Travel guide to Australia · Cambodia · Laos · Vietnam
handpicked · independent
Blog
The small businesses of the international travel industry are its heroes. Across the world, most...
Introduction
Tasmania. It took me more than 50 years to visit. Make sure you don't leave it that long. When I...
Blog
Cemeteries and tombs have been a big part of my travelling life. From my first international...
see and do
The Rocks was the first British convict settlement in Australia and the place where the long...
see and do
If you like cycling, exploring the temples of Angkor by bicycle is a delight. In fact, we reckon...
There is probably no major city in the world that’s better set up for swimmers than Sydney. We're... enlarge
Ho Chi Minh City Blog
For three decades, Saigon’s War Remnants Museum has been the essential museum in the city - the one few visitors miss. It tells the victor’s version of America’s long disastrous... more
Hanoi Blog
Vietnam has lost a storyteller and creative force. Nguyen Qui Duc died in Hanoi on November 22 2023. Monumental upheaval has been such... more
Ho Chi Minh City Blog
2023 marks 30 years since I led my first tour through Vietnam. It was August 1993. After decades of war and economic hardship, a... more
Sydney Blog
The 333 service to Bondi Beach is Sydney's busiest bus route. It's especially popular with international tourists. It’s in dismal shape -... more
Sydney see and do
Sydney is changing fast. There are loads of new things for travellers to see and experience in the city from museums and galleries to new... more
Sydney Blog
One of the peculiar things you’ll discover as a visitor to Australia in 2023 is that our head of state isn’t Australian and doesn’t live... more
Sydney Blog
The small businesses of the international travel industry are its heroes. Across the world, most of the businesses that survive in tourism... more
Hue see and do
Hue is central to everything in Vietnam's modern history - dynastic history, Buddhism, Catholicism, the coup of 1963 and the bloodiest battle of the... more
Ho Chi Minh City see and do
The War Remnants Museum is Saigon's most visited museum. On our recent visits (March 2024) it's been the most crowded we've ever seen it. It's... more
Ho Chi Minh City see and do
In 2015, Nguyen Hue St, one of Saigon’s main streets, became a “walking street” - a rare concession by city leaders to the idea that public spaces... more
Ho Chi Minh City see and do
The former Presidential Palace of the US-backed South Vietnamese government, this downtown architectural landmark is now known as the Reunification... more
Rusty Compass listings are always independent. We list the places we think are worth knowing about. Our Featured Listings allow a small selection of businesses already recommended by us, to pay a fee for a place at the top of our list. That’s it. Featured Listings have no impact on reviews, or on the curation and independence of our lists.