WTF is Up in Southeast Asia + Hong Kong

Plant-based eateries have been sprouting across Bangkok, and we speak with BK Magazine writer Jug Sriyananda to see if there's a place for veggie substitutes in Thai cuisine.

Other stories include:

Man buys S$300 Lazada TV, gets note wishing a 'happy life' instead | Thai quarantine hotel serves man a roach leg, then sues him for talking about it | Indonesian woman claims gust of wind knocked her up. Police are actually investigating | Fear that China will secure junta rule feeds rumors of conspiracy in Myanmar | Sugarbook skirts ban with new name Sucrebook in URL | Russian fugitive wanted by Interpol on the loose in Bali | Gov't unknowingly gave US university campus go-ahead for demolition of WWII military fort remains | Filipino in New York City develops blood disease after getting Moderna's COVID vax

The Coconuts Podcast delivers impactful, weird, and wonderful reporting by our journalists on the ground in eight cities: Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Manila, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Yangon, and Bali. Listen to headline news and insightful interviews on matters large and small, designed for people located in - or curious about - Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.

This week, we speak with Ann Gacutan, creator of the Self-made Sunday Planner about how mindfulness (and a cute planner!) can go a long way in helping us make better use of our time. Like Marie Kondo, but for the mind.

Other stories include:

TikTok's hottest 1-year-old star is a skateboarding bird from Singapore | Teenage boy dies from stabbing during traditional dagger dance in Bali | 'Your job is to serve your husband': Wedding planner under fire over campaign encouraging young girls to marry | Bangkok dessert shop to sell cannabis-infused goodies | At least 6 dogs dead hours after ingesting poisonous bait at Cyberport park | Malaysia revises Chinese New Year COVID-19 rules to allow reunion dinners, temple visits | From Homeless to Hot: Angeles City man gets a makeover and Pinoys are swooning over him | Yangon clamors with protests demanding military stand down (Photos)

The Coconuts Podcast delivers impactful, weird, and wonderful reporting by our journalists on the ground in eight cities: Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Manila, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Yangon, and Bali. Listen to headline news and insightful interviews on matters large and small, designed for people located in - or curious about - Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.

At any other time and place, filming a video of yourself doing aerobics to some dangdut wouldn't be considered that noteworthy. But for Khing Hnin Wai, it was what catapulted her into the spotlight. All it took was to accidentally capture the moment a coup unfolded behind her. We speak with Matthew (Min Ye Kyaw) from Coconuts Yangon about the historic moment.

Other stories include:

Elderly Thai man in San Francisco killed by teen in unprovoked attack | Foreign tourist arrivals in Bali hit decade low | Nunuk Nuraini, the woman behind Indomie's iconic flavors, dies at 59 | Bakery chain Maxim's fined after customer finds lizard in pork bun | All eyes on Minister Annuar Musa's fancy watch during speech on poverty | Philippine Airlines to retrench 2,300 workers as COVID decimates travel industry | 'Not fathomable or even believable' that gov't misspoke on TraceTogether: Singapore opposition leader

The Coconuts Podcast delivers impactful, weird, and wonderful reporting by our journalists on the ground in eight cities: Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Manila, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Yangon, and Bali. Listen to headline news and insightful interviews on matters large and small, designed for people located in - or curious about - Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.

This week, Singaporean songbirds Charlie Lim and Aisyah Aziz come around and chat with us about their soulful new collab. Lyrics in English and Bahasa Melayu? This song's got it all.

Other stories include:

Above the law, privileged Thais party on, to insult of struggling public | LGBT rights defenders arrested protesting Education Ministry's treatment of trans student | Malaysian woman bakes Bernie Sanders meme into Chinese New Year cake roll | Top Secret Operation: Duterte to get COVID vax in private, will be injected 'in the ass' | It's the thought that countsss: This Indonesian groom gave a pair of snakes to his bride as dowry | Russian influencer deported from Bali for allegedly violating COVID-19 health protocol | 'No Indian/Pakistan riders': Deliveroo closes customer account over racist comment | What has wings but cannot fly? These Myanmar pilots cooking chicken to get by |

The Coconuts Podcast delivers impactful, weird, and wonderful reporting by our journalists on the ground in eight cities: Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Manila, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Yangon, and Bali. Listen to headline news and insightful interviews on matters large and small, designed for people located in - or curious about - Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.

This week, we speak with love coach and Sex & Singapore City podcast host Nixalina Watson to learn about the colorful world of dating apps in Singapore.

Other stories include:

Gordon Ramsay to open his first restaurant in Malaysia in June | Iconsiam guard who slapped student protester resigns | Video shows packed dance floor at Soho restaurant, bartender pouring shots into customers' mouths | President Jokowi hopeful of 'a better world' as he congratulates US President Joe Biden | American punk band mistaken for ISP, receives complaints from clueless Pinoys | Singaporean man triggered by small colorful flag hurls 'homophobic abuse' (Video) | Oh My Buddha! Actor Paing Thakon's ripped reverence goes viral all over | American woman who 'unsettled the public' with Twitter thread will be deported: official

The Coconuts Podcast delivers impactful, weird, and wonderful reporting by our journalists on the ground in eight cities: Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Manila, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Yangon, and Bali. Listen to headline news and insightful interviews on matters large and small, designed for people located in - or curious about - Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.

This week, we learn some tips on how to do life in lockdown a little better from Martin Lindstrom, Danish neuroscience brand consumer expert and New York Times Bestselling Author of The Ministry of Common Sense: How to Eliminate Bureaucratic Red Tape, Bad Excuses, and Corporate BS.

Other stories include:

Stop what you're doing and enjoy winter-mode Bangkok - it won't last | Indonesia extends border closure to all foreign visitors until Jan. 28 | Foreigners defy authorities in Bali, refuse to leave restaurant despite curfew | Hong Kong Trump fans change Twitter icons to support outgoing US president | Malaysia declares MCO 2.0 on several areas including Kuala Lumpur, Penang | Yuck! 600 sacks of trash collected from Balingasa Creek in Quezon City | Dog Fight: Furious pom owner goes to war over 'botak' makeover | COVID-19 found in 99 Rohingya arrested for traveling to Yangon: police

The Coconuts Podcast delivers impactful, weird, and wonderful reporting by our journalists on the ground in eight cities: Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Manila, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Yangon, and Bali. Listen to headline news and insightful interviews on matters large and small, designed for people located in - or curious about - Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.

We're back! In this first episode of the year, we check in with Audience Development Manager Julianne Greco to find out which stories you loved most in 2020.

Other stories include:

Photo of mermaid on rubbish-filled Kuta beach welcomes Bali's tidal trash wave this year | 11 suspects charged with provisional rape, homicide in Christine Dacera's death | Carousell shuts down trolls who put up Singapore 'for sale' | Balakrishnan didn't think of police probes when assuring Singaporeans of TraceTogether privacy | It's raining cash: HK$5,000 thrown from window of Tuen Mun home | Travel Alert: Bangkok travelers must now quarantine in these 26 provinces | President Jokowi signs regulation validating chemical castration as punishment for pedophiles | Police probe Penang restaurant for alleged propaganda over Mao Zedong wallpaper

The Coconuts Podcast delivers impactful, weird, and wonderful reporting by our journalists on the ground in eight cities: Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Manila, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Yangon, and Bali. Listen to headline news and insightful interviews on matters large and small, designed for people located in - or curious about - Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.

This week, we speak to Coconuts Bangkok Managing Editor Todd Ruiz about William Bruce, a retired wartime army physician and his quest to find a Thai woman he met more than 50 years ago during the U.S.-Vietnam war.

Other stories include:

Ready for some lovin'? Thai tourism rushes romance to thirsty public | Stay Away: Filipinas warned against 'sugar daddy' websites | Russian influencer launches off Bali dock on motorcycle in social media stunt, police investigating | 'This is indeed us,' YouTuber Ryan Tan pays litter penalty with Dee Kosh | Indonesians are loving (and somehow believing) that a 'triceratops' has arrived at a recreational park in East Java | 42-year-old woman is Hong Kong's youngest COVID-19 death not complicated by underlying disease | Domestic air travel resumes Wednesday in Myanmar | Seductive aroma of what?! Malaysian billboard becomes 'butt' of jokes

The Coconuts Podcast delivers impactful, weird, and wonderful reporting by our journalists on the ground in eight cities: Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Manila, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Yangon, and Bali. Listen to headline news and insightful interviews on matters large and small, designed for people located in - or curious about - Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.

In this episode, we speak with Singaporean singer-songwriter Jason Yu about his humble beginnings busking along Orchard Road to garnering over a million streams on his original, heartfelt tracks.

Other stories include:

Chinese spa mogul abducted in Bangkok's Phrom Phong area rescued by police | Sweat and Spread?: Lombok Police investigating zumba session involving hundreds of women | Royal Caribbean cruise passenger does not have COVID-19: Health Ministry | Fancy glamping? Facebook user rents out living room as 'camp' site | Quezon City residents below 18 years old barred from leaving homes | Sarawak student arrested after tossing cat into the air for TikTok | Indonesian boy breaks bones after being launched into the air by a kite | This very good Yangon boy waited by his 'missing' poster until found

The Coconuts Podcast delivers impactful, weird, and wonderful reporting by our journalists on the ground in eight cities: Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Manila, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Yangon, and Bali. Listen to headline news and insightful interviews on matters large and small, designed for people located in - or curious about - Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.

This week, Coconuts Jakarta Managing Editor Andra Nasrie speaks to Mozhgan Moarefizadeh and Nicole Curby from The Wait Podcast about the myriad of problems faced by refugees in Indonesia.

Other stories include:

Activist Joshua Wong placed in solitary confinement due to 'drugs, rings or gold and silver objects' in stomach | NUS sacks American professor for sexually harassing student | Minors still not allowed inside Metro Manila malls, says high-ranking cop | From belly of whale, a fortune in vomit lands on Thai fisherman | This Singaporean is streaming his entire hotel quarantine, right now (Video) | Indonesian instaceleb under fire for sharing videos of fellow influencer Ayu Wulantari's suicide attempt

The Coconuts Podcast delivers impactful, weird, and wonderful reporting by our journalists on the ground in eight cities: Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Manila, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Yangon, and Bali. Listen to headline news and insightful interviews on matters large and small, designed for people located in - or curious about - Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.