https://www.scmp.com/rss/519431/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Frozen in time, ghost towns stand as mute witnesses to gold rushes, wartime massacres and natural disasters. Here are nine abandoned places that once bustled with life but now lie eerily silent. 1. Bodie State Historic Park, United States The term “ghost town” is synonymous with the mid-19th century gold rush era. It usually refers to settlements in the western United States that teemed with activity until the gold ran out and the prospectors moved on. The area now known as Bodie State Historic... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3260301/9-ghost-towns-visit-china-africa-ukraine-and-hong-kong-eerie-reminders-war-disaster-and-loss?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3260301/9-ghost-towns-visit-china-africa-ukraine-and-hong-kong-eerie-reminders-war-disaster-and-loss?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 26 Apr 2024 04:45:12 +0000 Yee-haw … 2024 is shaping up as the year of the cowboy. Specifically it is the year the cowboy hat gets its rightful place outside the rodeo (and particularly raucous hen’s nights and bachelorette parties). Beyoncé setting the internet alight by dropping her new country-tinged album Cowboy Carter on Friday has officially declared it so. The trend was shaping up though, not least courtesy of Beyoncé herself, who in the lead-up to the album’s release was snapped in a white Stetson and custom... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/fashion/fashion-news/article/3257560/cowboy-hats-beyonces-cowboy-carter-and-pharrell-williams-louis-vuitton-fw24-collection-ride-western?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/fashion/fashion-news/article/3257560/cowboy-hats-beyonces-cowboy-carter-and-pharrell-williams-louis-vuitton-fw24-collection-ride-western?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 03 Apr 2024 06:00:23 +0000 “To live outside the law you must be honest,” sang Bob Dylan. And unless they are simply on their best behaviour for Ben Fogle, that is what the residents of a Californian shantytown seem to be. The adventurer-presenter opens his latest series, Ben Fogle’s Lost Worlds (BBC Earth), in the American wild west: Slab City, so named because the foundations of its rudimentary residential plots are the concrete rectangles that once supported a military camp’s troop huts. Decrepit trailers, SUVs,... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/arts-music/article/3235279/what-stream-weekend-ben-fogles-lost-worlds-takes-him-desert-deserted-island-bbc-earth?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/arts-music/article/3235279/what-stream-weekend-ben-fogles-lost-worlds-takes-him-desert-deserted-island-bbc-earth?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 22 Sep 2023 00:45:12 +0000 Habitation Jouissant is, by most accounts, a perfectly pleasant hotel. Built on a hillside, it offers views over the North Atlantic and the city of Cap-Haitien, and TripAdvisor ranks as No 1 of 15 hotels in the city, on Haiti’s north coast. “The staff are professional and hospitable, the view is amazing, and the food is great,” reads the most recent TripAdvisor review, posted in January 2019. “It’s not too far from the hotspots in town but is also pretty quiet if you just want to relax.” Lovely;... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3223268/climate-payouts-various-governments-supposedly-address-deteriorating-environment-given-hotel?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3223268/climate-payouts-various-governments-supposedly-address-deteriorating-environment-given-hotel?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 07 Jun 2023 21:15:16 +0000 The recent announcement of a new in-room amenity from worldwide budget hotel brand Days Inn may have confirmed to many frequent travellers that despite the guest-experience surveys left on bedside tables and the further requests for comment at checkout, hotels don’t listen much. Being asked their opinions just makes guests feel valued, but in fact hotels largely speak a language of their own, and speak it to each other. Frequent hotel guests gradually learn to speak that language – what will be... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3222730/days-inns-new-talking-mirrors-another-sign-hotels-dont-listen-guests-wouldnt-you-rather-say-faster?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3222730/days-inns-new-talking-mirrors-another-sign-hotels-dont-listen-guests-wouldnt-you-rather-say-faster?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 03 Jun 2023 22:45:10 +0000 Aravind’s yellow wooden fishing boat recently capsized in the Indian ocean, taking with it his wallet, ID cards and phone. He was lucky he didn’t lose his life, or his boat. “Everything else can be earned back,” says the 40-year old fisherman, with a cheerful grin. The day began like many others – he and three friends had set off on a fishing expedition at around 5am in calm conditions. And then, suddenly, there was water everywhere, he says. Aravind lives in Danushkodi, a town at the end of a... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3222141/life-edge-indian-town-battered-cyclone-was-left-abandoned-decades-now-it-attracting-tourists-again?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3222141/life-edge-indian-town-battered-cyclone-was-left-abandoned-decades-now-it-attracting-tourists-again?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 29 May 2023 04:47:10 +0000 France generally gets more annual visitors than any other country (80 million-plus, at the last count), followed by Spain and the United States. But what about nations where visitor arrivals barely scrape past four figures? With one exception, the top – or bottom – 10 least-visited nations (excluding those closed to visitors because of conflict or other political ructions) are all on remote islands. And each has something exceptional to offer beyond the obvious bragging rights. 1. Tuvalu Annual... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3221911/10-least-visited-countries-monserrat-micronesia-are-remote-welcoming-and-well-worth-journey?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3221911/10-least-visited-countries-monserrat-micronesia-are-remote-welcoming-and-well-worth-journey?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 27 May 2023 20:15:10 +0000 Sonya Yoncheva, a soprano at the top of her profession, worries about classical music. “My son, if I ask him, always says, ‘I want to be like Ronaldo.’ And if I ask my girl, she will say, ‘I want to be Lady Gaga and Beyoncé,’” says the Bulgarian singer, who headlines the new production of Umberto Giordano’s Fedora at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. “They really don’t associate with classical music artists. Times are changing.” In a bid to shape projects and bolster opera’s audience,... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3205287/i-want-be-lady-gaga-opera-star-sonya-yonchevas-kids-have-her-worried-about-future-classical-music?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3205287/i-want-be-lady-gaga-opera-star-sonya-yonchevas-kids-have-her-worried-about-future-classical-music?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Jan 2023 08:15:11 +0000 The artist Sin Wai-kin has been nominated for the UK’s Turner Prize for contemporary art partly for their exhibition that opened in November 2021 at Hong Kong’s Blindspot Gallery. Sin, who identifies as non-binary and prefers to be referred to by the pronouns “they” and “their”, is one of four artists commended for their solo exhibitions this year, announced Tate Britain, which organises the award, on Tuesday. “It’s Always You”, Sin’s Hong Kong exhibition questioning the social construction of... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3174039/turner-prize-2022-hong-kong-exhibition-propels-performance?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3174039/turner-prize-2022-hong-kong-exhibition-propels-performance?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 12 Apr 2022 13:44:48 +0000