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

On a recent cruise onboard Royal Caribbean's Spectrum of the Seas, I visited Hong Kong for the first time via a port visit. While I had traveled to Hong Kong many times previously, all these visits were by air via either Cathay Pacific or Singapore Airlines. This was the first time I visited Hong Kong by sea! View of Hong Kong's water from onboard Spectrum of the Seas berthed at the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal, Hong Kong SAR, China (2023) The cruise ship was already berthed at the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal by the time I woke up lazily in my cabin at about 8am. After a quick breakfast at the Windjammer cafe at Deck 14, I disembarked from the ship and was soon onboard the free shuttle bus that ferried cruise passengers from the cruise terminal to different areas of the city. I chose to take the shuttle to Mong Kok and had a great time relaxing over aromatic coffee and delicious waffles whilst people watching at Langham Place. I also found time to shop at the many and varied retail shop...

There are places we visited ever so often, whether the trips were for work or leisure purposes or both. Hong Kong is one city which frequently features in my travel itinerary.  And in May 2023, I finally returned for a visit. A very short trip of only a few days because of my work schedule. Not really enough time for me to re-explore the city and to visit all my favourite eateries and cafes. But nevertheless, it was good to be back in Hong Kong. Night view of Langham Place and its surroundings, Mong Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China (2023) Despite the relatively short trip, I still managed to really enjoy myself in my first real vacation of 2023. In-between the few days I had in my itinerary, I got to savour my favourite Hong Kong delicacies including Egg Tarts, Dim Sum and Roast Goose! I also visited my favourite retailers to shop for collectible movie-related figures from Star Wars to Godzilla. I even had time to discover some nice quaint eateries which I shared with my friends ...

Its almost Christmas of 2020....... and time for my travel reminiscence of the year....... 20 December 2020, 5 days to Christmas. Time to slow down, take things easy and enjoy the festive period between Christmas and New Year. And the year-end period is also typically the time when I reminiscence for the year that is ending, including my travels for the past twelve months. This year's reminiscence of travel is definitely different from years past. With Covid being the wrecking ball that it has been on almost everything in 2020, travel had been an impossibility or near-impossibility. For the whole of this year, my one and only trip out of my country of residence was in late January 2020 when I travelled to Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur and areas around it in Selangor State. The trip was memorable in the time spent with family members located across the border, not knowing at that time that it will be quite a while before I will get to see them face-to-face again. Yes, we still keep in...