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

Month-long Pan-Asia Trip, East and South-Asia Asia This was a major trip which took me months to plan. Because there were many key details to follow such as accommodation, train travel times and inter-city transport connectivities, I had to cancel and re-book many of my hotels and train tickets bookings repeatedly. And also because I was visiting many of the places for the first time, my only source of information was from the internet. Not much of this information was accurate and some of the inaccuracies nearly resulted in me missing my inter-city connections. Lesson learnt and note to self, take information from the internet with a big pinch of salt! But this was a wonderful trip. I am unlikely to be able to go on such a long trip with so many different destinations in one single vacation again anytime soon. Work schedule always dictates that I can go away for at most two weeks at any one time. Thus, I was really glad I...

A short stopover on my cruise in August 2023 saw me visiting Nha Trang for the first time. Because of the relatively short time we had before we need to return to the ship, I did not venture into the city itself. Viewed from offshore onboard the ship, the city seems huge with lots of sprawling skyscrapers. Unfortunately, I did not get to explore the city to experience its hustle and bustle. My brief few hours on shore was really nothing to shout about. Going ashore on tender boats, we landed in a rather obscure location with only a few local shops in the area. Getting to the city will require a taxi ride and I figured that was not going to be worth the effort and hassle because I had less than 4 hours onshore. This was partly due to my own fault because while the first tender boats started bringing passengers from ship to shore at 8.30am, I had chose to go ashore only around 11am. The last tender boat was scheduled to depart for the cruise ship at 3.15pm. Thus, my brief couple of hours...

My cruise in August 2023 had a stopover in Kagoshima. This was the last port call in Japan before the cruise ship officially leaves Japan for international waters to travel to China's Hong Kong. Kagoshima, Kagoshima, Japan (2023) In accordance to immigration procedures, all passengers on the cruise had to disembark for Japanese immigration and customs clearance at this last port of call in the country. Taking advantage of the hours we had while the cruise ship was in port, most passengers including myself took the chance to visit Kagoshima city itself. However, I did not join many of my fellow passengers to take the JR Train into the city centre. Instead, I spent my time shopping and dining at the malls that were within walking distance of the port. Yes, there are many malls within walking distance. And I was not disappointed. I managed to buy a good quality Made-in-Japan fishing reel and some clothing items.  The cruise ship, Spectrum of the Seas was docked within walking distance...

Slightly more than two decades after my first visit to Ho Chi Minh City, I finally returned for a second visit when my cruise ship made a port call at nearby Phú Mỹ in August 2023.  Vibrant as usual, the city has certainly grown a lot since my first visit. There are now a lot more large towering office complexes and modern residential homes. More importantly for visitors like myself, delicious food are everywhere. During my short few hours onshore, I managed to dine on my favourite Pho noodles, sight-see, took selfies to commemorate my trip and enjoyed a quick ride through Chinatown on my tour coach. I also visited favourite touristy sites like the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Saigon Central Post Office and the Reunification Palace (a.k.a. Independence Palace, Reunification Convention Hall). Skyscrapers, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (2023) Pho, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (2023) Pho side dish, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (2023) Vietnamese Coffee, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (2023)

In the midst of my Pan-Asia Trip 2023......  I am currently in the midst of my Pan-Asia Trip 2023. Today is Day 20 of my 27-day long journey across multiple countries and cities in Asia. As I sat in the cabin of my cruise ship writing this blog entry somewhere in the East China Sea heading towards the Taiwan Strait, I am still surprised that I am able to go on this trip despite my busy work schedule. If I had not pushed ahead with my travel plans, I will probably be back at home and office working. For the record, I still worked while traveling for the past 20 days. I took calls, answered work messages, replied to emails, conducted technical analyses and even managed to continue working on my next upcoming book. Thus, it had not been all fun and laughter for the past 20 days. I was heavily engaged in work and travelling at the same time. My point? Do not let your everyday affairs stopped you from traveling. Busy schedule? Try a work-around solution. Postpone the trip if you have to...

Attending the Nagaoka Hanabi Matsuri (Fireworks Festival) has always been a travel bucket list item for me. This year, I finally managed to check this item on my list. I attended the event on both days, on the 2nd and 3rd of August 2023. With an estimated 20,000 rounds of fireworks launched into the summer night sky of Nagaoka, this is arguably one of the best fireworks display not just in Japan but probably in the world. Held along the Shinano River, this is truly the mother of all Fireworks Display for me. Here, I am sharing a couple of photos and a short 12-seconds video of part of the fireworks display. I have a lot of other clips of the fireworks, including its finale. But those will take time for me to process before I can share them in this blog. A lantern with the words " Japan's Number One Fireworks" in Japanese. Many of these lanterns were hung all over the fireworks site along the Shinano River, Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, Japan (2023) A selfie of myself looki...

Currently in the midst of my 27-days Pan-Asia 2023 trip, I have been regularly recording my travel experiences on a daily basis. Due to patchy internet connectivity during large parts of my trip, I have mostly return to the "old ways" of recording events of my voyage, using the traditional pen-and-paper method.  As I am currently traveling with a bunch of my favourite fountain pens and journaling notebooks, this method has proved to be a reliable way for me to record and capture my daily adventures faithfully before fading memories fog out the details. In my current travel, I have been moving from city to city, lugging all my belongings with me. It was a tiring experience and one that is not really enjoyable. Nevertheless, I got to see and experience more things that I would otherwise be able to. In a day trip to Tsuruoka in Japan's Yamagata Prefecture, I managed to get a little off the beaten track and witnessed for myself the raw beauty of Japan's natural heritage a...