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

In-between my planned trips to the Maldives in August 2014 and Japan in October 2014, I decided to take a short trip to some place nearby; preferably within a 3-hour flight time radius from my native Singapore. As part of its 25th anniversary celebrations, Silkair was offering 50% discounts on award redemption tickets to some selected regional destinations and I jumped on the opportunity to redeem my return air tickets to Lombok using my Krisflyer Miles (Silkair is wholly owned by Singapore Airlines and thus I could use my Krisflyer Miles to redeem award tickets on Silkair flights). Each return ticket only required 7,500 Krisflyer Miles to redeem after the 50% discount. Of course, I still had to pay the usual taxes and surcharges in cash. :-) My flight onboard Silkair MI128 from Singapore's Changi International Airport (IATA: SIN, ICAO: WSSS) to the new airport near the city of Praya; the Bandar Udara Internasional Lombok (IATA: LOP, ICAO: WADL) took about 2 hour 35 minute...

Note from the Author: This article was originally written in February 2000 based on my first ever visit to Ho Chi Minh City. Many years have passed since and I am quite sure many of the places mentioned herein have changed. The currency exchange rates mentioned in this article were based on the prevailing rates at the time of my visit. The photographs that accompanied this article were taken by myself using 35mm films and scanned into digital format simply because digital photography in the year 2000 was still in its infancy! Thus, I apologize for the relatively "low quality" of these photos. Time flies and it has been 14 years since that visit. This reminds me to make another visit to this awesome city to see for myself how much things have changed since! - Timothy, Sep 2014       Saigon was the former capital of South Vietnam prior to the official reunification of the country in 1976. After reunification, Saigon was renamed as Ho Chi Minh City. Today, Ho Chi Minh C...

Glasgow..... The name of this famous city in Scotland seems to evoke an almost magical nostalgia in me. Why is this so? I don't know actually because I have only visited Glasgow once in September 2011 despite being a fairly frequent visitor to the UK. Glasgow has many beautiful buildings with their awesome architectural designs. This is a relatively large city with a population of more than 3 million but yet it seems uncrowded and romantic, unlike many other large cities. During my trip to Glasgow, I had the time to take leisurely strolls around this wonderful city. This afford me the luxury to simply walk and explore the city at my own pace, without any agenda or timeline to adhere to. Basically, I had the time to enjoy the city for what it is! Glasgow City Chambers, George Square, Glasgow, Scotland, UK (2011) Stone sculpture of a Lion at George Square, Glasgow, Scotland, UK (2011) George Square, Glasgow, Scotland, UK (2011) Sights of Glasgow, walkin...