Shoddy work: Warning over tailor-made clothes in Vietnam
Barbara and John Gorman, Westleigh, NSW
Powered down
Ben Groundwater's article (Traveller, April 30) about what he can't travel without was very practical but it requires one amendment for cruise ship passengers. On my last Princess Cruise, I packed a power board in my luggage and my suitcase did not arrive in my cabin. I was advised to go to the security area where I was asked to remove the power board from my case. The cruise line considers power boards a potential fire hazard and the confiscated item was returned to me when I left the ship.
David Linfoot, Castle Hill, NSW
Your views on views
Thanks to our readers who responded to our story about the 35 greatest views in the world, as named by the experts. The best letters are featured below. Each published reader published receives a copy of Lonely Planet's Wonders of the World coffee table book valued at $44.99. See shop.lonelyplanet.com
Wail watching
On a small-ship cruise out of Ushuaia, Argentina, we stopped at dusk, took Zodiacs to Isla Navarino and climbed up, through rough bush, to about 300 metres above the icy water. We sat down, looking east down the channel at our ship and the snow-capped islands in the distance. No one spoke for five minutes. I cried. The view and the silence made me cry, as the memory does now.
Ian Johnson, Docklands, Vic
Howe amazing
Lord Howe Island rewarded me with my greatest view yet – I was mesmerised by Mount Gower's peak in this idyllic paradise. It towers over the island from every vantage point, but for me it was most spectacular from Lagoon Beach. Whether on a sunny day as the backdrop for the magnificent blue lagoon, or teasingly peaking through cloud, this spellbinding view remains my most treasured.
Roxanne Le Blanc, Croydon, Vic
Roar power
First a rumble, then an all-encompassing roar hits you like a jet engine. Bordering Brazil and Argentina the stunning sight and sound of the Iguazu Falls is breathtaking, as 275 waterfalls, the largest waterfall system in the world, crash and spray. From the expansive view on the Brazilian side to the daredevil walkway stretching part of the way across Devil's Throat on the Argentinian side, the vista is extraordinary and never to be forgotten.
Sally Spurr, Lane Cove, NSW
Solid rock
The monasteries of Meteora are built on top of these massive rock pillars that rise straight out of the ground. It almost doesn't look real. From up there, the view is something else. When I visited, I remember standing still for what felt like hours. But it wasn't just the view that struck me. It was the feeling of being suspended between heaven and earth. It inspired me to slow down, reflect and reconnect with nature and history. Meteora truly deserves a spot among the world's most inspiring sights.
Emanuel Marinos, Kogarah, NSW
Bath times
My favourite view from my travels is this one of Avon Canal in Bath, UK. It was a surprising discovery as I wasn't aware there was a canal in Bath. I love the way it is darker at the edges but your eye is drawn to the light and the reflections in the centre of the photo. A memorable day with my husband and son.
Susan Rowe, Epping, NSW
Snow show
Our journey to the Gateway of the Arctic Circle, Tromso, Norway, started with the plane diverting to a military base to refuel due to heavy snowfall, adding a thrilling twist to our arrival in this enchanting city. When we sipped coffee in a cosy cafe the next day, we were mesmerised by the single best view of our travels. Tromso's harbour sparkled like a frozen canvas, snow-covered mountains rising majestically in the distance, ferries gliding smoothly by. The Arctic scenery held us in its thrall and is forever in our hearts.
Rhoda Silber, Manly, NSW
On top Down Under
My single best view is the King Valley from Powers Lookout in North East Victoria region. For as far as the eye can see there's beauty, stretching beyond the valley of farms and vineyards to the mountains of the Alpine National Park. It's so peaceful. As Bill Bryson wrote in his book Down Under, 'if you put this in Virginia or Vermont, there would be scores of people… there'd be souvenir stands and probably an IMAx screen and adventure park'. It really is one of Victoria's best-kept secrets.
Peter Denovan, Kew East, Vic
Rhodes warrior
I stayed in Lindos on the island of Rhodes in September 2018 and walked up the many steps of the Temple of Athena at both dawn and dusk to experience the beauty and vibration of this amazing place. Seven kilometres away, the coast of Turkey can be seen. I am just about to head back now and will be greeting Athena again.
Christine Tiley, Albany Creek, Qld
Take a peak
After a magical scenic train trip we arrived at Kleine Scheidegg in Switzerland. We sat on the terrace of a restaurant and gazed up at an incredibly breathtaking view. We were looking at the famous challenging North Face of the Eiger mountain. Next to it were the majestic peaks of Monch and Jungfrau. The scale of these inspired feelings of awe and a profound connection to history and to nature.
Mim Kocher, Healesville, Vic
Sounds incredible
We rose just after dawn to discover the magnificence of New Zealand's Milford Sound from our balcony on the Silversea Muse in December 2019. The captain had warned the day before that bad weather might divert us overnight to calmer waters, as had been the case with two previous cruises. but Milford Sound was a millpond. This view is emblazoned in my memory and surely in the memories of my fellow travellers.
Lina Caneva, South Yarra, Vic
Just loafing
There are so many great and beautiful views around the world but one that captivated me was that from Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio, Brazil. There was a clear view of the entire Copacabana Beach and onwards from Ipanema, to Corcovado in the distance (with the famous Christ the Redeemer statue). It's a bird's-eye view of the main part of Rio, showcasing the mountains rolling down to the sea with the beautiful blue waters of the Atlantic washing around and behind you. Fabulous.
Martyn Jones, Adelaide, SA
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Sydney Morning Herald
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- Sydney Morning Herald
I've travelled to the US for 35 years. My ESTA was revoked without warning
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The Age
a day ago
- The Age
I've travelled to the US for 35 years. My ESTA was revoked without warning
Homeland insecurities My daughter lives in the US and, for the past 35 years (excluding the pandemic), I have visited her at least once a year, as part of an extended overseas trip. This year, I made my usual US ESTA [Electronic System for Travel Authorisation] application. When it was approved, I purchased a ticket. But a few hours before my flight departure time, I received an email from US Homeland Security cancelling my authorisation to travel. No reason was provided, leaving me in the Kafkaesque situation of having breached some official procedure, while having no way to appeal the decision or determine what that breach could be. It is, of course, unthinkable that in the US, the land of much-vaunted freedom of speech, I should be penalised – as I suspect – for posting online several comments critical of President Trump and his administration, but it remains difficult to think of any reason why it should be acceptable for me to visit the US in May and, then, be suddenly unacceptable in July. There was a time when we only worried about such matters when travelling behind the Iron Curtain. Bruce Hyland, Woy Woy, NSW Letter of the week: Makes scents I toured Beppu, Japan (Traveller, July 12) in early April and there was a lot to see in addition to the various 'hells' (hot water springs). I visited the Otia Fragrance Museum, a two-kilometre downhill walk from the concentration of 'hells' along a funky shopping street. As well as a great history of the development of the fragrance industry and the various packages fragrances come in, the museum has a high-quality and reasonably priced gift shop and a lovely garden coffee shop. Its fragrance is quite different from the springs. I also participated in a workshop developing your own personal perfume for about $30. Yet another fun-filled, different activity in Japan, my favourite destination. Alex Gosman, Canberra, ACT Not so fast track Travelling from Singapore Changi to Sydney on QF2, the queue to enter security was clearly divided into two lines, indicating boarding groups one and two on the left and boarding groups three and four on the right. With no one to separate the boarding groups, not surprisingly the entire planeload joined the groups one and two queue, leaving the groups three and four queues virtually empty. I was travelling business class, entitling me to board in group one and two. Rather than ask for my due, I sauntered over to the near-empty group three and four queue and quickly sailed through. So much for the supposed privileges of fast track/priority boarding. Shamistha de Soysa, Vaucluse, NSW Brownied off
The Advertiser
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- The Advertiser
Top picks and insider tips: six experts on travelling in Asia like a pro
The Golden Triangle. Picture: Getty Images Updated July 25 2025 - 1:06pm, first published 12:00pm FAVOURITE PLACE: The name of Beijing's Summer Palace is a bit misleading. After two hours of walking, I've seen parks, temples, even a waterfront merchant street - but nothing that looks like a palace. That won't come until the end of the visit when I eventually reach the opulent wooden halls decorated with porcelain folding screens and dragon statues. Subscribe now for unlimited access. or signup to continue reading All articles from our website The digital version of Today's Paper All other in your area Ten kilometres away, the Forbidden City feels like ... well, a city. Here, the Summer Palace feels like a whole country! Needing a full day to explore properly, the historic imperial complex has 3000 buildings that reflect centuries of evolving culture - just one of them, the Long Corridor, has 14,000 paintings of Chinese folklore. But the highlight is getting between the buildings, through the sculpted landscape of hills, lakes and gardens inspired by feng shui, Confucianism, and the best of China's countryside. A dumpling feast in Taiwan. Picture: Getty Images ON THE WISH LIST: Among countless reasons I regret not yet visiting Taiwan, one has really been eating at me ... the dumplings. Boiled, fried, steamed, filled with soup - there are so many types and I one day plan to devour them all until I look like a dumpling myself. Of course I won't ignore the hiking and the beaches or the museums and the festivals, which also offer a taste of this small but dynamic country. TOP TIP FOR TRAVELLING IN ASIA: As I hang on white-knuckled to the back of the motorbike, the young Vietnamese woman weaving us through Saigon's traffic points out restaurants. I'd prefer she keep her hands on the bike (and, anyway, my eyes are clenched shut from fear). But each time we stop on this street food tour, it's all worthwhile, as I taste delectables I might otherwise never have known to order. Taking a food tour introduces you to dishes, venues and customs you can use to enhance your whole stay - so I suggest doing one as soon as you arrive in a new Asian city. FAVOURITE PLACE: Hong Kong, you've changed. Or maybe I have. Either way, it's now impossible for me to resist your charms. Whether stopping over on the way to Europe or the US, or choosing it as a standalone destination, Hong Kong offers everything on a platter: great shopping, nature and beaches on the city's doorstep, incredible festivals, the most delicious food - including, my favourite, glistening, succulent roast goose - and eye-opening cultural moments. On a recent stopover, I booked a ticket to the Tea House Theatre Experience at the architecturally extravagant Xiqu Centre. This introduction to Cantonese opera includes song and performance, guided by a moderator who briefly explains the history of the artform. Plus, it comes with dim sum and tea to sup on during the performance. It's this mix of the traditional and contemporary that ensures you can't ever be bored in Hong Kong. Cardamom National Park. Picture: Getty Images ON THE WISH LIST: In Cambodia, near the border of Thailand, is the Cardamom Mountains, south-east Asia's largest tract of tropical rainforest. It's not easy to get there and most of the accommodation is in tented ecolodges, but it's a haven for wildlife. Research camera traps in 2023 recorded 108 different species of animals, 23 of them vulnerable, including Asian elephants, sun bears, clouded leopards, pileated gibbons and Sunda pangolins. Most of them are almost impossible to see, but I'm willing to take my chances trekking in the jungle. TOP TIP: Don't try to pack too much into your Asian trip. It's often hot and humid, which can sap your energy, so get up early, drink heaps of water and take it easy. In the afternoon have a break - go for a swim, read a book, take a nap - then pick up your explorations again in the late afternoon. It's the perfect excuse to try out slow travel. FAVOURITE PLACE: Whether I'm following a well-trodden pilgrimage route that connects thousand-year-old temples or wandering through dense beech forest with a bell strapped to my pack to warn off any nearby bears, I'm always pleasantly surprised by how easy it is to explore the wild landscapes beyond Japan's cities. But hiking in Japan doesn't have to mean roughing it. Walking the Michinoku Trail - in the Tohoku region of Honshu Island - earlier this year, I followed a dramatic coastline where sharp fingers of rock emerged from the frothing sea, before feasting on a dinner of local seafood and lying back in a steaming onsen to recharge for another day on the trail. Along the Michinoku Trail in the Tohoku region of Honshu Island. Picture: Getty Images ON THE WISH LIST: In an age when almost everywhere feels instantly accessible, the idea of a "lost world" seems quaintly outdated. And yet that's exactly what the Maliau Basin is. Known only to the local Murut people until 1947, this crater-like amphitheatre deep in Malaysian Borneo remains largely unexplored. Steep circular walls protect the self-contained ecosystem from the surrounding rainforest, allowing some 2000 species of animals and plants to live largely undisturbed. And because the only way to explore the basin is by trekking between remote jungle camps, the natural beauty is being preserved for future generations to enjoy. TOP TIP: Always carry cash. I can go weeks without touching a physical banknote when I'm at home, but cash is still king in many parts of Asia. From waiting in line for a counter seat at a Tokyo ramen shop to stopping at a roadside stall for a fortifying Vietnamese iced coffee, I've lost count of the times locals have had to use sign language to explain that they don't accept cards. Now I avoid disappointment and always carry a few notes with me. FAVOURITE PLACE: When I lived in Chiang Mai, I'd often run out of reasons (but not excuses) to visit the spa. Nails done, hair done, eyebrows done, facials and massages up to date. The glorious quality, availability and affordability of pampering services in Thailand is like a dream. In more than 40 visits to the Land of Smiles, I reckon I've enjoyed thousands of Thai massages and still, I crave more. Now, whenever I get the time to return to Thailand, I'm lured south to the beautiful islands. There's a wellness retreat on Koh Samui, Absolute Sanctuary, that's just the tonic for world-weary souls and knotted shoulders. A spa treatment at Koh Samui's Absolute Sanctuary. ON THE WISH LIST: What's your favourite animal? Do you like bananas? Are you 35? Once the shyness disappears, the two young sisters from Hanoi have many questions for me. I am sitting opposite the pint-sized, pink-clad Vietnamese duo on a train bound for Hue. For them, it's an opportunity to practise their English-language skills. For me, the random, endearing conversation is the sort of thing I love about rail travel. Soon I'll be boarding a different kind of train, the luxury Vietage experience, an upscale journey through central Vietnam from Da Nang to Quy Nhon. Next on my bucket list: the overnight Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City Reunification Express train trip. With more than 30 hours from start to finish, I'll have plenty of time to take questions. On a train in Vietnam. Picture: Getty Images TOP TIP: I paid $2.35 for my dinner in Hoi An, a steaming, brothy bowl of Cao Lau noodles with sliced pork, crunchy rinds and aromatic greens. The oceanfront Phuket hotel I've booked for next week costs $64 per night. And the flight to take me from Vietnam to Thailand was barely three figures. South-east Asia is an absolute bargain for travellers, the best value-for-money destination I've found. My advice is to stay as long as you possibly can. Save up holiday leave, ask a friend to collect your mail, book an open-ended ticket if you can. One week is never enough in this part of the world. FAVOURITE PLACE: I've seen so many first-timers fall in love with Ipoh, Malaysia, an oft-overlooked former tin boomtown surrounded by limestone hills in Perak, about halfway between Kuala Lumpur and Penang. Until you've feasted your way through Ipoh's elegantly dilapidated shophouses and colonial buildings, from Nyonya to Indian, Chinese to Malay and a vast spectrum of flavours in between, you've only nibbled at the edges of Malaysian cuisine. Cheerfully hipster resistant, the town seems set in a friendlier, gentler age, and you can slow down and fall into step with locals gathering from dawn to dusk in generations-old street food joints for satay, dim sum, curry and more. Here you'll also find Malaysia's oldest watering hole, the 94-year-old Sinhalese Bar, with its saloon doors, pink walls and venerable octogenarian owner, Alfred. I've never met a pub so rich in personality and pedigree - just like Ipoh itself. Two Black bears at a rescued centre in Laos. Picture: Shutterstock ON THE WISH LIST: Australian-founded Free the Bears has rescued more than a thousand sun and moon bears in Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos from unthinkable suffering on bear bile farms. I've always admired this charity's amazing work and hope one day to see it in action on a Bear Care Tour at their Kat Tang Si Bear Rescue Centre, Laos. It's set amid tropical rainforest at the foot of the spectacular Kuang Si falls about 30 kilometres south of Luang Prabang. In this beautiful setting you can meet and feed these gentle, intelligent creatures and see them enjoying their new-found freedom with their Laotian carers. Tour fees contribute to the bears' welfare, so your travel becomes a force for good, helping compassion conquer cruelty. TOP TIP: Don't be afraid of street food! If it smells good, it almost certainly is. Look out for vendors favoured by locals and learn the local phrase for "is it fresh?" A good cook will reply vehemently that yes of course it is - and then prove it. FAVOURITE PLACE: In Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, I try to support the traditional samlor pedicab drivers when possible - including catching one to the Anantara hotel's riverside Bodhi Terrace restaurant. The building was originally a 19th-century British consulate, complete with a four-elephant stable. The Ping River murmurs past as you settle in beneath a huge banyan tree to enjoy the best heart-starter breakfast in the north, eggs Lanna Benedict spiced with green chilli nam prik noom. Aloi maak (that's Thai for delicious). Later, cross the Iron Bridge to the river's quieter side, explore its shoreline and visit Wat Ket Karam, where the eccentric temple museum might be open or not. Traditional samlor drivers in Chiang Mai. Picture: John Borthwick ON THE WISH LIST: To travel the Mekong south from the Thai border at Sop Ruak (the Golden Triangle) to the Mekong Delta, in Vietnam, would complete some unfinished business on south-east Asia's longest river. I've done the almost 5000-kilometre-long Mekong in parts from Kunming in Yunnan, China, by river ferry, longtail speedboat, cargo shuttle and cruise vessel, but not as far as the South China Sea. Why do it? Simply because it's there. Worse reason: because it's being dammed and double-damned to oblivion. About 740 dams exist or are under construction on its mainstream and tributaries in China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Go with the flow while it still does. Giant buddha on the Golden Triangle. Picture: Shutterstock TOP TIP: Or, allow me several ... first, be sure to match exactly the full name on your passport with the one on air tickets and visa applications. A wrong word or letter can end in Do Not Pass Go. Then, cash matters: Asia is far from being online all the time everywhere. Even in high-tech Japan, especially rural areas, carry enough local currency for major expenses, plus 100-yen coins. Similarly in lower-tech Cambodia, Laos and elsewhere. Don't assume that your phone is a payment option. Finally, motorcycle misery: ride one, prang it, get injured and your travel insurance covers nothing unless you hold a full Australian rider licence and have indicated that on your policy application. Crowdfunding is not a strategy. PS, never leave your passport as a deposit or "guarantee".
