Travel plans

Greetings from Chiang Mai. I’ve been here for nearly two months, so it is time to move on before my visa expires.

I am returning to Vietnam in July to act as a quasi-tour guide for some Australian friends. The trip includes Da Nang/Hoi An and Hanoi. I will be visiting the main tourist sites in Hanoi with my friends, but I don’t think they will be interested in seeing the demolition works around the city. I will make time to see some of the construction sites that are reshaping Hanoi.

After Vietnam, I will stop over in Singapore en route to Indonesia. Singapore and KL are the best travel hubs for getting to anywhere in Indonesia outside of Jakarta and Bali. I’ve already been to KL this year, so I picked Singapore.

The last section of the Circle Line on the Singapore MRT is opening in July, so I will be checking that out. One of the new stations (Cantonment) is at the old Tanjong Pagar Station (where the Singapore-KL train used to depart). It’s good that there is a metro station here now, but it is still disappointing that there is no railway service between the two cities with one of the busiest flight routes in the world.

I will be in Indonesia for one month, and this is a follow-up from my one-month rail-themed trip in 2024. My 2026 trip starts in Padang, where I will be riding the limited railways of West Sumatra. This is the only section of the railways of Sumatra that I haven’t been on.

After Sumatra, I will go to Jakarta (which is now the world’s largest city since my last visit). I will do some updates for my transit guide to Jakarta, and then visit some new-to-me places in Java by rail.

If you are in any of those places and would like to meet up, feel free to send a message.

Site news

Updated: Motorbike barriers of Southeast Asia

Chiang Mai has now entered the gallery of shame on the motorbike barriers of Southeast Asia list. A motorbike barrier has been installed at the main city gate (and probably the best-known landmark of the city).

Many of the bike barriers I have listed have at least attempted to allow step-free access. This is just pure laziness.

Weekly news

I publish the weekly news update every Wednesday for paid subscribers. This is a round-up of news related to transport and urban development in the region.

Note: I have now completed the newsletter migration from news.futuresoutheastasia.com to futuresoutheastasia.com. Some newsletters were still being sent via the old address, but all emails will now be from futuresoutheastasia.com.

If you were on a monthly subscription, your subscription was not transferred after the month expired, so you will need to manually resubscribe.

To receive weekly updates from Future Southeast Asia, become a paid subscriber ($5 per month or $50 per year) and help support this site.

Upgrade To Premium

Here are the last month’s issues of the weekly newsletter (click article links to upgrade).

• Future Southeast Asia News [24 Jun 2026]

Raising awareness of city planning in Cambodia, Jakarta builds pedestrian deck to link six transit modes, Philippines weighs return to China for stalled Mindanao railway, the engineering challenges behind the Circle Line loop, single-entry fare system for Bangkok rail network, Hanoi launches construction of five metro lines spanning over 300 km.

• Future Southeast Asia News [17 Jun 2026]

Indonesia targets 10,524 km railway network expansion, LRT3 Shah Alam Line ready for operations by end June, Manila-Bulacan-Pampanga-Bataan Coastal Road-Dike Project, Bangkok airports target 120 million ‘by 2029’, Vietnam to add 7 new airports by 2030.

• Future Southeast Asia News [10 Jun 2026]

Phnom Penh’s public space shortage, Trans-Sumatra Railway project from Aceh to Lampung, MAHB to invest RM11bil in airport expansion over 5 years, MRT-7 will retain all 14 stations, a first look at 3 new Circle Line MRT stations, Bangkok city plan to unlock rail-linked mega-projects, Hanoi drowns in construction debris.

• Future Southeast Asia News [3 Jun 2026]

Cambodia vows urban renewal, Vang Vieng old airport development, New Kuching International Airport, no bridge to Boracay, Thailand’s long-delayed three-airport high-speed rail project, Ho Chi Minh City ordered to expand its metro tenfold by 2030.

In Case You Missed It (this month’s articles)

Hanoi’s ambitious 5-line metro launch

Bonifacio Global City – The Singapore of Manila, or the Manhattan of Asia?

Redeveloping the old Vang Vieng CIA airstrip into “The City That Never Sleeps”

Greetings from Chiang Mai! I’m back in my semi-home base to recuperate from months of travel and to work through a backlog of trip reports from around Southeast Asia.

This post is my monthly update on what is happening at futuresoutheastasia.com.

Site news

Link maintenance

I occasionally run a broken link check on futuresoutheastasia.com to clean up dead links. The report usually shows sites that no longer exist or sites that haven’t bothered to redirect to a changed URL.

This time around, I have been disturbed to discover that The Phnom Penh Post has nuked its archive of old articles. I thought it might have been that they changed the URL, but the content of the article doesn’t appear when I search on the site.

I have seen URL changes on other news sites, such as when Tuoi Tre News changed its URL structure without redirecting the old links to the new address.

What is concerning about The Phnom Penh Post removing old articles is that they are the closest that Cambodia has to a newspaper of record. Although you cannot rely on a Cambodian publication for editorials on politics (no hot-takes on Hun Sen at the PPP), the newspaper is useful for recording the nation’s development history. News on when an airport opened, construction updates on a bridge, or when a fire burned down a historic building should be preserved on a reliable platform.

I have seen countless websites come and go since I first started publishing travel websites in 2001 (including some of my own websites). According to this report:

“Research shows 25% of web pages posted between 2013 and 2023 have vanished. A few organisations are racing to save the echoes of the web, but new risks threaten their very existence.”

It is disappointing to see major news sites remove the archive of their old posts. Fortunately, the old Phnom Penh Post articles are saved at web.archive.org, but the Internet Archive is also in danger. At this point, paper archives are still more reliable for long-term historical preservation.

The impending Google AIpocalypse and deGooglefying myself

This Month, Google committed to going all-in on AI-powered search results (see Google Search as you know it is over). The new search format has been switched off and on when I search in Thailand, and the AI results are so aggravating that I am now looking at other search alternatives.

I have a fine-tuned system of curating news for the weekly newsletter, so this new search format is disruptive to my workflow. Perhaps this AI-era Google is a good time for me to start weaning myself off The Big G.

I usually have two browsers open on my laptop. I use Brave browser for my logged-in Google account, and I use Firefox with DuckDuckGo set as the default search engine.

I am now looking at Vivaldi browser, which uses Startpage as the default search engine. Vivaldi also has a built-in feed reader and other features that aren’t on Brave.

I’m so committed to the Google ecosystem that it will be hard to fully de-Googlefy. I open a Gmail account every time I start a new site, and Google Maps are still the most useful way to embed a map on a website.

While I am trying to de-Googlefy myself, I noticed that most news sites in the region now have a Google News button on each page. Here is an example from The Straits Times with an “Add as a preferred source on Google” button.

Any site that is indexed by Google can add this link, so here is my link if you want to add me as a source in Google News.

www.google.com/preferences/source?q=futuresoutheastasia.com

Yes, here I am trying to break my Google addiction while encouraging you to add me as a source on Google News. Google remains my number one source of traffic, and second place is not even close.

I get a pitiful trickle of traffic from ChatGPT and Gemini, even though they steal content from my site to answer questions.

This month, I started seeing traffic from SmartNews, which I had never heard of until I checked my (urgh) Google Analytics. SmartNews is sending more traffic than all of the AI sites combined, which is to say not much traffic, but good to know that there is another news alternative.

When I opened the SmartNews link in my analytics, it took me to a Japanese landing page. It turns out they are from Tokyo, so this is another site to consider if you are looking for alternatives to US tech services.

I have now downloaded the SmartNews app to test it out in my quest to diversify away from Google.

Weekly news

I have not posted many new articles this month as I have been fixing up old articles. I publish the weekly news update every Wednesday for paid subscribers, which is a round-up of news related to transport and urban development in the region.

If you want guaranteed weekly updates from Future Southeast Asia, become a paid subscriber ($5 per month or $50 per year) and help support this site.

Here are the last month’s issues of the weekly newsletter (click article links to upgrade).

• Future Southeast Asia News [27 May 2026]

Indonesia pushes Giant Sea Wall plan, major upgrade of Wattay International Airport, Malaysia’s longest river-crossing bridge opens, Bataan–Cavite Interlink Bridge, missing link railway could end Bangkok crossing crashes, swathes of Hanoi demolished for development.

• Future Southeast Asia News [20 May 2026]

Phnom Penh’s heritage is under threat, Jakarta MRT Phase 2A on track for 2029 operation, Penang exploring bridge option as alternative to undersea tunnel project, research on the construction of underground railways in Yangon, why US is backing Philippine airport at former naval base, MRT stations on Circle Line to open on July 12, Bangkok rail crossing safety overhaul planned after deadly crash, Central Hanoi becomes giant construction site.

• Future Southeast Asia News [13 May 2026]

Ratanakiri Airport plan in northeastern Cambodia, Jakarta’s remarkable urban transit transformation, Vientiane approves 93 km of concrete roads, proposed Johor rail system, feasibility study for Sangley airport development, Thailand lines up six new airports, Vietnam bets on colossal capital renewal to drive growth.

• Future Southeast Asia News [6 May 2026]

Indonesia fast-tracks 575 km sea wall, transport plan drives Laos closer to becoming regional hub, ‘Second Dubai’ vision for Perlis, Bangkok’s Orange Line due to open in January 2028, Hanoi to Ha Long Bay in 23 minutes.

Thanks for reading Future Southeast Asia!

Greetings from Ho Chi Minh City! It’s been a busy month of travel, so I have not published as many new articles as usual. The weekly newsletter for paid subscribers continues to be sent out every Wednesday, so consider becoming a paid subscriber to support this site.

I have been on the road for most of April, so I will be posting new articles here and at Nomadic Notes over the coming months. Here is where I have been and what articles to expect.

Train from Hanoi to Nanning

The Hanoi-Nanning train is the only international train line from Vietnam, and I was curious to see how the international crossing works. I also wanted to ride it in its current format, as there is a plan to upgrade the Vietnam section from Hanoi to Dong Dang on the Vietnam-China border.

I have started a factsheet to keep track of the Hanoi–Dong Dang Railway upgrade, and I will be posting a review at Nomadic Notes.

Nanning and the high-speed railway to Hong Kong

I had not been to China since 2019, so it was good to be back and see how modern Chinese cities have become. One of the most startling aspects of Nanning is that it is a city of electric scooters. Vietnam is trying to go electric, with an ambitious timeline to ban petrol bikes in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. It seems like a giant task, but it feels possible after seeing what Nanning has achieved.

From Nanning, I got the high-speed railway to Hong Kong. I wanted to see if it was practical to go from Hanoi to Hong Kong by train, and I wanted to experience high-speed railway again. Vietnam is in the preparation phase of building a high-speed railway, so it is good to remind myself of how China is doing it.

Philippines: Manila to Cebu

After Hong Kong, I went to Manila to ride the old railways of Luzon. While I was in Manila, I visited Bonifacio Global City, and in Cebu, I visited Cebu IT Park. Both of these new urban areas are like private cities within each city. I will post a review of each city in the coming months.

Philippine Railways

My main mission in the Philippines was to ride the remnants of the Manila to Legazpi railway (the Bicol Express). Two sections are still operating, so I had to get a bus between the discontinued sections.

The railway isn’t useful for tourism, but I wanted to ride it to be able to say I’ve been on every railway in Southeast Asia. There is also a plan to build a modern railway in this corridor (PNR South Long Haul), so it was instructive to see what the current railway looks like.

I will be posting about this trip on Future Southeast Asia and at Nomadic Notes.

[Waiting to board the train at Calamba (south of Manila).]

Travel plans

I will be heading back to Chiang Mai for the next two months, so I will start working through articles from my most recent trips.

Weekly news

The weekly news was previously at the domain news.futuresoutheastasia.com. The weekly news roundup is now posted here at futuresoutheastasia.com for paid subscribers. Upgrade to Premium to get the weekly news updates.

Here are the last month’s issues of the weekly newsletter (click article links to upgrade).

• Future Southeast Asia News [29 Apr 2026]

World Bank’s $300M fund to enhance Cambodia’s transport transformation, Indonesia plans 14,000-km rail network outside Java, Sabah mulls Trans Borneo Railway, Clark second runway project, Johor Bahru-Singapore RTS Link testing, Thailand outlines 20 transport projects under THB1.38tn plan, mega urban area project near Halong Bay.

• Future Southeast Asia News [22 Apr 2026]

Sihanoukville stalled projects persist, Papua railway line survey in Jayapura, funding for 1,743 infra projects across the Philippines, common ticketing set for Bangkok, Da Nang metro project expected to break ground early next year.

• Future Southeast Asia News [15 Apr 2026]

Construction of Funan Techo Canal, Jakarta eyes Kota Tua as its flagship tourist hub, Laos advocates use of EV trucks to counter soaring fuel price, plans for Silicon Island on display, San Miguel pushes ahead with Boracay bridge, land half the size of Marina Bay expected to be reclaimed as part of Greater Southern Waterfront, feasibility studies behind Land Bridge ‘inaccurate’, construction begins on Hanoi-Quang Ninh high-speed railway line.

• Future Southeast Asia News [8 Apr 2026]

Old Phnom Penh Airport opens as public park for KNY, Indonesia’s seawall bet, Laos–Vietnam Railway Company, Penang Mutiara Line LRT project on track for 2031 opening, Singapore’s first 3D concrete printed pedestrian bridge, Thailand Transport Ministry fast-tracks Bt1.96tn mega-project pipeline, 99-story financial tower in Ho Chi Minh City’s Thu Thiem.

• Future Southeast Asia News [1 Apr 2026]

Former Phnom Penh International Airport all set to be cultural landmark, housing plan for Jakarta railway slum area, Kuching ART progress, Singapore to start preparatory works for Long Island, U-Tapao airport construction set for April 3, mountain expressway to cut Nha Trang-Da Lat drive from 4 hours to under 2.

Article updates

A cable car for Kinabalu?

Updated: Cable cars in Southeast Asia

I keep a list of current and proposed cable cars in Southeast Asia, and Mount Kinabalu has now joined the list of proposed cable car locations:

Proposed cable car for Mount Kinabalu must prioritise conservation, says minister

“The remarks come following a presentation by Jesselton International Sdn Bhd on its proposed Kinabalu Cable Car project, along with a feasibility study covering the Kundasang area.”

The report doesn’t specify whether the cable car would ascend the mountain or be located nearby.

Mount Kinabalu has an elevation of 4095 metres above sea level. For comparison, the world’s highest passenger ropeway station is China’s Dagu Glacier Gondola (4,843 metres), while the highest in Europe is the Matterhorn Glacier Ride (3,883 metres).

My flight from Cebu to Kuala Lumpur flew near Mount Kinabalu, and I got a great view of the mountain sticking its peak through the clouds.

Travel plans and meetups

Greetings from Da Nang! After seeing my family in Australia and attending to other life and business admin duties, I returned to Vietnam and spent most of March in Da Nang.

Next month, I am taking some new (to me) train trips for research and general expansion of my transport knowledge in the region. I am getting the only international train from Vietnam (Hanoi to Nanning), and a high-speed train to Hong Kong (just to remind myself what high-speed feels like). I’m then going to Manila and then travelling overland through Luzon.

If you are in Hong Kong or Manila in April and want to meet up, send me a message, and I’ll see if our paths align.

Site updates and other sites I’m working on

I moved the newsletter from news.futuresoutheastasia.com (at Beehiiv) to futuresoutheastasia.com (at WordPress), but it has not been a smooth transition. It turns out some plugins in my WordPress setup broke the subscription function. WordPress support has been working out what to do, and they have found the problem, so hopefully it will be fully transferred next month.

I also moved my monthly newsletter about Southeast Asia railways to southeastasiarailways.com. This newsletter features new railway news as well as general travel articles that don’t get featured on Future Southeast Asia. Subscribe for monthly updates.

I spent a month in Ho Chi Minh City in January/February, which gave me time to update my hochiminhcitymetro.com site. I published a map last year of the future metro system, which is a replica of the map that is on display at the stations. This map is already out of date, but the official metro authority website doesn’t have any updated maps with the new lines and alignments.

The best map I have found so far is via VnExpress, who have published an updated map with 10 lines.

Weekly news

The weekly newsletter is now posted at futuresoutheastasia.com for paid subscribers. Upgrade to Premium to get the weekly news updates.

Here are the last month’s issues of the weekly newsletter:

• Future Southeast Asia News [25 Mar 2026]

Mekong region fuel shortages, Laos seeks approval for railway to Vietnam, Philippine rail revival, rethinking Bangkok’s busiest bus hub, Vietnam plans two new rail links to China.

• Future Southeast Asia News [18 Mar 2026]

Kratie Mekong Bridge nears completion, President Prabowo wants all train stations to be modernized, Laos eyes BRT expansion to airport and railway station, ECRL tracks laid from Kota Bharu to Gombak, Panay–Guimaras–Negros Bridge construction set for 2027, Bangkok metro projects update, Hanoi considers second airport.

• Future Southeast Asia News [11 Mar 2026]

Redesign of former Phnom Penh Airport, Fifth and Sixth Lao-Thai Friendship Bridges, Penang tackles land acquisition and relocation for Mutiara Line LRT, Bangkok Southern Purple Line and Western Orange Line on track for 2030 opening, investor selected for Phan Thiet Airport civil aviation project.

• Future Southeast Asia News [4 Mar 2026]

Cambodia approves new Ratanakiri airport, Indonesia to reactivate 12,000 km of railway lines, Trans-Borneo Railway feasibility study expected by mid-year, Visayas-Mindanao link feasibility study underway, U-Tapao Airport project to kick off on April 3, Vietnam PM orders emergency construction of HCMC-Long Thanh railway link.

Article updates

The proposed Chiang Mai LRT might start with an easy section first

Updated: Chiang Mai Mass Transit – Proposed 3-line light rail system

After over a year of no updates, Chiang Mai has announced a plan for the light rail transit. The line is the proposed 5 km southern extension of the Red Line.

The line isn’t particularly useful by itself, but it appears to be the easiest section to build of the Red Line, which will include ground-level and underground sections.

I walked the entire length of the proposed Red Line last year, and the road at the southern end of the line has enough room to sacrifice some lanes for a tramway.

This photo shows where the original alignment ends, with the proposed extension continuing along this road.

While it makes sense to start the line at the end instead of in the middle, there is a danger of the most useful section (from the airport to the old city) not being built. This would leave a 5 km tram line in the suburbs that doesn’t solve any traffic problems.

This transit system has been proposed since at least the early 2000’s, so if you are just finding out about this proposal, then don’t get too excited about it yet.

The Vientiane – Vung Ang Railway moves forward (with an impressive railway model to go with it)

Updated: Vientiane – Vung Ang Railway: proposed railway connecting landlocked Laos to a seaport

The Lao government has submitted a proposal to the National Assembly to move forward with the proposed railway from Vientiane to Vung Ang Port in Vietnam.

This has been planned for years, but it was good timing that they announced this while the country is grappling with fuel shortages. A direct link to a seaport will give landlocked Laos another path to import fuel.

This article (in Thai, translated here) shows an impressive model of the railway, including details of the mountains east of the Mekong River.

Greetings from Australia! I’m back in my homeland for a short visit, and I will be returning to Southeast Asia next month to resume research trips for Future Southeast Asia.

Travel update

Instead of getting a direct flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Melbourne, I flew to KL so I could try out the new electric railway service from Kuala Lumpur to Johor Bahru.

SGN to KUL is one of my most flown routes. It was a bit of a gamble to fly on the last weekend of the Lunar New Year, and normally, I would avoid air travel at this time.

It took 40 minutes to clear immigration and security at SGN, which was fast considering the overflowing queue. It still baffles me that there isn’t a separate queue for Vietnamese and foreign passports.

KUL can also be bad on holidays, so I was prepared for the worst. The worst thing about the budget terminal is how narrow the walkways are, despite it being a massive terminal.

[Cramped space of KUL T2]

The good news is that there are now e-gates for select passports. Even with a big queue, I was out in 5 minutes. This makes a huge difference in your spirits by not having to queue for an hour. There are no passport stamps, but considering my last passport was retired early due to repeat visits, I am happy to save pages.

[Passports eligible for e-gates at KUL.]

The best feature of KUL is the airport train, which is the best in Southeast Asia. I hope that the new airport for Ho Chi Minh City (Long Thanh International Airport) will have gates and an express airport rail link.

[Onboard the KL Ekspres.]

The electric train from KL to JB is a great improvement over the old diesel service that used to operate on this line.

From JB, I got the shuttle train to Woodlands in Singapore, and then the MRT to central Singapore. The new electric train makes the trip faster, but it is still a hassle with three different trains to get to Singapore. I will have a review of the new train service coming up.

I flew out of Singapore, and there is currently an exhibition at the airport for the Terminal 5 project (T5 In the Making Exhibition). It’s worth a visit if you are at the airport and have time. The exhibition includes a display model, and I counted 75 airbridges.

[Model of T5 Changi Airport.]

Here is the Changi Airport T5 project page.

Future Southeast Asia Site update

I’m still in the process of transferring the newsletter from news.futuresoutheastasia.com to futuresoutheastasia.com. One of the issues has been that I have been using the old WordPress system at futuresoutheastasia.com. I can only use the newsletter service with the new WordPress editor (which is years old now). The good news is that I can add more features to the site by using the new editor.

Once everything is migrated, I can start tinkering with site design. I was reading this article about making maps with AI tools, which required using the current WordPress editor. This list migration will enable me to add new features to the site.

Weekly news

The weekly newsletter is now posted at futuresoutheastasia.com for paid subscribers. Upgrade to Premium to get the monthly newsletter.

Upgrade To Premium

Here are the last month’s issues of the weekly newsletter:

• Future Southeast Asia News [25 Feb 2026]

Revised Penang LRT, Metro Cebu Subway feasibility study in Oct 2026, first Thai-built light rail tram begins test runs in Khon Kaen, new passenger terminal for Dili Airport, HCMC plans 99-story tower for international financial center in Thu Thiem.

• Future Southeast Asia News [18 Feb 2026]

Indonesia to use state budget to repay Whoosh high-speed rail debt, Savannakhet’s 270-meter wooden bridge faces final season, Malaysia’s new rail system stages preview run, Thai–Chinese high-speed rail phase 1 hits 51%, Vietnam proposes expressway link between Ho Chi Minh City and Phnom Penh.

• Future Southeast Asia News [11 Feb 2026]

Public parks in Phnom Penh, MRT East-West corridor to strengthen Jakarta as global city, redevelopment project in George Town heritage area, Myanmar opens Dala Bridge, demo run of Metro Manila Subway set on 2028, JB-Singapore RTS Link arrives at Woodlands North, Don Mueang-Suvarnabhumi expansion, Da Nang maps out MRT/LRT lines in urban railway network.

• Future Southeast Asia News [4 Feb 2026]

Construction firms push back Funan Techo Canal construction, Nusantara is not a ghost town, KL must safeguard its green spaces, reviving the Mindanao railway project, Singapore MRT Circle Line 6 extension, Suvarnabhumi Airport expansion, Phu Quoc launches $2.6B mega hotel projects for APEC 2027.

Article updates

Here are some articles that have been updated this month.

The Thai Land Bridge proposal lives on (for now)

Updated: Why the Thai Land Bridge is a bad idea

There was an election in Thailand this month, which usually brings out the most extravagant infrastructure proposals. The Thai Land Bridge is still being supported by the government, and there has been some news about it.

I updated my article on why the Thai Land Bridge is a bad idea to include possible freight train lengths. I found this article about the longest freight train in India:

“Indian Railways launched the ‘Rudrastra’ freight train in 2025, which is said to be the longest freight train in Asia. The train stretches nearly 4.5 kilometres with 354 wagons and is powered by seven locomotives. That equals 708 TEU per train, so a ship with 14,000 TEU would need 20 trains that can haul 354 40-foot containers at a time.”

This is just for one container ship, so imagine how many trains are needed to service several container ships a day in each direction.

Vientiane’s short-lived BRT

Updated: Vientiane BRT – Urban Transit System

Asian Development Bank urges faster infrastructure delivery as Vientiane’s Bus Rapid Transit system stalls

“The BRT initially launched as a free trial during November’s That Luang Festival but has since entered an indefinite suspension, with no official timeline for resumption.”

The BRT runs down the main north-south road in the city, and it involves dedicated lanes for the BRT. There are not enough roads for cross-town traffic in Vientiane, so I couldn’t see how it was going to work.

When the Udon Thani to Vientiane train service was announced, it didn’t seem like a service that would attract many passengers. I rode it not long after it opened, and the service was discontinued shortly thereafter.

I felt that the BRT service would not last long either, so I wanted to see it in action before it closed. Unfortunately, it closed before I could visit.

Hello from Ho Chi Minh City, and welcome to the new format of the Future Southeast Asia monthly news update. More on that below.

Ho Chi Minh City is usually one of my home bases, but I haven’t been here for 6 months. A lot has changed in this time, and it feels like there is a buzz in the air as the country has set a GDP growth target of at least 10% in 2026-2030. That seems absurdly high, but the mood feels different here compared to where I was last month (Thailand and Cambodia). Thailand media are now publishing articles about the rise of Vietnam as an economic threat, while Cambodia is grappling with scam compound controversies (and both countries have the unresolved border dispute).

I will have city reports for Bangkok, Phnom Penh, and Ho Chi Minh City over the next couple of months.

[A two-tower project in central HCMC that has restarted construction after years of delays.]

Future Southeast Asia Site update

It’s coming up to 5 years since I have been posting at Future Southeast Asia (and about 7 years since I originally started as Living in Asia).

A new year marks a good time to reassess what works, so I am making some changes for 2026/The Year Of The Horse.

[Yours truly, getting ready for the Year of the Horse.]

Merger of futuresoutheastasia.com and news.futuresoutheasia.com

I originally started futuresoutheastasia.com to make fact sheets about construction and transport projects in Southeast Asia. I then started a Substack newsletter at news.futuresoutheasia.com to cover news. I eventually moved the newsletter to Beehiiv, keeping the same subdomain format.

The two domains are messy, and I can’t create a unified site style, so I am moving the news to futuresoutheastasia.com and retiring news.futuresoutheasia.com. Once this is done, I can think about future redesigns of the site.

If you are a subscriber to the newsletter, the transition should be seamless, though the paid subscriber list is taking longer to move.

The weekly news roundup is going premium

I have published a weekly news round every week since 2020. The roundup has grown from taking a few hours to taking the better part of a day once I factor in finding links and reading during the week.

The news goes out every Wednesday, so I usually don’t do long travel days on Wednesday (otherwise, I prepare the news the day before).

The weekly news articles will now be for paid subscribers. This newsletter goes out every week without fail, but it is becoming unsustainable for me to continue it without subscriber support. Find out how to subscribe at the end of this article.

Weekly editorial articles are going public

I also do a weekly article, which goes out on Monday or Tuesday (depending on how long the article takes). About half of these have been for paid subscribers, so these will now be public articles.

Not having the pressure of doing a weekly article will allow me to write longer articles that I have been putting off. Some articles might take a week (i.e, 5 working days spread out over time), so I can do those when I am not travelling. I also want to spend as much time visiting a new city and taking notes, instead of being holed up in a hotel writing this week’s article.

So the new format is weekly news for paid subscribers, and weeklyish public articles.

Monthly public update

The new publishing schedule also includes this monthly public report that goes out at the end of the month (which is what you are reading now).

In addition to needing time to write new articles, I need time to update old articles. The monthly update will include updates to old articles. I will also add travel plans, meetup dates, and other bits of writing that don’t fit anywhere else.

Travel plans

I am in Ho Chi Minh City for a month, which includes visits to cities that were merged into HCMC last year (Vung Tau and Binh Duong).

I am going back to Australia for my annual visit next month. Whenever I go back to Australia, I like to do it in stages rather than a direct flight. I will fly to KL, get the new electric train from KL to JB, and then cross into Singapore.

After Australia, I will come back to Vietnam. I plan to take the train from Hanoi to Nanning to review the direct train service.

Planned but not booked are trips to Maritime Southeast Asia.

In the Philippines, I plan to travel between Manila and Cebu to review the two cities and see the fragmented railways on Luzon.

In Indonesia, I plan to visit Padang and the railways of West Sumatra. I should also be visiting Jakarta more often now that it is the world’s largest city. The new capital of Nusantara is also on the list, so that will probably include a stop in Bali.

Other loose plans include a rail trip from Vientiane to Kunming, and then 2 trains back to Hanoi.

Article updates

Here are some articles that have been updated this month.

Keeping the Bangkok-Chiang Mai Shinkansen dream alive

Updated: Bangkok – Chiang Mai High-Speed Railway

• Thailand’s first Shinkansen-style high-speed rail line, “Bangkok–Chiang Mai,” awaits a new government to move forward, as the EIA has not yet expired.

I saw this article in Thai media, but I have not seen any English news coverage of it, so I have published a translation.

The Bangkok-Chiang Mai high-speed railway is all but dead, but technically, it is still alive. The main problem now is that the proposed line by Japan may not be compatible with the section of the China Bangkok-Nong Khai high-speed railway.

Cable cars in Southeast Asia

Updated: Cable cars in Southeast Asia

There have been some new and revived cable car proposals since I last updated the list.

• Baguio revisits cable car, elevated train proposals

“An abandoned plan to improve Baguio’s public transportation with elevated trains or cable cars is back on the table”.

There are no cable cars in Southeast Asia that are used for urban transit, but Baguio might be suitable as a city.

Baguio is known as the “Summer Capital of the Philippines”, with an approximate elevation of 1,500 meters. This is similar to Da Lat in Vietnam, which has previously proposed a monorail system.

Cable cars as urban transit have become popular in Latin America, where there are many cities in mountainous areas. Paris recently added a cable car to its transit system due to a section that could not be crossed by rail.

• Ho Chi Minh City proposes cable car for island airport access amid tourism boom

“Ho Chi Minh City has proposed building a 15-kilometer cable car linking Co Ong Airport with the center of Con Dao, aiming to ease future congestion while limiting damage to the island’s forests.”

(Con Dao was merged into Ho Chi Minh City last year.)

• Phu Kradueng cable car project moves ahead, set for completion in 2028

Phu Kradueng National Park is in Loei Province in northeast Thailand.

The Next Singapore

Updated: The Next Singapore

I keep a list of articles on cities and countries that use Singapore as a benchmark for development.

• Malaysia wants to be cleaner than Singapore: minister

Will Spain and France be building Vietnam’s high-speed railway?

Updated: Technology contenders for the Vietnam high-speed railway

At the start of January, the Vietnamese government announced that it would select technology providers for the North-South High-Speed Railway by January 15:

“Accordingly, for the high-speed railway project on the North-South axis, the Ministry of Construction, based on the direction of the Politburo, shall preside over and select the most suitable technology for the project, submit it to the Standing Government for reporting to competent authorities, and complete it before January 15.”

January 15 came and went without any news reports. I posted this news on LinkedIn, and Alberto Moreno Tablado (Co-founder and CEO at Baolau) alerted me to a news story on the Spanish news site, elEconomista.es. I have translated the article here:

Spain enters Vietnam’s ‘AVE’ project: Ineco and Renfe win the initial contract for a project worth more than 57.5 billion euros

There has also been an announcement from Ineco:

Ineco brings the Spanish stamp to Vietnam’s first high-speed railway line

“The consortium in which Ineco participates, together with the French company Artelia, its subsidiary in the country Artelia Vietnam, RCIC as a local partner and with the collaboration of Renfe International Projects, will be in charge of the feasibility study, as well as the development of the basic engineering, necessary to specify the scope, technical requirements and costs of the following construction phases.”

There has been no announcement from Artelia. Their Vietnam website has an old news report about attending a high-speed rail event in Hanoi.

The local media have not posted anything about this announcement yet, so I will post an update when more news is announced.

Weekly news

• Future Southeast Asia News [7 Jan 2026]
Indonesia targets completion of 6,900 bridges in remote areas by 2026, Vientiane’s Wat Tay Canal could become floating night market, public transport in Greater KL functional but fragile, PNR revival of the Bicol Express, new developments in Singapore’s Downtown, Bangkok plans a new walkable landmark over the Chao Phraya, HCMC Metro Line 3 proposal.

• Future Southeast Asia News [14 Jan 2026]
Jakarta to clear derelict monorail pillars, railway between Vientiane and Pakse, Penang LRT construction starts, Korean-Japanese JV to design Manila train network, HCMC bridge and undersea tunnel between Can Gio and Vung Tau.

• Future Southeast Asia News [21 Jan 2026]
Redeveloping old Phnom Penh airport, Jakarta sinks deeper as subsidence worsens flood risks, redesigning Kuala Lumpur’s public spaces, Mindanao Railway revived, new bridge to link Marina Centre and Gardens by the Bay, Thailand construction mishaps pile up, and Ho Chi Minh City officially begins construction of Metro Line 2.

• Future Southeast Asia News [28 Jan 2026]
How Asia’s megacities can learn from each other, Cambodia bets big on state-led development, Jakarta to break ground on giant sea wall in September, Bukit Chagar station takes shape on Johor Bahru-Singapore RTS Link, Philippines government earmarks P7.8 billion for upgrade of 19 airports, Ho Chi Minh City’s Metro Line 2 tunnel work and extension study.

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Thanks for reading the Future Southeast Asia Newsletter!

Future Southeast Asia is now publishing a jobs board for professional work related to construction, transport, and infrastructure in Southeast Asia.

Check out the jobs board at jobs.futuresoutheastasia.com (beta).

About Future Southeast Asia Jobs

I receive email requests on how to find work at the projects listed on this site. I’m not affiliated with any of the construction companies mentioned on the site so I can’t help with job applications. What Future Southeast Asia can do is bring employers and prospective candidates together.

Listing a job

Employers can create a public company profile before posting a job listing. Register at the Employer Panel.

Example Employer Profile: futuresoutheastasia.com

Profile pages are public, so anyone searching for “your company” + “job” will be able to find the listing in search results.

Job locations should be physically based in Southeast Asia. Remote work positions are also acceptable if it’s for a project in Southeast Asia.

Companies can take advantage of the discounted rate of $50 USD per listing while the job board is in beta.

Finding a job

Candidates are free to register and apply for jobs. Create a resume and update it anytime. Your resume can be shared with a personal link. Register at the Candidate Panel.

Example Candidate Profile: /resume/james-clark/

Beta notes

Future Southeast Asia Jobs is in beta while the site finds the most suitable format.

Welcome to Future Southeast Asia!

livinginasia.co has now moved to a new brand and domain at futuresoutheastasia.com.

Ever since launching Version 1 of Living In Asia in March 2018 the site has continued to evolve. What initially began as a site where I posted once a month or so has grown into a leading resource for news related to construction, transport, and infrastructure in Southeast Asia.

Version 2 – Launching The Newsletter

Version 2 of Living In Asia began in April 2020 with the launch of the weekly newsletter. The newsletter is free to subscribe and it includes extra commentary on weekly articles, as well as a roundup of the latest news in Southeast Asia related to transport, construction, and infrastructure. The newsletter also records updates on old posts, so if you are following a particular project you can find out the latest news.

The newsletter also has a new URL at news.futuresoutheastasia.com. If you are already a subscriber then you will continue to get the weekly newsletter as per usual. If you haven’t subscribed, then subscribe here:

Version 3 – Future Southeast Asia

As of 16 March 2021, Living In Asia is now rebranded to Future Southeast Asia with a new domain at futuresoutheastasia.com.

Future Southeast Asia continues with the work I have been doing on Living In Asia, covering construction, transport, infrastructure, urban design, heritage conservation, and city planning in Southeast Asia.

The new name marks the next phase of the site where I will expand the coverage to more cities in Southeast Asia. In the future, I will be publishing more editorials and create new concept maps. I will also be publishing videos on the YouTube channel, and once travel returns to normal I will be available for talks at conferences related to transport and construction.

Future Southeast Asia is also open to guest writers who can contribute to topics on the theme of the site, and you are welcome to email topic suggestions or tip-offs of new projects that would be of interest to readers of Future Southeast Asia.

Social Media

Future Southeast Asia can be found at the usual social media sites under the new name:

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
YouTube

Living In Asia launched in 2018 to provide news updates on construction and infrastructure projects in Asia.

I started this site by compiling lists of current and proposed construction projects in cities in Southeast Asia.

[Future Kuala Lumpur…maybe.]

My research led to more in-depth articles about transport and infrastructure that is not being written about anywhere else.

Such articles include a comparison of cost and construction times of first metro lines in Asia and reporting on Vietnam’s aviation market.

This site has also been an outlet to be more creative in a way that would not be possible on a regular news site. While living in Ho Chi Minh City and studying the proposed metro system, I made an expanded concept map of what Saigon would look like if it had a subway like Shanghai.

[Ho Chi Minh City Metro Concept Map.]

Over the last two years I’ve built up a body of work that represents a cross-section of city development issues. I’m now at the point where I have so many ideas to research and write about that I need to take this site to the next level. 

I want this site to be an authority on city development and transport in Asia, presented in an easy-to-read and entertaining format.

To support the future of this site I’m introducing a subscription service newsletter.

Introducing The New Living In Asia Newsletter at Substack

Living In Asia currently has a monthly newsletter which is a summary of articles published over the last month. The newsletter mailing list will be moved to the Substack platform and will also offer a paid weekly option, in addition to the free monthly newsletter.

The new newsletter can be found at news.futuresoutheastasia.com.

Free Monthly Newsletter

If you are already a subscriber then you will be on the free monthly newsletter, exactly the same as it is now. This monthly email is a roundup of the latest articles published over the last month.

Subscription Weekly Newsletter

You can also opt in to subscribe to the paid weekly newsletter. This newsletter will include a weekly news round-up with editorial comments, and trip reports not featured publicly on Living In Asia.

The weekly newsletter subscription is $5 per month or $50 per year.

Why subscribe to the weekly newsletter

My current focus is on writing freely available articles at https://futuresoutheastasia.com. That will not change. As such I don’t want to get bogged down in frequent posts on the newsletter. I think a once-a-week newsletter strikes a good balance of providing added value while letting me continue with my work.

The newsletter will include a curated weekly round-up of news links related to the urban development and transit in Asia.

The weekly newsletter will also be a micro-blog. When I first started Living In Asia I was posting monthly news roundups with added commentary. The problem with this style of blogging is that Google now considers such posts as thin content, and sites can be penalised for posting too much content like this. This is what people mean when they say blogging is dead.

For a blog to be successful, articles on the site need to be about a specific subject. For example I rank well for Long Thanh International Airport (the proposed new airport for HCMC) as it is the most comprehensive guide on the subject. But if I post a 300 word article with some links and general thoughts it will never be found again after it is published. 

With the newsletter I can post commentary on a variety of subjects without worrying if it’s search engine friendly or not.

For my factsheet series, I want to keep reports free of personal opinions. So on the site, a factsheet like the Bandar Malaysia project in Kuala Lumpur has information presented in a matter-of-fact way, without out adding any editorial. In the private paid newsletter I will add my personal thoughts and open it for discussion.

The weekly newsletter will be like an informal second blog. Paid members can also make requests for factsheets and suggestions for future trips.

Subscribe to the newsletter at news.futuresoutheastasia.com.

Independent ad-free reports

As this site has grown I have been wondering how to monetise it in the future.

I had entertained the idea of offering sponsored posts for real estate and construction businesses. I’m not against sponsored posts on other sites, like the new apartment advertisements in the Bangkok Post. It’s something I’m interested in reading, and it pays the bills for the newspaper.

I’ve also had offers from real estate companies to promote apartment projects for a commission. This would have effectively made me a real estate agent, and I would have been forced to write phrases like “the ultimate in luxury”.

Ultimately this is not a good fit for this site as I want to be able to freely write about the good, the bad, and the ugly of property developments. With a subscription service I can remain independent and free of perceived editorial conflict of interests.

At the moment the site has contextual advertising served by Google Adsense. The goal is to make the site self-sufficient with reader subscriptions. There will be no ads, sponsored posts, or affiliate links in the paid newsletter.

What to expect in the future at Living In Asia

With the support from subscribers I plan to do more field trips around Asia. I’m currently based in Ho Chi Minh City, so travelling around Southeast Asia is easy enough from here. In the future I may spend some time in Jakarta and Manila to expand my coverage of Maritime Southeast Asia.

One place I plan to visit soon is the site of the proposed new capital of Indonesia in Borneo, and visit the big cities of Kalimantan in the process.

There will also be continuing coverage of the new railways of Southeast Asia. I will ride every new railway that opens, and make visits to railways under construction for progress reports.

[Future Vientiane Railway station, with direct services to Kunming and Bangkok.]

Some of the new railways include:

– China-Laos Railway.

– Singapore – Kuala Lumpur High-speed Railway.

– Bangkok to Phnom Penh. 

– Jakarta – Bandung High-speed Railway.

– South Sulawesi railway.

– New railways in the Philippines.

[China-Laos railway construction near Luang Prabang.]

While I’m on the Bangkok to Phnom Penh train I would make a stop at Poipet. No one goes to Poipet, but in recent years there has been Chinese money pouring in. I want to see what’s going on there, and other Special Economic Zones in Asia.

There is a lot of construction happening in provincial cities that you rarely read about, so I want to cover those places.

I will work on long form articles that require more research, and make some more concept maps.

My focus has been on Southeast Asia as I am based in the region. The site will eventually expand to include reports from East Asia and South Asia.

If I get more subscriptions I can also start running guest posts. I’ve already had a resident Bangkok expert write about ways to fix Bangkok.

If you are new here I also publish a travel blog at Nomadic Notes. I started Living In Asia after realising that writing about construction and infrastructure was looking out of place on a travel blog.

My modus operandi when visiting a city in Asia is to write separate articles for both sites. I write construction and infrastructure articles at Living In Asia, and then post a trip report and other stories related to travel at Nomadic Notes.

For example, during my visit to Johor Bahru I published Future Johor at Living In Asia, and a trip report at Nomadic Notes.

If you are interested about travel in Asia then also subscribe to the Nomadic Notes free weekly travel newsletter for updates on new posts.

About Substack

Substack is a platform that enables writers to become self-publishers by offering an email subscription service to their readers.

This simple service is part email provider and part blog. As a non-subscriber you can go to the site and see previous issues before you subscribe.

There are a number of journalists who are now flourishing in the Substack ecosystem, some of whom are posting multiple times a week as if it was a full-time job. Sinocism is an excellent example of a news sites that is focussing on a specific niche, and they now have over 50,000 subscribers.

After shopping around for different platforms it looks like Substack is a good way to build an online community while keeping my writing on my own site.

With Substack you can unsubscribe at any time, and your email will never be used for other mailing lists or other spammy things.

Join the community

If you’re a construction or transport professional, an infrastructure nerd, a frequent traveller to Asia, or if you just love living in the big, crazy cities of Asia, subscribe to Living In Asia to keep up to date with the latest developments. I hope to see you inside this new community as I grow this site.

Sign up at news.futuresoutheastasia.com.

Thanks for reading!

Welcome to the rebooted livinginasia.co – a site dedicated to urban design, heritage, infrastructure, and transport in Asia.

Living In Asia began in 2014 with the intention of covering location independent / digital nomad lifestyle tips in Asia. As the site developed I soon realised that most of what I was covering is already being done sufficiently on other nomad sites. I’ve moved most of those articles to my travel blog at nomadicnotes.com.

In the meantime I’ve ended up spending even more time in Southeast Asia, and my focus has shifted to infrastructure and development in Asia. I’ve been writing about redevelopment and urban planning more at nomadicnotes.com, such as the changing face of Saigon, the 2017 edition, and a look at how KL is transforming its old city.

I’ve also been covering rail transport (metro and regional railways). I began a project mapping the future railway proposals of Southeast Asia, starting out with a subway-style metro map.

A year later I revisited the map to see what has been changed, and I made a map showing current and proposed railways.

I’ve been doing this from my adopted quasi-homebase of Saigon, which is experiencing a dramatic transformation – for better and worse. Saigon is the only mega city in Southeast Asia that has no metropolitan railway of any kind. The first metro line is being built now, with a total of nine rail projects on the cards. I created an updated map of the metro as there isn’t an updated version yet.

In terms of development I am both amazed and dismayed at the current rate of development in Saigon. While the city is getting much needed redevelopment, it is coming at a cost of lost heritage. The remaining heritage buildings need to be conserved to make it a liveable place for residents, an interesting place for tourists, and an attractive place to do business.

[Demolition of old Saigon.]

This article about Shanghai conserving buildings of historical value sums up well what other cities should be doing:

“Shanghai…successfully uses its heritage to highlight its competitive advantage as a vibrant and attractive place to live. Protecting old buildings in Shanghai is not just about sentiment or vanity; it’s hard economics and integrated into the planning of the local urban economy.”

Other cities have already been through this. Singapore destroyed a lot of its historic downtown core before it became conscious of the value of heritage conservation. Cities like Saigon need not make the same mistakes.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m all for sexy modern architecture. I would love to see more towers designed by the likes of Ole Scheeren. There just needs to be a balance between development and heritage conservation.

This blog is partly born out this viewpoint. I’ve compiled so much information about development in Asian cities that it makes sense to put it on a dedicated blog. I will keep my travel updates on Nomadic Notes.

Initially I will be focussing on the cities I visit every year (Saigon, Bangkok, KL, Singapore, Hong Kong), and I will add more cities as I go. The site is also open for guest posts. I’m still working out a site format, but it will also include a news roundup. Sign up to the newsletter to stay updated.