November 2017

Holding more than 15,000 native saltwater and freshwater species, the Cairns Aquarium (163 Abbott St., Cairns, Queensland, 4870, Australia; phone +61 7 4044 7300, www.cairnsaquarium.com.au) opened in September. 

One feature is an acrylic tube in which visitors can sit and watch sharks and rays swim overhead. The tube leads to the Oceanarium, a 528,000-gallon, cylindrical acrylic tank full of sea life and encircled by a walkway. Aquarium hours are 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily. AUD42 (near $33) adult, AUD34 senior or AUD28 child. 

The Dong Da festival, commemorating Emperor Quang Trung’s defeat of Qing (Chinese) troops in 1789 on Dong Da Hill, located in modern Hanoi, is held annually on the fifth day of the first lunar month of the Vietnamese calendar (Feb. 20 in 2018). 

Festivities begin at Khuong Thuong temple in Hanoi, then a procession heads up Dong Da Hill with the Thang Long Fire Dragon, a symbol of victory made of straw and paper. A small reenactment of the battle is performed by martial artists, and the story is retold. Performers wear traditional costume.

In Kaunas, Lithuania, a bunker that was built 20 feet underneath a factory during the Soviet era became a private museum in 2014. It holds more than 1,200 items relating to the Cold War, many of them still functioning, including gas masks, radiation detectors, medical equipment and KGB spying devices. 

Visits to the KGB Atominis Bunkeris (Raudondvario Pl., 164 A, Kaunas, Lithuania; phone +370 8 682 66666, www.atominisbunkeris.lt/en) must be arranged in advance. €6 (near $8).

Totem poles are the monumental masterpieces of the Pacific Northwest. They are scattered over an area that includes the province of British Columbia in western Canada along with Washington and Oregon states in the northwestern corner of the continental United States plus southeastern Alaska. 

The Bahamas contain more blue holes (submarine sinkholes) than any other country and also boast the world’s second-deepest, Dean’s Blue Hole. — Bryan Henry, Contributing Editor, Hollywood, FL

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A fundamental part of enjoying travel in Europe is finding places that I call “back doors.” 

Timeline: September 1976. A restaurant in Los Angeles.

Out of the blue, I choked on a piece of meat. I could not breathe. I stood up, my hands clenching my throat. Fortunately, a few seconds later, I could eject the piece of meat from my throat.

I looked around the restaurant. Everybody was staring at me. Nobody had come to help me. Nobody had attempted to use the Heimlich maneuver, which is the first-aid procedure for the treatment of choking caused by foreign objects.