Rusty Compass travel blog

Blog tales from the road

Vietnam loses a storyteller - RIP Nguyen Qui Duc
17 Dec 2023

Vietnam loses a storyteller - RIP Nguyen Qui Duc

Vietnam has lost a storyteller and creative force. Nguyen Qui Duc died in Hanoi on November 22 2023.

TAGS: Vietnam, Hanoi, Nguyen Qui Duc, Tadioto

Hanoi postcard 2023 - thinking of Nguyen Qui Duc
12 Nov 2023

Hanoi postcard 2023 - thinking of Nguyen Qui Duc

Our old friend, author and artist, Nguyen Qui Duc is gravely ill in Hanoi.

TAGS: Vietnam, Hanoi

30 years exploring Vietnam
13 Sep 2023

30 years exploring Vietnam

2023 marks 30 years since I led my first tour through Vietnam. It was August 1993. After decades of war and economic hardship, a long-awaited...

TAGS: Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City, 30 years

The bus to Bondi is broken - Sydney's public transport is a shambles
26 Aug 2023

The bus to Bondi is broken - Sydney's public transport is a shambles

The 333 service to Bondi Beach is Sydney's busiest bus route. It's especially popular with international tourists. It’s in dismal shape - as is the...

TAGS: Australia, Sydney, public transport, buses, bondi, 333 bus

Sydney has a new King - a visit to historic Government House
22 May 2023

Sydney has a new King - a visit to historic Government House

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 in...

TAGS: Australia, Sydney, Government House, history, colonialism

Travel has changed forever II - the big players
20 Dec 2022

Travel has changed forever II - the big players

The small businesses of the international travel industry are its heroes. Across the world, most of the businesses that survive in tourism are small...

TAGS: Australia, Sydney, Travel has changed, tech in travel, OTAs, Google, Expedia, Booking Holdings, Airbnb

Travel has changed forever I - risk and reward
30 Nov 2022

Travel has changed forever I - risk and reward

When borders began to reopen in Australia and South East Asia at the end of February 2022, I found myself very quickly back out on the road. First...

TAGS: Australia, Sydney, travel, tourism, change,

Hoi An Postcard 2022 - Vietnam is open
17 Jun 2022

Hoi An Postcard 2022 - Vietnam is open

How is Hoi An, Vietnam's most loved World Heritage travel destination, faring after the reopening of borders in March 2022? Check out the blog and...

TAGS: Vietnam, Hoi An, Hoi An 2022, tourism, travel, things to do, eating

Postcard from Hanoi - Vietnam is open
01 Jun 2022

Postcard from Hanoi - Vietnam is open

Finally I was walking the streets of Hanoi again. There were times during the two years of border closures when I wondered whether I'd ever see this...

TAGS: Vietnam, Hanoi, Hanoi vlog, travel

Temples of Angkor Cambodia - first international travels since the pandemic
24 Mar 2022

Temples of Angkor Cambodia - first international travels since the pandemic

My first International travels after the pandemic took me to Cambodia and the temples of Angkor. After two years grounded in Australia, I was...

TAGS: Cambodia, Siem Reap, Temples, Angkor, Siem Reap,

Travel lessons from two pandemic years in Sydney
04 Feb 2022

Travel lessons from two pandemic years in Sydney

Two pandemic years have wiped out international travel for much of the world. Those of us who have lived a life of travel for decades have been...

TAGS: Australia, Sydney, travel lessons, slow travel, cultural travel

Sydney opens up - a post lockdown travel guide to COVID in Sydney
20 Oct 2021

Sydney opens up - a post lockdown travel guide to COVID in Sydney

Sydney has emerged from its four month lockdown and is hoping to reopen to international travellers soon. Australia’s borders are still closed but...

TAGS: Australia, Sydney, COVID, lockdown, travel

In lockdown Sydney, heritage destruction gets an exemption - the end of Willow Grove
03 Sep 2021

In lockdown Sydney, heritage destruction gets an exemption - the end of Willow Grove

As the wrecking ball moved in on Willow Grove in Parramatta last week, I was struck by the the similarities between heritage battles in Parramatta...

TAGS: Australia, Sydney, Willow Grove, Parramatta Powerhouse, heritage, tourism

Vietnam's COVID crisis deepens
08 Aug 2021

Vietnam's COVID crisis deepens

Some thoughts from Sydney in lockdown on travel, missing Vietnam, and the worsening COVID crisis in South East Asia.

TAGS: Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City, COVID, lockdown, travel

Unsettled - an unsettling exhibition at Sydney's Australian Museum
20 Jun 2021

Unsettled - an unsettling exhibition at Sydney's Australian Museum

A new exhibition at the Australian Museum in Sydney, curated by First Nations people, represents a shift in the long process of balancing the...

TAGS: Australia, Sydney, Unsettled exhibition, Australian Museum,

Cemeteries and tombs - a travel guide
29 May 2021

Cemeteries and tombs - a travel guide

Cemeteries and tombs have been a big part of my travelling life. From my first international travels in the 80s till now, I've made a point of...

TAGS: Australia, Sydney, Camperdown, Newtown, Cemeteries,

Choosing Fremantle Western Australia as a place to live and visit
12 Apr 2021

Choosing Fremantle Western Australia as a place to live and visit

A few years ago I was in search of a place to base myself in Australia. I was looking for a lifestyle better suited to my situation, than my...

TAGS: Australia, Fremantle

2020 - The COVID year in travel
20 Jan 2021

2020 - The COVID year in travel

How do you make sense of a year like 2020? There were lockdowns, travel was wiped out globally, there was political chaos. I had a few unexpected...

TAGS: Australia, Sydney

Parramatta's neglected heritage - the Female Factory
13 Jan 2021

Parramatta's neglected heritage - the Female Factory

Parramatta was at the centre of the development of the British penal colony in New South Wales from its beginnings in 1788. It was also at the heart...

TAGS: Australia, Sydney

An unexpected Rusty Compass journey - an aortic dissection
09 Sep 2020

An unexpected Rusty Compass journey - an aortic dissection

2020 has been a crazy year for everyone. For most of us (except Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and other tech titans), it's been a year of challenges -...
Vietnam and the coronavirus - an unreliable travel guide
18 Mar 2020

Vietnam and the coronavirus - an unreliable travel guide

This is a rolling blog of updates on the coronavirus COVID-19 in Vietnam and how it is impacting travel in the country. As of this update (18...

TAGS: Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City, coronavirus, update, blog

My most memorable stay of 2019 - Mu Cang Chai Ecolodge, Vietnam
21 Jan 2020

My most memorable stay of 2019 - Mu Cang Chai Ecolodge, Vietnam

As 2019 ended, I thought about the dozens of places I stayed during my many months on the road. It struck me that my most memorable stay was at a...

TAGS: Vietnam, Yen Bai, Mu Canh Chai Ecolodge, ecotourism

Is the tide turning against heritage destruction in Vietnam?
09 Jul 2019

Is the tide turning against heritage destruction in Vietnam?

The past decade has been devastating for Vietnam’s built heritage. Three recent decisions suggest that the tide may be finally turning in favour of...

TAGS: Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City, heritage, Saigon,

The other remarkable thing about Pu Luong Vietnam? No piles of plastic
07 May 2019

The other remarkable thing about Pu Luong Vietnam? No piles of plastic

Pu Luong, around four hours south of Hanoi, looks set to become the “next’ destination in Vietnam’s breathtaking mountainous north. And one of the...

TAGS: Vietnam, Pu Luong, plastic, environment

One of Vietnam's most historic churches faces demolition
01 May 2019

One of Vietnam's most historic churches faces demolition

Vietnam’s three decades of rapid economic growth have not been so good for the country’s built heritage. The distinctive Bui Chu Cathedral in Nam...

TAGS: Vietnam, Hanoi, Bui Chu, Nam Dinh, history, church

Vietnam in the 1990s - Qantas returns to Saigon
15 Apr 2019

Vietnam in the 1990s - Qantas returns to Saigon

In December 1990, I was aboard the first post-war Qantas flight to operate between Australia and Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon). It was a time...

TAGS: Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City, Qantas, 1990, flights

Vietnam's first international tourism campaign - from 1991?
19 Feb 2019

Vietnam's first international tourism campaign - from 1991?

I’m gonna hazard a guess that this was the first post-war Vietnam tourism promotion in a Western country. It was 1991 and Vietnam was just opening...

TAGS: Vietnam, Hue, tourism, marketing,

The drone - a symbol of heavy-handed self-centred tourism
21 Nov 2018

The drone - a symbol of heavy-handed self-centred tourism

The drone has arrived. These high-impact flying machines are coming to a beautiful place near you. The drone has transitioned from professional...

TAGS: Vietnam, Hoi An, drones, tourism, overtourism

A new heritage landmark in Hanoi?
22 Oct 2018

A new heritage landmark in Hanoi?

A grand heritage building is being renovated in Hanoi’s picturesque Ba Dinh District. This is the nicest part of the capital - though few visitors...

TAGS: Vietnam, Hanoi, heritage, architecture,

Tips for taking photos in Vietnam - people and ideas of beauty
08 Oct 2018

Tips for taking photos in Vietnam - people and ideas of beauty

Taking photos of the local people you encounter as a traveller is complicated anywhere. In Vietnam, the locals have been remarkably amenable to...

TAGS: Vietnam, Hanoi, photography, culture,

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