Construction update on the Southeast coast of Vietnam. The weird building in a land corruption scandal, a mega-hotel on top of a sand dune, empty new urban developments, and the lost beach of Mui Ne. Binh Thuan is a province I’m continually drawn to in Vietnam, probably because Phan Thiet is the closest beach city […]
2023 trip reports
Penang construction update (2023 edition)
Trip report for my visit to Penang in March 2023. New hotels questionably close to the old town, an endangered historic cinema, and land reclamation mania. Penang is one of the main cities that I revisit every year, with 2021 being the only year I missed in the last decade (no prizes for guessing why). […]
Langkawi trip report
A big tower comes to Cenang Beach, an inappropriate Dubai-like development, and yet another mediocre urban development that Malaysia does so well. Langkawi is one of the largest islands in Malaysia, known for its natural beauty and eco-activities. The island has been recognised as a UNESCO World Geopark, so it would usually be an island […]
Pattaya trip report
The proposed high-speed railway station, an urban railway from station to sea, demolishing the notorious Walking Street, and visiting the retirement beaches. Pattaya is the closest beach city to Bangkok (though not the closest beach), so it gets a lot of weekenders from Bangkok. I wasn’t planning on visiting this year, but then I saw a […]
Danang construction report for 2023
Revisiting the construction sites in the city and along the coastal road to Hoi An, including a mini Dubai by the sea, and the apartment that Ronaldo didn’t build. When the pandemic shut the international borders of Vietnam down (taking much of the travel industry with it), the construction industry still carried on. Hotel projects […]
Phnom Penh trip report (2023 edition)
Construction reports for Koh Pich (the fake Paris island), BKK1 (the booming expat area), and Phnom Penh City Center (the city rising out of a drained lake). My first trip report for 2023 begins in Phnom Penh. This was a shorter trip than usual, as it was a visa run from Vietnam that was timed […]
