5 Years of the Future Southeast Asia Newsletter!

Today is the 5th anniversary of the Future Southeast Asia Newsletter. I was going to mention this in the weekly news round-up, but I figured I would make a separate post with some site updates.

260 weeks of weekly news

I started this newsletter (under the name “Living In Asia”) in April 2020 during my first pandemic lockdown in Ho Chi Minh City. I was previously writing more about travel, but like other travel professionals, I had to find other things to do.

I was already covering transport and infrastructure in Southeast Asia on a part-time basis, so this newsletter became my pandemic pivot. I now consider Future Southeast Asia my forever job (unless I get made an offer I can’t refuse).

The weekly newsletter goes out every Wednesday, and it has now been 260 weeks in a row that the newsletter has gone out.

Upgrade to the Premium Newsletter

The Premium section of the newsletter is for paid subscribers, and it includes construction reports and other editorial articles.

I have considered running ads in the newsletter to cover costs, but the ads on offer aren’t aligned with this specific niche. I have ads on my other travel newsletter, so I will keep this newsletter ad-free.

I have also considered sponsored posts. I often see ads for property developers in the region, but this will cause problems if I run an ad for a developer and then they are featured in a news article for some wrongdoing.

I use display ads on futuresoutheastasia.com, which are automatically served.

A Premium membership is the best way to support the newsletter. It’s $5 a month or $50 a year.

To my current Premium subscribers, thank you for your continued support!

Travel plans

I’m currently travelling around Vietnam, so after this trip I will go back to Chiang Mai for a few months. Once I am off the road, I can write some longer articles and get back to making some concept maps (here are my previous concept maps).

I have a list of places that I want to cover on Future Southeast Asia. My travel shortlist includes:

Cambodia

My last trip to Cambodia covered the two train lines. The next trip will cover the new Phnom Penh Airport (Techo International Airport) and Dara Sakor Airport in Koh Kong province. I haven’t been to the new Siem Reap airport yet, so that is also an option.

Laos

-Bokeo (Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone)

-Boten (train station on the Laos-China border)

-Vientiane (Vientiane BRT and new urban areas)

-Sithandone SEZ (Four Thousand Islands New Area)

Indonesia

-West Sumatra (Padang and fragmented railways)

I have been on most of the railways of Sumatra, so this is the last region to cover.

-Java

Still lots of rail lines I haven’t been on to cities I‘ve not covered.

-Kalimantan

I have not been to Kalimantan, so it would be fitting to visit Nusantara (the new capital city) and some of the big cities, such as Balikpapan.

Malaysia

-Genting Highlands (resort area near KL)

-Cameron Highlands (overdevelopment and bad urban planning)

Philippines

-Cebu (new flight from Vietnam saves a Manila transfer)

Thailand

-Chiang Rai (enter Laos via Golden Triangle)

Vietnam

-Tan Son Nhat International Airport (new Terminal 3)

-Cat Ba Island (new urban area being built on reclaimed bay)

-Van Don (reclaimed land projects near Ha Long Bay)

Conferences and meetups

Future Southeast Asia is available for conference media partnerships. I am also available for speaking about new railway projects in Southeast Asia.

I’m also available for meetups. Send a message if you see I am in your area, and we can see if our schedules align.

Your suggestions

I have fine-tuned my news collection system for the weekly news round-up, but there are still projects that I miss. Are there any projects you would like to see covered that I may have missed? This includes new urban areas, unusual buildings, and transport projects.

You can also just reply and say hi. I’m always interested to hear from readers, and what your background is.