TANKS Travel Tales - a travelogue.......

I have been a Snoopy fan since childhood. While trying to find an alternative route with less crowd to return to my hotel after visiting the Ruins of St Paul's, I chanced upon this Snoopy-themed shop in Macau (a.k.a. Macao). Naturally, the Snoopy fan in me instantly awakened and I simply have to pause whatever I was doing and went into the shop. They sold all kinds of delicious cookies, packed in very colourful and very cute Snoopy-themed biscuit tins! Of course, the shop decorations make for wonderful travel photo moments!  Snoopy says "Welcome to Macau", Freguesia de Santo António, Macau, China (2026) Snoopy-themed Shop Front, , Freguesia de Santo António, Macau, China (2026)

Upcoming trips.......  I did not travel for the month of September 2026, either for work or vacation. However, I have two upcoming trips in October. First up is a trip to Hong Kong and Macau on the first week of October 2026. During this trip, I will be traveling to Macau for the first time. Thus, a new city will be clocked for my travel map. I am attending a concert in Macau and will stay overnight after the concert, returning to Hong Kong the next day. Yes, as someone who prefers familiarity (despite my love for travels), I am using Hong Kong as a base for the trip. My return air tickets to Hong Kong was booked at promotion prices with Singapore Airlines and my accommodations in both Hong Kong and Macau have also been booked and paid well in advance, albeit a bit expensive at this time of the year because my trip dates coincide with the Golden Week holidays in China. A week later, I will be traveling to Ipoh to visit relatives and friends. This time, I will be flying to Ipoh via ...

I travelled to Japan for the second time this year in August 2026. I had visited Japan's Kansai region in my trip in January. This trip, I visited Tokyo and Fukushima. Fukushima was especially interesting for me because it was my first time visiting the Prefecture. I took a Shinkansen from Tokyo to Fukushima, enjoying my onigiri onboard while viewing the passing scenes of parts of Tokyo, Saitama and Tochigi. And yes, they still sell snacks onboard the Shinkansen and I bought a bottle of cold coffee to enjoy with my onigiri bought at Tokyo Station before boarding. Summing up my Tokyo and Fukushima trip in a simple infographic? That idea came to me while I was dumb scrolling the internet on a lazy Sunday morning. I tried asking an online AI to generate this basic infographic for me by providing some details of my trip to the AI. Of course, I forgot other trip details during the process. However, the first-cut output was rather impressive, to me at least. No original photos I had take...

Back from another tip to Japan.......  I just came back from another trip to Japan, my second of the year. During this trip trip, I had the chance to travel to not just Tokyo, but also Fukushima. Visiting a new region, a new city and new towns is always a great experience. This though, was not solely a holiday trip, but a trip that mixed work and vacation. Without dwelling on the work aspects of the trip, I did visit Fukushima for the first time. Arriving at the main train station via the Shinkansen from Tokyo, the landscape of nature and mountains in Fukushima city could not be more different from the urban jungles of Ginza. The crowds of Tokyo and the hordes of tourists were noticeably missing. I enjoyed Fukushima; its simplicity, its quaintness, its nature, its mountains, its small towns and its people, even though I could only experienced much of these from the windows of a moving vehicle. But I shall be back to explore more of Fukushima in future, without work on my mind. 🌏 F...

Mỹ Sơn Sanctuary ,  Quảng Nam Province,  Vietnam I have always been fascinated with archeological sites, probably inspired by the Indiana Jones movie series and Tomb Raider media franchise. Visiting the Mỹ Sơn Sanctuary in April 2025 was indeed a travel bucket list item for me. While this was a very short trip that lasted for just a couple of hours, it was a good introductory visit to the site for me. I joined an organised tour to the site and the information from the guide for our group was really very informative, especially for first time visitors like myself. Another archaeological site visited, another t ravel bucket list item fulfilled. ****************** On my cruise from  Singapore  to  Hong Kong  in  April 2025 , the ship had a Port Day at  Vietnam 's  Chân Mây . Taking opportunity of the day long port visit, I took a land excursion to  Mỹ Sơn Sanctuary , a  UNESCO World Heritage site . In Mỹ Sơn Sanctuary,  ...

Another trip completed while the next beckons .......  Mid-July 2026, I just returned from another short trip to Hong Kong, my third of the year to the southern Chinese city. During this trip, I had some time on my own and I discovered another fountain pen shop tucked in the Sham Shui Po district. I bought a pen from them to support local small business and also to justify to myself for making the effort to go all the way to look for the pen shop based on recommendations from friends who are into fountain pens.  I also enjoyed myself dining and sight-seeing, as usual. After achieving Silver Tier Status with my Cathay Pacific membership, I got to enjoy lounge access this trip, even though I was only flying Premium Economy. Enjoying the delicious food in the lounge, reading newspapers in the comfort of the lounge and getting myself freshened up with a nice shower just before boarding my return flight was certainly a travel experience to savour. Coming up on the first week of Aug...