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

Wrapping up my personal Travel Calendar for 2022......  As I wrote this blog post, I had just returned fresh from a long-postponed trip to Bali. I had booked and paid for my accommodation back in September 2019 for the trip that was originally planned for April 2020. But for reasons that were beyond anyone's control, I had to repeatedly reschedule the trip until this month when I could finally enjoy my beach vacation at my favourite beach destination! This Bali trip marked my fifth overseas leisure trip of 2022. I have another trip coming up in the last week of October. This is a cruise from Singapore to Klang and Penang (Malaysia) and also Phuket (Thailand). I had booked the cruise back in January when prices were still low because of continuing travel restrictions. It will be my last vacation trip of the year and I am looking forward to enjoy the upcoming cruise. I am likely to be spending most of my cruise time onboard the ship, only intending to disembark at Penang. I had just ...

Most hotels and tourist accommodations typically uses small plastic bottles of shampoo, conditioner and body wash. These small little plastic bottles are used once and discarded. Add the number of tourist establishments worldwide and the number of rooms each of these establishments have, the number of visitors they host every day of the year and it is a no brainer that we travellers are collectively responsible for generating a massive amount of plastic waste just by taking a shower each time! In my recent trip to Bali in October 2022 where I stayed at the Westin Nusa Dua, it was quite heartening when I found out that the hotel, instead of issuing small plastic bottles of shampoo, conditioner and body wash, had instead been using bottles that can be top up with these shower essentials. This demonstrates that the hotel is committed to sustainable travel. Kudos to the Westin Nusa Dua for their effort to help save our planet. 😀🌏 Re-useable bottles that can be top up with Shampoo, Condit...

  " Viva forever, I'll be waiting.. Everlasting, like the sun.. Live forever, for the moment.. Ever searching for the one.. " -  From the Lyrics of Viva Forever , a song by the Spice Girls Seashells, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia (2022)

This was a trip that was supposed to take place in April 2020. But to the COVID pandemic and the resultant worldwide border and travel restrictions, I have had to postpone the trip repeatedly in 6-monthly intervals. Finally, the trip was realised in October 2022, almost 3 years after I had first planned it in September 2019.  I had visited Bali many times over the years, this being my favourite beach holiday destination. This trip was no difference. I did not go around the island to sight-see. Instead, I simply relaxed at the beach resort, enjoying the blissful island life. The resort has everything I need including great facilities and awesome food. There is no need for me to venture elsewhere. Everyday, after  a sumptuous buffet breakfast, I will head for the lounge chairs by the beach; clad only in my swim trunks and with my book tucked under my arms. There, I spent my afternoon reading in-between swims in the ocean, ordering food and drinks whenever I felt hungry. In the e...

Running out of Greek Alphabets....... 2 years and counting and the world is still in the midst of a pandemic caused by the nasty COVID-19 and its variants. The latest twist in the story of this current pandemic is Omicorn. At the rate this is going, we may soon be running out of greek alphabets for all the various variants that may be coming our way... 😓 After 24 months, we seem to be still at Square One of our Snake-and-Ladders tussle with the dreaded virus. To be honest, nobody has a good answer to when this may all end or subside to a level when the world can resume its normality pre-year 2020. For me, I had obediently followed all public health guidelines including receiving my full 2-dose of mRNA vaccines as well as an mRNA booster jab (3 jabs in total), observing social distancing and working from home whenever possible, never leaving my home without a mask worn properly over my nose and mouth and limiting social events to the barest minimum. My passion for travel had not fe...

As the world slowly realises that we simply cannot lock ourselves from each other forever and cautiously begins to open up, I look forward to be able to partake in leisure travel again. Hopefully, I can soon be back to my favourite beach resorts to enjoy a slow night of beach combing and simply enjoying the beauty of nature! I do not catch any wildlife, I only took photographs without coming into physical contacts with those animals I encountered. Wildlife deserves to be where they belong, in the wild. 😊 Take Nothing but Photographs, Leave Nothing but Footprints. Crab, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia (2018)

Keeping track of continuous changes in travel plans ....... One year into internal border restrictions due to the pandemic and there is still none of the proverbial light at the end of the dark tunnel of cancelled and disrupted travel plans. While previously the rollout of vaccines have been touted as the silver bullet in the fight against the pandemic, the now often-touted phrase is "vaccines ain't silver bullets in the fight against the pandemic". Meanwhile, international travel remains an impossible task. Like many travellers who previously had trips booked in advance and had to rescheduled and then further rescheduled these trips or even cancelled them, I have had my own share of dealing with the logistics and administrative hurdles of doing so and seeking refunds. Thankfully, most of my trips had now been cancelled and in most cases, I have had refunds being credited back to my bank accounts. However, I still have a hotel booking in Bali which was originally booked f...

Travel plans for 2021 ....... When the pandemic first started rearing its ugly head in the early months of 2020 and governments worldwide started to announce local lock-downs followed by restricted borders, many travellers (myself included) soon started to realise that leisure travel for the year would not be possible. The hope then was the following year that will be 2021 is the likely timeline when we could all resume travel again. But as we head into the final week of January 2021 and are soon to bid farewell to the first month of the year, it seems highly likely that leisure travel this year is also not going to be possible. The pandemic is still raging and while there are bright spots in humanity's fight against the virus, the so-called and often touted vaccination bullet is still very much in its infancy stage. While many developed countries have started to vaccinate their population, for large swathes of the world's population, vaccination and hopes of an end to the pand...

Travel Reminiscing....... In a period where worldwide business and leisure travels are heavily curtailed due to a pandemic, the next best thing to satisfying the travel bug in all of us is to reminisce past trips.  Boat waiting to board passengers, Mal é , Maldives (2014) As part of my travel reminiscence, I started a 30-day Travel Reminiscing series of posts on my Instagram account (timothytanks) for the month of May 2020. For this series, I set a self-imposed limit of one post per country/territory/city. This is to allow me to recap and share 30 different destinations over the course of one month. The featured country/territory/city over the 30-days in chronological order were: Post 1.   Helsinki/Finland Post 2.   Nazareth/Israel Post 3.   Jiufen/Taiwan Post 4.   New Norcia/Australia Post 5.   Siem Reap/Cambodia Post 6.   Loch Ness/Scotland Post 7.   Kanchanaburi/Thailand Post 8.   Rome/Italy Post 9. ...

Chanced and unplanned encounters during our travels....... For most of our trips, we usually knew in advance where we were going and what we would be doing. But often, it would be the chanced and unplanned encounters that would come to define our travels turning these trips into unique ones that we would remember for years to come. These would also be the trips that we would recall fondly to share with family and friends. They are the travel tales of our own little adventures. Whether it was that friendly chat with a fellow traveller or a local, that chanced meeting that would turned a stranger into a friend. Or that moment in time captured in our cameras that would remained not just as mere digital mementos but lasting memories of our life. What were those travel moments of your's? I have had many. Starting when I was first bitten by the travel bug as a twenty-something youngster, I had travelled to Japan on my first ever trip outside my home country on a work ass...

Culture shock....... different perspective on life's priorities For many of us who live our entire existence in the busy and fast-paced city, it has become ingrained in us that everything have to be completed quickly. There is simply no tolerance for any waste of time. And this belief goes along when we travel. When we travelled to cities, towns or villages where the pace of life was much slower, we started to get impatient if we had to wait for services. Sometimes, we began to start getting upset at the "slowness". Whenever this happened, it would be prudent to take a step back and reflect. If the services we were expecting had been a little bit slower, did it somehow meant that the service was bad or that the attitude of the service provider was bad? The difference in expectations and realisation of speed of service delivery is usually down to simply  the perspective of life's priorities. In the smaller cities, towns and villages, the pace of life would def...

As I sat in the hotel lobby waiting for the transport to the airport, I looked up and saw this beautiful painting on the ceiling. I am not sure what is the technical term for such paintings, if there is indeed such a term. But I personally called it ceiling art. As I studied the painting in more detail, I reckoned it must be telling a story, albeit one steeped in Balinese history and culture. To "preserve and commit" this art piece to my memory as well as to keep a digital memento of my trip, I took out my mobile phone and snapped this one photograph before I had to rush off to the waiting taxi for my ride to the airport. Ceiling art at a hotel lobby, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia (2018) This is how the art piece looked from the front of the hotel lobby, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia (2018)

The beach at Nusa Dua is amazing. At low tide, one can literally walk far out into the sea where the water only ever reaches to the ankles of an adult. Small rocks with seaweeds growing on them exposed during low tide, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia (2018) Combing the beach at low tide to observe the small animals that come out to forage for food and engage in their own little things to do is a joy. I do not advocate removing or even touching any of the wildlife at the beach because many of these animals are extremely fragile and may not survive physical human encounters. My advice is always to just observe and take photographs; nothing more than that. The beach at low tide, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia (2018) Small air-holes created by crabs and other crustaceans are clearly visible at low tide, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia (2018) Crab spotted at low tide, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia (2018) At low tide, the small animals are extremely vulnerable. I hav...

Being environmentally-conscious during our travels....... We all know it from the well-publicised facts that the human race is causing huge changes and damage to the environment as our civilisation progresses. Yes, we cause damage to Mother Earth whether we are at home or traveling. But more so when we travel. Why is this so? Clear waters are a joy to look at and behold when we avoid pollution of our waterways , Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia (2016) Air travel contributes to many kinds of damage to the environment including carbon emission. As I am no environmental scientist or professional, I am unable to go into the details of all the damages, their causes and effects. What I know as a layperson is that whenever I fly, I contribute to environmental damage and degradation. While there is nothing much I can do about this, I can certainly help to be kind to the environment by generating less wastes in situations more controllable at the personal level. Plastics are a major...

Travelling to a new city for the first time... This coming Thursday, I will be travelling to Laos for the first time. The purpose of the trip is for a short vacation to Luang Prabang in northern Laos and to visit the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Town of Luang Prabang. Being a first time visitor to Laos and Luang Prabang, I did some research on the internet and in the libraries to find out more about the cultural and religious norms of the city. I usually try my best to conform to and more importantly, to respect the local culture and religion of the cities I am visiting. Besides the more practical aspect of not getting into trouble with the local authorities, the main intention is to show respect to the local people, culture and religions. This is because I am a foreigner and guest after all and it will be rude to behave in manners that may offend the locals as well as their cultural or religious beliefs. The areas where I show respect and conform to the local culture...

Short trips allow us to get away from work for a few days, recharge and return to work with that extra zest. People often asked me how I manage to work so hard without being stressed or burnt out. My secret lies in the short breaks I took every 3 to 4 months. For such trips, traveling regional is the answer.  My favourite beach holiday destination, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia (2016) In the month of March, I realised that I still have some vacation leave left over from 2015 and decided to take a short trip to my favourite regional destination of Bali. While I still chose to stay at the Nusa Dua area, I decided to modify my itinerary a little this time by staying further north of Nusa Dua at the Sofitel instead of at my usual accommodation at the Grand Hyatt. Sipping drinks by the beach at teh Sofitel, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia (2016) The trip was a nice one. Everything about the Sofitel was awesome, the service was great and the food served at the hotel was delicio...

I usually travel to Bali for vacation once or twice a year because the island is only about a 2.5-hour flight from Singapore. Being a creature of habits, I will almost certainly stay in the Nusa Dua area due to its long stretch of white sand beach and also because of my familiarity with the surrounding areas. I have dined at the Bebek Bengil (a.k.a. Dity Duck Diner) restaurant in Nusa Dua each time I am in Bali. Bebek actually means duck in Bahasa Indonesia. The signature Bebek Bengil (a.k.a. crispy duck) dish at this restaurant is something I always enjoyed every time I dined here. The duck meat does not taste too gamey although at times, the duck breast can be a bit dry resulting in the meat being chewy. The accompanying condiments and side dishes are the highlights of the menu here and they are served together with the main course without any additional charges. Those who enjoy asian spices will definitely savour the rich tastes of these condiments and side dishes. Service ...