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

Japan, Niigata and Yamagata Prefectures, Kairi Joyful Train Ride This blog post describes my experiences taking a tourist train for the first time. The trip was in August 2023 when I traveled to Niigata Prefecture for the Nagaoka Fireworks Festival. A sign in Car No 3 of the Kairi Train, Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture, Japan (2023) ****************** Watching train documentaries on Japan's NHK World Channel, I had always wondered what it would be like to experience a ride in one of Japan's so-called tourist trains. The opportunity to actually ride on one presented itself when I visited Niigata Prefecture in August 2023 to attend the Nagaoka annual Fireworks Festival. I extended my stay in Niigata by an extra day and night so that I can actually catch a ride on the Kairi Tourist Train. The icing on the cake was that my 7-day Japan Rail Pass allowed me to ride on the Kairi in Car 1 without any additional charges. I just need to make a reservation in advance. I originally intended

Malaysia, Pahang, Cameron Highlands The leisure-travel restricted periods due to the Covid Pandemic that last somewhere between the beginning of 2020 until 2022 (in most places) were painful for those who love to travel. Be it travel to distant destinations or to places that one is familiar with, this luxury was denied to most folks around the world due to the need to efficiently manage the spread of the dreaded virus. With the slow re-opening of travel in 2022 onwards, I took baby steps to resuming my own travels by first visiting neighbouring countries and going to places that I had previously visited before, enjoyed the experiences and wanted to return again. Cameron Highlands in the Malaysian state of Pahang is one of these places.  With cool all-year round weather, gentle pace of life, beautiful sceneries, fresh air and great vacation places, Cameron Highlands is definitely one destination in my personal travel bucket list. In this article previously published on this blog, I revi

Japan, Tokyo, Nakano This video was originally published in this blog in July 2021. The photographs shown in the video are based on my visit to Nakano in 2017. Before the trip, I had read about this quaint part of the greater Tokyo Metropolitan area and resolved to pop by for some sight-seeing and a walking tour if time on my itinerary permitted. And yes, I did visit Nakano on that trip. But why a video and not an article? Sometimes, pictures do speak more than a thousand words! Another reason was that I wanted to share what I saw and experienced in Nakano from a visual perspective.  And of course, my side trip to Nakano was an item in my travel bucket list.  ****************** I visited Nakano as a side trip while in Tokyo in the spring of 2017. Just minutes away from Shinjuku, Nakano is a world away from the hustle and bustle that defines Shinjuku. Here, serenity reigns. Being a rural area, the ambience is all about being slow paced and quiet. This is also an amazing place to catch s

South-East Asia, Malacca Strait This article was originally published in this blog in July 2022 as one of my Trip Recollections articles. The article reminisced my first ever cruise trip and also my first ever visit to Penang's Georgetown as part of the cruise ship's port call. Even though this was a relatively short 3-nights regional cruise, I really enjoyed the trip. While I had since went on longer cruises including a 12-nights cruise from Yokohama to Singapore, this first cruise will always be fondly remembered as the one that "introduced" me to a cruise vacation.  A bucket list item well and truly checked.  ****************** I finally got to enjoy my first ever cruise experience. A short 4-days, 3-nights cruise from Singapore's Marina Cruise Centre to Penang's Georgetown in Malaysia onboard Royal Caribbean's Spectrum of the Seas. Deck 15 of Spectrum of the Seas, Royal Caribbean Cruise, Straits of Malacca (2022) Maybe it was my first time on a cruise

Japan, Tokyo, Ueno Park Most of us who had visited Japan or who are planning to visit Japan will wish to see for ourselves the blooms of sakura in Spring. After numerous visits to Japan, I have had the luxury to admire sakura blooms at different locations in Japan. Doing a trip to Japan in March 2017, I went to Ueno Park in Tokyo. I was fortunate that the sakura was in full bloom during my visit and I got to enjoy hanami (cherry blossom viewing) together with locals and visitors alike. The original article was posted in this blog in April 2017. ****************** The period between late-March and early-April is always a good time to visit Japan, in particular the Tokyo area. The main reason is this period usually coincides with the annual sakura or cherry blossom season. Huge blooms of pink and white sakuras are a sight to behold. The crowds and the high seasonal prices of hotels and airfares may be a put off but it is also important to remember that sakura only blooms once a year and

Wishlist 2024, Asia 2023 signals the resumption of leisure travel as the world cautiously but resolutely return to interconnectivity from the pandemic years of 2020, 2021 and to some extent, 2022. Personally, I resumed leisure travel in 2022 with regional trips to Bali, Cameron Highlands, Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur and Siem Reap. I also took two cruise trips, with port calls to Penang and Phuket. In 2023, I ventured a little further from the region, taking vacation trips to Japan and China (Hong Kong). Other regional trips include trips to Malaysia and Vietnam. I was glad that my trips in 2023 allowed me to fulfil a few personal travel bucket list items including watching the Nagaoka Hanami (Fireworks) Festival, sailing from Yokohama to Singapore and enjoying the experience of my first ever joyride on a tourist train, the Kairi  which travels between the Japanese cities of Niigata and Sakata. I also got to admire the majestic views of Sakurajima in-person when I was in Kagoshima in August 20

Singapore, Turtle Island Off the southern coast of Singapore lies many small and beautiful islands that one do not normally associate with a high-tech driven city. But herein, havens of tranquility, nature, beautiful beaches, turquoise-coloured waters and wide-opened spaces offer unique escapades from the busy city-life of mainland Singapore. That all these islands can be reached within half an hour by ferry makes traveling there even more appealing. UNESCO World Heritage Sites these islands are not. But they definitely do qualify as  personal Bucket List items . In this blog post, I am featuring one of these island. Kusu Island is where one can find several shrines, nice beaches and yes, many turtles (mostly red-eared sliders,  Trachemys scripta elegans). ****************** Kusu Island, a.k.a. Turtle Island in the local dialect, is also known as Pulau Tembakul in Malay. Lying less than 6 km from mainland Singapore, Kusu Island is easy reached by regular ferry services from Singapore&#

Cambodia, Siem Reap, Solitude at Angkor Archeological Park This article was previously published in this blog in May 2022. Written as an article in my series of Post-Trip Recollections Series, this trip was for me in every way a bucket list travel item in a very unique way. Why? Because it was my first time taking an airplane in almost 3 years. Mid-2022 was the period when worldwide travel restrictions imposed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic was slowly being lifted. I also wanted to use this chance to re-visit the Angkor  Archeological  Park. Usually crowded with tourists pre-pandemic, I thought then that it was my chance to re-visit Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom, without the crowds. Having more time to study the historical archeological artefacts at my own leisure would be an amazing experience.  And I was right. Compared with my previous visit to these same sites, this visit allowed me much time to slowly walked through the sites, read about their histories and marvelled at the architec