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

Chanced and unplanned encounters during our travels....... For most of our trips, we usually knew in advance where we were going and what we would be doing. But often, it would be the chanced and unplanned encounters that would come to define our travels turning these trips into unique ones that we would remember for years to come. These would also be the trips that we would recall fondly to share with family and friends. They are the travel tales of our own little adventures. Whether it was that friendly chat with a fellow traveller or a local, that chanced meeting that would turned a stranger into a friend. Or that moment in time captured in our cameras that would remained not just as mere digital mementos but lasting memories of our life. What were those travel moments of your's? I have had many. Starting when I was first bitten by the travel bug as a twenty-something youngster, I had travelled to Japan on my first ever trip outside my home country on a work ass...

The Bucket List series of articles in this blog serve to highlight the personal Travel Bucket List items that I had achieved. This is meant to inspire the reader to create or expand his/her own Travel Bucket List While I had achieved some items on my personal Travel Bucket List  over the past years, there are still many items in the list that remain to be fulfilled. On top of that, I am constantly adding to the list as I watch travel documentaries on cable, read about destinations in books and magazines as well as listening to the travel adventures of friends and acquaintances.  Because I had limited resources to travel, there is no way I can ever achieve every single item on my Travel Bucket List  Completing the list is not the purpose here. The aim is to achieve some of the items on the list while admitting that many other items will sit on the list, never to be fulfilled. The "fulfilment" of these unfulfilled items will have to be achieved in ot...

It was my first time visiting Shiga Prefecture. I had arrived at Otsu from Takashima. It was spring and cherry blossoms (a.k.a. sakura ) season and I was in Takashima specifically for the purpose of viewing cherry blossoms. Otsu was meant to be a brief transit stop for me, my next destination being Moriyama.  Alighting from the train at Katata Station of the Kosei Line, I realised that I had about 45 minutes before the hotel shuttle would arrive. I thus decided to spend a bit of time exploring the immediate surroundings of the Station. There was a tourist information office just next to the Station and I went in, intending to look for interesting places to visit in the surrounding vicinity. After speaking with the staff, I realised that Otsu would be an interesting place to explore. Because I had "spare" days in my itinerary, I decided that I would be back in Otsu the next day to do a walking tour of the areas around Katata Station. I was back in Otsu the next day. T...

The photo of this Singapore Airlines' Boeing 777-300ER with Star Alliance Livery was taken in June 2019. The plane was scheduled to service the route from Los Angeles to Singapore via a transit stop-over at Japan's Narita International Airport at the time this photo was taken, showing it at one of the boarding gates of the Los Angeles International Airport. I am particularly attracted to planes with special liveries painted on them because they were definitely not common. The special liveries were  also usually interesting, artistic or simply awesome. More often than not, these planes only carried the special livery for a period of time before reverting back to the standard livery of the airlines. Thus, seeing a plane with special livery can be an exciting experience akin to a bird watcher spotting a rare bird species. :-) Singapore Airlines' Boeing 777-300ER with Star Alliance Livery, Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles, California, United States ...

"Step out of my comfort zone, Explore the world  unknown, Seek new adventures, Learn new cultures, Enrich spirit and mind, I travel"  - Timothy Tan, author of this blog - tankstraveltales Myself in a photo during my November 2019 trip to Korea. This was one of those infrequent occasions when I was front of the camera instead of behind it. Gwangan-dong, Suyeong District, Busan, South Korea (2019)

Estonia, Tallinn, Old Town - UNESCO World Heritage Site From a young age, I had read countless books on fairy tales where the central characters lived in medieval Europe. The age-old story of Hansel and Gretel quickly came to mind when I was planning a trip to Helsinki and the idea of a side trip to Tallinn cropped  up. Reading up as much as I could about Tallinn, I realised that the Old Town district of the Estonian Capital is considered to be the best preserved medieval city in northern Europe. Pictures of cobblestone streets and buildings with Gothic spires convinced me that I had to make the trip as a personal travel Bucket List item. Inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997, the Old Town of Tallinn has no lack of churches, houses, barns and streets all dating as far back in time as the Middle Ages.  When I arrived in Tallinn onboard the ferry from Helsinki, I immediately headed for the Old Town. Entering the town through the Viru Gates transported ...

With its relaxed and friendly feel, the city of Grand Prairie in the US state of Texas typifies the Texan attitude. Being one of the more populous city of Texas also meant that Grand Prairie provides lots of options when it comes to dining out. I particularly loved the ambience at some of the more popular dining places where people mingled,  chatted or simply just enjoyed themselves drinking their favourite beer and and tucking into delicious food. The decors and layout at these dining places are also delightfully Texan, adding to that country-style feel. Whenever I travelled to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, I always made sure to visit Grand Prairie just to dine and drink my favourite beer. One of my favourite dining places in the city of Grand Prairie, Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, United States (2019) Lone Star, Grand Prairie, Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, United States (2019) Country-ambience, Grand Prairie, Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, United States (2019) T...