Travel Bits: September 2021

By -

A "vacation" by any other name.......

As international border closures remain strictly in force, I have decided that an overseas vacation pre-pandemic style is simply neither possible nor practical.

While it is true that I can theoretically travel to a couple of destinations currently, the required administrative loops and hurdles that I will have to jump through just to travel to these "select" destinations immediately made even the idea of leisure travel impractical. For example, based on the number of COVID testings one have to undergo just for a one or two-week trip, which can be as many as four or even five tests, simply don't make sense. Besides the costs involved (assuming an average of USD$110 per test), there are still the inconveniences of having to travel to designated clinics for these tests, queue up, wait, waste precious vacation time and to top it all the up, grapple with the amount of extra paperwork just to prove that I am vaccinated and also do not have any renegade COVID viruses hiding somewhere inside me, ready to jump out into the world to wreck havoc and bring about the next wave of pandemic!

It is thus not pessimistic of me to assume that I will very likely to be staying within the borders of my home country, which is basically a large city, for not just the remaining four months of 2021 but also the foreseeable upcoming twelve months of 2022.

But I am determined to have a vacation this year or early next year. I have decided that I will have my vacation one way or the other. And that was when that famous Shakespearean phrase of "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet" (or something to that effect) came to my mind.

CAMPING! Yes, I can pack some stuff and go camping in a remote park or offshore island within the international borders of my country (err... city). Ta da! No post-trip quarantine and no multiple virus-swappings required. 😆 The best part is, it is still a vacation! Call it any other names I may, a camping trip is still a vacation.

I will get to sleep under the moon, count the stars, smell the grass and listen to the sounds of nature. This is what my next vacation is going to be. A solo camping trip a.k.a. camping outing since I am not travelling out of the country. 😄

And I don't have to burn a hole in my pocket for this local vacation. It also promises to be way more exciting and fulfilling than any hotel staycations that my limited finances can afford. Time to answer that Call of the Wild!

But, due to prevailing COVID-prevention restrictions and guidelines, camping is currently not permitted in my city as at the time of writing and publishing this blog post. Bummer........ 😭 The Call of the Wild has to wait....... for now.

Under the Tree, Pulau Ubin, Singapore (2016)

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