Weekly travel reads: Road trip to the top of Norway

[The Travel Wire #92] The caste system of travel, notes on Lamphun, aboard the celebrity impersonators’ cruise, lost in Lesotho, and more travel reads.

Travel reads

• Journey into the midnight sun: my solo road trip to the top of Norway [The Guardian]
“I found cinematic landscapes, wild freedom and thousands of miles of perfect solitude on my campervan adventure through the Nordic countries.”

• The caste system of travel (archive) [The Weekender By The Jakarta Post]
“From embassy queues to airport holding rooms, a personal journey through passportism and the hidden privileges of global mobility.”

• Notes on Lamphun – Chiang Mai’s charming little neighbour [Nomadic Notes]

• Wish you were her [n+1]
“Aboard the celebrity impersonators’ cruise.”

• The sites fighting to be removed from the Unesco World Heritage List (archive) [BBC Travel]
“It recognises places of “outstanding universal value” and can catapult lesser-known sites to global fame. So why are some places pleading to be removed from the list?”

• Cambodia is an amazing country. And tourism is way down, so it’s a terrific time to go. [Brent and Michael Are Going Places]
“And yes, despite recent military clashes with Thailand, it’s still very safe.”

• Lost in Lesotho: Ignoring the GPS on the Sani Pass [Intrepid Times]
“In defiance of a GPS determined to send them back to South Africa–or else threaten to drive them off the edge of a cliff–a couple ventures into Lesotho’s winding highlands, where snowstorms, Basotho blanket-clad hitchhikers, and lonely roads take them on a treacherous, but altogether more rewarding, adventure.”

• Bonifacio Global City – The Singapore of Manila, or the Manhattan of Asia? [Future Southeast Asia]
“Bonifacio Global City (BGC) is a planned central business district in the City of Taguig (one of the cities in Metropolitan Manila). I’ve seen it described as the Manhattan of Asia and the Singapore of Manila. Both of these descriptions sound hyperbolic, so I had to see for myself.”

• Notes on Egypt [ChinaTalk]
“When my driver picked me up to take me to the New Capital, he was certain there had been a booking mistake. “Are you sure you want to go this way? I can take you to the pyramids or Alexandria instead.””

• Hidden war, underrated food, Chinese influence: I explored Laos and found it at the crossroads [CNA Lifestyle]
“On the banks of the Mekong, from Vientiane to Luang Prabang, this writer explores Laos through family travel, local food and the country’s hidden wartime history.”

• Traveling as an introvert [Travelling Troubadour]
“My husband talks to strangers so I don’t have to.”

• Don’t flock with the flamingoes [Marklands]
“Why Albanians chose large pink birds over the Trump family and their own Prime Minister: a story from the frontline of tourism development.”

• How a tourist couple changed a Vietnamese cyclo driver’s fate [Eastside Asia]

• When locals mislead travel writers [Jack Montgomery Writer]
“The art of misdirection.”

• The immersion method of Travel [The Perennial Nomad]

• Walking to nowhere, in Thailand [Inside the Outside]
“A 5.30am circuit around a temple, searching for the nothing – exactly where I need to be.”

• Abandoned ‘Titanic’, failing ‘ancient towns’: Why China’s tourism boom leaves white elephants behind [The Business Times]
“Many ambitious megaprojects across the country have stalled or failed to attract visitors.”

• Getting lost for the first time [Seasfor Creative]