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

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...

After more than two and a half years, I finally went on my first overseas trip when I drove to Malaysia's Cameron Highlands as part of my road trip from Singapore to Malaysia in May 2022. Here in Cameron Highlands, nestled next to a golf course, is the Smokehouse Hotel and Restaurant. I have never stay in their hotel before but I love the ambience of their old-english style gardens which surround the hotel and restaurant. Smokehouse Hotel and Restaurant, Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands, Pahang, Malaysia (2018) In my previous visits, I usually had tea in the restaurant to while away a lazy afternoon in the cool temperatures of the place, thanks to its high elevation at about 1,400 metres above sea level. Here, they serve great tea, most probably sourced locally from the many tea plantations in and around the area. Besides tea, I also love the delicious scones, old-english style, of course!  During my visit in May 2022, I visited the restaurant as usual for the tea and scones and also ...

First overseas trip in 29 months......  Yesterday, I returned home from my first overseas trip in 29 months. My last trip was in January 2019 before international border closures and restrictions commenced due to the COVID pandemic. Truth be told, the pandemic is still with us. Unlike the SARS-outbreak of 2003, there are still thousands of infections recorded worldwide every day; probably even tens of thousands. But a combination of vaccinations and previous infections coupled with the relatively milder current dominant Omicron strain of the virus meant that national authorities have been carefully peeling back on travel restrictions and re-opening their borders.  While this most recent trip of mine was certainly no bucket listed travel item, it was still an overseas trip. I left for a weeklong trip to Malaysia, driving up north to Ipoh to meet with relatives and friends before driving a little further north to Cameron Highlands. I had previously visited both places numerous t...

Chanced and unplanned encounters during our travels....... For most of our trips, we usually knew in advance where we were going and what we would be doing. But often, it would be the chanced and unplanned encounters that would come to define our travels turning these trips into unique ones that we would remember for years to come. These would also be the trips that we would recall fondly to share with family and friends. They are the travel tales of our own little adventures. Whether it was that friendly chat with a fellow traveller or a local, that chanced meeting that would turned a stranger into a friend. Or that moment in time captured in our cameras that would remained not just as mere digital mementos but lasting memories of our life. What were those travel moments of your's? I have had many. Starting when I was first bitten by the travel bug as a twenty-something youngster, I had travelled to Japan on my first ever trip outside my home country on a work ass...

"I have found out that there ain't no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them then to travel with them. "  - Mark Twain Overlooking a tea plantation while on a rest stop during a road trip, Ringlet, Cameron Highlands, Pahang, Malaysia (2018)

Cameron Highlands in Pahang state of Malaysia is well known for its tea plantations. It is named after British geologist William Cameron who surveyed the district in 1885. My first visit to Cameron Highlands was in July 2018. Visiting the many tea plantations in the area, I was always very amazed by the relative symmetry that resulted from the way the tea plants are organised. I am quite sure this is for reasons relating to the subsequent cultivation and harvesting of the tea leaves, although I cannot confirm that. From afar, they looked to me like stacks of greenery, harmoniously placed in random yet orderly fashion. Taking photographs of the tea plantations became an immediate personal obsession during my trip. Viewed from photographs taken at ground level, eye level and from elevated level, the same tea plantation look similar yet unique. My favourite view is that from an elevated angle as shown in this photograph. Tea plantation, Cameron Highlands, Pahang, Malaysia (...