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

Finally, time for short trips.......  My hectic work schedule has slowed down a fair bit in May. This allowed me some time to travel. First up was a short trip to Taipei, actually a working trip but with some free time in the evenings for a bit of sight-seeing and eating. This trip on the first week of the month the of May was my first time visiting Taipei in more than 8 years. I could. not remember much of the airport on arrival or how to find my way from the airport to the city via public transport. Thankfully, my colleague who is a more frequent visitor to the city, was on the trip with me and I just played "followed the leader" as we made our way to the city centre by the express metro train (a.k.a MRT). Arriving at the Taipei Main Station, we walked to Beimen before taking the MRT to Ximen where our booked accommodation was located. Arriving at Ximending, things start to be more familiar. The usual malls are still standing, the large department stores still having a stro...

Visiting Taipei again after 8 long years, there is nothing more iconic to mark my return visit than to post a photo I had taken with my mobile phone of the Taipei 101 skyscraper.  Located in and around the area are lots of shopping and dining establishments for the visitors. As a tourist, I went to the area for both shopping and food. Seeing the Taipei 101 in all its lighted spectacle at night was a bonus, a photo moment not to be missed. Taipei 101, Xinyi District, Taipei, Taiwan (2026)

Over the past couple of years, I have become some kind of regular for cruises originating from Singapore to Penang (Georgetown) and Phuket. Thus, I seldom find the need to disembark during port days. Instead, I utilised the port days to swim in the pools onboard, when everyone else are on their show visits. After my swim, I will usually walk around the top deck (Deck 15 of Quantum Class ships) and enjoy the bird's eye views of the port and the surrounding areas. This photo I took with my mobile phone shows Georgetown as viewed from the top deck of Ovation of the Seas as the ship was berthed at Swettenham Pier. Bird's eye view of Georgetown as seen from Swettenham Pier, Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia (2026)