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

Not all Starbucks we encountered during our travels are the same. Many times, the Starbucks stores blend themselves into the local culture and style. One such example is the Starbucks store I encountered when visiting Kyoto's Kiyomizu-dera.  Nestled amongst the narrow lanes in the neighbourhood of the famous temple , this store blended itself into the local architecture so seamlessly that I almost missed it except for the familiar logo mounted at the side of the small building structure. An Edo-style Starbucks? Definitely looks like to me! 🏯 Edo-style Starbucks, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan (2026)

Where should I travel to next.......  I have completed all my planned trips for 2026. Being only March, there are still a good 9 months to go for the year. So far this year, I had visited Kobe , Kyoto , Osaka and Hong Kong . I had also taken 2 short cruises that made port calls in Georgetown (Penang) and Phuket . With these trips completed, I no longer have any confirmed trips for the year. Of course, I will still be travelling. But where to? A trip to Taipei has been in the plans for quite a while but is yet to be decided while additional trips to Hong Kong to visit my partner are definitely on my travel agenda for the year. Will I be making another trip to Japan this year? Maybe to cities in Japan that I have not visited before. Sapporo and Fukuoka are top of the list, with a brief stopover in Tokyo to shop for stationeries!  Until I firm up my travel plans for the rest of 2026, I will be staying put in my home city, Singapore . Working and generating deliverables for ...