🎯 The Main Takeaway

Hollywood’s closed-door franchise system has new architects.

Universal Pictures tapped Indonesian director Timo Tjahjanto to helm Nobody 2 (2025), marking his major American studio debut. The sequel earned massive critical acclaim and grossed $40 million against a $25 million budget.

Tjahjanto’s success shatters a historic Hollywood ceiling, proving Southeast Asian filmmakers can command high-stakes, mainstream global franchises. 💥

As their stories and visions cross the ocean, our local cultures are permanently stamping their mark on the global stage.

📡 Why It’s On Our Radar

Hollywood no longer restricts Southeast Asian talent to niche, region-specific storytelling. Studios now trust these directors with major financial backing and established intellectual property.

If Tjahjanto can leverage American budgets to direct Hollywood blockbusters, the industry may be on the verge of funding high-budget Southeast Asian narratives marketed directly to global audiences. 🌍💸

🎬A History of Southeast Asian Auteurs in Hollywood

Tjahjanto stands on the shoulders of visionary filmmakers who spent decades proving Southeast Asian cinema rivals American output in both critical prestige and commercial viability. Here are the pioneers who paved the way.

🇮🇩 Timo Tjahjanto

Tjahjanto built his reputation on unhinged, visceral horror. He debuted in Hollywood by writing, editing, and directing the "L is for Libido" segment in The ABCs of Death (2012).

He subsequently co-directed the universally praised "Safe Haven" segment in V/H/S/2 (2013) alongside Gareth Evans, before returning for V/H/S/94 (2021).

His absolute mastery of practical gore, kinetic camerawork, and relentless pacing made him a highly sought-after action director.

🇮🇩 Mouly Surya

Surya shattered international expectations with Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts (2017), a feminist Western that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

She translated this auteur sensibility to Hollywood with the action-thriller Trigger Warning (2024), produced by the team behind John Wick.

Surya consistently subverts traditional gender tropes, grounding complex female protagonists in brutal, historically male-dominated genres.

🇵🇭 Ronnie del Carmen

Filipino writer, director, and storyboard artist Ronnie del Carmen defined modern animation. He co-directed and co-wrote Pixar’s Inside Out (2015), earning an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

Del Carmen synthesised complex neuroscience into heartfelt, accessible narrative arcs.

His foundational visual storytelling spans decades, encompassing story supervision on The Prince of Egypt (1998) and Up (2009), as well as early set work on Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now (1979).

🇲🇾 James Wan

Malaysian-born James Wan fundamentally re-engineered Hollywood's commercial horror machinery.

He created the Saw, Insidious, and The Conjuring franchises—the latter now the highest-grossing horror universe in cinematic history.

Wan perfected the high-ROI model: his debut, Saw, cost under $2 million and grossed $104 million. He later proved his blockbuster versatility by directing billion-dollar popcorn flicks like Furious 7 (2015) and both Aquaman movies.

🇻🇳 Tony Bui

Bui captured Ho Chi Minh City's shifting socio-economic landscape in Three Seasons (1999).

The poetic drama made Sundance history, sweeping the Cinematography Award, Audience Award, and Grand Jury Prize.

Bui dedicated his career to reframing the Vietnamese narrative. He recently curated the Criterion Channel programme Legacies of War: Vietnam Across the Divides, deliberately amplifying civilian-focused Vietnamese cinema over traditional American GI perspectives.

🇻🇳 Tran Anh Hung

Vietnamese-French filmmaker Tran Anh Hung commands profound sensory storytelling. His debut, The Scent of Green Papaya (1993), won the Caméra d’Or at Cannes and secured an Academy Award nomination for Best International Feature Film.

Critics consistently praise his placid, meticulous direction, which relies on ambient emotion, meticulous sound design, and visual poetry rather than aggressive exposition.

🇻🇳 Bao Nguyen

Vietnamese-American director Bao Nguyen dictates prestige non-fiction storytelling.

He weaves meticulous archival research with deep empathetic framing. Live From New York! (2015) dissected Saturday Night Live's 40-year cultural dominance, while Be Water (2020) examined Bruce Lee’s legacy and Asian representation.

His 2024 feature, The Greatest Night in Pop, swept the documentary awards circuit, paving the way for his May 2026 release, BTS: The Return.

🕸️The Connective Tissue: How the Network Operates

Crucially, these filmmakers do not operate as isolated success stories; they actively pull each other up the Hollywood ladder. Their collective rise relies on a highly interconnected ecosystem of festival circuits, streaming platforms, and strategic collaborations that bypass traditional studio gatekeepers.

• The Godfather Effect: Heavyweights like James Wan use their immense studio leverage to open doors for emerging regional talent. Wan’s production banner actively recruited Tjahjanto to direct the highly anticipated American remake of Train to Busan, effectively bridging the gap between Asian cinema and Hollywood blockbusters.

• The Indie Sandbox: Global anthology projects act as collaborative launchpads. The V/H/S horror franchise let Tjahjanto co-direct alongside The Raid architect Gareth Evans. These low-risk, high-reward indie spaces let Southeast Asian filmmakers share crews, cross-pollinate visual styles, and prove their concepts to Western executives.

• The Streaming Bridge: Platforms like Netflix and Shudder fundamentally altered the global pipeline. Rather than waiting for a legacy theatrical rollout, directors now utilise international co-productions to beam region-heavy narratives directly into American living rooms. This digital infrastructure creates a unified network where Southeast Asian storytellers consistently champion and elevate one another on the global stage.

🏁 The Bottom Line

Southeast Asian directors no longer solely cater to local crowds; they dictate the trajectory of global cinema.

From auteur-driven intimate dramas to billion-dollar horror franchises and high-octane action, these storytellers actively expand Hollywood's narrative palette.

The industry has shifted permanently, handing the steering wheel of mainstream global entertainment to a new generation of Southeast Asian visionaries. 🚀✨

(MHS/QOB/ARS)

🌊 Main Takeaway

When people plan a holiday in Southeast Asia, they usually think of short, cheap flights, overland journeys or island hopping. But the sea offers another way to see the region, with several destinations reachable in a single voyage.

With thousands of islands, long coastlines and close neighbours, Southeast Asia is well suited to cruise travel.

Cruising is not yet the first choice for most travellers here, but the routes and the industry keep growing. The question is no longer whether Southeast Asia can be explored by sea, but how far cruise travel can go.

🧭 Why It’s in Our Radar

🌏 Southeast Asia has the geography for it

Thousands of islands, long coastlines and close neighbours give the region ideal and natural conditions for cruise tourism.

On a single trip, travellers can visit several countries without changing hotels or arranging cross-border transport.

📈 The industry is already growing

Cruise tourism in Southeast Asia is no longer a niche market. In 2024, the region recorded about 3.9 million cruise passenger visits and roughly US$10 billion in economic output, around 5% of the global cruise industry's total.

The economic impact is significant, though it remains concentrated in a few areas.

🔗 Routes are becoming more connected

Cruise lines increasingly offer itineraries linking Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, and some longer voyages add Indonesia and other Asian destinations.

That makes cruising a realistic option for multi-destination travel in the region.

🇸🇬 Singapore is becoming a regional gateway

Singapore and Malaysia accounted for about 70% of Southeast Asia’s cruise passenger visits in 2024, with Singapore alone at 48%.

In 2025, Singapore recorded 375 ship calls and more than 2 million passengers, reinforcing its position as a key hub.

Royal Caribbean will also keep Singapore as the homeport for Navigator of the Seas until October 2027, with three- to five-night itineraries to destinations such as Penang and Phuket.

👨‍👩‍👧 Cruise travel is seeking to move beyond luxury

Cruises are still often seen as expensive, high-end holidays. But shorter itineraries, family-oriented experiences and more varied products show the industry is widening its market.

Disney Adventure, for example, will offer four-night sailings from Singapore with a stop in Langkawi, Malaysia, starting in December 2026.

💰 The opportunity extends beyond the ship

The value of cruise tourism extends beyond ticket sales and onboard spending. Every port call brings business to restaurants, transport, retail, attractions and local enterprises.

A cruise can also be a first introduction to a destination, encouraging travellers to return for a land-based trip.

📈 Asian travellers are showing interest in cruise travel

This interest is also evident in the way Asian travellers are beginning to consider cruises for multi-destination trips.

According to a Royal Caribbean-commissioned YouGov survey, 74% of travellers from Asia find multi-destination European cruises highly appealing, with interest peaking at 82% among Indonesian respondents.

Furthermore, 26% of these Asian travellers rank a cruise as their preferred way to travel between European destinations, ahead of both flights and trains.

💭 What This Tells Us

🧩 Cruises Suit Southeast Asia’s Multi-Destination Nature

Southeast Asia’s geography includes numerous countries, islands, and destinations in close proximity, making multi-destination travel by sea particularly appealing.

This naturally aligns with how tourists view cruises as a way to visit several destinations in a single trip.

In the same Royal Caribbean survey, 42% said the main benefit of cruising is how easily it lets them visit different destinations. Travellers can cover several countries in one trip without booking flights, hotels and cross-border transport separately.

👥 Convenience Is Part of the Appeal

The appeal of cruises stems not only from the destinations visited, but also from the convenience offered during the journey.

The Royal Caribbean survey also found that 38% said cruising avoids airport procedures, and 35% said they don't have to pack and unpack repeatedly.

It also found that 26% preferred cruises for travel between European destinations, ahead of trains (24%) and short-haul flights (22%). Convenience is a big part of the appeal.

⚖️ Regional Growth Does Not Mean Equal Regional Benefit

The growth in cruise tourism does not mean every destination benefits equally. The concentration of visits in Singapore and Malaysia points to gaps in infrastructure, connectivity and readiness elsewhere.

The challenge is not how many ships arrive, but whether each port call creates real economic activity for the destination and local businesses.

🚢 Southeast Asia by Sea

The region’s cruise network is built around a few recurring corridors, though it remains concentrated around Singapore and Malaysia.

• Short regional sailing: Royal Caribbean
  Three- to five-night cruises from Singapore aboard Navigator of the Seas, covering Singapore, Penang, Phuket and back to Singapore.

• Multi-country and longer routes: Princess Cruises
  In 2026, Princess Cruises is offering an 11-night cruise aboard the Royal Princess, connecting Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand before returning to Singapore. Its 2026–2027 programme also includes longer routes across several Southeast Asian countries, such as Singapore–Malaysia–Thailand–Vietnam–Cambodia–Malaysia–Singapore. Some cruises visit 28 destinations across eight countries.

• Family-oriented short cruise: Disney Adventure
  From 31 December 2026, Disney Adventure will offer a four-night cruise from Singapore to Langkawi, Malaysia, and back.

🌏 Bigger Picture

Cruise tourism's potential goes beyond bringing tourists to ports. The Singapore Tourism Board projected that the industry would contribute up to US$4.5 billion to the region’s GDP by 2024 and support around 530,000 jobs.

Most of those jobs are in the Philippines and Indonesia, which together account for about 85% of cruise-related employment in Southeast Asia. So the benefits can reach countries that are not major homeports, through port activity, tourism services, transport, hospitality and other businesses linked to visitors.

Cruises can also be a gateway to land-based tourism. Singapore Tourism Board data shows that 85% of cruise travellers rated their Southeast Asia experience positively, and 47% said they intended to return for a land-based trip. A short cruise visit does not have to be a one-off.

But that depends on how cruise growth is managed. The goal is not just to get ships to call at more ports, but to make sure more destinations and local economies benefit.

Zooming out, cruise tourism shows that Southeast Asia can increasingly be treated as one connected travel region rather than a collection of standalone destinations.

✨ Bottom Line

Cruises build on Southeast Asia’s connectivity by making the sea journey part of the experience, not just a way to get from one place to another.

They will not replace budget airlines, backpacking or island hopping, which are central to the region’s travel culture. But they add another option to try new experiences, whilst introducing travellers to destinations that may not previously have been on their itinerary.

The bigger opportunity may not be making Southeast Asia ‘the next cruise destination’, but making the sea a more visible part of how the world experiences Southeast Asia.

🔍 Need More Angle?

Celebrity Cruises Cruises to Southeast Asia

Cruise Trade News Destination Focus: Cultural wonders in Southeast Asia

Princess Cruises Princess Cruises Announces 2026-2027 Southeast Asia Program with Voyages to Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Japan and More

Royal Caribbean Best Cruises 2026 & 2027

Royal Caribean Multiple Destinations, One Seamless Vacation: 74% of Travellers From Asia Find European Cruising Appealing

Singapore Tourism Board Cruise Tourism in Southeast Asia Generates US$10 Billion in Total Economic Output

Singapore Tourism Board Record Singapore tourism receipts from January to September 2025

The Star These cruises are a great way to see more of South-East Asia

The Strait Times Disney Adventure launches four-night sailings with stop in Langkawi from Dec 31

(DHM/ZIL/QOB)

🧭 The Main Takeaway

These days, cafés are increasingly designed to be Instagrammable. Cafés can be coquette, minimalist, modern, or any visual theme, with aesthetic interiors and trendy drinks. From matcha to creative tea and coffee variations, businesses keep introducing new products and concepts to attract customers.

In the middle of changing café culture, Southeast Asia’s old-school drinking ways remain part of everyday life.

📡 Why It’s On Our Radar

Indonesia is home to the world’s largest number of coffee shops, with 461,991 outlets recorded in Point of Interest (POI) data in 2025. Vietnam follows in fourth place, with around 132,294 outlets. Other reports even show that Vietnam has more than 500,000 coffee shops, including street vendors and small businesses.

Amongst the new cafés and changing coffee trends, traditional drinking spaces in Southeast Asia continue to hold their place.

From Vietnam’s sidewalk coffee to Indonesia’s warkops and Malaysia’s kopitiams, these unfussy spaces remain part of everyday life alongside the region’s growing café culture.

🇻🇳 Vietnam - Cà Phê Vỉa Hè

Vietnam is widely known for its street cafe culture. It’s nothing fancy or aesthetic; people just sit outside on the sidewalk with plastic chairs, low tables, a glass of coffee, and friends to talk to while watching the street.

Interestingly, these places have now become tourist attractions too, as people want to experience Vietnam like the locals.

Despite a lot of modern and aesthetic cafes in Vietnam, those plastic chairs are somehow still always filled with people, showing that their relevance still competes with the modern cafes.

Beyond its affordable price, it is because street coffee feels natural. There is no need for a reservation, a carefully planned outfit, or an expensive meal just to enjoy the experience or take a good picture.

They come because it feels personal and familiar. Café owners often recognize their regular customers, while customers become familiar with one another, almost like neighbours.

🇮🇩 Indonesia - Warkop

Warung kopi, or warkop as Indonesians usually call it, is one of the country’s most familiar places to hang out, especially among men.

Interestingly, a warkop usually does not prepare coffee using a special brewing technique or unique ingredients. They often just serve instant coffee. Very simple, right?

Another menu that you will usually find is Indomie, Indonesia’s beloved instant noodles. There is even a running joke among Indonesians that Indomie somehow tastes better when it comes from a warkop than when it is cooked at home.

It’s a place to hang out, catch up with friends, watch football, or simply spend time together. Many warkops stay open late into the night, with some operating until dawn or even 24 hours.

However, a warkop is not necessarily an old-fashioned place. Many have adapted to modern needs, offering Wi-Fi, charging points, and other facilities.

🇲🇾 Malaysia - Kopitiam

In Malaysia, the kopitiam is more than a traditional coffee shop. The word itself comes from Hokkien, combining kopi (coffee) with tiam (shop), reflecting the influence of Chinese communities on the region’s culture.

This tradition can also be found across the border in Singapore, where kopitiams have similarly become part of everyday food and social life.

A traditional kopitiam might serve kopi or teh alongside kaya toast, soft-boiled eggs, noodles, and other familiar local dishes. For generations, these simple coffee shops have been places to have breakfast, meet friends, read the newspaper, or simply sit and talk.

Today, the kopitiam is not only preserved as a traditional space.

Its influence can also be seen in newer café scenes, where modern cafés borrow kopitiam-style interiors, menus, flavours, and even retro signage. Some recreate the old coffee-shop atmosphere while giving it a more contemporary look.

✨Old Looks Good Again

Ironically, as cafés become more modern and Instagrammable, the look of the past is becoming trendy too.

In Malaysia and Singapore, newer cafés are bringing back kopitiam elements such as marble-top tables, wooden chairs, retro signs, and traditional kopi and kaya toast.

In Indonesia, cafés are borrowing from old warung aesthetics through vintage furniture, tiled walls, wooden tables, and familiar local snacks and drinks.

What makes the trend interesting is that these details are no longer just part of everyday life. They are being turned into something people actively seek out and photograph.

🎯 The Bottom Line

Modern aesthetic café culture may be changing how Southeast Asians drink coffee, but it has not erased the way they gather around it.

From Vietnam’s sidewalk coffee and Indonesia’s warkops to Malaysia’s kopitiams, simple and familiar spaces continue to fit into everyday life.

At the same time, cafés are increasingly borrowing from these local spaces, turning once-ordinary traditions into new aesthetics. Maybe the future of Southeast Asian café culture is not about choosing between old and new, but finding ways for both to exist at the same table.

{VNS/ELS)

🎯 The Main Takeaway

Southeast Asia is globally celebrated for its tropical beaches and vibrant cities, but its peaks offer an equally compelling narrative.

From relaxed scenic strolls to multi-day endurance tests, the region’s mountains reveal extraordinary geographical diversity, unique ecosystems, and deep cultural histories, catering to every skill level and adventure appetite.

📡 Why It’s on Our Radar

As overtourism pushes travellers to seek physically engaging, off-grid experiences, regional mountain trekking has surged. Sunrise over a crater lake simply lands differently than sunrise over a resort pool.

Here are our trekking recommendations, ranked from easiest to the toughest in Southeast Asia:

🟢 Easy - Mount Faber - 🇸🇬 Singapore

Rising just 105 metres above sea level, Mount Faber proves memorable adventures do not require extreme elevation. It delivers paved trails, panoramic views of the Singapore skyline, and lush secondary forest right in the heart of the city-state.

Accessible and requiring zero technical skill, the summit park offers lookout points and cafes for a relaxed finish, providing a refreshing urban escape.

🟡Moderate - Mount Ijen - 🇮🇩 Indonesia

Mount Ijen in East Java is world-renowned for its pre-dawn blue fire phenomenon and the world’s largest highly acidic turquoise crater lake.

Trekkers typically start their three-kilometre volcanic ascent in the dead of night to catch the eerie glow before dawn. The trek is a moderate climb with a massive payoff, manageable for anyone with basic fitness, though descending into the crater demands caution and a gas mask against thick sulphur fumes.

🟡 Moderate - Mount Pulag - 🇵🇭 Philippine

Luzon's highest peak is famous for its rolling grasslands and breathtaking "sea of clouds," creating a landscape far removed from typical tropical imagery.

The Ambangeg trail features gentle inclines accessible to first-time trekkers, while other routes accommodate seasoned hikers. While the physical demand is moderate, freezing nighttime temperatures require strict thermal preparation.

🟠 Moderate to Hard - Fansipan - 🇻🇳 Vietnam

Rising 3,147 metres above Sa Pa, Fansipan is the highest peak on the Indochinese Peninsula. Traditional trekking routes wind through dense bamboo forests and steep, muddy terrain, demanding solid stamina.

Weather shifts rapidly, making proper gear essential. At the summit, grand Buddhist temples emerge dramatically through the alpine mist—though a cable car provides a rapid alternative for tourists.

🔴 Hard - Mount Matebian- 🇹🇱 Timor-Lest

Mount Matebian is as much a spiritual pilgrimage as a physical test. The ascent carries the heavy historical weight of Timor-Leste's struggle for independence and deep respect for sacred cultural sites.

The demanding trek involves steep, unpaved tracks, unpredictable weather, and limited infrastructure. Hikers must arrange supplies well in advance and rely on local guides to navigate the unforgiving terrain before arriving at panoramic views of the mountainous interior.

⚫ Very Hard & Technical - Mulu Pinnacles - 🇲🇾 Malaysia

Located within Sarawak’s Gunung Mulu National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Mulu Pinnacles are a jagged formation of towering limestone spires shaped by millions of years of geological erosion.

Universally considered one of the toughest hikes in Southeast Asia, it operates more as a vertical scramble than a standard trek, packing brutal elevation gain into a short distance. Access is strictly regulated; independent climbs are forbidden, and a licensed guide is mandatory.

Share The Southeast Asia Desk

📌 The Bottom Line

The true beauty of Southeast Asia's mountains lies in their diversity. From Singapore’s gentle urban hills to Malaysia’s brutal limestone scrambles, the summit offers a distinctly different vantage point for understanding the region.

(DEV/ELS/ARS)

🥥 Main Takeaway

Ube, pandan, and palm sugar are becoming familiar names far beyond Southeast Asia.

These ingredients, long staples in home kitchens across the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, now show up more often on café menus, in bakeries, and across food products worldwide.

This is more than a passing food trend.

It’s a sign that global appetite for Southeast Asian flavours has become a real force in the culinary world, from pandan-flavoured lattes to ube cheesecakes to palm sugar syrup in speciality coffee.

👀 Why It’s on Our Radar

🌿 Southeast Asian flavours are entering the global mainstream

Matcha, yuzu, and gochujang got there first, but ingredients native to Southeast Asia are catching up fast.

They're no longer confined to Asian restaurants, independent cafés, artisan bakeries, and international food brands are now reaching for them to give customers something new.

☕ Café is driving experimentation

Competition in the food and drink industry is pushing businesses to keep innovating.

Pandan, with its distinctive aroma, has become a popular alternative to vanilla. Palm sugar is showing up as a premium sweetener in coffee. And Ube offers a colour and flavour that ordinary sweet potatoes simply can't match.

📱 Social media accelerates food trends

Social media has become the primary platform for menus featuring these distinctive ingredients to go viral, thanks to their eye-catching visuals.

The bright purple colour of ube, the natural green of pandan and its distinctive aroma, and drinks featuring palm sugar and calamansi all appear on social media, accelerating the spread of these trends to new locations.

These ingredients are made for social media. Ube's vivid purple, pandan's natural green and unmistakable scent, and drinks built around palm sugar and calamansi- all of it travels fast online, pulling the trend into new cities and markets almost as quickly as it appears.

🌟 The Rising Stars

🟣 Ube

Ube, or purple yam (Dioscorea alata), grows across Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam, where it's known by names like khoai mỡ, but the Philippines turned it into a culinary icon.

There, ube isn't just an ingredient; it's a food identity, at the centre of desserts like ube halaya, halo-halo, and ube cheesecake.

Its naturally vivid purple colour and sweet, delicate flavour (somewhere between vanilla and nuts) set it apart from purple sweet potato and taro, which it's often mistaken for.

Filipino diaspora communities have played a major role in bringing it to cafés in the US, Canada, and beyond, which is largely why "ube" as a global dessert trend is so closely tied to Filipino cuisine, even though the plant has roots throughout the region.

🌿 Pandan

Known as "Asian vanilla," pandan brings a sweet aroma with floral and vanilla notes. Pandan leaves run through the cooking of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines alike, in traditional cakes, rice dishes, and drinks, making it the most genuinely pan-regional ingredient on this list.

Its aroma works as an exotic substitute for vanilla in lattes, croissants, gelato, and chocolate, while the leaf extract doubles as a natural green food colouring.

🥥 Palm Sugar

Palm sugar comes from the sap of the sugar palm or coconut palm, boiled down until it thickens, not, as sometimes assumed, from sago palm, which produces starch rather than sugar.

It has a rich, caramel-like flavour with smoky, earthy undertones that set it apart from white sugar.

Across the region, it goes by different names: gula aren and gula jawa in Indonesia, and gula melaka in Malaysia and comes in several forms: solid blocks, liquid syrup, or crystallised sugar.

It's increasingly used to sweeten coffee, cocktails, sauces, and desserts, and its complexity has helped it earn a premium reputation in the food and drink industry.

🍋 Calamansi

Calamansi is a small citrus fruit that splits the difference between lemon and lime, with a touch of sweetness underneath its tartness.

In Indonesia, it's known as jeruk kunci or jeruk sonkit depending on the region; it's also widely used in the Philippines and Vietnam.

Its bright citrus profile makes it a natural fit for drinks, sauces, marinades, and cocktails, and it's gaining recognition abroad as a more layered alternative to ordinary lemon or lime.

🌏 Bigger Picture

What’s happening with pandan, ube, palm sugar, and calamansi shows that Southeast Asia isn’t just exporting dishes; it’s exporting the building blocks of its flavours.

That’s a different, and arguably more durable, kind of culinary influence.

Social media has fueled global curiosity about authentic flavours and cross-cultural cooking, and that curiosity is pulling these ingredients onto café menus, into bakeries, and across international food products.

For the countries behind them- the Philippines with ube, Indonesia and Malaysia with palm sugar, and pandan across nearly the whole region- that visibility has real economic weight: it can drive exports of value-added products, strengthen local food industries, and boost culinary tourism.

It’s also a form of soft power. Food is one of the most accessible ways for a country to share its culture, and each ingredient carries a story about where it comes from.

💡 Bottom Line

From the scent of pandan leaves to the sweetness of palm sugar, ingredients that have shaped Southeast Asian kitchens for generations are now finding recognition on the world stage.

(DHM/ZIL/ALV)

🎯 The Main Takeaway

Southeast Asia's waterfalls are not interchangeable. Limestone, monsoon timing and local custom have shaped each one into something you do rather than just look at climb, swim, raft, or stand still in a canyon waiting for the light.

📡 Why It’s on Our Radar

Travellers are trading bustling cities for nature-based, immersive outdoor experiences 🌿.

These natural wonders offer up-close encounters with unique biodiversity and striking geological variations across the region.

Bua Tong “Sticky” Waterfalls - Thailand 🇹🇭 🧗

Mineral deposits have built up over the limestone here into a porous, chalky crust that grips bare feet. You climb the falls barefoot, against the current, and you don't slip. Kids manage it. So do grandparents.

• The Vibe: Family-friendly, highly accessible, and secure.

• The Logistics: An easy half-day trip requiring no gear. Best visited during the cool, dry season ☀️.

Kuang Si Waterfall - Laos 🇱🇦 🐻

The turquoise comes from calcium carbonate suspended in the water. In the rains, sediment washes down and the pools turn murky green but still beautiful, less postcard. The lower pools are the swimming ones, shaded and cold enough to be a shock.

• The Vibe: Relaxing lower pools for swimming and shaded picnics.

• The Logistics: Reaching the top requires a moderate uphill hike. Includes a bonus visit to a nearby sun bear rescue centre.

Anisakan Falls - Myanmar 🇲🇲 🛕

A three-step fall dropping roughly 120 metres into a wooded amphitheatre, with a small pagoda at the splash pool. Nine kilometres from Pyin Oo Lwin, the old British hill station.

• The Vibe: Secluded, historically rich, and adventurous.

• The Logistics: Reaching it requires navigating a steep, rocky forest trail 🥾. Check current travel advisories before planning a trip.

Ban Gioc Waterfall - Vietnam 🇻🇳 🛶

Over 300 metres wide split across the Vietnam–China border, Vietnam's Ban Gioc is China's Detian, same water. It breaks into separate falls or merges into one wall depending on how much rain has come through.

• The Vibe: Grand, panoramic, and highly scenic 📸.

• The Logistics: Take a bamboo raft to the base or hike paved riverside paths. Surrounding caves require steady footwork.

Tukad Cepung Waterfall - Indonesia 🇮🇩 ☀️

Fifteen metres of water falling inside a narrow gorge, mostly roofed by rock. Around midday, sun cuts through the gap overhead and lands in the mist. That's the shot everyone comes for, and it lasts maybe an hour.

• The Vibe: Mystical, enclosed, and highly photogenic.

• The Logistics: Access involves steep concrete stairs and a riverbed walk. Avoid during heavy rain 🌧️ due to treacherous conditions.

📌 The Bottom Line

These locations capture the immense geographical diversity of the region. Five waterfalls, five completely different days out. One you climb, one you swim, one you earn, one you raft, one you wait for.

Which are you going to first?

(DEV/ARS)

🧭 Main Takeaway

Hair may grow naturally, so having it cut is common. However, in some Southeast Asian communities, hair holds cultural and spiritual significance.

The Dieng Culture Festival (DCF) in Central Java, Indonesia, illustrates this through the ‘ruwatan anak rambut gimbal’ (Gimbal Hair Purification Ritual), a traditional ceremony for children whose hair naturally forms matted, dreadlock-like strands in Dieng, Central Java.

Similar traditions exist across Southeast Asian communities, though in different forms and with different meanings. From Thailand’s Poy Sang Long to Cambodia’s Kor Chuk, hair-cutting can symbolise a life transition, form part of a religious ritual, and help communities preserve their ancestral heritage.

👀 Why It’s on Our Radar

In late August, the Dieng Plateau once again became a meeting point between local traditions and modern cultural festivals.

The 2026 Dieng Culture Festival took place from 28 to 30 August under the theme ‘Spirit of Harmony’.

The festival combined cultural rituals, arts performances, music, environmental activities, and initiatives involving SMEs and the local economy.

The Indonesian government has also included the Dieng Culture Festival among the Top 10 Kharisma Events Nusantara (KEN) 2026.

The Ministry of Tourism describes the Kharisma Event Nusantara (KEN) as a selection of tourism events chosen based on event quality, tourism appeal, and regional impact.

The Dieng Culture Festival itself has the potential to strengthen the image of culture-based tourism whilst providing economic benefits for the local community.

However, one of the festival's most distinctive aspects is not the concerts or performances. Rather, it is a haircut, but one with a much deeper meaning.

⛰️ What is the Dieng Culture Festival?

The Dieng Culture Festival is an annual festival that brings together nature, culture, art and the people of Dieng, held in Dieng Kulon, Banjarnegara, Central Java.

First held in 2010, the festival grew from a local cultural celebration into a broader event combining traditional rituals, arts, tourism, and community activities.

In 2026, the festival marked its 16th edition, under the theme ‘Spirit of Harmony’, with local traditions at the heart of the celebrations.

🎪 Key Event: Dieng Culture Festival 2026

• ☕ Dieng Coffee Festival: Highlighting coffee as one of Banjarnegara’s flagship products, this festival brings together farmers, roasters, baristas and members of the coffee industry. During the 2026 Dieng Culture Festival, the Dieng Coffee Festival recorded transactions totalling around Rp15 billion, demonstrating the significant economic potential of this local commodity.

• 🎭 Cultural Procession: A cultural procession leading the community and festival participants to the Arjuna Temple Complex, whilst also forming part of the sequence of events leading up to the ruwatan ritual for children with gimbal hair.

• 🏮 Lantern Festival: The release of sky lanterns, one of the festival's iconic evening moments, creates a festive atmosphere filled with symbols of hope and togetherness.

• 🎶 Jazz Concert: The Dieng Culture Festival also blends tradition with contemporary entertainment through musical performances set against the backdrop of the Dieng mountain landscape, making the festival appealing not only to culture enthusiasts but also to the general public.

• 🌿 Clean Dieng: An environmental initiative encouraging the local community and visitors to keep the Dieng area clean, thereby reinforcing the festival’s message about the relationship between culture, society and nature.

✂️ The Ritual at the Heart of Dieng: Ruwatan Rambut Gimbal

As part of the Dieng Culture Festival, the Ruwatan Rambut Gimbal is one of the most distinctive traditions. The term ruwatan itself derives from the Javanese word ruwat, which refers to the act of releasing or freeing someone from misfortune or harm.

In the Dieng highlands, some children grow up with hair that naturally forms into matted, tangled strands, known as gimbal hair. The people of Dieng usually refer to children with this type of hair as ‘bocah gembel’ or ‘bocah bajang’ children who possess a uniqueness, whether inherent from birth or developing after a certain age.

For the local community, this hair holds special significance and is regarded as ‘sesuker’, something that must be cleansed through the ruwatan ritual and therefore must not be cut carelessly. The ruwatan tradition has been designated as part of Indonesia’s Intangible Cultural Heritage since 2016 and is collectively owned by the people of Dieng.

One key requirement of the ruwatan is the ‘bebana’, a request the child makes before their hair is cut. Once the bebana is fulfilled, the gimbal hair is cut and set adrift as part of the ritual procession, followed by a thanksgiving ceremony to express gratitude once the ritual is complete.

More than a haircut, the ruwatan tradition is a rite of passage for the local people of Dieng. As a rite of passage, the ritual goes beyond removing the matted hair. It marks a transition in the child’s life while reinforcing the community’s connection to its ancestral traditions.

Furthermore, this tradition is linked to efforts to maintain a connection with Kiai Kolodete, an ancestor whom local tradition associates with the origins of the gimbal hair.

🌏 Across Southeast Asia, Hair Has a Story to Tell

In Southeast Asia, Dieng is not the only place where hair holds ritual significance. The traditions may take different forms, but they share a common thread: hair becomes part of rites of passage or the journey towards the next stage of life.

🇰🇭 Cambodia - Kor Chuk: Growing Into Adulthood

Kor Chuk is a hair-cutting tradition among the Khmer communities around Angkor that marks the transition from childhood to adulthood.

Traditionally, the ceremony can last for two days and one night, involving various ritual stages before the child’s hair is finally shaved and a blessing ceremony is performed.

Today, this tradition is becoming increasingly rare, though some families in the Angkor region and other provinces still uphold it. In March 2026, a family in Siem Reap held a full Kor Chuk ceremony for five boys.

For the local community, Kor Chuk is not merely a family tradition, but a symbol that a child is entering a new stage of life and taking on new responsibilities.

🇲🇲🇹🇭 Myanmar & Thailand - Poy Sang Long: From Child to Novice

Poy Sang Long is a rite of passage among the Shan (Tai Yai) people, rooted in Myanmar and carried into northern Thailand, particularly Mae Hong Son and Chiang Mai, by Shan communities who settled there. It’s a regional cousin of Shinbyu, the novitiation ceremony observed more broadly across Myanmar’s Buddhist communities.

Boys aged 7–14 take part in a series of ceremonies lasting several days. They are dressed like princes and paraded by their families, after which their hair is shaved before they don their robes and enter monastic life.

The hair-shaving ceremony symbolises a transition: childhood gives way to spiritual learning and novicehood.

As a religious ritual, Poy Sang Long is also a community celebration, where families and villagers gather to accompany the children as they enter a new stage of life.

🔎 Bigger Picture: Different Rituals, Similar Ideas

Hair-cutting traditions in Southeast Asia, such as Ruwatan in Dieng, Poy Sang Long in Thailand, and Kor Chuk in Cambodia, are not the same rituals. Each tradition stems from different histories, beliefs and communities. However, when viewed as a whole, they reveal shared ideas about change, belonging and identity.

• 🌿 Protection: Within community beliefs, the hair-cutting ritual forms part of an effort to purify oneself, rid oneself of negative influences, or seek protection.

• 🌱 Transition: Hair-cutting also serves as a sign of change in life stages, such as the transition from childhood or taking on a new role.

• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Community: These rituals usually involve family, elders, religious figures and the wider community, making them a shared experience rather than merely a personal change.

• 🧬 Identity: As these traditions are passed down across generations, the rituals also serve as a way for communities to preserve their memories, values and cultural identity.

The rituals may differ, but the idea is familiar: a physical change can mark a much deeper transformation.

🌱 Bottom Line

Hair-cutting rituals in Southeast Asia show that cultural heritage does not always take grand forms; it lives on through simple acts passed down from one generation to the next.

However, traditions can survive only if they remain part of people’s lives. As practices such as Kor Chuk become less common, their future depends on families, communities, and the younger generation continuing to learn, practise, and give them meaning.

The Dieng Culture Festival offers one example of how local traditions can enter a wider public sphere while retaining the essence of the original rituals.

In the future, the festival and the community can continue to serve as a bridge, ensuring that these traditions do not become relics of the past, but remain understood and passed on as part of Southeast Asia’s cultural identity.

🧩Need More Angle?

Antara News Dieng Culture Festival 2026 boosts Indonesia's global tourism image

Antara News Festival Kopi Dieng catat transaksi Rp15 miliar selama DCF 2026

Apsa Authority Angkor Heritage: Traditional Kor Chuk Ceremony Still Lives on in the Community-​ 14 March 2026

Festival Dieng Dieng Cultural Festival

Ministry of Information Cambodia Kor Chuk, a Traditional Ceremony Marking Transition from Childhood to Adulthood

Secret Retreats The Living Grace of Poy Sang Long

(DHM/ZIL/QOB)

🎯 The Main Takeaway

When we talk about Hollywood productions, actors and directors are usually the first names that come to mind.🤝

From cinematographers to visual effects artists, it takes hundreds of skilled crew members to bring a story to the screen.

Increasingly, the names rolling in those credits hail from Southeast Asia. 🌏

🧭 Why It’s on Our Radar

Southeast Asian talent is quietly shaping global entertainment. 🚀

Beyond on-screen representation, behind-the-scenes professionals from the region are delivering masterful technical and creative work on some of the world’s largest sets. 🎥

🔎 What’s at Stake

This is more than a point of regional pride.

It dismantles the myth that Hollywood is a closed ecosystem, proving that Southeast Asian creatives are integral to the global entertainment machine. ⚙️

🎬 The Big Picture

Southeast Asian crews are elevating the standard in Hollywood.

Here are the behind-the-scenes heavyweights making their mark.

It may not be a long list, but it proves one thing: Southeast Asian talent is no joke when it comes to the Hollywood film industry.

Autumn Durald Arkapaw 🇵🇭 - Cinematography 📽️

Sinners DP Autumn Durald Arkapaw who is Fillipino and African-American Creole descent shattering an almost century-old glass ceiling.

She redefined large-format cinematography while simultaneously breaking barriers for women and people of color.

• Oscar History: Won Best Cinematography for Sinners at the 98th Academy Awards. She is the first woman, first woman of color, and first Filipino to win the category.

• Technical Milestone: First woman to shoot on IMAX 65mm and Ultra Panavision.

• Notable Works: Sinners, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Loki.

Robert Alonzo & Jonathan “Jojo” Eusebio 🇵🇭 - Action & Stunts 🥋

Robert Alonzo and Jonatan Eusebio have made their mark in Hollywood as Filipino-American action designers and stunt coordinators.

They anchoring blockbuster spectacles with the visceral authenticity of Filipino martial arts, these veterans are actively reshaping Hollywood’s combat aesthetic.

• The Impact: Integrating traditional Filipino martial arts into major blockbusters for grounded, authentic action.

• Robert Alonzo: Focuses on realistic, emotionally driven sequences (The Batman, Ad Astra, Tomorrowland).

• Jojo Eusebio: Masters hyper-stylized “stunt-viz” choreography (John Wick franchise, The Matrix sequels, Black Panther).

Denny Ertanto & Samuel Ebijeser Simanjuntak 🇮🇩 - Visual Effects 💻

Who doesn’t know the biggest superhero franchise, the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Movies like Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and many others require a lot of visual effects and Indonesian visual effects artist Denny Ertanto was part of both productions.

For Infinity War, he worked on several scenes featuring Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) on Planet Titan.

In Endgame, he worked on parts of the final battle when Thanos (Josh Brolin) attacked the Avengers’ headquarters. Recall that fantastic scene, huh?

Another Indonesian visual effects artist, Samuel Ebijeser Simanjuntak, has also been part of the visual effects teams behind blockbusters such as Wonder Woman, Suicide Squad, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Pan, Tarzan, The Martian, and X-Men: Apocalypse.

Timo Tjahjanto 🇮🇩 - Directing 🎬

Indonesian director Timo Tjahjanto previously worked as a freelance storyboard artist and photographer.

He then building a cult following through unapologetically brutal Indonesian thrillers, he successfully exported his visceral directing style directly into the American mainstream.

• The Journey: Transitioned from intense Indonesian horror and action (Headshot, The Night Comes for Us) to mainstream Hollywood.

• Breakthrough: Directed his major Hollywood feature debut with the action sequel Nobody 2 (2025).

Meredith Lee 🇸🇬 - Costume Design 👗

She is a Singaporean-based known as a wardrobe stylist, costume designer and supervisor for several international production filmed in Southeast Asia.

As Hollywood increasingly films in Southeast Asia, she operates as the critical bridge ensuring regional authenticity meets massive international production scales.

• The Expertise: Key wardrobe stylist and supervisor bridging regional sourcing with international production scale.

• Notable Works: Crazy Rich Asians (regional styling integration), Westworld Season 3 (Singapore unit supervisor), Mulan.

Andrea Wong 🇲🇾 - Fashion Styling 👠

She is a Malaysian fashion stylist and former editor-in-chief of Elle Malaysia.

Tasked with a culturally monumental project, she dismantled Western fashion stereotypes to showcase how affluent, modern Asian women actually dress.

• The Vision: Former ELLE Malaysia Editor-in-Chief tapped to dress the cast of Crazy Rich Asians.

• Cultural Accuracy: Championed authentic, modern Asian fashion over Western stereotypes by collaborating with regional designers like Michael Cinco and Vatanika.

🏠 Why is Representation Crucial?

Hollywood is no longer just using Southeast Asia as a picturesque backdrop; it is relying on its people. 🌍

Moving beyond a monolithic "Asian" identity allows distinct regional cultures to be authentically represented rather than exploited as props.

True visibility grants local creators ownership over their cultural narratives while driving broader economic growth. 📈

Southeast Asia has a lot more to offer. We should be grateful to those who have made an effort to bring our region to the global stage, but there is still so much more to discover.

Southeast Asia is moving from the periphery to the center of global cinema. ✨

While we celebrate these trailblazers, their success signals that the region's contribution to Hollywood is just getting started.

(VIL/ARS)

🎯 Main Takeaway

For many Indonesians, this phrase is undoubtedly very familiar on social media.

The phrase, which roughly translates as ‘Because I didn’t have any, I used kimpul instead’, has become the iconic opening line for content creator Ibu @black.sheep8208 on TikTok and Instagram, who has since become known online as Ibu Kimpul.

She takes a simple approach to her content: whenever a recipe calls for a common ingredient, she replaces it with kimpul, a local Indonesian tuber that is still relatively unknown.

What makes her unique is that, rather than using it in traditional dishes, she incorporates kimpul into a variety of contemporary food trends, ranging from chewy biscuits to all sorts of dishes that are currently going viral.

The result is not just a collection of unique recipes, but also an introduction to an ingredient that many Indonesians may never have encountered before, bringing it to a new generation.

Ibu Kimpul is one voice in a wider wave of Indonesian creators reviving forgotten tubers—local ingredients that have quietly disappeared from everyday kitchens even as they remain deeply tied to the country's food history.

👀 Why It’s on Our Radar

• 🍚 Rice still dominates Indonesia’s food system: During the New Order era, rice self-sufficiency was a top priority in Indonesia’s food policy. This focus ultimately reinforced rice’s position as a staple food, but it also led to various local carbohydrate sources being increasingly neglected or even forgotten.

• 🇮🇩 Indonesia has plenty of alternatives: According to data from the Food Agency’s library, Indonesia has 77 types of carbohydrate-rich foods, yet these remain underutilised. In fact, diversifying local foods such as cassava, sweet potato, kimpul, and ganyong could form the foundation of food security, especially with increased agricultural production.

• 👶🏼 Lack of familiarity: For some of the younger generation, many of these tubers may be something they have never even seen or eaten. This is where digital creators play a key role: they are reintroducing local ingredients through familiar dishes such as chewy cookies, lasagna, and even bibim guksu.

🌱 What Is Kimpul and Are There Other Forgotten Tubers?

Kimpul (Xanthosoma sagittifolium) originates from South America and has since spread to various tropical regions, including Indonesia. In Indonesia, it is known as kimpul or Belitung taro and has long been cultivated and used as a local carbohydrate source.

Although it has long been found in traditional markets, home gardens, and local food systems, kimpul remains largely unknown to many consumers, particularly the younger generation, compared with sweet potatoes or cassava.

However, kimpul has vast culinary potential; when prepared properly, it can be enjoyed in a variety of dishes, both savoury and sweet, while its starch can also be processed into flour. This is just one example from a collection of lesser-known tubers in Indonesia.

Ganyong (Canna discolour), for instance, is another local plant with potential as a source of carbohydrates and flour. Researchers have studied its starch for use in various products, from cakes and rice vermicelli to noodles—most notably mie ganyong, a ganyong-based noodle now gaining renewed attention as a gluten-free, locally sourced alternative to wheat.

Other examples include:

• Garut (Maranta arundinacea), traditionally associated with starch and flour products.

• Uwi/Purple Yam (Dioscorea alata), a cassava-like tuber with various local varieties, better known as Ube.

• Gadung (Dioscorea hispida), a tuber that requires a fairly lengthy and careful processing stage before consumption.

• Gembili (Dioscorea esculenta), another local tuber that has attracted attention as an alternative carbohydrate source.

• Mbote/taro (Colocasia esculenta), is already fairly well known and is often prepared as ‘uyen’ or fried taro.

These tuberous plants have enormous potential and could be developed into more appealing processed foods; however, they remain unfamiliar to many.

🥗 Beyond the Trend: What’s Actually in These Tubers

Beyond their cultural and culinary value, these forgotten tubers also offer real nutritional value.

Kimpul provides complex carbohydrates, dietary fibre, and plant-based protein, along with vitamin C, B-complex vitamins, iron, and potassium—making it a genuinely balanced substitute for rice or potatoes, not just a novelty ingredient.

One thing to note for anyone keen to cook it at home: kimpul needs to be cooked thoroughly, as it naturally contains oxalate compounds that can cause skin or throat irritation if undercooked.

Ganyong, meanwhile, is particularly rich in starch and naturally gluten-free, which has made its flour increasingly attractive as a wheat substitute—not only for noodles like mie ganyong, but also for bread, biscuits, and baby food.

With Indonesia importing millions of tonnes of wheat each year, locally grown, gluten-free alternatives like ganyong flour are more than a food trend; they’re a small but meaningful step toward reducing that dependency.

🍪 From Traditional Ingredient to Trending Food

The digital creators here are taking a rather interesting approach. Rather than asking the audience to return to traditional tuber dishes, Ibu Black Sheep has instead incorporated ‘kimpul’ into modern dishes widely recognised by the younger generation.

With the opening line of her video, “Since I don’t have it, I’ll substitute it with kimpul,” she creates a variety of modern dishes whilst substituting the main ingredient with local tubers.

For example, chewy kimpul cookie; kimpul lasagna; mashed kimpul; kimpul cheesecake; and ganyong-based guksu noodles.

Her strategy is simple: while the ingredient may be unfamiliar, the form and name of the dish are not. Consumers may never have eaten kimpul or know how to prepare it, but they are familiar with chewy biscuits, lasagne or mashed potatoes.

The strategy is not always to modernise traditional food, but to keep traditional ingredients relevant by incorporating them into dishes that are already popular and familiar to the public. The tuber need not be hidden or lose its identity; it is simply introduced through food forms that feel more familiar.

🌾 Bigger Picture: From Social Media Trends to Food Diversification

• From viral trend to exploration: Kimpul content doesn’t stop at Ibu Black Sheep. Many creators have tried their hand at adapting recipes featuring kimpul, making this previously unfamiliar ingredient appear more frequently on social media.

• Social media opens the door to local food: When kimpul or ganyong appears in various contemporary dishes, people don't need to immediately change their eating habits. They simply need to try something familiar, but using a different ingredient.

• Opportunities for food diversification: Indonesia has a wide variety of local carbohydrate sources, yet consumption remains heavily dominated by rice. Reviving tubers such as kimpul and ganyong does not mean replacing rice, but rather expanding the range of food choices derived from local resources.

• Trends are a starting point, not an end goal: Although the viral popularity of kimpul has not yet significantly increased market demand, more and more people are becoming aware of it, trying it, and even experimenting with it. This is where the opportunity for food diversification can begin.

❤️ Why This Hits Home

Behind the viral kimpul recipes, this forgotten tuber is more than just an agricultural commodity. It embodies local knowledge, family customs and food traditions from various regions, passed down through the generations.

When a crop is no longer consumed daily, the knowledge of how to grow, process, and consume it is also at risk of being lost.

Therefore, for creators who have a personal connection to agriculture or local crops, kimpul content holds a different significance.

They are not only experimenting with food ingredients, but also ensuring that these ingredients remain relevant to a generation that may never have known them.

From an economic perspective, transforming local food into appealing products can indeed unlock new economic value; however, a single viral video is not enough. Farmers still need stable demand, processors require a consistent supply, and consumers need affordable products.

Social media may not solve everything, but it can start with one thing: making people care about the ingredients.

📌 Bottom Line

Indonesia has no shortage of local food; in fact, wide varieties are simply becoming less and less well-known.

From kimpul to ganyong, digital creators are showing that reviving local food doesn’t always mean going back to the old ways. Sometimes, the way forward is to make traditional ingredients relevant to today’s tastes.

A single chewy cookie, a plate of lasagna, or a bowl of noodles might seem like a small experiment. But as more and more people start asking, “Is this made with kimpul?”, that almost-forgotten ingredient regains its place in conversation and, perhaps, on the dining tables of the next generation.

🔍 Need More Angle?

Badan Pangan Nasional Diversifikasi Pangan Berbasis Sumber Daya Lokal, Strategi Penting dalam Pemenuhan Pangan Nasional

Institut Teknologi Bandung Viral Kimpul Draws Attention, ITB Expert Highlights Its Potential as an Alternative Food Source

Institut Pertanian Bogor Keunggulan Talas Kimpul

The Jakarta Post Rice self-sufficiency and the future of Indonesia’s food sovereignty

Kompas Kimpul Jadi Viral, Menkes Ungkap 3 Manfaatnya untuk Kesehatan

Universitas Airlangga Tren Kimpul di Media Sosial, Ahli Gizi UNAIR Menyoroti Momentum Baik untuk Diversifikasi Pangan Lokal

(DHM/ZIL/QOB)

🎯 The Main Takeaway

When it comes to Southeast Asian food, two dishes often come to mind: Rendang and Tom Yum. Both are internationally recognisable and often discussed as a single vibrant entity—intensely aromatic, spicy, and complex.

Yet each is shaped by two distinct flavour traditions: the spice-rich cooking of maritime Southeast Asia, and the herb-forward approach of the mainland. This is not merely a matter of geography, but of how trade, migration, and globalisation have carried these flavours far beyond the region.

Understanding this distinction matters. Similar is not identical. The tendency to flatten Southeast Asian cuisine into a single monolith of “bold, intense, and spicy” erases the journeys and wisdom embedded in each tradition.

📡 Why It’s on Our Radar

Globalisation has long opened the gates for different cultures to meet, often adopting a simplified model that gets lost in translation the moment it travels abroad. One of these is how Southeast Asia's food profile gets simplified to “Rich, Bold, Intense, and fragrant flavour” while it is made with different approaches, traditions, and philosophies.

Southeast Asia's culinary identity has been shaped differently by environment, trade networks, agricultural systems, and historical interaction.

🫚 Spices & Herbs: Profile

Get to Know the SEA Spices

Spices are derived from the roots, bark, seeds, or fruit of plants and are primarily used to add distinct flavour, colour, and texture to food.

Characterized by a strong, warm, and intense aroma alongside a bold, deep, and often pungent flavour profile, spices are typically used in smaller quantities and added early in the cooking process to allow heat to extract their rich, complex notes

Spices boast a longer shelf life of up to a year or more when stored in a cool, dark place away from light and moisture.

They are central to Southeast Asian culinary traditions through ingredients like turmeric, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, star anise, galangal, ginger, and coriander seeds, shaping celebrated dishes such as the clove- and star anise-infused Beef Rendang or the aromatically complex Massaman Curry.

Get to Know the SEA Herbs

Herbs are botanically classified as non-woody plants whose fresh green parts, such as leaves, stems, and flowers, are harvested for culinary use.

Characterized by a fresh, light, delicate aroma alongside a subtle and often slightly bitter flavor profile, herbs are typically added in larger quantities near the end of cooking or at lower temperatures to preserve their bright taste.

While fresh herbs have a relatively short shelf life, their viability can easily be extended through drying, freezing, or infusing them into oils and vinegars.

Featuring prominently in Southeast Asia are ingredients like lemongrass, Thai basil, cilantro, laksa leaf (rau ram), saw-tooth coriander, and kaffir lime leaves. Defining iconic region-wide dishes, serving as fresh toppings for Pho or forming the foundational broth flavorings of Tom Yum.

⚓ Maritime Southeast Asia: The Kingdom of Spices

Maritime Southeast Asia’s culinary identity was shaped by its island geography and its position as the crossroads of global sea lanes. The region connected traders from India, China, the Middle East, and eventually Europe long before modern national borders existed.

The movement of ships through ports across did not only transport spices outward; Indian traders brought turmeric and cumin, Arab traders brought richer stewing methods, Chinese migrants brought fermentation and wok cooking

The Maluku Islands, in particular, became internationally significant as the historical source of cloves and nutmeg, two of the world's most valuable commodities. They were naturally dried for long ocean voyages, establishing a tradition of dry, preserved aromatics

Ultimately, Maritime Southeast Asia created a cuisine where food was designed to endure, evolve through trade, and deliver complex, slow-built warmth.

⛰️ Mainland Southeast Asia: The Sanctuary of Fresh Herbs

Mainland Southeast Asia’s food culture developed along the massive societies in the Chao Phraya (Thailand), Mekong (Vietnam, Cambodia), and Irrawaddy (Myanmar) river basins developed intensive wet-rice cultivation.

often having"house gardens" near their dwellings, grew fruits, vegetables, and crucially, a wide variety of fresh herbs: lemongrass, Thai basil, cilantro, mint, and kaffir lime.

Centuries of exchange with southern China shaped Vietnam's use of broths and noodles, while Indian influence moved in through the Mon and Khmer kingdoms, bringing curry pastes and aromatics that were then adapted to local conditions.

Tom yum therefore represents both local geography and international movement: fresh regional ingredients form its aromatic foundation, while imported ingredients were gradually adapted into a distinctly Thai culinary tradition.

Share The Southeast Asia Desk

🌏 Globalisation of Southeast Asian flavours

The globalisation of Southeast Asian flavours can be seen nowadays by the rising number of Southeast Asia-themed restaurants outside the region. Bringing familiar ingredients, recipes, and cooking practices to cities around the world, from the diaspora kitchen to high-end restaurants

• Diaspora Home Kitchen: Bringing their identity, families often adapted to locally available ingredients without completely abandoning their original methods. Often introducing the food to local communities, where food also travels through people and their everyday practices.

• Gastrodiplomacy/food diplomacy: Government initiatives in state-sponsored campaigns, culinary festivals, cultural exchanges, international food events, and overseas restaurants allow countries to associate the food with their national identity.

• Modern Restaurant and Southeast Asia Brands: Ranging from street food to Michelin-starred restaurants, there is places for everyone to try and enjoy Southeast Asian food. Brands like Indomie, Mae Ploy, and Bamboe standardized authentic flavor bases into packaged instant noodles, ready-to-use pastes, and dipping sauces.

🏁 The Bottom Line

Similar is not identical.

Asian dishes should not flatten into a single monolith of “bold, intense, and spicy”; it erases every journey and wisdom embedded. Rendang and Thai Tom Yum both use galangal and chili, but they reflect fundamentally different relationships with time, geography, and agriculture.

A dish can share ingredients or techniques without being an exact copy; Southeast Asian similarities reveal how closely connected the region is through geography, migration, trade, and cultural exchange.

Need More Angles

• ASEAN Magazine, The The Spices and Flavours of a Shared Cultural Identity

#SoutheastAsianFood #Spices #Herbs #Rendang #TomYum #CulinaryTraditions #FoodHeritage #Gastrodiplomacy #MaritimeSEA #MainlandSEA #SEAFoodCulture #Galangal #Lemongrass

(DEV/ELS)

🎯 The Main Takeaway

For decades, Southeast Asia’s role in Hollywood was simple: supply the scenery.

🎬 From Vietnam standing in for Kong: Skull Island to Bali anchoring Eat Pray Love, the region has quietly hosted blockbuster after blockbuster. But the relationship is shifting — Thailand’s 2017 hit Bad Genius just got its own English-language Hollywood remake in 2024, and the Philippines made a local adaptation too.

Hollywood isn’t just borrowing our backdrops anymore. It’s starting to borrow our scripts.

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👀 Why It’s on Our Radar

Southeast Asia has long competed for Hollywood's attention with tax rebates and cheap production costs — essentially, paying to be looked at.

A film like Bad Genius flips that dynamic: it's a story that traveled on its own merit, box office numbers and all, and pulled Hollywood toward it.

That's a meaningfully different kind of leverage than a cash rebate, and it's worth watching whether it's a one-off or the start of a pattern.

💭 What’s at Stake

The economic upside is real: tourism boosts, production jobs, and international visibility. But being a popular filming destination doesn’t guarantee accurate representation.

Doctor Strange (2016) swapped a Tibetan character and setting for Nepal specifically to avoid friction with China’s box office, proof that “filmed in Asia” doesn’t always mean “represented by Asia.”

The same tension applies here at home: locations get used, but whose culture, whose poverty, and whose story are actually told are still often decided somewhere in Los Angeles, not Jakarta, Manila, or Bangkok.

🎬 The Big Picture

A quick rundown of the region’s Hollywood resume:

• 🦍 Kong: Skull Island (2017), Vietnam — the biggest production the country had ever hosted, chosen for its raw, “otherworldly” landscape.

• 🧘‍♀️ Eat Pray Love (2010), Indonesia — filmed on location in Ubud and Padang-Padang Beach to stay true to Elizabeth Gilbert’s real journey.

• 🏃‍♂️ The Bourne Legacy (2012), Philippines — Manila’s density and energy shaped its chase scenes, though the film drew criticism for how it framed local poverty.

• 💎 Crazy Rich Asians (2018), Singapore — real locations like Marina Bay Sands, but a portrait of wealth that barely reflects how private Singapore’s actual elite are.

• 🍻 The Hangover Part II (2011), Thailand — Krabi and Bangkok delivered the chaotic, “lost after a wild night” energy the sequel needed.

The pull isn’t just visual. Thailand and Malaysia both offer cash rebates of up to 30% on qualifying local spend, plus bonuses for hiring local crew — production incentives that make the region hard to pass up on a budget line alone. 💰

🌏 The Regional Stakes

This shift could mean more than international recognition.

It could change who gets to tell Southeast Asia’s stories — and who benefits when those stories succeed. 🌏

When international productions film in the region, they can bring investment, employment opportunities, and tourism. 📈 But when local filmmakers gain greater visibility and ownership over their stories, the impact can go further.

More local voices get heard. More stories travel across borders. And instead of constantly being defined through someone else’s camera, Southeast Asia gets more opportunities to define itself. 📹➡️🖊️

A Hollywood remake doesn’t automatically mean equal creative power, of course. But it does signal something important:

Stories from this region are becoming harder to ignore.

✍️ When our stories travel

The clearest example is Bad Genius, the 2017 Thai heist-thriller about a scholarship student running an elaborate exam-cheating scheme. The film became a major success in Thailand and across several international markets, including China.

Hollywood took notice. 🎬

In 2024, an English-language remake was released in the US. The Philippines has also developed its own adaptation.

That’s the interesting part: the story traveled because the story worked — not because a studio needed a beautiful jungle in the background. 🌴❌

Indonesia has its own examples. The Raid helped reshape how global audiences think about action choreography, while Indonesian horror films such as Pengabdi Setan have reached viewers far beyond the country’s borders.

Meanwhile, Filipino and Thai filmmakers continue to bring distinctly local perspectives to international audiences and festival circuits.

Southeast Asia isn’t just a location scouts flip through anymore — it’s becoming a place stories come from. ✨

🏙️ Why This Hits Home

We’ve probably all had that moment.

You’re watching a Hollywood movie when suddenly —

“Wait, isn’t that Bali?” 👀📍

Or Manila. Singapore. Bangkok. Vietnam.

There’s something exciting about recognising your part of the world on a massive screen. That little “I’ve been there!” moment when somewhere familiar suddenly becomes cinematic.

But maybe there’s a bigger question behind that excitement:

Are we just the view out the window, or are we finally getting to hold the pen? 🖊️

(VIL/QOB)

🎯 Main Takeaway

Fishing tournaments in Southeast Asia make the waterways a competition destination, not only for anglers but also for tourists.

In Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, fishing competitions bring together international participants along with maritime destinations, local communities, and tourism promotion.

These Southeast Asian fishing tournaments demonstrate how fishing activities can be one way for coastal and island destinations to attract international tourists and diversify their tourism offerings.

👀 Why it’s in Our Radar

Fishing tournaments may still often be considered niche sporting events.

However, in Southeast Asia, fishing competitions are more than just fishing because this region has cross-border appeal.

International fishing tournaments gather participants from various countries, while simultaneously introducing visitors to destinations that may not yet be major tourist spots.

Therefore, fishing tournaments have become more than just contests on the water; they are utilized as platforms for destination promotion, international participation, and marine tourism.

🌊 Southeast Asia’s Fishing Tournaments

🇮🇩 Lembata Fishing Tournament

Lembata Fishing Tournament is one of the international fishing competitions held at Wulen Luo Beach, Nubatukan District, Lembata Regency, East Nusa Tenggara.

In 2026, this tournament was participated in by 18 teams from Indonesia, Australia, Timor-Leste, and Malaysia.

Lasting for two days, and offering a total prize of up to Rp181 million with various categories such as total catch, best species, and best captain.

Not just an ordinary fishing tournament, the waters of Lembata offer the potential for sport fishing with its rich marine life, exotic beaches, mountains, waterfalls, and the local cultural wealth of the community, making it a unique attraction.

However, the high travel costs and transportation challenges to Lembata indicate that the remoteness of the destination remains a challenge to expanding international participation in this tournament.

🇲🇾 Labuan International Sea Challenge

Labuan International Sea Challenge is an annual maritime sports event in Labuan, Malaysia, which combines various sea competitions, including deep-sea fishing.

In 2026, the fishing competition attracted more than 220 anglers, with 55 international participants from Hong Kong, China, Singapore, the United States, Australia, and Indonesia.

The participants compete in team and individual categories for a total cash prize of RM75,000.

The waters of Labuan offer a variety of interesting species ranging from dogtooth tuna, trevally, grouper, ruby snapper, amberjack, yellowfin tuna, wahoo, and barracuda to a 76.6-kilogram black marlin that was successfully caught by one of the participants.

However, the fishing tournament is just one part of LISC, which also features kayaking, cross-channel swimming, and regattas.

Labuan also has potential for marine tourism such as diving, snorkeling, and island tours. This model shows how fishing competitions can be part of a broader marine sports tourism ecosystem.

🇵🇭 Siargao International Game Fishing Tournament

The Siargao International Game Fishing Tournament is a game fishing competition held in Pilar, Surigao del Norte, Philippines. This tournament has become part of Siargao’s marine tourism identity and attracts international participants.

The 2025 edition of the tournament was attended by 32 anglers from various countries, including England, the United States, Canada, Sweden, Hungary, New Zealand, and the Philippines.

This competition focuses on game fishing and big fish, especially billfish. Not only that, but this competition also integrates conservation efforts through the catch-and-release requirement for billfish, satellite tagging to study fish migration patterns, and plastic-free tournament guidelines.

Outside of the competition, Siargao already has a well-known tourism industry thru surfing, island hopping, diving, snorkeling, and ecotourism.

This makes the fishing tournament a complement to a destination that already has a global tourist base.

However, the 2026 edition has been canceled due to the energy crisis and concerns over fuel supply, which shows that international events are highly dependent on stable infrastructure and logistics.

🧭 Tips for Picking a Tournament

For anglers or travelers deciding which of these events to chase, a few factors matter more than the prize pool:

• Match the format to your goal, weigh-in tournaments like Lembata’s suit anglers chasing prize money and bragging rights, while catch-and-release, tag-and-release events like Siargao’s suit those more drawn to the conservation and experience side.

• Check what’s bundled in: multi-discipline events like Labuan’s LISC are worth it for travelers who want a fuller sports-tourism trip, not just a single day on the water.

• Weigh accessibility against exclusivity, remote locations like Lembata offer untouched water and less competition density but cost more in time and travel, while established hubs like Siargao are easier to reach and pair fishing with existing tourism infrastructure.

It’s also worth looking at the international mix of participants to gauge how cross-border an event really is, checking the prize structure rather than just the total pool (categories like “best captain” can matter more for a first-timer than total-catch weight), and asking about conservation rules upfront, since requirements like tagging or plastic-free guidelines can affect gear and logistics.

Finally, given what happened with Siargao’s 2026 cancellation, it pays to confirm an organizer’s track record and have a backup plan for flights and accommodation before booking around a remote or infrastructure-dependent event.

🎣 More Than Just a Fishing Competition

Southeast Asia is turning fishing tournaments into more than fishing, they’ve become a reason for international tourists to visit coastal and island destinations, while boosting local businesses like hotels, transportation, restaurants, and charter boat operators.

For destinations that aren’t yet widely known, niche international events can be a path to global exposure.

Part of what makes this possible is geography. Southeast Asia’s seas are vast and largely untapped for this kind of tourism, thousands of islands, some of the world’s richest marine biodiversity, and long stretches of coastline that don’t yet have a fishing or marine-sports identity the way Bali or Phuket do.

That scale is what gives destinations like Lembata room to build an international draw around water most of the world has never fished.

The three tournaments above show different approaches to using that potential. Lembata uses a niche event to introduce a lesser-known destination to international travelers.

Labuan folds deep-sea fishing into a broader marine sports ecosystem. Siargao uses game fishing to add a new dimension to an already strong island tourism brand.

The bigger opportunity for Southeast Asia may not be building a single regional fishing tournament circuit, it may be treating these competitions as part of a broader marine tourism ecosystem, where the tournament is the reason tourists come, and the beaches, diving, surfing, nature, and culture are the reasons they stay longer.

With so much coastline still unexploited for this kind of event, there’s room for more Lembatas: places with the fish and the scenery, just waiting for the right tournament to put them on the map.

📌 Bottom Line

Fishing tournaments in Southeast Asia are still fragmented, but each one shows how sport can drive destination promotion.

Lembata introduces remote destinations to international participants, Labuan integrates fishing into a marine sports ecosystem, and Siargao strengthens an island-hopping tourism brand through game fishing, each offering a different model for the same idea.

The opportunity lies in developing these competitions as part of a wider marine tourism ecosystem: tournaments bring tourists in, but a destination’s natural wealth, culture, and broader experiences are what make them stay.

🔍 Need More Angles?

Malaysia Travel Malaysia Truly Asia - Labuan International Sea Challenge 2026

Manila Bulletin Siargao int’l game fishing tilt nixed amid fuel suppls

MDTV News Peserta Mancing dari Australia dan Timor Leste Puji Potensi Laut Lembata

Media Indonesia Lembata Fishing Tournament 2026 Resmi Dibuka, Peserta dari Indonesia, Australia hingga Timor Leste Ramaikan Kompetisi

Philippine News Agency Global anglers cast lines at 15th Siargao fishing tourney

The Star Making waves at Labuan challenge | The Star

Travel and Tour World Open-Sea Fishing Adventures Redefine Coastal Travel by Blending Strategy, Teamwork, Marine Exploration, and Sustainable Tourism Into an Unforgettable Ocean Experience: Have the Spirit in You? Unfurl the Secret

(DHM/ZIL/QOB)

🎯 Main Takeaway

Southeast Asia is home to some of the most enchanting lantern light festivals in the world. These festivals are a combination of centuries-old traditions with unforgettable visual spectacles. From lanterns flying into the nite sky in Thailand to glowing rivers in Laos, as well as candle celebrations and lantern flights in Borobudur, this annual event transforms an ordinary festival into an extraordinary cultural experience. ✨🏮

Not only photogenic appeal, these festivals offer travelers a deeper connection with the cultural, spiritual, and community traditions of the area. Whether rooted in Buddhist teachings, local beliefs, or lunar calendar rituals. They provide a unique opportunity to get to know Southeast Asia through moments of reflection, celebration, and shared cultural identity.

👀 Why its in Our Radar

The lantern light festivals in Southeast Asia reflect several common cultural threads across the region:

• 🏮 A shared Buddhist influence: Many major lantern festivals in this region are rooted in Buddhist traditions, where light symbolizes enlightenment, wisdom, hope, and spiritual renewal.

• 🌕 The importance of the lunar calendar: Almost all festivals are related to the full moon and lunar cycles rather than fixed dates, which is why many lantern celebrations take place under the brightest nite sky of the year.

• 🌊 Connection with nature and local beliefs: Long before the spread and development of Buddhism and Hinduism in Southeast Asia, communities throughout the region were already practicing rituals honoring ancestral rivers and nature spirits. Many modern lantern festivals still reflect this tradition through floating lamps and water-based ceremonies.

• 🤝 Community-centered celebrations: Unlike most modern festivals built around entertainment, lantern festivals often remain highly communal, bringing together families, religious groups, and local communities in acts of reflection and shared celebration.

• ✨ Ancient traditions with modern appeal: Although rooted in centuries-old traditions, these festivals have become some of the most recognized cultural events in Southeast Asia, attracting international visitors while maintaining their spiritual and cultural significance.

🏮 Southeast Asia’s Most Magical Annual Lantern and Light Festivals

🇮🇩 Waisak Lantern Festival, Indonesia

Against the backdrop of the world’s largest Buddhist temple, the Vesak Lantern Festival transforms the sky of Borobudur into a floating sea of light. At this festival, thousands of people gather to pray and meditate, culminating in the evening with the release of lanterns that slowly float upwards, creating a striking contrast with the silhouette of the ancient monument. This festival commemorates the Waisak holiday, which marks the birth, enlightenment, and death of Buddha Gotama.

This festival has become one of the most spiritually significant celebrations in Southeast Asia. In 2026, the Waisak Lantern Festival in Borobudur was held on May 31. However, this festival is routinely held every year between May and June, following the annual Waisak celebration based on the Buddhist lunar calendar.

🇱🇦 Boun Lai Heua Fai Festival of Lights, Laos

Along the banks of the Mekong River, decorated boats illuminated with candles and colorful designs glide over the water after sunset. The Boun Lai Heua Fai Festival, known as the Fire Boat Festival, marks the end of the Buddhist Lent and fills cities like Luang Prabang with glowing river views, candle processions, and community celebrations.

The reflection of hundreds of lights dancing on the Mekong River creates the most atmospheric cultural experience and scenery in Laos. Every year, this festival takes place in October, coinciding with the end of the Buddhist Lent and the full moon period. According to the Tourism Laos calendar, the Boun Lai Heua Fai Festival of Lights in 2026 will take place on October 27.

🇲🇲 Thadingyut Festival of Lights, Myanmar

For three nights, houses, pagodas, streets, and public buildings in every corner of Myanmar were illuminated with candles, lanterns, and decorative lights. This festival commemorates the event of Devorohana, the return of the Buddha from the Tavatimsa Heaven to Earth after delivering teachings to His mother. This event is considered one of the most important Buddhist celebrations in Myanmar. The warm light spreading throughout the surroundings creates a festive yet reflective atmosphere, blending spirituality with family gatherings and acts of gratitude.

The Thadingyut Festival is usually held on the full moon day of the Burmese lunar month of Thadingyut, marking the end of the Buddhist fasting period (Vassa). In 2026, Thadingyut falls on October 25-27, with the peak full moon day on October 26. Places that can be visited to enjoy this festival include Mandalay and Yangon, but since it is celebrated throughout the region, other cities can also be considered.

🇹🇭 Yi Peng Festival in Chiang Mai & Loy Krathong, Thailand

As dusk envelops Chiang Mai, thousands of glowing lanterns are released into the nite sky, creating a stunning canopy of light over the city’s temples and mountains. The Yi Peng Festival is rooted in the traditions of the Lanna Kingdom in Northern Thailand, which is considered a symbolic act to release misfortune and make wishes for the future. Yi Peng is held in conjunction with the full moon of the second month in the Lanna lunar calendar. The moment when the lanterns fly together becomes one of the most magical sights of the festival in Southeast Asia.

While Yi Peng illuminates the sky, Loy Krathong illuminates the rivers, lakes, and canals in Thailand. Throughout the corners of the country, people place candles, flowers, and incense on small floating baskets known as krathong before releasing them into the water. This ritual is traditionally associated with honoring the water spirits, expressing gratitude, and releasing negativity from the past year.

Both festivals are held at the same time, but the dates may vary each year as they follow the lunar calendar. As thousands of twinkling lights float above the water after sunset, the cities and riverbanks transform into a shimmering landscape. In 2026, the Yi Peng Festival will be held on November 24-25 at The CAD Cultural Center Lanna, Chiang Mai.

Meanwhile, Loy Krathong 2026 will be celebrated on November 25. The best places to celebrate Loy Krathong there are Chiang Mai, two festivals in one place; Sukhothai, the birthplace of Loy Krathong; Bangkok, events along the Chao Phraya River; Phuket combines Loy Krathong with the beach.

✨ Honorable Mention: Hội An Full Moon Lantern Festival, 🇻🇳 Vietnam

Unlike the annual festivals in Southeast Asia, the Hội An lantern celebration takes place every full moon. This UNESCO-listed Old Town turns off most of its electric lighting, allowing thousands of colorful lanterns to illuminate the historic streets and the Thu Bồn River. Visitors can explore the glowing alleys, see the shimmering lantern reflections on the water, and experience the old trading port in a way that feels frozen in time. This festival is held every full moon throughout the year, making it one of the most accessible lantern experiences in Southeast Asia.

📌 Bottom Line

Throughout Southeast Asia, lantern festivals are not separate events—they are recurring lunar calendar traditions that serve as both spiritual practices and tourist attractions. Each country expresses the same idea in different ways:

• 🛕 🇮🇩 Indonesia → sacred puja rituals

• 🎆 🇹🇭 Thailand → large-scale visual spectacles

• 🌊 🇱🇦 Laos & 🇲🇲 Myanmar → reflective river light traditions and community

• 🏮 🇻🇳 Vietnam → monthly living heritage experiences

✨ They form one of the most consistent and visually strong festival circuits in the world.

(DHM/VBD)

🔍 Need More Angle?

Discover Corps Thailand – The Lantern Festival - Volunteer Vacations | Discover Corps

Gocollette Lantern Festivals of Vietnam & Thailand: A Guide to Hội An’s Full Moon Magic and Beyond

Hoi An Day Trip Hoi An Lantern Festival (Full Moon Festival) in 2025 2026 2027

Khiri Illuminate October: Experience Luang Prabang’s Festival of Light - Khiri Travel

Luang Prabang Culture Fire Boat Festival - LUANG PRABANG CULTURE

Sonasia Holiday Thadingyut - The magnificent Myanmar Festival of Light

Thailand Highlights Loy Krathong Festival 2026: Date, Meaning, Traditions

Traveloka Top 10 Asian Lantern Festivals, A Celebration of Light and Culture

Vespagogo Celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival in Vietnam 2025

Waisak Borobudur Waisak Borobudur

Yi Peng Chiang Mai Lantern Yi Peng Chiang Mai Lantern Festival

🎯 The Main Takeaway

August’s biggest Southeast Asian releases trade pop spectacle for raw, first-person emotion—flirtation 😏, heartbreak 💔, self-blame 🥀, infatuation ✨, and longing 🌧️. Audiences are rewarding this vulnerability with sustained chart and streaming traction 🚀.

🔍 Why It’s on Our Radar

August 2026 delivered a tight cluster of high-profile drops 🎧: a resilient regional Hipdut single, a composer-driven comeback ballad, a veteran’s self-produced solo album, a P-pop star’s intimate solo release, and a Thai hip-hop milestone. Together, they offer a definitive snapshot of what is genuinely moving listeners over label-pushed trends 📊.

⚖️ What’s at Stake

Authenticity over polish 💎. These tracks test the staying power of viral genres, the viability of independent pivots, the success of long-awaited comebacks, and the ability of domestic hits to cross borders 🌉.

🌏 The Big Picture: August 2026 Breakdown

🇮🇩 Indonesia | Akbar Chalay & Mingse — “Astaga Bercanda” 🤭

• 📅 Released: 8 May 2026 (MV: 6 August)

• 🔥 Traction: 6.7M+ visualiser views, 3M+ MV views, 10M+ Spotify streams, 24M+ TikTok posts. Still holding Top 50 Indonesia.

• 📝 Produced by Glitch Haus and Sony Music Indonesia, this hipdut track pairs Bengkulu producer Akbar Chalay with Mingse (former Indonesian Idol Bunga Reyza). The lyrics follow a narrator falling for someone already taken, wrapping his confession in a running joke that never quite convinces anyone.

🇲🇾 Malaysia | Emma Suhaimi — “Tersakiti” 🥀

• 📅 Released: 14 August 2026

• 🔥 Traction: 53K+ YouTube views on launch day; strong early multi-platform streaming.

• 📝 Released under Nova Music Malaysia, “Tersakiti” was written entirely by Indonesian composer Ilham Baso, previously behind Ara Johari’s hit “Menjaga Jodoh Orang Lain”. The ballad follows the former AF8 star’s return after a long recording hiatus, drawing on 16 years of personal heartbreak to chronicle the courage to leave a toxic relationship.

🇸🇬 Singapore | Sezairi — “Salah Sendiri” 🎸

• 📅 Released: October 2025 (Live Surrender version: 19 August 2026)

• 🔥 Traction: Driving renewed engagement to Singapore’s first 100M-stream Spotify artist.

• The Background: 📝 Released independently via Offlane Records, The Art of Surrender marks Sezairi's first fully self-produced album in a 16-year career. “Salah Sendiri” (“My Own Fault”) is a Malay-language track of quiet self-reckoning, owning the blame in a relationship’s unravelling.

🇵🇭 Philippines | Stell — “Crazy” 🌃

• 📅 Released: 21 August 2026

• 🔥 Traction: 180K+ YouTube views in days; strong streaming momentum.

• 📝 Written by Maribelle Añes, “Crazy” trades the funk of Stell’s debut EP for an intimate, R&B-infused sound. The SB19 main vocalist becomes the fourth member to release solo music this year. The video captures Stell lovestruck and dancing alone through Times Square.

🇹🇭 Thailand | MAIYARAP feat. Z9 — “RAIN ZONE” ☔

• 📅 Released: 5 February 2026 (Live session: 1 August 2026)

• 🔥 Traction: 10M+ YouTube views; sustained virality via fan edits and covers.

• 📝 Produced by ilytrash, “RAIN ZONE” captures a fleeting, cinematic moment—hands brushing accidentally in the rain. It’s mood over narrative, delivering an atmospheric hit that resonates well beyond Thai-speaking audiences.

📈 The Regional Stakes

Language barriers are dissolving 🌐. With composers writing across borders, TikTok driving international virality 📱, and established artists choosing independence over major labels, Southeast Asia's pop industries are more interconnected than ever.

A joke, a confession, or an ambiguous moment in the rain translates universally 🤝.

🏁 The Bottom Line

August offers a definitive entry point into current Southeast Asian pop: Indonesian flirtation 🇮🇩, Malaysian restraint 🇲🇾, Singaporean self-reckoning 🇸🇬, Philippine R&B 🇵🇭, and Thai atmosphere 🇹🇭.

For a masterclass in how restraint rivals spectacle, Emma Suhaimi’s “Tersakiti” music video is the essential watch of the month 🎬.

(ZIL/ARS)

🎵 Main Takeaway

Southeast Asia has a highly diverse music festival ecosystem, with each festival offering different experiences and identities to the audience in the region.

Starting from large-scale festivals with various genres including local music to festivals that combine music with art, culture, nature, and community experiences, music festivals in Southeast Asia showcase the diverse and creative potential of the music industry in this region. Thus, it not only relies on the number of listeners but also creates an engaging live music experience for both local and regional audiences.

🔍 Why it’s in Our Radar

• 🎧Southeast Asia’s Music Market Continues to Grow

Southeast Asia is a region with a large population of over 700 million people and an increasingly digitised music market. Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand are the top three largest music markets in the region, each with different audience characteristics, platforms, and preferences.

The Southeast Asian live entertainment market is estimated to be worth USD 5.97 billion by 2025 and projected to reach USD 10 billion by 2034, with music being the largest segment in the market.

On the other hand, the way audiences discover and consume music has also changed, with YouTube, TikTok, and various streaming platforms becoming an important part of the music discovery process. However, the potential of the music market is not only measured by the number of listeners.

However, amidst the high access to digital music, live experiences offer something that streaming platforms cannot provide—experiences of enjoying music directly with musicians and other audiences. This is where concerts and music festivals become appealing to the audience.

• 🎪 Festivals Are Becoming More Than Just Music

The development of music festivals shows a change in the way festivals are designed and consumed. Current festivals do not just offer stages and line-ups of musicians, but also provide a broader experience through art, culture, cuisine, wellness, nature, and community activities.

This model is increasingly aligned with the concept of the experience economy, where visitors not only purchase tickets to watch the show but also the experience itself. This development is important because Southeast Asia has a wealth of culture, cuisine, nature, and creative communities that can become part of the festival’s identity.

This means that the strength of Southeast Asian music festivals may not only lie in who performs on stage, but also in the experiences that can only be found at the festival venue.

🎶 Five Faces of Southeast Asia’s Music Festival

Pestapora - 🇮🇩 Indonesia

Pestapora is known as one of Indonesia’s large-scale music festivals, with tens of thousands of visitors and hundreds of guest star line-ups from various genres. The 2026 edition will be held on September 25-27, 2026, at the Jakarta International Expo (JIEXPO).

This festival is interesting to observe as part of the Southeast Asian music ecosystem, due to its ability to gather various layers of Indonesian music in one space, ranging from pop, rock, indie, hip-hop, to various forms of local popular music in one festival. In the 2025 edition, Pestapora presents various stages with hundreds of performers representing the diversity of Indonesian music.

Data from Orphiq shows that Indonesia is one of the largest music markets in Southeast Asia, with local music holding a strong position, with pop, dangdut, and indie rock as genres that have a large domestic audience.

This shows that music festivals do not always have to rely on international artists as the main performers, because with a large domestic market, festivals that can combine many music communities can create their own appeal.

The Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) - 🇲🇾 Malaysia

The Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) is a festival that has its own uniqueness, as it uses music as a medium for cultural exchange. In 2026, this festival was held from June 25-27 at the Sarawak Cultural Village, Kuching, Sarawak.

Rainforest World Music Festival 2026 carries the theme “Regenerations: Roots & Rhythms,” bringing together global musicians with local traditions in the setting of Sarawak Cultural Village. Combining evening concerts with music workshops, cultural displays, crafts, and food stalls, RWMF demonstrates how a festival can evolve into a cultural tourism asset.

This festival started in 1998 with only hundreds of visitors, and by its 29th edition, it has grown into an international event attracting tens of thousands of visitors each year. RWMF is different from other music festivals because it does not fully rely on the popular music festival format, but instead utilises the diversity of musical and cultural traditions, making it a unique attraction to attend.

Wanderland Music and Arts Festival - 🇵🇭 Philippines

Wanderland Music and Arts Festival is an annual music and arts festival in the Philippines that features indie, alternative, and Original Pilipino Music (OPM), along with large periodic art installations such as live mural art and visual installations by renowned contemporary artists.

However, in 2026, the organisers announced that the Wanderland Music and Arts Festival will not be held. Usually, the Wanderland Music and Arts Festival is held at Filinvest City, Events Grounds in Alabang, Muntinlupa.

Wanderland Music and Arts Festival takes a different approach by combining music and art into one festival experience.

The hiatus of Wanderland’s 2026 event shows that building a music festival is not just about having a strong community and brand, but also requires a sustainable management model.

Baybeats Festival - 🇸🇬 Singapore

Baybeats Festival is a festival that has a very different scale and positioning compared to Pestapora or Wonderfruit. This is because this festival serves as an important platform for alternative music in Singapore and is known as the largest alternative festival in Singapore.

In 2026, the Baybeats Festival will take place over four days from September 3-6 at the Esplanade, Singapore, with free access for the audience. The value of the Baybeats Festival is not just about the number of spectators or headliners, but this festival paves the way for new artists.

There is the Baybeats Budding Bands Programme, a three-month development bootcamp for independent music bands—providing guidance from music veterans covering live sound, logistics, marketing, and connections with industry professionals. Selected participants also get the opportunity to perform at the Baybeats Festival.

In this case, Baybeats becomes part of the music infrastructure by creating performance spaces, networking opportunities, mentorship, and exposure.

Wonderfruit Festival - 🇹🇭 Thailand

Wonderfruit Festival is also one of the festivals that offers a different experience from typical music festivals. In 2026, this festival will take place from December 3-7 at The Fields at Siam Country Club, Chonburi.

For five days, this festival transformed The Fields in Chonburi into a space that combines music with art, cuisine, wellness, culture, and various community activities. There are various areas such as Solar Village, Sounds of The Fields, and Molam World, which highlight Isaan music and culture.

Not only music performances, Wonderfruit also features art installations, workshops, culinary experiences, wellness practices, and various sustainability initiatives. Wonderfruit also has the Intermission program, which has been a space for unsigned bands and emerging artists to develop since 2015.

Wonderfruit has become a form of destination experience rather than just a music festival, because visitors are not only buying tickets to see the line-up but also buying the opportunity to enjoy an environment designed as part of the festival experience.

🧩 Bigger Picture

Music festivals are no longer just entertainment events; they are also part of the creative economy, tourism, and cultural promotion. With the presence of thousands of visitors at one time, they will boost other sectors such as accommodation, transportation, culinary, and local SMEs—while the festival serves as a stage for musicians and creative industry players to expand their reach.

In Southeast Asia itself, each festival offers a different identity—from the diversity of local music in Indonesia, Thailand offering immersive experiences, cultural exchanges in Malaysia, to development opportunities for independent musicians in Singapore. These diverse unique features become the region’s strength, showing that music festivals are not only places to enjoy performances but also platforms to introduce culture and build destination appeal at both regional and global levels.

🎼 Bottom Line

The development of music festivals in Southeast Asia shows that this region not only has a large audience market but also creative communities capable of creating musical experiences with their own unique identities.

Looking ahead, the challenge is to keep the festival growing while staying true to its local identity. Regional collaboration, support for new talents, and innovation in creating experiences for the audience can be key to making Southeast Asian music festivals more recognised on a global scale. Music festivals are not just about who performs on stage, but how music can be a space that connects communities, cultures, and creativity across the region.

(DHM/VBD)

🔍 Need More Angle?

Deep Market Insight Music Festival Market Size

Esplanade Baybeats 2026

Orphiq Southeast Asian Music Markets: Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand

Pestapora Pestapora

Rainforest Music Festival Rain Forest Music Festival

Wanderland Festival Wanderland Festival

Wonderfruit Music Festival Wonderfruit Music Festival

🎯 The Main Takeaway

Iko Uwais and Tony Jaa didn’t attend the 7th Jackie Chan International Action Film Week in Harbin as guests. They attended as judges. ⚖️

It’s a quiet Instagram post with a loud message: Southeast Asia’s action stars are no longer just knocking on global cinema's door—they are deciding who walks through it. 🚪🎬

🔍 Why It’s on Our Radar

Returning this August after a five-year hiatus, the festival put Iko and Jaa on the Iron Man Awards jury 🏆.

Led by director Timur Bekmambetov alongside Stanley Tong and Jonathan Mostow, this category honours the stunt performers and choreographers who build the fights everyone else takes credit for.

Jackie Chan personally called Iko to the stage. Two Southeast Asian legends, sharing one jury table. 🤝

Joe Taslim was there in spirit. His film, The Furious, took the festival’s top prize—Best Action Film 🥇—with Taslim starring opposite lead Xie Miao.

🥋 The Jury Seat

Iko Uwais 🇮🇩

The Harbin jury seat is the latest milestone in a trajectory that started with Merantau and The Raid 💥.

After cutting through Hollywood in Mile 22, Stuber, Expendables 4, and Wu Assassins, Iko is now shaping the next generation of action talent.

He’s also headlining Wings of Dread on iQIYI ✈️. Pairing his signature silat with Hong Kong veteran Ashton Chen’s kung fu in a claustrophobic hijacking thriller, it’s a pure Indonesia-meets-China showcase.

It proves his career has shifted from hired talent to industry shot-caller, while remaining an actor audiences demand to see. 📈

👑 The Return to the Throne

Tony Jaa 🇹🇭

Beyond Harbin, Jaa is headlining an untitled Muay Thai trilogy 🥊.

This China-Thailand co-production sends him back to the Ayutthaya period to protect a king from assassins.

It's a massive pivot back to leading roles after years of Hollywood supporting stints like Furious 7 and xXx: The Return of Xander Cage.

Adding to the momentum, his revenge thriller Striking Rescue just secured North American distribution 🌎, marking a definitive return to headline form.

🎭 The Character Comeback

Joe Taslim 🇮🇩

Taslim is fresh off Mortal Kombat II 🐉, evolving from Sub-Zero to Noob Saibot in a sequel that has already cleared $60 million worldwide.

Next up: Extraction 3 🚁. He joins Chris Hemsworth, Pierce Brosnan, and Idris Elba in the blockbuster mercenary franchise currently filming in Australia.

Simultaneously, he’s lining up an Indonesian remake of the Korean thriller The Man From Nowhere—keeping one foot firmly in Hollywood franchises and the other in homegrown cinema. 🎥

⚖️ What’s at Stake

The historical pattern was one-directional: Southeast Asian talent went to Hollywood, played the villain, and hoped for a sequel call.

That era is ending. 🛑Iko and Jaa sharing jury seats, Taslim anchoring a Best Action Film winner and joining prime Hollywood franchises; these aren't cameos.

They are proof the region's stars command top billing and top-table authority. 👑

🌏 The Big Picture

This isn't happening in a vacuum. Jakarta is becoming a standalone production base.

🏙️ Extraction: Tygo, starring Don Lee and Blackpink’s Lisa, shot there this year via a joint venture backing new Iko and Taslim projects.

Meanwhile, Malaysia's film industry just secured a massive co-production with Hong Kong's One Cool Films.

Southeast Asia isn't just exporting actors anymore; it's exporting entire productions. 📦

🎞️ Why This Hits Home

For local audiences, this is bigger than a “local star does well abroad” headline.

It is the difference between an invitation to the party and holding the guest list.

Iko and Jaa weren’t “discovered” by Hollywood this time; they were tapped by the industry’s most recognisable name to evaluate global talent.

📋 The Regional Stakes

Indonesia and Thailand developed distinct action pipelines (silat and Muay Thai), and both are now converging. ⚔️

They are sitting on the same juries and backing the same winning films.

At this pace, Southeast Asia transcends its role as a talent supplier to become a definitive genre hub, mirroring Hong Kong’s 1990s dominance. 🇭🇰➡️🌏.

💡 The Bottom Line

Jackie Chan didn't just cast Southeast Asia's finest.

He empowered two of them to select the next generation of action stars, while a third took home his festival's highest honour.

🏆 That is the story—and it’s a reality Southeast Asia has been building for over a decade.

(ZIL/ARS)

🎯 Main Takeaway

Not all trips have to revolve around viral landmarks, crowded places, or social media recommendations. Currently, many trips are synonymous with these viral things, long queues, and packed itineraries. For some tourists, visiting viral and crowded places like this feels exhausting. They prefer to travel to slower, more peaceful places that are closer to nature.

In Southeast Asia, there are still corners where connectivity can be limited—or simply becomes less important and the sound of vehicles is replaced by the sounds of wildlife. The main activity is not just about hunting for content to feed social media, but rather enjoying the journey itself. This has become a trend of digital detox and slow travel, increasingly favored by people who simply want to “log off” from daily life and try unusual new experiences.

Starting from staying on a Klotok boat on the Kalimantan River in Indonesia; waking up in a floating bungalow in Thailand, or simply watching wildlife in the jungles of Laos, these off-grid destinations offer alternatives that present the most unique natural landscapes in the region.

👀 Why its in Our Radar

• 🌿Popular tourist destinations are too crowded: Many iconic tourist destinations in Southeast Asia are always bustling and packed with tourists. Many travelers are starting to look for alternative destinations that offer a more tranquil and personal experience.

• 📵 Interest in slow travel and digital detox continues to grow: Some travelers want to have a slower, more meaningful travel experience, focusing on nature, mental well-being, and experiences that allow them to temporarily disconnect from digital routine notifications.

• 🗺️ Southeast Asia holds many natural areas that are relatively ‘hidden gems’: Behind the hustle and bustle of major cities and mainstream destinations, this region has many rainforests, rivers, national parks, and islands that still offer a sense of adventure and tranquility that is rarely found.

• ✨ Every destination offers a unique experience: Staying on a Klotok boat in Kalimantan, staying in a floating bungalow in Thailand. Wildlife safari in Laos, to cave exploration in Vietnam. Off-grid travel in Southeast Asia is not just about getting away from the crowds, but also about the experience of connecting with nature.

• 🦧 It is more than a holiday—it is an experience: These destinations invite travelers to see wildlife in their natural habitat, explore well-preserved ecosystems, and enjoy a journey that cannot be measured solely by the number of places visited.

🌳🌌 6 Off-Grid Escapes in Southeast Asia

🏝️ Coron - 🇵🇭 Filipina

Although it is becoming increasingly popular and is widely recognized as one of Palawan’s major destinations, Coron’s quieter charm can often be found beyond its busiest tourist routes. Towering karst islands rise from turquoise waters, while beaches and lagoons accessible only by boat can make some corners of Coron feel remarkably secluded.

Activities include island hopping to lagoons and secluded beaches, snorkeling and diving around World War II shipwrecks, and exploring Kayangan Lake and the dramatic Twin Lagoon. For a more off-grid experience, some operators also offer multi-day expeditions between Coron and El Nido, with itineraries that pass through remote islands and may include overnight stays at beach camps.

🚤 Tanjung Puting National Park - 🇮🇩 Indonesia

In Central Kalimantan, Tanjung Puting National Park offers a very different kind of escape: spending several nights aboard a klotok, a traditional wooden riverboat that cruises along the Sekonyer River through tropical rainforest and wetland landscapes. Instead of returning to a hotel each evening, travelers sleep on the boat and wake up surrounded by the sounds of the forest.

Among the most common itineraries are 3-day, 2-night and 4-day, 3-night trips, which can include visits to Pondok Tanggui and Camp Leakey, a renowned orangutan research and reintroduction site. Along the way, travelers may encounter proboscis monkeys, hornbills, orangutans and other wildlife.

🐅 Nam Et-Phou Louey National Park - 🇱🇦 Laos

Nam Et-Phou Louey is a conservation area known for its wildlife conservation-based tourism programs. The difficult access is the reason why this area still feels very natural.

Most visits are conducted through 2–3 day packages, with the main activity being a night safari on the Nam Nern River. As night falls, the boat moves slowly along the river while the guide looks for signs of wildlife along the forest edge. This experience feels more like a conservation expedition than a conventional holiday—and that’s precisely its appeal.

🐒 Kinabatangan River - 🇲🇾 Malaysia

Kinabatangan offers an experience more like a safari activity than a nature tour. Not with long treks, the activities here are mostly done with small boats navigating the river at sunrise and sunset, the best times to see wildlife.

To fully enjoy this tour, tourists need up to 3 days and 2 nights with several river safari sessions and short treks in the surrounding forest. In one trip, visitors have the opportunity to see proboscis monkeys, hornbills, crocodiles, and the Bornean pygmy elephant, which is an icon of this area. Because wildlife is the main attraction, the longer you stay, the greater the chance of seeing more species.

🛶 Khao Sok National Park - 🇹🇭 Thailand

Thailand is often associated with beaches and cuisine, but Khao Sok offers a very different, more tranquil side of the country. At the heart of the national park is Cheow Lan Lake, a vast expanse of emerald-green water surrounded by towering limestone cliffs and dense rainforest.

One of the most immersive ways to experience the lake is by staying in its floating raft houses, where visitors wake up surrounded by water and forest. A popular option is a 2-day, 1-night stay, with itineraries commonly including boat excursions, wildlife spotting, kayaking and visits to caves or other parts of the lake, depending on the operator.

The overnight experience is particularly atmospheric at dawn, when mist often hangs over the water and the limestone cliffs emerge through the haze. Rather than simply passing through Khao Sok on a day trip, staying overnight gives travelers more time to experience the lake’s rainforest environment at a slower pace.

⛰️ Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park - 🇻🇳 Vietnam

In Phong Nha, adventure does not only happen on the surface. The area is recognized by UNESCO for its vast network of caves, including Son Doong, widely recognized as the world’s largest known cave passage by volume. However, even without embarking on extreme expeditions, this region still offers plenty to explore.

Most tourists allocate 2 to 4 days to visit the main caves such as Paradise Cave and Phong Nha Cave, cycle through the countryside, or go trekking to more remote cave systems. Compared to the bustling major cities of Vietnam, Phong Nha offers a much more relaxed and slower atmospher.

🏡 Why this Hits Home

Southeast Asia may be more commonly known for its bustling cities, famous beaches, and various tourist destinations. However, the most memorable experiences in this region are actually found far from those places.

From the rainforests of Indonesia to cave expeditions in Vietnam, these destinations highlight a different side of Southeast Asia, where nature still sets the rhythm and silence becomes part of the journey.

At a time when many places are competing to go viral, it is these quiet places that are starting to be sought after.

🌱 Bottom Line

An off-grid journey is not about avoiding people—it’s about choosing and trying experiences where nature takes center stage.

Whether it’s staying on a boat while traversing the Tanjung Puting rainforest, sleeping on the water in Khao Sok, or exploring remote conservation areas in Laos, Southeast Asia still offers places where travelers can disconnect from the noise and reconnect with the world around them.

(DHM/VBD)

🔍 Need More Angle?

Borneo Advanture Kinabatangan River - some of the best wildlife watching in SE Asia

Sabah Tourism Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary

Inside Asia Tours Link travel with wildlife conservation at Nam Et Phou Louey National Park

Khaosok Khao Sok National Park

Tourism Thailand Khao Sok National Park

Laos WCS Nam Et-Phou Louey NP

The Week Disconnect and unwind at a digital detox retreat

Traveloka Menjelajahi Indahnya Pulau Coron, Palawan

UNESCO Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park and Hin Nam No National Park - UNESCO World Heritage Centre

Vietnam Tourism Things to do in Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park - the world’s largest cave

Vietnam Travel A complete guide to Phong Nha

Vogue How We Travel Is Going Analog, Too

The Eurovision phenomenon is finally conquering the East. 🌏 After a decade of geopolitical hitches, licensing stalls, and a cancelled Australian-led attempt, the inaugural Eurovision Song Contest Asia is set for 14 November 2026 at Bangkok’s IdeaLive Arena. 🇹🇭

Organized by Voxovation under an EBU licence, partnering with Thailand’s Channel 3 and S2O Productions, this live competition adapts the iconic European format for a massive, digital-first Asian demographic. 📱 To win, delegates must navigate a strict 50/50 voting split between professional juries and international public voting 🗳️ across participating nations and the “Rest of the World.” 🌍

🔍 Why It’s on Our Radar

• 🕰️ A long-awaited revival: The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) originally licensed the format to Australia’s SBS in 2016, but geopolitical friction and pandemic delays scuppered those plans.

• 🤝 The new power players: Production rights sit with Voxovation (headed by former Eurovision producer Christer Björkman), alongside Thai event giants S2O Productions and host broadcaster Channel 3.

• 🎤 Auditions in full swing: Broadcasters across a 10-country lineup—South Korea 🇰🇷, the Philippines 🇵🇭, Thailand 🇹🇭, Vietnam 🇻🇳, Malaysia 🇲🇾, Laos 🇱🇦, Nepal 🇳🇵, Bangladesh 🇧🇩, Cambodia 🇰🇭, and Bhutan 🇧🇹—are holding televised selections through September.

• 🇧🇹 Bhutan leads the pack: On 11 August 2026, Bhutan locked in the first delegate: 24-year-old Nyendra singing “Lhayi Semo.”

• 🗓️ Upcoming selection dates: Malaysia (15 August), Philippines (30 August), South Korea (4 September), Nepal (19 September), Laos (23–24 September), Thailand (27 September), and Bangladesh (30 September).

• 🤫 Host reveal pending: Live host details are under wraps until late September. Industry expectations point to a hybrid pair: top Thai broadcast talent alongside an English-fluent international co-host.

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⚖️ What’s at Stake

• 🏛️ Cultural soft power: Participating nations gain a platform with potential global viewings in the hundreds of millions.

• 🌟 The K-pop factor: South Korea’s involvement elevates the stakes, forcing regional industries to bring arena-grade production values to remain competitive.

• 🏆 Format credibility: Voxovation needs a flawless Asian rollout to prove the Eurovision model translates outside Europe following the cancellation of the American Song Contest.

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🌏 The Big Picture

Asia represents over half the global population and houses the world’s fastest-growing music streaming markets. 🎧 Bridging regional sectors creates an unprecedented cross-border media network. 🌐

• 🇪🇺 1956: Europe launches the original contest.

• 🇦🇺 2015: Australia joins the European broadcast as a guest competitor.

• 🇹🇭 2026: Asia formally launches its own regional edition in Bangkok.

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🏠 Why This Hits Home

• 🪕 Pan-Asian representation: Fans get a rare, non-Western stage where local languages, native instruments, and regional pop tropes compete on equal terms.

• 📲 Direct viewer influence: International audiences outside participating nations can cast votes via official streams under a unified “Rest of the World” block.

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🗺️ The Regional Stakes

• 🌴 Southeast Asia (Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam): Banking on massive home advantage and social media fanbases. The Challenge: Translating local digital engagement into cross-border jury votes. 📉

• 🏙️ East Asia (South Korea): Reinforcing international music dominance. The Challenge: Avoiding voter backlash against overly commercialized entries. 💸

• 🏔️ South Asia (Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal): Introducing distinct cultural heritage to global pop audiences. The Challenge: Competing with multi-million-dollar production budgets from larger markets. 💰

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💡 Unique Bits You Might Not Know

• ✈️ A ticket to Europe: The winner of Eurovision Asia 2026 performs as a featured interval act at the main Eurovision Song Contest 2027 in Europe.

• ⏰ The 11-time zone hurdle: Australia’s SBS abandoned the original concept largely due to the logistical nightmare of synchronizing live prime-time broadcasts across 11 distinct time zones.

• ⏱️ Strict 3-minute rule: Every song must stay under 3 minutes with no more than six performers on stage—strictly mirroring the European code. 👯‍♂️

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🏁 The Bottom Line

Nations are picking their champions now. ⚔️ With Bhutan already secured and selection shows running through September, the stage is set for Bangkok on 14 November 2026. 🎆

(NZL/ARS)

📌The Main Takeaway

Indonesian girl group no na dropped "honk!" on July 31, then gave it its first-ever live performance at Head in the Clouds (HITC) 2026 in Pasadena on August 8. The single leans on two pieces of Indonesian transport culture—the viral "Om Telolet Om" bus horn trend and the everyday angkot—is stands for Angkutan Umum or it means a public transportation by minibus —and it's already at 3.7 million YouTube views, ahead of no na's debut album, Island Girl, out September 18.

👀Why It’s on Our Radar

Because it's not just another comeback single doing the usual K-pop-adjacent playbook. "honk!" got Rich Brian on background vocals, Stephanie Poetri on the writing credits, and a full HITC LA stage moment barely a week after release — all while sampling a meme that only makes sense if you grew up in Indonesia. That's a fast, unusually loud rollout for a group most of the world is only just meeting.

⚖️What’s at Stake

Girl group culture has long been treated as a K-pop-only conversation. What no na is testing here is whether hyper-local, untranslated references — a bus horn meme, a minibus, the plastic chairs outside a neighborhood warung (a small roadside stall) — can travel to a global stage without getting diluted into generic "Asia-core." If it lands, it's a template. If international audiences flatten it into a punchline instead of an homage, that's the risk on the other side.

🖼️The Big Picture

Two different eras of Indonesian transport culture show up in “honk!,” and they’re doing different jobs.

“Om Telolet Om” is the nostalgia hit. Back in 2016, kids in Jepara, Central Java, started standing roadside with paper signs reading “Om Telolet Om” — basically begging intercity bus drivers to hit their signature multi-tone horn. It exploded into a full-blown internet phenomenon, picked up by international DJs and everyone’s timeline at once. no na brings it back through the bus itself: visually, with actual telolet-horn buses on screen, and sonically, as the track’s opening chant.

The angkot is the present-day one. Unlike the horn trend, which lives in “remember when” territory, the angkot hasn’t gone anywhere — it’s still one of the most common ways people get around Indonesian cities right now. In the MV, it’s basically the main character: rows of angkot in candy colors, tricked out with modern touches, each rocking a “NO NA” license plate. It’s baked into the choreography too, and it made it straight into the lyrics — “Get on the angkot!” is the hook.

Why This Hits Home

If you grew up in Indonesia, this era isn't really "aesthetic" — it's memory. The plastic monoblock chairs outside every warung, the bapak-bapak parked behind you not moving an inch, the specific screech of an angkot's sliding door, the sound of a telolet horn passing by — none of it needed explaining to a local audience. That's what makes Esther casually lying across a row of warung chairs, or a group of unbothered bapak-bapak stealing scenes in the background, land as funny and familiar rather than staged.

The Regional Stakes

This isn’t just an Indonesia story— it’s a Southeast Asia one. A group built entirely around unmistakably local references just performed on a major US festival stage days after release, and did it without smoothing the edges off. That matters for a region whose pop acts are still routinely filtered through a K-pop lens by international media. If “honk!” keeps climbing, it’s one more data point that Southeast Asia identity— specific, untranslated, regionally coded— can travel on its own terms, and that the next big girl group wave doesn’t have to come from where everyone’s been looking.

Beyond the Headlines

• Rich Brian confirmed on his Instagram Story that he's the voice behind the "om, telolet, om" background chant, joking he was hired as a "professional om telolet om background vocals.

• Stephanie Poetri (she's Titi DJ's daughter one of Indonesia's most respected pop divas) co-wrote the track with the members — reportedly the hardest part of the session was explaining to non-Indonesian songwriters what an angkot actually is.

• The chorus line “Get on the angkot!” sits next to “Kakak-adek centil like me (ah),” mixing English hooks with untranslated local slang.

• Sonically, the track chops up distorted angkot engine noise and sliding-door screeches into a repetitive, almost hyperpop-leaning percussion line.

• "honk!" is the 8th track on no na's 15-track debut album, Island Girl, out September 18, 2026.

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The Bottom Line

At the end of the day, “honk!” works because it doesn’t ask permission to be understood — it just trusts the reference to land, telolet horn and all. That’s a bet not every group would make on a global stage, and so far, it’s paying off.

Stream “honk!” now, and mark your calendar for Island Girl on September 18. Got your own favorite Indonesian street-culture Easter egg from the MV? Drop it in the comments — we’re keeping a running list.

(VIL/VBD)

🎯 The Main Takeaway

Nishikigoi or the most known and legendary Koi are no longer just ornamental fish. The industry is undergoing a structural power shift as Southeast Asian breeders and collectors aggressively challenge Japan's historic monopoly on the world stage. 🌏

Long dominated by the Japanese monopoly, competitive Koi husbandry is being competed by Southeast Asian breeders and collectors. Resulting in the rising participation and winners of competitions such as the most prestigious “International Koi Show” by Zen Nippon Airinkai.

👀 Why It’s on Our Radar

The industry has escalated from backyard ponds to elite international grading competitions. 🏆 High-grade koi now function like thoroughbred racehorses—high-yield prestige assets commanding hundreds of thousands of dollars based on pedigree, age, and show records. 💰

This surge drives a lucrative secondary economy in Southeast Asia, demanding specialized services:

• 🏗️ High-end pond design and construction

• 💧 Advanced filtration and water technology

• 🩺 Specialized veterinary care

• ✈️ Complex import-export logistics

🐟 Koi Fish in Southeast Asia

While introduced decades ago, the regional market structurally transformed in the 2020s. The drivers:

• 📱 Visibility: Social media broadcasted elite competitions to a wider demographic.

• 📦 Logistics: Improved transport technology slashed international shipping stress.

• 📈 Capital: Rapid regional wealth generation expanded the luxury hobby market.

• 🧬 Genetics: Strategic partnerships unlocked premium Japanese bloodlines.

• 🏢 Standards: Local farms heavily professionalized their breeding operations.

The tipping point hit when Southeast Asian participants stopped merely exhibiting and started consistently winning major global awards. 🏅

🏆 The 61st International Koi Show

This event crystallized Southeast Asia’s growing influence.

Regional competitors didn't just take the giant-fish divisions; they demonstrated excellence across diverse categories and developmental stages, dismantling traditional Japanese strongholds. 💥

🌴 The Tropical Advantage

Southeast Asia’s geography provides a massive competitive edge:

• 🌡️ Consistent, year-round water temperatures.

• 🍽️ Uninterrupted feeding cycles with zero winter dormancy.

• 📈 Accelerated growth potential for young koi.

• 🛡️ Elimination of winter-related physiological stress.

While climate alone doesn’t mint champions, it provides an unmatched foundation. Modern Southeast Asian farms now merge Japanese genetics and filtration tech with tropical growth conditions—a highly effective hybrid approach. 🧬🌴

🎪 Beyond The Show

🏭 Building a Stronger Local Industry

International wins trigger domestic investment. Koi keeping is transitioning into a specialized economic sector, driving aquaculture innovation and job creation. Local contests in Indonesia and Thailand now draw thousands, boosting micro-economies and tourism. 🇮🇩🇹🇭

🌏 International Influence: From Importers to Industry Competitors

Southeast Asia is evolving from one of the world’s largest koi consumers into a premier producer. Cultivating internationally recognized champions makes regional players highly attractive partners for global buyers and traditional Japanese farms. 🤝

💡 The Bottom Line

The next decade will likely be shaped by technology. Better water monitoring, genetic tracking, AI-assisted health detection, automated feeding systems, and improved transportation methods could further narrow the gap between emerging breeders and traditional leaders.

Southeast Asia is evolving from one of the world’s largest koi consumers into a premier producer. Cultivating internationally recognized champions makes regional players highly attractive partners for global buyers and traditional Japanese farms. 🤝

(DEV/ARS)

Need More Angles?

• The 61st International Koi Show Major Award Koi | Zen Nippon Airinkai