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

I arrived in Yokohama on 10 August 2023 and found myself in the midst of the Pokemon World Championship 2023 happening in the city.  After checking in to the hotel, I had a quick shower, changed into a fresh set of clothing and left the room to do my customary walking tour of the city, without the aid of maps or any pre-planning.  Less than ten minutes into my walk, I chanced upon this sight which I captured as a digital memento using my mobile phone. Another photo moment of my travels. Skylight over the marina waterfront, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan (2023) Whenever I could find any spare time during my travels, I enjoyed going on unguided and unplanned walking tours of the areas where I had booked my accommodation. The memories of travel experiences that happened serendipitously usually lingered longer than those that were planned. 

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

How often does anyone chanced upon a major event featuring one's personal hobby while traveling? I did, in August 2023. Arriving at Yokohama two days early to rest and relax before boarding my cruise to the Kyushu region and other parts of Asia, I found myself in the midst of the Pokémon World Championship 2023 event. The areas around the very hotel that I was staying, was decorated in Pokémon theme, large and small. A giant blown-up Pikachu, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan (2023) There were Pokémon everywhere, literally everywhere. Being a big Pokémon fan, I had a field day exploring the Yokohama marina area indulging in sightseeing and also Pokémon searching. An awesome and unplanned side trip this had turned out to be. Without skipping a beat, I literally went around town catching 'em all!  Pokémon  fans everywhere, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan (2023) Me and Blastoise, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan (2023) Who's hiding behind the bushes? Yokohama, Kana

"Writing allows me to travel beyond my small world, to other worlds limited only by my imaginations ." -    Timothy Tan, tankstraveltales Islets at dusk, Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan (2023)

Month-long Pan-Asia Trip, East and South-Asia Asia This was a major trip which took me months to plan. Because there were many key details to follow such as accommodation, train travel times and inter-city transport connectivities, I had to cancel and re-book many of my hotels and train tickets bookings repeatedly. And also because I was visiting many of the places for the first time, my only source of information was from the internet. Not much of this information was accurate and some of the inaccuracies nearly resulted in me missing my inter-city connections. Lesson learnt and note to self, take information from the internet with a big pinch of salt! But this was a wonderful trip. I am unlikely to be able to go on such a long trip with so many different destinations in one single vacation again anytime soon. Work schedule always dictates that I can go away for at most two weeks at any one time. Thus, I was really glad I managed to complete this trip. While I had to lug my work lapto

Back from a month-long trip......  Home, from a fresh trip that lasted close to a month, I am currently buried up to my nose in work! Ah, the payments for my wanderlust. To be honest, even though I spent a small fortune on my month-long trip across Asia, these are funds that I had already budgeted and put away as spare money since last year. All my credit cards had been paid in full, maintaining my good credit score. That is how I can enjoy my vacations without having to worry about finances. Money matters aside now, in order not to digest from this month's edition of Travel Bits. 😆 After my long trip with many individual travel bucket list items fulfilled, I no longer have any major trips planned or booked. Apart from the yearly sojourns to nearby destinations such as Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh and Bali, no major trips are in the horizon on my calendars. Ok, I do have an 8-nights cruise to Bali and Lombok booked. But that trip will only happen in February 2025. Who knows what the world w

  "A good traveller has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving." - Lao Tzu, ancient Chinese Philosopher and Writer, 4th century BC* Views through the front window of a tour coach, Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan (2023) *Lao Tzu was a legendary ancient Chinese philosopher and writer. He was also reputedly the founder of Taoism. There is no firmed confirmation of the period when Lao Tzu lived. Dates ranged between the 4th century to 6th century BC.

My cruise in August 2023 had a stopover in Kagoshima. This was the last port call in Japan before the cruise ship officially leaves Japan for international waters to travel to China's Hong Kong. Kagoshima, Kagoshima, Japan (2023) In accordance to immigration procedures, all passengers on the cruise had to disembark for Japanese immigration and customs clearance at this last port of call in the country. Taking advantage of the hours we had while the cruise ship was in port, most passengers including myself took the chance to visit Kagoshima city itself. However, I did not join many of my fellow passengers to take the JR Train into the city centre. Instead, I spent my time shopping and dining at the malls that were within walking distance of the port. Yes, there are many malls within walking distance. And I was not disappointed. I managed to buy a good quality Made-in-Japan fishing reel and some clothing items.  The cruise ship, Spectrum of the Seas was docked within walking distance

  "My discoveries in my travels shaped the person that I am ." -    Timothy Tan, tankstraveltales Railway Tracks, Atsumi, Yamagata Prefecture, Japan (2023)

In the midst of my Pan-Asia Trip 2023......  I am currently in the midst of my Pan-Asia Trip 2023. Today is Day 20 of my 27-day long journey across multiple countries and cities in Asia. As I sat in the cabin of my cruise ship writing this blog entry somewhere in the East China Sea heading towards the Taiwan Strait, I am still surprised that I am able to go on this trip despite my busy work schedule. If I had not pushed ahead with my travel plans, I will probably be back at home and office working. For the record, I still worked while traveling for the past 20 days. I took calls, answered work messages, replied to emails, conducted technical analyses and even managed to continue working on my next upcoming book. Thus, it had not been all fun and laughter for the past 20 days. I was heavily engaged in work and travelling at the same time. My point? Do not let your everyday affairs stopped you from traveling. Busy schedule? Try a work-around solution. Postpone the trip if you have to but

Attending the Nagaoka Hanabi Matsuri (Fireworks Festival) has always been a travel bucket list item for me. This year, I finally managed to check this item on my list. I attended the event on both days, on the 2nd and 3rd of August 2023. With an estimated 20,000 rounds of fireworks launched into the summer night sky of Nagaoka, this is arguably one of the best fireworks display not just in Japan but probably in the world. Held along the Shinano River, this is truly the mother of all Fireworks Display for me. Here, I am sharing a couple of photos and a short 12-seconds video of part of the fireworks display. I have a lot of other clips of the fireworks, including its finale. But those will take time for me to process before I can share them in this blog. A lantern with the words " Japan's Number One Fireworks" in Japanese. Many of these lanterns were hung all over the fireworks site along the Shinano River, Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, Japan (2023) A selfie of myself looki

Currently in the midst of my 27-days Pan-Asia 2023 trip, I have been regularly recording my travel experiences on a daily basis. Due to patchy internet connectivity during large parts of my trip, I have mostly return to the "old ways" of recording events of my voyage, using the traditional pen-and-paper method.  As I am currently traveling with a bunch of my favourite fountain pens and journaling notebooks, this method has proved to be a reliable way for me to record and capture my daily adventures faithfully before fading memories fog out the details. In my current travel, I have been moving from city to city, lugging all my belongings with me. It was a tiring experience and one that is not really enjoyable. Nevertheless, I got to see and experience more things that I would otherwise be able to. In a day trip to Tsuruoka in Japan's Yamagata Prefecture, I managed to get a little off the beaten track and witnessed for myself the raw beauty of Japan's natural heritage a

Gearing up for my vacation......  As I gear up for my upcoming month-long trip, I am busy trying to get as much work done as possible before I travel. While I will always have to work on-the-go, I at least try to keep that to a minimum because I wanted to use my "free" periods in the nights during the trip to write my book. Yes, I am writing a book of short stories.  In-between the sight-seeing and partaking in local festivities like a good old-fashioned tourist, I also intend to explore some other parts of the cities that I am visiting which are not considered "touristy". These will include the Yanaka and Kanda areas of Tokyo as well as some of the often over-looked towns in Niigata and Yamagata Prefectures of western Japan. In Vietnam, I intend to explore Nha Trang on foot. For shopping, of course I would be visiting Tsutaya and Itoya for stationery, Montblanc for pens and Isetan for all kinds of other stuffs that one can only find in Japan. I am not sure what I w

Fresh from a trip and looking forward to another......  I had just returned home recently from a short 4-days trip to Hong Kong. Looking at my travel calendar, I have no other trips for the year except for an almost month-long trip to multiple cities in Asia in August. So, while I settle myself down at home to get use to my daily work-routine, I have nothing to look forward to in terms of travel. Except for August, no other travels are in store for me in 2023, no other leisure and no work trips. Perhaps that's good. It will make me appreciate and enjoy my upcoming month-long Asian cities grand-trip a lot more. More time for planning and anticipation. 1/200 scale Airbus A380 model planes on display, Narita Airport, Narita, Chiba Prefecture, Japan (2019)

Travel Trip Plannings......  Much has been said regarding how the anticipation and planning of a leisure trip are the most enjoyable parts of a trip, any trips. From my personal perspective, I would say the finalisation of the major components of trip planning comes with an exhilaration that is most satisfying. With most pandemic-related travel curbs removed and revenge travelling reaching a crescendo, securing those previous seats on flights to popular destinations can be a challenge. This is more so for those of us like myself trying to make every travel dollar stretched. I had personally witnessed air tickets and accommodations prices rose like a bull rally on the stock markets. Each day I login in to the airline and hotels websites, I saw prices climb until they were out of reach of my limited travel budget. Thus, it was with much relief when I managed to finally secured my air tickets to Tokyo in end-July this year. The peak summer travel period! I need to get to Japan in August f

Japan, Shiga Prefecture, Moriyama This article was originally published in this blog in May 2019. It chronicled my visit to Moriyama, a city in Japan's Shiga Prefecture. I had arrived in Moriyama from Takashima, another city in Shiga. My 2-day stay in Moriyama was planned to be a leisurely stop in my itinerary with nothing much planned except to enjoy the beautiful views of Lake Biwa. However, this short stay turned out to be a rather interesting part of my overall trip as I discovered lots of things to see and do. As I checked out of my hotel in my third day here for my onward journey to Tokyo, I left knowing I will return because there are still much to see and do here.  ****************** First Impressions My first view of the city was when the hotel bus rolled into the city over the scenic Biwako Ohashi Bridge over Lake Biwa. I had boarded the free shuttle provided by the Lake Biwa Marriott for hotel guests at Katata Station on the Kosei Line. With those first views, the initia

Revisiting places.......  I have a habit of re-visiting the same countries, same cities and same towns when I travelled on vacations. My creature-of-habit style even extends to the accommodations that I stay at, the places I dine in and even the stores that I shop with during trips. I always believe that on any first visits, we only have sufficient time to mentally decide whether we like a place, whether this place somehow struck a chord with us deep within and so on. On a second visit, we start to get to know the place as it grows on us. And from the third and subsequent visits onwards, we start to appreciate the place at a deeper level as we discover more and more about it, especially those proverbial off-the-beaten-track aspects of it. I start to make friends with the locals, true friendships that continue even after I returned home. We kept touch through social media, phone messages, phone calls and of course, in-person when I return for another visit. And these are the reasons why

Japan, Tokyo, Nakano The original article was first published in this blog in July 2021.  I have always been happy to visit small towns when travelling. Unguided with maps or GPS , I enjoy simply walking around with no fixed plans, exploring and taking in the experiences and chance encounters that come my way.  While in Tokyo in 2017, I decided to take a side trip to Nakano, a ward of Tokyo which is just a 10-minute train ride from crowded and busy Shinjuku. I discovered a gem of a town, one filled with cherry blossoms trees in full bloom (my trip was in early-April), tranquility and most of all, the charms that come with travelling without any pre-planned itinerary. Instead of a lengthy article struggling for words to fully describe my side trip to Nakano, I decided that a short video is a more appropriate medium to share my experience of the magic of Nakano. ****************** I visited Nakano as a side trip while in Tokyo in the spring of 2017. Just minutes away from Shinjuku, Nakan

  " Travel is a state of mind , I travel far and wide, both in person and in mind. " - Timothy Tan, tankstraveltales An anime-rendition from an actual photo of myself taken at a small cafe called Island Cafe Myu (アイランドカフェ ミュウ), Kamitsushimamachi Hitakatsu, Tsushima, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan (2019)