Travel Bits: November 2022

By -

Travel Plans for 2023 ....... 

With the completion of a cruise trip on 31 October, I wrapped up my leisure travels for 2022.

Following the pandemic-induced stay-within-home-city period which for me stretched from February 2020 to April 2022, I had the luxury to go on six trips in 2022.

A trip to Ipoh and Cameron Highlands in mid-May was followed quickly by an escapade to Siem Reap in the last week of that same month. My first ever cruise experience happened in July when I sailed with Royal Caribbean onboard its Spectrum of the Seas ship from Singapore to Penang and back to Singapore on a 3-night trip.

In August, I visited Kuala Lumpur, the city I visited in January 2020 just before the worldwide pandemic struck. 

A repeatedly postponed trip to Bali, no thanks to the pandemic, finally happened in the first week of October. In the last week of that month, I went on my second cruise trip. Again on Spectrum of the Seas, I sailed from Singapore to Port Klang, Penang and Phuket.

And so, those were my six trips of 2022. All regional and all relatively short trips. But being able to travel freely again is something to celebrate.

I have no more tips planned for the rest of 2022.

For the upcoming year, I just booked a 12-night cruise from Yokohama to Singapore. Along the way, the cruise will make port calls at Shimizu, Osaka, Kagoshima, Manila, Nha Trang and Ho Chi Minh City. I have never visited Shimizu, Kagoshima, Manila and Nha Trang before and am looking forward to adding these 4 cities to my personal visited city list. Before boarding the cruise in Yokohama, I planned to include trips to Nagaoka in early August for the annual Nagaoka Fireworks Festival and to spend some time in Tokyo for the shopping and food.

Of course, there is also the annual trip to Ipoh to visit relatives and friends in February. And, if I have enough time and budget leftover, maybe a trip to Taipei will be the icing on the cake for my 2023 leisure travel plans.

Its never too early to make travel plans...and dream....... 😁

Cruise Ship at Port, Marina Bay Cruise Centre, Singapore (2022)


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