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

Next Travel Destinations....... when leisure travel resumes... After months of not being able to travel due to the current pandemic, I must admit I missed travelling and am looking forward to my next trips when leisure travel is able to resume. My last vacation before the closures and restriction of international borders was when I travelled to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) in end-Jan 2020. While my last flight before the pandemic swept the world was in November 2019 when I travelled to Seattle (United States) on a business trip. As and when international borders closures and restrictions are lifted, the destinations for my first leisure trips will be Tokyo and Taipei. I missed the food and the shopping in both of these cities. Neon-lit giant billboards in Akihabara, Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, Japan (2017) In Tokyo, I love dining on donburi (rice bowl dish); unadon (rice bowl topped with fillets of charcoal-grilled eel glazed with special sauce) and kaisendon (seafood rice bowl with slices of s...

Of all the cities in the world that I had visited so far, none other than Taipei managed to always evoke that sense of nostalgia in me. I can't explain that feeling. In fact, the first time I visited Taipei was in 2015, way past the times of my growing up years! Cityscape of Taipei, Ximending, Wanhua District, Taipei, Taiwan (2015) As to what kind of nostalgic feelings that Taipei has for me is difficult to describe in words. It probably is a combination of the old school streets and their layouts, the friendliness and unassuming attitude of the locals which is a rarity in most cities in today's materialistic-driven world, the food, the number of small bookstores tucked around in almost every corner of every street and a lot more. My connection to all things in Taipei probably also stemmed from my childhood years when I grew up watching Taiwanese dramas and documentaries on TV, most of which centred around life in Taipei. Advertising billboards screaming for at...