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

I flew 'J' Class on from Hong Kong (HKG) to Taipei (TPE) on EVA Air (BR) during my recent vacation. This was my first time flying on EVA Air. As this was a vacation, I had wanted to take things a bit slower and also to travel in a bit more luxurious style to reward myself for working non-stop, including weekends, for the past 5 months. Thus, I decided to fly via Business Class in the late morning which I supposed is a relatively off-peak period for flight reservations, especially on a weekday. Thus, I was booked and flew to Taipei's Taoyuan International Airport via EVA Air's Flight BR852. The Flight BR852 that I was on, uses an A330-200 to serve the relatively short route from Hong Kong to Taipei. Total fight time was 1 hour and 45 minutes (official estimates) although based on my watch, we actually touched down in Taipei in less than 90 minutes after leaving Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok Airport. As this was a short flight, I did not get the chance to real...

Finally I managed to put aside some of my work and travelled to Hong Kong and Taipei for a short year-end trip. Because this was suppose to be a trip to allow me to wind down and relax a bit, I did not plan my itineraries to be hectic, Instead, my 2-day stay in Hong Kong and 5-day stay in Taipei were really free-and-easy as in I take in whatever sights, sounds and food that come my way. Armed with the cameras in my iPhone 6 Plus and iPhone 6s Plus as well as my Canon EOS-70D DSLR, I took lots of photographs of the places I visited during my combined 7-day trip as well as the food I enjoyed during the trip. And because December is the month when we celebrate Christmas and the Year-End festivities, many shops were cashing in on the festivities with beautiful window displays that simply screamed "come and buy"! Here is an awesome shop window display which perfectly captures the mood of Christmas yet is blended with subtle advertising of the products that the shop ca...

Due to an extremely heavy work schedule, I missed posting an article on my monthly Travel Bits series for the month of November 2015. However, the series continues with this post for December 2015. As I write this article, I am also busily trying to clear as much of my work as possible before I embark on a one week vacation  to Hong Kong and Taipei (my first ever trip to Taiwan) next week. For my upcoming trip, I will be flying from Singapore to Hong Kong on Singapore Airline's (SQ) famed Business Class! I only paid for the fuel surcharges and taxes because my return air tickets from on SQ are redemption tickets using my fast expiring Krisflyer miles. For my return flight from Hong Kong to Taipei, I will be flying via EVA Air's (BR) Business Class. This will be my first time flying with EVA Air. As usual, I will be writing about my onboard experience after my trip. December is usually the month when many of us try to squeeze in some vacation time after a long year of w...

I love Japanese food, especially sashimi. And dining on Japanese food in Tokyo makes the whole experience an awesome journey in culinary heavens. Japanese cuisine are well known for their freshness, colours and intricate presentation. Japanese chefs took great pride in their profession and the each dish they served come with much dedication and artwork; mastered over the years. This photo was taken using my iPhone 6 Plus when I was visiting Tokyo in Oct 2014 and dining at a sashimi restaurant in the heart of Ginza, near Hibiya Park. The colours and arrangements in this dish are simply amazing. Sashimi, Ginza, Tokyo, Japan (2014)

This has been a crazy month at work for me. After my short holiday to Siem Reap last month, I have been working non-stop, seven days a week. And to cap it all up, some reshuffling of work schedules mean that I will have to correspondingly reschedule my planned trip to Hong Kong and Taipei next month! That's kind of disappointing but life always serve up its surprises; both pleasant and unpleasant and this is one of those unpleasant surprises. Taking a short break from my work (well, I still have a life outside of work!), I decided to treat myself to some nice chocolate buffet in town yesterday night which was a Saturday. I have not been out and about in town of late, especially in the nights and I was surprised by the sights and sounds. There are the usual night scenes in Singapore which never failed to amaze me even though I was born, live and work in Singapore. Not expecting the carnival-like atmosphere and the amazing sights that I was to encounter, the only cameras I h...

Hong Kong's famous Victoria Harbour is the natural harbour sandwiched between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. When not obscured by inclement weather conditions or smog from the numerous factories in the geographically nearby Pearl River Delta area of Guangdong Province in mainland China, Victoria Harbour boasts stunning views of the Hong Kong skyline. The skyline is especially vivid in the night when viewed from Kowloon towards Hong Kong Island. Whenever I am in Hong Kong and when time, schedule and weather permit, I enjoy taking long and slow strolls in the evenings along the waterfront on the side of Kowloon. During one of these strolls, I took this picture of the nigh skyline with my iPhone. For this photograph, I chose a view of the skyline that was sandwiched between the ornamental sails of a tourist boat for a more dramatic effect.  Victoria Harbour, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China (2012)

Many of my friends know that once a year, I will travel to the Indonesian resort island of Bali for a short break to re-charge after one whole year of immersing myself in the rat race in my home country.  :-) Kicking sand on the beach, Bali, Indonesia (2011) So why do I travel to Bali so often? The reasons are many. The top 10 reasons for my frequent visits to Bali are: 1. Free Air Tickets . Yes, the air tickets for me were usually "free" except for the usual airport taxes, custom fees and airline surcharges. Throughout the year, I mostly used a single credit card with an airline tie-in. This meant that all my purchases on this credit card earned rewards points which were automatically converted into frequent flyer miles with the tied-in airline. I used my cards for everything from paying for my groceries to paying my recurrent mobile phone and home utility bills. Thus, at the end of each year, I would usually be able to earn enough frequent flyer miles to rede...