Random Thoughts - All Things Travel-Related

By -

With world travel, both business and leisure, now firmly back on track in most parts of the world and the need for cumbersome documentations and proof of medical vaccinations on the back burner, many around the world have rediscovered the magic of travel again.

For businesses, nothing beats an in person meeting as opposed to speaking through the camera and microphone of a laptop computer. For leisure travellers, nothing beats seeing another city and its landmarks in person than through photographs, whether these are printed or digital.

Personally, I had been on six trips in 2022 compared to just a single trip in 2020 (pre-COVID) and zero in 2021. This year, I had already been on two short trips and have a long month-long pan-Asian trip  confirmed for August. My travel year for 2023 will be rounded up by a year-end retreat at a beach and mountain location.

Physical trips aside, I had also recently purchased some writing instruments with travel themes serving as inspirations to their backstory. These backstories include both fictional and non-functional characters as well as travel itineraries. They meant a lot to me because I had indulged in reading about these characters and travel itineraries when I was a kid and too poor to travel then. Reading about them boosted my creative thinking, inspired a longing for travel outside my small world, nurtured my love for reading and writing in my later years and brought much joys to my life; then, now and hopefully in the future.

And in my upcoming pan-Asian trip which is also a personal bucket list item, I will be bringing a couple of these writing instruments with me to pen my travel thoughts and manuscripts for my upcoming books. These writing instruments will accompany me on my future journeys around the world and be integral parts of my personal and imaginative stories.


My newly purchased Montblanc Special Edition Ink inspired by the Jules Verne's classic,  "Around the World in 80 Days", Singapore (2023)

My self-bought grail fountain pen and soon-to-be travel companion, a Montblanc 149 'Diplomat', inspired by the famed Orient Express passenger train, Singapore (2023)


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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

Cambodia, Siem Reap - Wall Sculptures at Angkor Wat

By -
Image
In many places of great historical and cultural significances around the world, wall sculptures left by generations before us convey messages of events past. Such messages are recorded versions of history of the places where they are found.  I have always been fascinated by how our ancient ancestors were able to faithfully convey events that would otherwise require many pages of descriptive words, through a series of wall sculptures. The creative ingenuities, stone masonry skills and storytelling talents of our ancient forebears were translated into these beautiful and amazing wall sculptures that allow us of later generations, to learn and study the civilisations that preceded us. Are these wall sculptures from the past simply just art? Or recorded history? To me, they are both and more. In my previous visits to Cambodia's renown Angkor Wat in 2015 and 2022, I spent time studying the many wall sculptures that still remained in this ancient site. The experience has made me more awa
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 building housing the Academy is a
Read more