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

Malaysia's KTM is currently the only service provider that runs regular trains between Johor Bahru in Malaysia and Woodlands in Singapore . Nothing spectacular or amazing, I personally consider this as just a regular inter-city train connection between Peninsular Malaysia 's southern most city of Johor Bahru ( JB ) with Singapore's northern region of Woodlands. The only difference between typical inter-city trains and this service, is that this train service actually crosses an international border between two countries even though the actual journey each way is less than 5 minutes. Therefore, passports and travel documents are required for immigration and customs clearance purposes. Named the  KTM Shuttle Tebrau , this train service is highly subsidised when tickets are purchased in Malaysia at JB Sentral Station's Ticket Counters . Return tickets from JB to Singapore generally cost only RM5 at the time of the publishing of this blog article.  Buying the tickets in...

Johor Bahru (JB) is located at the southern tip of Peninsular Malaysia and is connected to Singapore via the Causeway , across the Straits of Johor. Due to its close geographical proximity to Singapore, as well as the favourable currency exchange rate between the Singapore Dollar (SGD) and the Malaysian Ringgit (RM), many Singaporeans and Malaysians working in Singapore, typically made day trips to JB via the Causeway. During these day trips, most travelers will dine and shop. It is not uncommon to see folks returning to Singapore from, JB in the late afternoons and evenings, laden with shopping bags. This happens on most days, not just the weekends. Although during weekends, the crowds crossing the Causeway are noticeably larger. Being someone who does not really enjoy being in a crowd, I mostly stay away from such day trips. On occasions when I drove across the Causeway, it was mostly to travel further inland into Malaysia, either to Kuala Lumpur or to Ipoh. But on one weekday after...

Kuala Kansar , Perak, Malaysia This article was first published on this blog in June 2025. Far flung exotic locations from our home cities. These are usually the places on most people's Travel Bucket List . But there are also locations near to our home cities that can be equally amazing and more than worthy of being on anyone's Travel Bucket List. For me, Kuala Kangsar is one of these places on my Travel Bucket List. Located in peninsular Malaysia in the state of Perak, Kuala Bangsar is just under 600km from my home city of Singapore . From Singapore, it is accessible by land (around 9 to 10 hours on a leisurely drive along Malaysia' North -South Highway) or by air (via Ipoh followed by road).  Kuala Kangsar is of course, also easily reached by road or rail from Padang Besar (Perlis), Alor Setar (Kedah), Butterworth (Penang), Ipoh (Perak) and Kuala Lumpur. ****************** Kuala Kangsar  is located along the  Kangsar River  near  Ipoh , the State Capital ...

Malaysia, Perak , Taiping This article was first published on this blog in January 2025. A travel bucket list or any bucket list should not be just about the relatively unattainable that only a select few get to experience. For me, my bucket list items are made up of experiences that I personally cherish and want to try out. And food is one of these. No, not Michelin-starred restaurants  because while these would be great to experience but there are certainly out of my price range.  Street food is what I am after. Why do I love street food? They are affordable, reflects the local culture and are more often than not, extremely delicious! And so, when I was in Taiping on an overnight trip as part of my train journey from Thailand to Singapore , through Malaysia, I finally got to taste the delicious hawker food of this small town! ****************** For me, food is always a highlight of any trips. Local food, especially street food or hawker food is always a delight....

Kuala Kangsar is located along the Kangsar River near Ipoh , the State Capital of the Malaysian State of Perak . The Kuala Kangsar of today is a quaint town with several historical attractions. These include the Ubudiah Mosque , the Perak Royal Museum (previously the Istana Kenangan ), the Istana Iskandariah and the Kuala Kangsar Clock Tower amongst others.  The  Ubudiah Mosque, Kuala Kangsar, Perak, Malaysia (2024) I visited Kuala Kangsar for the first time in February 2024 during a short road trip from Ipoh. I was particularly awed by the majestic facade of the Ubudiah Mosque. and the beautiful and artistic structure of the Istana Kenangan. 3 months later in May 2024, I passed by Kuala Kangsar on my train journey from Bangkok to Singapore. But I did not have the time to stop over for a second visit due to the need to keep up with the train schedules between Kuala Lumpur, Gemas and Johor Bahru . I will surely return again to Kuala Kangsar to enjoy the peaceful and seren...

This trip, almost exactly a year ago, was part of my annual travel up Malaysia's North-South (NS) Highway from Singapore to Ipoh to celebrate the annual Chinese New Year holidays . The NS Highway actually extend further north but the furthest drive up north for me is always up to Ipoh .  One of the many colourful wall murals in and around the vicinity of Old Town, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia (2024) This trip in February 2024, was no different. It typically took about 7 hours for me to get from Singapore to Ipoh, with one or at most, two stops in-between for washroom breaks and meals. The 7-hour journey only accounts for total drive time and does not take into account the time needed to clear immigration and customs on departure from Singapore and arrival at Johor, via the land bother points between both countries. Depending on traffic conditions, it can take up to 2 hours to complete the immigration and customs processes at both departure and arrival checkpoints. Waits of up to 3 hour...

Thus far, my only cruises have been onboard Royal Caribbean's Spectrum of the Seas . Prior to this cruise, I had previously sailed thrice onboard the same ship, including a 12-night cruise from Yokohama to Singapore . These sailings had helped me made many friends including both fellow passengers and crew. I had met many wonderful people during these trips. Therefore, I decided to make one last sailing onboard the ship before it repositioned from Singapore to China in April 2024. This cruise was a 4-night sailing in March 2024 for a return trip from Singapore to Penang and Phuket . After three previous cruises onboard the same ship over a period of two years, I am rather familiar with the ship, its layout and its facilities. Thus, finding my ways around the ship was no issue. On the flip side, there was less exploring to do!  Entertainment-wise, I had actually watched all the onboard shows before but still watched them anyway during this trip. I did notice that even for the same ...

For me, food is always a highlight of any trips. Local food, especially street food or hawker food is always a delight.  When it comes to hawker food, Malaysia certainly has a lot to offer. When I had a one-day stopover in Taiping  in Malaysia's Perak state during my South-East Asia Train Journey trip in May 2024, I seized the opportunity to savour as much local food as I possibly could eat. I was not disappointed, Every dish I ate was delicious and left me craving for more... 🍲 Claypot Rice , Taiping, Perak, Malaysia (2024) Chicken Noodles , Taiping, Perak, Malaysia (2024) Noodle Soup , Taiping, Perak, Malaysia (2024) Satay , Taiping, Perak, Malaysia (2024) Apom , Taiping, Perak, Malaysia (2024)

Often, when we travel, we will come across sceneries or structures where we just could not stop ourselves from taking that photograph as a memento. During a stopover while on my train journey through South-East Asia in June 2024, I came across this giant coffee cup at the Antong Coffee Mill in Taiping . Upon setting my eyes on this "giant", I told myself I simply had to have a photograph taken with the cup! And thus, many photographs of myself and the giant cup were taken. Photo opportunities not to be missed! Here are two of these photos for sharing. Giant Coffee Cup , Antong Coffee Mill, Taiping, Perak , Malaysia (2024) Giant Coffee Cup, Antong Coffee Mill, Taiping, Perak, Malaysia (2024)

From the balcony of my hotel room at the Eastern & Oriental Hotel, I saw Royal Caribbean's Anthem of the Seas leaving port enroute to Thailand's Phuket on the night of 3 December 2024 . The colourful lights of the cruise ship and its reflections in the pitch black water of the night was a delightful sight to behold. A rare photo moment that I just could not miss. 📸 Royal Caribbean's Anthem of the Seas leaving port, Georgeotown, Penang, Malaysia (2024)

Ending my travels in 2024 with a stay at a heritage hotel .....  I did not travel much in 2024. I was simply too busy with everything else to go away on  vacations. My last trip for the year was a good one though. It was a relaxing 6-day sojourn to the Malaysian city of Penang where I was booked to spend 5 nights at a heritage hotel. The 135-year old Eastern & Oriental Hotel, also simply known as E&O. Following my stay at the 150-year old Nikko Kanaya, the E&O was the next heritage hotel on my travel bucket list and I was glad that despite a relatively barren year of travel in 2024, I did actually get to stay at both the Nikko Kanaya and E&O during the year. Heritage hotels have a rather nostalgic feel with their rich and storied histories. Staying at these hotels and walking along the same hallways that many historical figures had walked before was a surreal experience. Especially so when some of these historical figures were amongst those we read about in hi...

In May and June of 2024, I had the joy of going on a long train journey from Bangkok to Singapore . This was not a single journey where I simply boarded a train in Bangkok and disembarked from the same train in Singapore. The whole journey was made up of multiple trains rides where I stopped at different cities in Thailand and Malaysia , even spending a night at some of these cities. And there was also an overnight train ride between the Thai cities of Prachuap Khiri Khan and Hat Yai . Throughout the journey, I rode in different cabin class from Class 1 (air-conditioned with sleeper bed in a dedicated cabin) to Class 3 (non-air conditioned with only drafts from the ceiling fans in the cabin and wind from the windows to keep cool). The journey was meant to mimic the train travels of the old days when air travel was not so common and train travel was the norm. Since I was born after those days, I could not experience such travels and could only read about it in books. This train jou...

I visited Penang again in March 2024 when I took a cruise which had a stopover at the Swettenham Pier in Georgetown . Due to the relatively short stopover of only around half a day,  I only disembarked to walk around the pier area to take photographs of the cruise ship. Back to the ship at dusk, I was at Deck 15 and had a rather good view of the city when I spotted this photo opportunity of the setting sun.  Taken with my iPhone 15 Po Max , this is the view I witnessed onboard Spectrum of the Seas ' Deck 15 of Sunset over the City . 📸 Sunset over the City, Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia (2024)

Planning for December Travel ......  Traveling in the year-end month of December is different from traveling during other months of the year, at least for me. Somehow, December being the last month of the year, has that festive vibes that make me more relaxed while every part of life simply just seemed to slow down, from work to personal. Travel during the traditional holiday month of December is definitely more expensive in my part of the world. December coincides with the year-end school holidays here in South-East Asia and is also the "last" month when most workers will need to "clear" their annual leave for the current year before the start of a brand new work year. This results in a rush to travel during this period, leading to higher costs in air tickets and destination accommodations. But, there are always ways to mitigate the increased costs of traveling during this period. My strategy is to choose a nearer regional location and to travel earlier in the mon...

South East Asia Train Journey......  I had just got home from a train journey from Bangkok to Singapore traveling through the South East Asian countries of Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. While I do not have an exact number on the actual kilometres travelled, my estimate was that I had probably covered close to 2000 kilometres of rail travel as my journey from Bangkok to Singapore took me through the Thai provinces of Nakhon Pathom, Ratchaburi, Phetchaburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Chumphon, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Songkhla, the Malaysian States of Perlis, Kedah, Penang, Perak, Selangor, Melaka (a.k.a. Malacca), Negri Sembilan and Johore as well as the Malaysian Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur. My itinerary took 8-days to complete, with overnight stopovers in Hua Hin, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Hat Yai, and Taiping. There were also two overnight train rides. The first was between Prachuap Khiri Khan and Hat Yai in Thailand. The second was in Malaysia between Kuala Lumpur and...