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

Mount Stanserhorn is located in Switzerland's canton of Nidwalden, near to Obwalden. The highest point of Stanserhorn is recorded as 1,898 metres above sea level, or the equivalent of about 6,227 ft. At the peak of the mountain is a restaurant, a souvenir shop and an observation deck. Most packaged group tours which bring tourist to the city of Lucerne usually include a side trip to the peak of Mount Stanserhorn.  Getting to the top of Stanserhorn is relatively convenient due to the availability of a cable car service. At the peak, one can look out into the vast mountainous landscape of the surrounding areas. From here, the mighty Swiss Alps is truly a sight to behold. View from the top, Mount Stanserhorn, Nidwalden, Switzerland (2009)

Safeguarding important personal belongings when travelling....... Over dinner with friends during the weekend, one of them related to us about an incident in his recent  trip to Europe. He was on a group tour and one of the travellers in the group had lost her passport as well as all her cash and credit cards. She was the victim of a pickpocket. Apparently, the act occured while the group was in a small crowded lane while moving from one point in the city to another. The pickpocket (or pickpockets) must have had made use of the confusion and the crowd to carry out the theft. The aftermath of that incident effectively ruined the victim's trip. She was left without her important travel document which also happened to be her only form of identification in a foreign land. And she was also left penniless as all her cash and credit cards had been stolen. Thankfully for the lady, my friend loaned her cash and assisted her to contact the nearest diplomatic representation of her

In one of my previous blog articles, I posted a picture of a "Peeping Cupid" in Ginza, Tokyo. On my recent trip to Taipei, I chanced upon a similar statue of a "Peeping Cupid"! While I am not sure if there are similar statues in other cities, it is now two chance encounters with statues of a "Peeping Cupid" in two different cities in Asia. :-) Peeping Cupid, Taipei, Taiwan (2018) This is my previous blog post of the Peeping Cupid in Tokyo.

Despite being a fairly frequent visitor to Ipoh, capital city of Malaysia's Perak state, I find myself constantly discovering new and interesting stuff about the city on each new visit.  In my most recent visit in November 2017, I was driving around with friends in the Ipoh Padang area looking for a nice cafe to relax, chill and catch some virtual Pokemon on my mobile Pokemon GO game when we chanced upon a clock tower with distinctly European-style carvings and decorations. Birch Memorial Memorial Clock Tower, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia (2017) I searched the internet for more information on this unique clock tower and learned that it is known as the Birch Memorial Clock Tower . Constructed in the early 20th century, it was first unveiled in the year 1909 in honour of J.W.W. Birch, a British Officer. Look closely and you will find a bronze bust of Birch in the north-facing facade. Perched on top of the tower is a bell measuring approximately 6-ft and 6-inches in diameter.