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

Despite being a frequent visitor to Bali, I had previously only been to Ubud once. Yes, just once. Thus, when I traveled to Bali in December 2023, I decided that I wanted to visit Ubud. This was only my second time visiting Ubud in more than 10 previous vacations trips to Bali over the years. Religious festival; this photograph was taken with a zoom lens because I was observing from a distance, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia (2023) A simple day trip to Ubud will not suffice for me. I wanted to immerse myself in the vibes of Ubud. I also wanted to do walking trips around the vicinity of the hotel I was staying in. To explore the area, observe the local lifestyles and better understand the local culture unique not just to Bali, but also to Ubud. Located north of Denpasar, Ubud is well known as the centre for traditional crafts. It is surrounded by rainforests and padi fields are everywhere in the area. Some of these can be beautiful terraced fields while others may just be a small plot of land wh

Ah..... the things that tourists do on their vacations. While beach combing ay Jimbaran Bay during low tide, I noticed many tourists casually riding ponies along the beach at dusk. Guided by their sure-handed handlers, the ponies casually trotted along the beach, each with only one tourist allowed on their backs, unless it was an adult accompanying a toddler. Unlike in many places, I also noticed the ponies here were relatively well-fed and were only carrying one passenger on their backs each time. Also, at dusk, the sun is not strong, thus ensuring the ponies were not subjected to heat stress. I concluded that this was a triple-wins. The ponies got to earn their keep, their handlers had a job and the tourists paid for and enjoyed their short rides along the beach.  Tourist, Pony and Handler, Jimbaran Bay, Bali, Indonesia (2023)

    "Travelling allows us to escape from our daily lives and gives us a new perspective of who we are ." -    Timothy Tan, tankstraveltales Boats at the beach, Senggigi, Lombok, Indonesia (2014)

Spontaneous vacation......  Due to my fast expiring air miles which had already been repeatedly extended out of goodwill by the airline company because of the COVID pandemic from 2020 to 2022, I realised I have to quickly book a trip by this month or I will lose those previous air miles. I don't actually have to travel within the month but need to get the booking confirmed. And because I am no big spender or frequent flyer, I only have enough air miles for a regional return-flight ticket. Best option? Bali, of course! I have two travel windows available for the trip. December 2023 or April 2024. Debating with myself, I argued that traveling in December will be expensive due to the year-end peak travel season and local school holidays. So, I checked out several hotel websites on accommodation prices for both December 2023 and April 2024. To my surprise, the accommodation prices are similar for both periods and still reasonable, at least in my economic context. Just for the record, I

Wrapping up my personal Travel Calendar for 2022......  As I wrote this blog post, I had just returned fresh from a long-postponed trip to Bali. I had booked and paid for my accommodation back in September 2019 for the trip that was originally planned for April 2020. But for reasons that were beyond anyone's control, I had to repeatedly reschedule the trip until this month when I could finally enjoy my beach vacation at my favourite beach destination! This Bali trip marked my fifth overseas leisure trip of 2022. I have another trip coming up in the last week of October. This is a cruise from Singapore to Klang and Penang (Malaysia) and also Phuket (Thailand). I had booked the cruise back in January when prices were still low because of continuing travel restrictions. It will be my last vacation trip of the year and I am looking forward to enjoy the upcoming cruise. I am likely to be spending most of my cruise time onboard the ship, only intending to disembark at Penang. I had just

Most hotels and tourist accommodations typically uses small plastic bottles of shampoo, conditioner and body wash. These small little plastic bottles are used once and discarded. Add the number of tourist establishments worldwide and the number of rooms each of these establishments have, the number of visitors they host every day of the year and it is a no brainer that we travellers are collectively responsible for generating a massive amount of plastic waste just by taking a shower each time! In my recent trip to Bali in October 2022 where I stayed at the Westin Nusa Dua, it was quite heartening when I found out that the hotel, instead of issuing small plastic bottles of shampoo, conditioner and body wash, had instead been using bottles that can be top up with these shower essentials. This demonstrates that the hotel is committed to sustainable travel. Kudos to the Westin Nusa Dua for their effort to help save our planet. 😀🌏 Re-useable bottles that can be top up with Shampoo, Condit

  " Viva forever, I'll be waiting.. Everlasting, like the sun.. Live forever, for the moment.. Ever searching for the one.. " -  From the Lyrics of Viva Forever , a song by the Spice Girls Seashells, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia (2022)

This was a trip that was supposed to take place in April 2020. But to the COVID pandemic and the resultant worldwide border and travel restrictions, I have had to postpone the trip repeatedly in 6-monthly intervals. Finally, the trip was realised in October 2022, almost 3 years after I had first planned it in September 2019.  I had visited Bali many times over the years, this being my favourite beach holiday destination. This trip was no difference. I did not go around the island to sight-see. Instead, I simply relaxed at the beach resort, enjoying the blissful island life. The resort has everything I need including great facilities and awesome food. There is no need for me to venture elsewhere. Everyday, after  a sumptuous buffet breakfast, I will head for the lounge chairs by the beach; clad only in my swim trunks and with my book tucked under my arms. There, I spent my afternoon reading in-between swims in the ocean, ordering food and drinks whenever I felt hungry. In the evenings,

Running out of Greek Alphabets....... 2 years and counting and the world is still in the midst of a pandemic caused by the nasty COVID-19 and its variants. The latest twist in the story of this current pandemic is Omicorn. At the rate this is going, we may soon be running out of greek alphabets for all the various variants that may be coming our way... 😓 After 24 months, we seem to be still at Square One of our Snake-and-Ladders tussle with the dreaded virus. To be honest, nobody has a good answer to when this may all end or subside to a level when the world can resume its normality pre-year 2020. For me, I had obediently followed all public health guidelines including receiving my full 2-dose of mRNA vaccines as well as an mRNA booster jab (3 jabs in total), observing social distancing and working from home whenever possible, never leaving my home without a mask worn properly over my nose and mouth and limiting social events to the barest minimum. My passion for travel had not featur

As the world slowly realises that we simply cannot lock ourselves from each other forever and cautiously begins to open up, I look forward to be able to partake in leisure travel again. Hopefully, I can soon be back to my favourite beach resorts to enjoy a slow night of beach combing and simply enjoying the beauty of nature! I do not catch any wildlife, I only took photographs without coming into physical contacts with those animals I encountered. Wildlife deserves to be where they belong, in the wild. 😊 Take Nothing but Photographs, Leave Nothing but Footprints. Crab, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia (2018)

Keeping track of continuous changes in travel plans ....... One year into internal border restrictions due to the pandemic and there is still none of the proverbial light at the end of the dark tunnel of cancelled and disrupted travel plans. While previously the rollout of vaccines have been touted as the silver bullet in the fight against the pandemic, the now often-touted phrase is "vaccines ain't silver bullets in the fight against the pandemic". Meanwhile, international travel remains an impossible task. Like many travellers who previously had trips booked in advance and had to rescheduled and then further rescheduled these trips or even cancelled them, I have had my own share of dealing with the logistics and administrative hurdles of doing so and seeking refunds. Thankfully, most of my trips had now been cancelled and in most cases, I have had refunds being credited back to my bank accounts. However, I still have a hotel booking in Bali which was originally booked f

Travel plans for 2021 ....... When the pandemic first started rearing its ugly head in the early months of 2020 and governments worldwide started to announce local lock-downs followed by restricted borders, many travellers (myself included) soon started to realise that leisure travel for the year would not be possible. The hope then was the following year that will be 2021 is the likely timeline when we could all resume travel again. But as we head into the final week of January 2021 and are soon to bid farewell to the first month of the year, it seems highly likely that leisure travel this year is also not going to be possible. The pandemic is still raging and while there are bright spots in humanity's fight against the virus, the so-called and often touted vaccination bullet is still very much in its infancy stage. While many developed countries have started to vaccinate their population, for large swathes of the world's population, vaccination and hopes of an end to the pand

Traditional-styled watercraft are unique and defined the people whom the designs of these crafts originated. They are also extremely photogenic subjects even when framed against simple and common backgrounds like the beach or just the sea. When I first visited Lombok in 2014, I had no lack of subjects to photograph while walking along the beach looking for watercraft. The photograph in this blog post shows a fleet of jukung on the beach at sunset. These small outriggers are traditionally used for fishing. More modern usage includes ferrying scuba divers to their favourite dive sites around the many islands of Indonesia.  Fleet of Jukung on the beach at sunset, Senggigi Beach, Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia (2014)

Mount Bromo, Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, East Java, Indonesia This was a previous article written by myself and posted in this travelogue blog in Dec 2014. Mount Bromo was the first active volcano which I had climbed during my travels. A planned trip to climb Japan's much revered Mount Fuji in 2020, also an active volcano, was postponed indefinitely due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. ****************** Located in the eastern part of the island of Java in Indonesia, Mount Bromo is an active volcano. Its local name is Gunung Bromo. At an altitude of about 2,329 meters (about 7640 ft), Mount Bromo is not a particularly high peak and is actually quite accessible to the average tourists. Smoke rising from the crater of Mount Bromo,  Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park,  East Java, Indonesia (2002) Mount Bromo,  Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park,  East Java, Indonesia (2002) I climbed the peak of Bromo during a visit in 2002 when I was visiting Surabaya, the second lar

Travel Reminiscing....... In a period where worldwide business and leisure travels are heavily curtailed due to a pandemic, the next best thing to satisfying the travel bug in all of us is to reminisce past trips.  Boat waiting to board passengers, Mal é , Maldives (2014) As part of my travel reminiscence, I started a 30-day Travel Reminiscing series of posts on my Instagram account (timothytanks) for the month of May 2020. For this series, I set a self-imposed limit of one post per country/territory/city. This is to allow me to recap and share 30 different destinations over the course of one month. The featured country/territory/city over the 30-days in chronological order were: Post 1.   Helsinki/Finland Post 2.   Nazareth/Israel Post 3.   Jiufen/Taiwan Post 4.   New Norcia/Australia Post 5.   Siem Reap/Cambodia Post 6.   Loch Ness/Scotland Post 7.   Kanchanaburi/Thailand Post 8.   Rome/Italy Post 9.   Kowloon/Hong Kong Post 10. Mah é /Seychelles

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

Culture shock....... different perspective on life's priorities For many of us who live our entire existence in the busy and fast-paced city, it has become ingrained in us that everything have to be completed quickly. There is simply no tolerance for any waste of time. And this belief goes along when we travel. When we travelled to cities, towns or villages where the pace of life was much slower, we started to get impatient if we had to wait for services. Sometimes, we began to start getting upset at the "slowness". Whenever this happened, it would be prudent to take a step back and reflect. If the services we were expecting had been a little bit slower, did it somehow meant that the service was bad or that the attitude of the service provider was bad? The difference in expectations and realisation of speed of service delivery is usually down to simply  the perspective of life's priorities. In the smaller cities, towns and villages, the pace of life would def

Sustainable Travel....... Climate change is the catchphrase of our time. To ensure that I play my own small part towards more sustainable and environmentally-friendly trips, these are the little rules that I follow while travelling: Do away with disposables - I pack my own small set of re-useable cutlery in my check-in luggage and use them during my travels. This allows me to totally eliminate the need to use any disposable cutlery for my meals during my trips. As much as I can, I will also avoid dining at eateries where food are served using disposable bowls, plates and cups. Cut-down on single use plastic bags - Bringing along my backpack when out sightseeing, small purchases on-the-go can be placed right into my backpack, drastically cutting down on the need for single use plastic bags. Re-useable Water Bottles - Boiling water at the hotel room and filling up my water bottle with the boiled water after it has cooled down to room temperature. This way, I avoid the

As I sat in the hotel lobby waiting for the transport to the airport, I looked up and saw this beautiful painting on the ceiling. I am not sure what is the technical term for such paintings, if there is indeed such a term. But I personally called it ceiling art. As I studied the painting in more detail, I reckoned it must be telling a story, albeit one steeped in Balinese history and culture. To "preserve and commit" this art piece to my memory as well as to keep a digital memento of my trip, I took out my mobile phone and snapped this one photograph before I had to rush off to the waiting taxi for my ride to the airport. Ceiling art at a hotel lobby, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia (2018) This is how the art piece looked from the front of the hotel lobby, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia (2018)

Do what you want on you travels....... Travelling for me, has always been to do what I want and not what others think I should do. For that reason, I seldom signed myself up for package trips. While package trips are good for some destinations where I can just leave it to the tour agent to plan everything as I sit back, relax, and enjoy what the trip has to offer, these trips do also include certain stops or activities on the itineraries which I just do not find joy in partaking. Thus, for the most part, I always book my own air tickets, hotel accommodations and jet off to the destination to enjoy the trip at my own pace, space and time. For some difficult-to-travel-to locations for sight seeing, I may sign up for a day trip. But that's about it. Most of the time, I prefer to enjoy trips at my own leisure. Having said that, I did thoroughly enjoy myself on some package trips including escapades to Nepal for trekking and white-water rafting. And there were also the packag