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

The sleek and modern-looking design of the A350-900 makes the plane an instant favourite with many airplane enthusiasts. To date, the A350-900 is currently in service with many airlines around the world and had become a relatively common sight in airports. This photograph of a Cathay Pacific A350-900 was taken at the Hong Kong International Airport in January 2017. Cathay Pacific A350-900, Hong Kong International Airport, Hong Kong SAR, China (2017)

On my first visit to the city of Helsinki, I was struck by how orderly and clean the whole city is. In addition, the architectures I came across in the city were a reminder of the modern Finnish designs and creativity. The architecture of the buildings were sleek, modern and pleasing to the eye. They blend in effortlessly with the more traditional architectures of the older buildings. Together, the buildings, old and new, present a city that has glimpses of its past while providing evidences of the present and glances into the future.  Walking tours around the city are a pleasant and enjoyable activity and allow one to truly enjoy a city with a deep and rich history but also one with a forward looking push into the future. An ultra modern-looking building in the heart of the Finnish capital city, Helsinki, Finland (2017) Sculptures of modern art in the city, Helsinki, Finland (2017) The Helsinki Cathedral which dates back as far as the year 1830, is a thr...

There is simply so much good local food in Ipoh that it is near impossible to list them all in one blog post. Depending on one's personal taste and preference, there is sure to be more than one local Ipoh food to satisfy your cravings for good, delicious, affordable and mouth-watering dishes. Whenever I travel to Ipoh, food almost always feature high on my agenda list. And there are some food that are so good that I keep going back for more. Here are a handful of local dishes in Ipoh which I will dine on each and every time I pay a visit to this wonderful Malaysian city in the state of Perak. The renown  and very delicious Ipoh Hor Fun (made from flat white noodles), Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia (2017) Bean sprouts, Ipoh style. The bean sprouts in Ipoh are of a different variety to those found elsewhere. Short and stout, Ipoh bean sprouts simply taste deliciously different, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia (2017) Deep fried fritters made from tofu and bean curd skin, Ipoh,...

Depending on where one travels to, local boat rides can differ widely. So far, the boat rides I took whenever I traveled to the Indochina region were always interesting. This ranged from me having to help the boatman scooped water out of the boat as we traversed the Mekong River in Laos to trusting my boatman who looked very much like an 11 year-old boy as we sped from one river bank to another across the muddy waters of some fast flowing tributaries of the mighty Mekong in Vietnam. Here are a couple of photographs taken while I was on a boat ride somewhere along the Mekong River while visiting Siem Reap and its surrounding region. Compared to some other boat rides I had experienced on my travels, this ride can be considered to be quite luxurious and very safe.  What are your personal experiences with local boat rides during your travels?  Boat ride on the Mekong River, Siem Reap, Cambodia (2015) A local boat ferrying passengers along the Mekong River,...

With almost everyone owning a smartphone nowadays, snapping photographs on the go has become so convenient that we almost forgot that in the not so distant past, we all need to lug an additional electronic device, a camera, with us whenever we travel so that we can capture those special moments to keep as mementos of our visits to different countries, cities and places. The addition of smartphones to our daily lives has made capturing those special photo moments so convenient. When I travel, I usually reserve my DSLR camera for those occasions when I expect to take a lot of photographs. The size and weight of DSLR cameras can be quite a hassle to bring along on trips, especially short trips where one do not intend to have any check-in luggages. My handy smartphone, which I always carry around in my pocket, allows me to capture those special photo moments as and when I feel like taking a photograph. The photo moment can be a selfie (which for me is a rather rare activity) or th...

Despite the obvious language issues, I really enjoyed dining at locals eateries around Japan whenever I traveled to the country. Local eatery, Nara, Nara Prefecture, Japan (2018) While visiting the city of Nara in April 2018, I dined at one of the local eateries. Despite the difficulty in communications due to language issues, I managed to mostly ordered the dishes I wanted. I usually accomplished this by looking at photographs of the dishes in the menu. For dishes where no photographs exist in the menu, I relied upon my basic but rudimentary understanding of the Chinese Language to try and interpret the dishes written in Japanese in the menu. For those who may not know, some characters in both the Chinese and Japanese Languages are written similarly. This is how I got by each time I visited the less touristy locations or establishments in Japan where the staff spoke little or no English. For my recent visit, this series of photographs of my lunch are an indication that I ...

One Trip, Multiple Destinations....... Those who know me know that I usually do not packed too many destinations into a single trip whenever I travel. I typically planned my itineraries such that I do not travel to more than 2 cities within a single trip. Usually, my trips were planned around a single city. This is because I definitely prefer to have sufficient time to explore the destination, to sit and people-watch, enjoy a cuppa at local cafe, to visit the local markets and eateries and to observe how the locals live, rest and play. The serene and tranquil neighbourhoods of Omihachiman with its traditional houses dating back to the Edo Period of Japan's history was an amazing personal discovery when I was in Shiga, Omihachiman, Shiga Prefecture, Japan (2018) However, in my most recent trip to Japan in early April, I did what previously to me was the unthinkable. I actually broke all my personal rules and traveled to multiple destinations within the 12 days of ...