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

I had so often heard about Hua Hin but had never visited until during my Train Journey from Bangkok to Singapore when I had a one-night stopover in this town in Thailand's Prachuap Khiri Khan province. Sine this was only a stopover, I had less than 24-hours to explore Hua Hin, less after taking into acocunt my sleeping time and time spent alighting and boarding trains between destinations. It was already dusk when I arrived at Hua Hin from Bangkok on a train ride that lasted more than 3 hours. Walking towards my accommodation for the night, my route cut across the night market. The place was a bustle of activities with many stalls selling stuffs from food to art to souvenirs. There are also shops fronting the night market from all sides, including 24-hour convenience shops. After checking to my accommodation, a quick shower and a change of clothes, I was out exploring the night market. I had dinner and supper, filmed videos for my Travel YouTube Channel, browsed the many stalls se...

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...

During a recent trip to Ubud, I serendipitously came upon a religious festival. Following the colourful procession from a respectful distance and only using the zoom function of my camera to "get close", I make sure to stay as inconspicuous as possible. I certainly did not wish to be seen as "intruding" upon the locals celebrating their culture and religion. Thankfully, all the locals were really friendly and they did not mind me walking behind, from a distance. They smiled continuously and even explained to me the significance of the festival. The following video on this blog's TANKS Travel Tales YouTube Channel was sewn from a few of the video clips and some of the photographs I took at the event. Hop over to view the video and enjoy the colourful and beautiful spectacle of the festival. Religious Festival in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia (2023)

The Angkor Archeological Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is also one of the most important archaeological site not just in Cambodia but also probably in the South-East Asia region. The park covers an area that extended for hundreds of square kilometres and include major sites such as the Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom ancient temple complexes. Other notable sites include Banteay Srei, Beung Mealea, Srah Srang, Preah Khan and Preah Lup. I had been fortunate to get to visit the Angkor Archeological Park twice. During these visits, I got to view many of the artefacts and wall sculptures up close, taking digital photographs with both my DSLR and mobile phones. Video clips taken wit my digital devices during the second trip not just recorded what I saw and experienced but also hopefully, document the ingenuity of the ancient Khmer people who built these sites. Here, I had compiled a short 4-minute plus video of my second trip. The video is made up of a combination of video clips an...

A 5-part mini series of videos on the topic of "Love the Seas" has been uploaded to the YouTube Channel of this blog at TANKS Travel Tales YouTube Channel. S.E.A. Aquarium, Sentosa, Singapore The idea behind the mini-video series is to focus on the wonderful world of life under the sea. The main underlying message is of course fo all of us to play a part in saving the seas; to use less plastics, stop pollution and work towards a more sustainable lifestyle in our everyday activities. The video footages and photos were taken at the S.E.A. Aquarium in Sentosa, Singapore. The links to all 5 videos are here: Link to Video - Part I Link to Video -Part II Link to Video - Part III Link to Video - Part IV Link to Video - Part V

This blog has had a corresponding YouTube Channel since 2021. Unfortunately, I have not been posting and updating videos to the Channel. This is changing. I will be posting videos of places I had visited and my travel experience on a regular basis from now on. Through the videos posted on the  TANKS Travel Tales YouTube Channel , I hope to better engage with readers of this blog using a more visual and interactive format. So head over now to the revamped TANKS Travel Tales YouTube Channel to explore the Channel, watch the travel-related videos that had been posted and subscribe to view more upcoming travel-related videos! TANKS Travel Tales YouTube Channel current landing page as of 2 May 2024