distancing returns to Saigon
Anthony Bourdain documentary, supersonic travel is making a comeback, walking the length of the Ganges, and more great travel reads
Greetings from Saigon, where we are back to social distancing for two weeks. It’s been brewing for the last month, so I have been mentally prepared for this to happen again. Even though the numbers are small compared to other places, this new outbreak has been making news headlines around the world.
Here are the latest updates on Nomadic Notes, and other great travel reads from around the web.
Where I’m At: June 2021 – Saigon lockdown 2 edition
Welcome to another edition of Where I’m At – rounding up my travels (or lack of travel) from the last month, and other news. For the best weekly travel reads, subscribe to my travel newsletter, where I curate the most interesting travel reads from around the web.
Where I’ve been
Having been inside the eerily idyllic Covid-free bubble of Vietnam, the party is over and I’ve not been outside the city boundary in the last month.
Saigon
The month began in Saigon with a looming awareness that the virus was back in the country, and that it would only be a matter of time before it was detected in HCMC. After some cases were reported in the north, a single case was recorded here, and the alley of that case was closed off. Lockdowns happen fast here, so I didn’t make any travel plans in case I get stranded away from my home.
By the end of the month it was discovered that the new Covid variant is a hybrid of the India and UK strains, so the government declared two-week social distancing, like we had in April last year. It’s not called a lockdown, and we aren’t barricaded in our homes, but we are asked to only leave home for buying food or in emergenciy situations, or if you have a job that is still allowed to be open.
[The official theme song for Lockdown 2 (via Twitter).]
We did this in April last year, and the fruit of that lockdown was for the virus to be completely eradicated locally for most of the year. I think of this while we are asked to stay home again.
Coincidently, my home city of Melbourne has also gone into lockdown at the same time. Vietnam and the state of Victoria have opted for the “go nuclear” approach, with zero tolerance for allowing the virus to spread. Compare that with Malaysia, who have just declared a total lockdown after reaching over 8,000 cases per day.
[Even the parks are closed in Saigon.]
I’ve been watching my friends in the US get vaccinated, and the overall feeling I get is that things are getting better. From the US perspective it is, but with India raging out of control, and Southeast Asia on the brink, it’s not getting better until we are all safe. Vaccination has been slow across Southeast Asia, so don’t expect international travel to resume here anytime soon.
I’ve been living the good life here under the expectation that it could change any day. There is enough to do in Saigon to keep me occupied, and I’ve been happy to wander around and make the most of my time here.
One of my exploration systems is to pick a place to eat that is in a new place a good walk away. On the local news and lifestyle site Saigoneer, they run a series on small eateries hidden in alleys (hems). I saw this one about a Vietnamese woman who has been living in Thailand but has been stranded here since the pandemic. In that time she has opened a Thai eatery in one of these typical alleys that you would otherwise never find.
It was great to step inside and get a little reminder of Thailand. I was in Bangkok in March 2020, which was the last time I was in another country. If I can’t travel, I can at least let my taste buds travel.
There are also so many cool cafes here that I have still yet to discover. One of my favourite cafes made a bamboo charcoal latte, and by some form of voodoo it tastes like a coffee.
[A bamboo charcoal latte at Vietnam Coffee Republic.]
Pandemic projects, and future work and travel
In March this year I rebranded Living In Asia to Future Southeast Asia. I’ve never changed the domain of a website before, so I was not sure about how Google would treat this change. After over two months in the search ranking wilderness, the site is now almost back to where it was before I switched.
In Lockdown 1 last year I launched a new newsletter for Future Southeast Asia (then known as Living In Asia). Now in Lockdown 2 I’ve launched a another newsletter – introducing Europe Rail News.
While I currently feature mostly Southeast Asia travel on Nomadic Notes, there was a time in my life when I was spending most of my travel time in Europe. In the years before Nomadic Notes (pre February 2009), I was wandering around Europe for months on end. I love travelling by train in Europe, and I’ve been looking for a way to publish a site about European railways.
I had considered a Southeast Asia rail newsletter, but at this point, there isn’t a lot of content to make one. I have a Facebook group for Southeast Asia Railways if you are interested in getting related news.
Here is my post introducing Europe Rail News.
Being in lockdown again and not travelling internationally for over a year has made me think about what I want to work on, and how I want to travel in the future.
I’m committed to chronicling the evolution of transport and infrastructure in Southeast Asia, but as I noted on my last trip to Osaka, sometimes I just need an infrastructure holiday. Just as sometimes I need to go to a beach for a few days, I also need time where there is a functional transport system. I enjoy visiting Japan for that reason, and the same for Europe.
While I dream about a modern railway system in Southeast Asia, at the current rate it’s unlikely to happen in my lifetime.
I used to think I wanted to live in Europe, but I prefer the tropical life now. What I do want is to be able to go on crazy one-month Eurail trips where I travel every day.
Latest posts at Nomadic Notes
Europe Rail News – The new newsletter for train travel in Europe
I introduced my new Europe rail newsletter in last week’s newsletter, and here are more details in blog form.
COVID-19 and travel (or lack thereof)
How I spent my pandemic year in a camper van
Workers deal with snakes while maintaining stored Qantas A380s
The pandemic is getting worse, even when it seems like it’s getting better
New sobering UNWTO data suggests full tourism recovery won’t arrive until 2024
Those last two articles are a grim read, especially if you work in tourism in Asia, so here are some lemurs and meerkats relaxing to music in Thailand.
Assorted travel reads
Anthony Bourdain documentary Roadrunner gets first trailer: watch
United becomes first U.S. airline to sign aircraft purchase agreement with Boom Supersonic
Mozambique mints a new national park — and surveys its riches
“In the wake of wars, natural disasters and insurgencies, Mozambique is experiencing an environmental renaissance. One of the results is a new and stunningly beautiful national park.”
Could Phong Nha be one of Vietnam's top sustainable travel destinations?
Nuku Hiva: This paradise island is one of the remotest places on the planet
How the 1964 Olympic Games changed Tokyo forever
“Officials seized their chance to turn a war-scarred city into a modern metropolis.”
Lithuania and Poland built a ‘portal’ connecting two of their cities and people are loving it
He walked the length of India’s Ganges river and was shocked at what he found
“Siddharth Agarwal spent two years trekking along the nation’s holiest river and everywhere he went he saw the impact of climate change and human interference.”
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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