Feature of the month

It seems barely a week passes without some new ghastly story hitting the airwaves about corruption in Thailand. Be it beer mat nabbing mums in Phuket, tourists being extorted at the airport or the old tried and tested gem scam story it seems Thailand should be slapped with a "buyer beware" sticker. Over the last year, and far more seriously in Travelfish's humble opinion, we've seen ongoing political uncertainties, street protests in Bangkok, border clashes with Cambodia and the neverending shifting sands of visa regulations. More and more often I wake wondering: Does Thailand really want tourists to come at all? ... Corruption in Thailand -- full story

Destination of the week

Midway between the capital cities of Singapore and Kuala Lumpur and at the mouth of the Strait of Melaka, a crucial shipping route connecting the Indian and Pacific oceans, Melaka has been a centre of trade and cultural exchange for more than 600 years. But today, it is more a popular weekend escape for city-dwellers from Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Largely tout-free, backpackers and independent travellers taking advantage of Melaka's many good guesthouses are unlikely to get hassled – you're not the target market here. Check it out -- you'll like it! Read more about Melaka here.

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Tours \ Treks  In Thailand: by fevoldj2	0	6
Thai Toilets  In Thailand: by mattocmd, last reply by BruceMoon	94	3815
Eight endangered travel traditions  In Idle banter: by somtam2000, last reply by BruceMoon	6	242
Chikungunya outbreak in Thailand.  In Travel health: by SBE, last reply by SBE	6	510
Indochina Sails vs. Handspan  In Vietnam: by travelingchinese	0	12
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Isaan and Laos - what's the difference?  In Culture and politics: by somtam2000, last reply by MADMAC	33	320
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*Lonely Planet does not endorse Travelfish

On 19 March 2009, we received an email from the Infringements Co-ordinator at Lonely Planet.

She informed us that they thought our use of the Lonely Planet logo, as attribution for a Lonely Planet quote about Travelfish, on the Travelfish homepage "creates confusion for travellers, who may think we have endorsed a product that in fact we have nothing to do with."

As such, they requested we remove the logo, and went on to say that while we were welcome to use the quote, that we also "include the guidebook edition and year of publication as the source of the quote."

As the last thing we would want is confused travellers, we've complied with Lonely Planet's request to remove the small Lonely Planet logo from underneath the direct quote above. Just to be sure, here is everything Lonely Planet has had to say about Travelfish (as far as we know -- let us know if you read more!):

Lonely Planet Laos
6th edition (2007) p.20
"The most consistently updated website for independent travellers in Southeast Asia, including excellent coverage of Lao border crossings."

Lonely Planet Thailand's Islands & Beaches
6th edition (2008) p.14
"The best independent travel site for backpackers coming to Thailand."

Lonely Planet Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos & the Greater Mekong
1st edition (2007) p.21
"Crammed with opinionated articles and reviews about the region, contributed by independent travellers. Plus up-to-date border crossing info."

Lonely Planet Bangkok
8th edition (2008) p.208
"For an idea of the sort of discounts you're looking at, independent travel website Travelfish has a very handy list of nothing more than the hotel name and current online price at the bottom of its Bangkok pages."

So just to be clear, Lonely Planet is in no way endorsing Travelfish as a source of excellent, the best, up-to-date nor handy travel advice.