Travel Bits: December 2016

By -
Review of my travels in 2016...

2016 has been an extremely busy year for me. It also marks a year when many of my planned trips could not proceed as scheduled due to a hectic work schedule. However, there are also a great many unplanned trips which happened during the year.

Trips which I have to cancel in 2016 include visits to Osaka (Japan), Barcelona (Spain), San Francisco (California, United States) and Auckland (New Zealand) as well as my annual personal retreat to Bali (Indonesia). Unforeseen projects that crop up along the way as the year progressed lead to these cancellations which I will eventually undertake at a more appropriate time in the foreseeable future.

Trips which were not planned but happened in 2016 include visits to Thiruvananthapuram (India) to attend a friend's wedding and to Orlando (Florida, United States) to attend a software conference with my customers. The visit to Thiruvananthapuram and Orlando were my first ever visits to India and the United States respectively. Both visits were eye openers and exciting for me despite these not being vacation trips and thus, sightseeing were not on the agenda.

During my business trip to Orlando in May 2016, I stayed at one of the hotels at Disney World, Orlando, Florida, United States (2016)

Besides these two trips, I also get to travel on vacations to Ipoh (Perak, Malaysia), Phuket (Thailand), Hong Kong (SAR, China) and Taipei (Taiwan). Other business trips include short hops to Bangkok (Thailand) and Johor Bahru (Johor, Malaysia) during the last quarter of 2016.

The Hong Kong Island skyline at night as seen from my room balcony on the 11th floor of the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Wan Chai, Hong Kong SAR, China (2016)

The famous and iconic A-Mei teahouse at night, Jiufen, Ruifang District, New Taipei City, Taiwan (2016)

On the home front, I have re-visited many places in Singapore which I have not done in years, some for as much as more than 10 years since my last visit! These places include the rural island of Pulau Ubin, the Singapore Zoo which ironically is just a 15 minutes drive from my home and the National Gallery which I visited for the first time ever in the month of April.

National Gallery, Singapore (2016)

Going forward into 2017, my travel plans are extensive as I will need to travel for business as well as my usual planned vacations. My profession switch from a salaried employee to a self-employed business owner in the new year means I get to have more control over my time but also means I will be more restricted in my budget as I strive to build my new business from the bottom up.

Business trips planned for the first half of 2017 include trips to Hong Kong and Bangkok (Thailand) in January, Frankfurt (Germany) in February and more trips to Hong Kong, Bangkok and Ningbo (China) up until June.

Vacation trips previously planned include a trip to Tokyo (Japan) for the cherry blossoms season in April as well as trips to Helsinki (Finland), Tallinn (Estonia) and London (United Kingdom) in May. I am also separately planning short trips to climb Mount Merapi (Indonesia) and to experience some jungle trekking in the rainforests of Borneo. The Mount Merapi climbing trip and Borneo trekking trip are both in the planning phase but they should go ahead with little hassle since both locations are less than 2 hours by flight from my home country. And if I have the time and money, probably a trip to Nepal will be ideal to wrap up my travel year for 2017.

What's your travel plans for the new year? Get planning soon as lots of airlines are currently running promotions where you can fly to your favourite or dream destinations in 2017 at prices that are really affordable. Get packed and start travelling in the brand new year. 

Happy New Year 2017 to all my readers! :-)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Japan, Takayama - Dining on Wasakana

By -
Image
The city of Takayama is also known as Hida-Takayama and is located in the mountainous Hida region of Gifu Prefecture in Japan. A popular dish in Takayama is Wasakana or river fish. There are many species of river fishes in Takayama but the ones that are regularly served as part of the local cuisines are Ayu ( Plecoglossus altivelis , ) a.k.a sweetfish and Iwana ( Salvelinus leucomaenis ), a species of river trout.  Wasakana (River Fish). This fish was pickled and then grilled. I am not sure of the species of this fish which was caught in the river behind the Ryokan where I resided during my stay in the mountains. Takayama, Gifu, Japan (2014) The fishes are usually marinated with sea salt and grilled. This method of cooking the river fishes is most popularly shown in pictures or on travel documentaries. During my visit to Takayama in October 2014, I finally got to savor the delicious tastes of the Wasakana prepared in authentic local styles by the locals....
Read more

Singapore, Horsburgh - Deep Sea Fishing

By -
Image
Horsburgh Lighthouse (or Horsburgh) is located on an outlying small island (a.k.a Pedra Branca meaning "White Rock" in Portuguese) near the entrance to the east of the Straits of Singapore. The lighthouse was named after Cpt James Horsburgh, who was a hydrographer with the then East India Company. Horsburgh is located about 54km (34 miles) east of Singapore. It was raining in the morning as we set off for the long anticipated trip which was planned as far back as 3 months ago in August 1998. There were four of us; YK, Kenneth, CC and myself.  
 Soon, we were on our way to the suppossedly rich fishing grounds near Horsburgh Lighthouse. This locale is considered a good fishing ground for recreational fishing because commercial trawling is supposedly not permitted.  
 We reached our first fishing spot at exactly 5.00 pm local time. Looking around, we couldn't see actually any lighthouse but who cares, it was the fishing that we were coming for, not a visit to so...
Read more

Estonia, Tallinn - Palace of Ungern-Sternberg

By -
Image
I was awestruck by the grandness and magnificence of this building during my walking tour of the Old Town of Tallinn. While there, I had no opportunity to enter the building itself. Thus, admiring its facade and photographing its structure as I walked around its perimeter had to suffice.  The  Palace of Ungern-Sternberg, Tallinn, Estonia (2017) Without knowing what this building was, its history and its name, the photographs I took allowed me to conduct basic research on it after the trip.  Based on my rudimentary research into the building long after my trip to Tallinn, I was to discover that it was built in the year 1865 by the German architect, Martin Gropius. Also known as the Palace of Ungern-Sternberg, the building is today the home of the Estonian Academy of Sciences. The Academy is a group of scientists whose aim is to promote research & development and scientific cooperation as well as knowledge dissemination.  The main build...
Read more