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

New Year and new Travel Plans......  2024 is in full swing and January is always the time when I map out my travel plans for the year.  What's been cooking in my travel plans pot? Nothing much really! At least not for the time being. Between the last week of January and first week of February, I am likely to embark on my annual road trip to Ipoh to spend Chinese New Year (a.k.a. Lunar New Year). This year's Chinese New Year falls on 10th and 11th February. I usually will start my trip before or after the festive period. This is to avoid the traffic jams at the border crossings between Singapore and Malaysia. This year will be similar, I will travel early to avoid the peak travel season chaos. Photographs of my trip to Ipoh in February last year, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia (2023) Next up will be a 4-nights round-trip cruise onboard the Royal Caribbean's Spectrum of the Seas from Singapore to Penang and Phuket. This will be my fourth time cruising on the same ship and probably the

Year 2023 Personal Travel Wrap-up......  And so, 2023 is nearing its goodbyes and we are all looking forward to a brand new year in 2024. For travelers, a brand new travel year beckons. Personally, 2023 marks the first year when leisure travel truly resumes, after 2020 and 2021. Yes, I traveled a fair bit in 2022 compared to the two preceding years. But travel in 2022 was tentative, punctuated by the need to handle cumbersome vaccination certifications submissions prior to each trip, downloading official apps from individual countries and registering on these apps before embarkation, masks wearing, expensive travel insurance as well as limitations in where one can travel to. All these requirements were thankfully, slowly peeled away towards the end of 2022. Year 2023 is when we feel like normal again. Truth be told, COVID-19 is still everywhere, endemic. However, a combination of annual vaccinations and naturally acquired immunity from previous infections by previous strains of the vir

Over the past 10 years or so, quaint and lovely Ipoh has become more like a second hometown to me. I loved everything about Ipoh, from the unhurried pace of the life here to the delicious food that only people of Ipoh can somehow whip up with the simplest of ingredients. Common yet unique. Myself posing with the wall mural of a Tiger, Old Town, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia (2023) This abandoned shophouse being reclaimed by nature shows the rustic charms of Ipoh, Old Town, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia (2023) And in the last decade or so, many cafes had sprung up here. Most of these are of the local, owner-operated type rather than the international franchise varieties. These are all usually located in the Old Town area of Ipoh where weekends saw tourists, both domestic and international, arriving in their hundreds to enjoy Ipoh as a destination of choice. Cafe chilling sessions aplenty by myself and also with friends, Old Town, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia (2023) A delicious serving of pancakes, Old Town, I

  " To travel is not to escape life, But to learn about life." -  Anonymous  Snapshots from Old Town, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia (2023)

First personal trip of 2023.......  This February, I kicked off my personal travel year of 2023. Nothing fanciful, just a drive up north to Malaysia to visit the city of Ipoh. A total driving distance about 550km, one way. Including the return trip and other drives around Ipoh, I will typically clock more than 1,200km each trip.  I usually drive to Ipoh during the Chinese New Year (CNY) period for a short break. This year, CNY was in January. But I could not make the trip due to work commitments. However, in many ways, driving to Malaysia from Singapore during the so-called off-peak periods has many advantages. The main perk, less traffic congestions at the land border crossing. There will also be less traffic along the way, which makes the drive a lot more enjoyable. And in Ipoh, less crowd everywhere, from the restaurants to the cafes.  Looking forward to enjoying my annual road trip and the delicious food in Ipoh. And also, my favourite fruit, Durians! 😀😁  Durians, certainly not a

2019 Travel Review....... The year began slowly in travel terms for me. I started off 2019 with a short trip to Hong Kong in January. The trip was a combination of work and vacation. While in Hong Kong, I delighted in dinning on my favourite local food including freshly baked egg tarts, fermented tofu, fishball noodles, wonton noodles and the all-time Hong Kong speciality of Dim Sum . Apart from work, after office hours were spent shopping for my favourite Lego sets because these could usually be bought at cheaper prices in Hong Kong than when back home in Singapore. Mall decorations at Langham Place, Mongkok, Hong Kong SAR, China (2019) February saw me travelling on a road trip to Ipoh, state capital of Perak in Malaysia. This had been my usual routine every year to celebrate the Chinese New Year holidays. And when I was in Ipoh, the local food as always, delighted my palate. A side trip from Ipoh to Cameron Highlands in the neighbouring Malaysian state of Pahang meant

Flea markets are always interesting places to visit when traveling. After all, it is at these markets where all manners of used goods, collectibles and antiques are sold. Flea markets are where old items deemed no longer important or useful by its current owners are given a new lease of life by its new owners. I love to wander through flea markets, sniffing out a collectible or two to be bought and brought home as souvenirs of my travels. It is also at flea markets where I can mingle freely with the local crowd, share a chat or two with new acquittances and given an insight into the culture and lives of the local people. A vendor pedalling used and refurbished electric fans, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia (2019) To me, a flea market is more than just a place to browse or buy used goods or collectibles. It is also a window into the heart and soul of the city which I am visiting. My most recent visit to a flea market was  on a Sunday in Ipoh, the state capital of the Mal

Low Cost Carrier....... With Low Cost Carriers (LCC) sprouting like mushrooms after a heavy tropical downpour, many are jumping on the air travel bandwagon. In a way, this is a good thing for those travellers who otherwise may not be able to afford to travel to far flung destinations due to the previously relatively prohibitive costs of air travel. A Scoot A320 plane on the tarmac of the Sultan Azlan Shah Airport, Ipoh, Malaysia (2017) But for those where cost is not such a big deterrent, is LCC the way to travel? As the name suggests, LCC basically means no-frills air travel. And because most LCCs operate on very tight schedule amidst other business-related constraints, this usually means that if there is a technical issue either with equipment (i.e airplanes) or operations such flight delays due to inclement weather, staff shift planning and other related issues, there will be downstream impact on the traveller such as prolonged delays at airports or even last-minute c

Packing light for a short budget trip with a Low Cost Carrier....... Low Cost Carriers or LCC (a.k.a. Budget Airlines) offer a cost effective way to travel. While my personal preference is always to travel with a full-service airline due to a myriad of reasons, there were times when flying with a LCC became a necessity due to the travel location. This can be because only LCCs provide flights to the destination due to its low travelers' turnover or that the price differential for a ticket to fly to that location between a full-service airline and a LCC was just too great, such that opting to fly budget was the only sensible choice. However, flying budget has its cons. The key ones being the really no-frills part. If one is to start adding the small frills such as check-in baggage, more hand-carry luggages, seat choices and some simple onboard food and drinks, then the cost for the so-called budget air ticket begins to escalate quickly. At times, the final price one has to pay

Chinese New Year is usually the time when I embark on a road trip to neighbouring Malaysia; especially to the city of Ipoh in Perak State. This is where I took a break from my hectic and punishing work schedule. During my usual 4 or 5 days stay, I will spend time reading books, writing articles, going around time to enjoy the rustic charms of Ipoh and its surrounding areas and also catching up with relatives and friends. This year, the first and second days of the Chinese New Year were on 8 and 9 February which are a Monday and Tuesday respectively. Adding the weekends prior, and we have a 4-day period where we could travel without needing to apply for vacation leave from our work. To make full use of this long holiday weekend, I drove north to Ipoh on 7 February. A row of old shophouses in the Old Town area that have been repainted in a colourful blend of rainbow hues, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia (2016) During this road trip, I stuck to my usual habit of stopping by Ayer Kero

January heralds the beginning of a new year. A new year of work, a new year of commitments and of course a new year of travel! My travel programmes for this year should hopefully be a bit more interesting than that of last year although I already had to modify the travel period for my first trip of the year. I had originally planned to drive from Singapore to Ipoh (Perak, Malaysia) in the early part of February to spend the long weekend that comes with the public holidays for Chinese New Year (a.k.a. Lunar New Year). However, as my regular pet-sitter is already fully booked for this period, I have to instead travel after the Chinese New Year period. What a bummer but the trip is still on. :-) Ipoh, State Capital of Perak, Malaysia (2015) The crystal clear waters in the streams of Ulu Chepor, Perak, Malaysia (2015) My next trip should be a longer one sometime in mid-April 2016. I am planning a trip to Japan. Its been 18 months since I last visited Japan and I wanted