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

Inflight Magazines....... Whichever airline I flew with, I usually look forward with eager anticipation to reading their inflight magazines. Reading these magazines help me spend my time during the flights. This is especially true during long haul intercontinental flights lasting 10 hours or more. Of course, we can also watch the many movies available as part of the inflight entertainment system. But there is definitely a limit to the number of inflight movies I can watch whilst seated in an economy class seat on a long haul flight.  Reading inflight magazines allow me to enjoy a comfortable way to spend those long flight durations in economy class. It also serves to broaden my mind, help me learn more about places which I have not visited and provide me with inspirations on new travel destinations. And these magazines have the added advantage of helping me to cut down on the need to bring along more personal reading materials thus resulting in less weight and space needed ...

Currently on vacation in Phuket, I spent a fair amount of time relaxing at Patong Beach. As this is a vacation for me to unwind form the recent spate of hectic work schedules, I did not venture far from the hotel where I am staying and the hotel happens to be conveniently located just by the beach. Strolling along Patong Beach in the heat and humidity of the Phuket weather, I came across many jet-skis. These personal watercraft are primarily rented to tourists for a day of activity and fun in the sea. Besides the water activities that these jet-skis are meant for, I thought they made for very interesting photography subjects too. Along with getting a good tan, I had with me my Canon EOS-70D and went along the beach photographing these watercraft. Here are some of the photos of those handsome jet-skis taken during my day out at the beach. Jet-skis by the beach, Patong Beach, Phuket, Thailand (2017) A lone jet-ski, Patong Beach, Phuket, Thailand (2017) A jet-sk...

One of the reasons I enjoyed visiting Taipei is the street food that the city offers. Here in Taipei, one can easily find street food just about everywhere and anywhere. And like most street food found in many cities around the world, Taipei's street food are unique, delicious and very affordable. In my past visits to Taipei, I had always stayed at hotels located around the Ximending area. The ease of access to the area and its connectivity to other parts of the city make Ximending an obvious choice for me. In addition, located just next to the many subway exits of the Ximending subway station are many local street food vendors. Here, the activities last way into the wee hours of the night and early morning. It is not surprising to find the area a hive of activities even in the early morning hours of 1am to 2am. And this is so even on weekdays nights.  Truly, a city that don't sleeps or one that sleeps very little. The next time you visit Taipei, why not drop by the Xi...

With a total length of approximately 3km, the Singapore River has been a key artery supporting trade in Singapore since 1819. The rapid expansion of trade and urbanisation activities along the river in the periods from 1819 to the late 1970s resulted in extreme and heavy pollution with all kinds of waste, both domestic and industrial, contributing to the massive buildup of sewages in the river. A cleanup campaign in the 1980s that cost hundreds of millions of dollars gave us the relatively clean waterway that is the hallmark of the Singapore River of today. Because of the damming of the mouth of the river to form a new freshwater reservoir in Marina Bay, the Singapore River now empties into this freshwater body instead of the Singapore Straits. These days, the old conserved shophouses along Clarke Quay, Boat Quay and Roberson Quay intermixed with high-rise modern buildings to breath new life and activities along this river. Watering holes, restaurants and cafes now lined the r...

The Chinese people have a rich and deep cultural history. Amongst this history is the customs and art of drinking tea. The customs of drinking tea in Chinese culture varied widely, ranging from showing respect to one's elders or seniors to the demonstration of gratitude and celebrations, particularly during traditional Chinese weddings. During a business trip to the Chinese city of Shenzhen, I had the opportunity to observe and partake in a demonstration of the Chinese art of brewing tea. The experience was hugely enriching despite this being an informal and extremely limited introduction to Chinese tea culture. The photographs below provide a very slight glimpse into what goes behind the art of tea brewing; the traditional Chinese way. Chinese Tea Brewing, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China (2015) A sampling of Tea-ware, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China (2015) Chinese teacup, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China (2015)

Travelling smart and Packing Effectively I've just returned from an overseas working trip which involved taking two different flights and spending close to 24 hours on those flights as well as on transit. Including the outbound flights, it totalled four flights and close to 48 hours just on travelling within a single week. And because it was a work trip, there will be milestones to be achieved, meetings to be conducted, technical details to be discussed and reports to be written. Throw in the time differences between the various locations and the accompanying jet lag and the result was a very tiring trip. While I cannot control the hassles associated with long haul working trips, I can still do a lot to smoothen the process to aid in my personal comfort and recovery. And a key point to this self-help is to pack effectively. For this trip, I decided not to bring along any check-in luggage. But because I will be travelling through Europe over the peak summer period, I also...

The legendary Tanuki is a mythical Japanese Racoon Dog who supposedly possessed special traits which bring good luck. In Japan, many businesses and residences have a Tanuki  statue displayed at their entrances.  The 8 traits of the Tanuki are typically represented by a hat (for protection against trouble), big eyes (for situation awareness and to be able to see better which is necessary for good judgements), a sake bottle (representing virtue), a large tail (signifying steadiness, strength and resilience), a large scrotum (to ensure financial success or luck), a promissory note (representing trust), a large belly (which symbolises decisiveness) and a smile (for friendliness). During my many visits to Japan and even to Japanese restaurants outside of Japan, I often came across statues of the Tanuki . These statues were usually made from ceramic materials as pottery ware (also known as Shigaraki ware). One  Tanuki statue I saw in Hida-Takayama particularly ...