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

Mount Bromo, Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, East Java, Indonesia This was a previous article written by myself and posted in this travelogue blog in Dec 2014. Mount Bromo was the first active volcano which I had climbed during my travels. A planned trip to climb Japan's much revered Mount Fuji in 2020, also an active volcano, was postponed indefinitely due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. ****************** Located in the eastern part of the island of Java in Indonesia, Mount Bromo is an active volcano. Its local name is Gunung Bromo. At an altitude of about 2,329 meters (about 7640 ft), Mount Bromo is not a particularly high peak and is actually quite accessible to the average tourists. Smoke rising from the crater of Mount Bromo,  Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park,  East Java, Indonesia (2002) Mount Bromo,  Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park,  East Java, Indonesia (2002) I climbed the peak of Bromo during a visit in 2002 when I was visiting Surabaya,...

Nepal, Annapurna Region This was and still is one of the most enjoyable trips that I had taken. The trip was a long time ago in 1998 when I was still a footloose twenty-something who was rich in energy but poor in resources. Almost fresh out of military service, I had scraped together a couple of years of savings to afford this trip and went along with two other friends.  The total number of days spent trekking was 6 days although I had spent considerably more time in Nepal during the trip, taking the chance to visit Kathmandu and Pokhara before starting on the trek. After the trek, I also took the opportunity to visit the Chitwan National Park in the Terai Region, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984. This is a chronology of the trek from Day 1 to 6. Day 1 (3 April 1998)  - First day of our trek. The day began early at about 7.40am. Driving out of Pokhara (900 meters above sea level), our cheerful driver brought us to the foot of Dhampus Hill. He...

Note from the Author: Of all the trips I have clocked over the years, this particular trip ranked as my most favourite. It was one of the most unique and enriching trips that I had experienced. During this trip, I learnt that traveling is the discovery of oneself and not simply the physical journey to the destination - Timothy, Sep 2017 In December 1995, a planned trip to Australia with two friends, was cancelled in the last minute. Of course, there's a good reason for this but for personal reasons, I shall not discuss the details here. The good thing is, my colleagues went ahead with the trip and from their recollections upon their return, I concluded that they did enjoy themselves. 2 years later saw me planning another trip with two other friends. We opted for a short trekking holiday to Nepal and the target date was set for late March or early April of 1998. Thankfully, I was able to embark on this trip and we left for that magical country called Nepal...