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

While waiting for the aircraft to pushback for my flight from Singapore to Seattle on a pleasant November morning, I took a photograph of this Singapore Airlines' Airbus A350-900 (also designated as A350-941). This plane was parked at the Gate adjacent to the aircraft I was seated in, allowing me to photograph its entire length. The Port side engine of the Airbus A350-900 close to my window seat at 19A in the J Cabin is clearly visible in the foreground of this photograph. I did not crop out the engine from the photograph because I wanted to share the actual view that I was seeing when I took this photograph.  Singapore Airlines' Airbus A350-941 at the Gate, Terminal 3, Changi International Airport, Singapore (2019)

In December of 2019, after an almost 10-year hiatus, I re-visited Kuala Lumpur (a.k.a. KL) for the first time. Despite the relatively short geographical distance between KL and Singapore (where I lived), I was surprised it took me so long to re-visit this wonderful city. Flights from Singapore generally took about 40 minutes or so. Tour coaches typically take about 5 hours, including stops for meals and toilet breaks. If I drive, it will take me a little more than 3 hours, if I shorten the time for my meals and toilet breaks along the way. Petronas Twin Tower, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2020) Officially a federal territory, KL also serves as the economic, financial and cultural hub of Malaysia. It is the capital city of the country and was also previously the administrative capital until this function was moved to Putrajaya in 1999 to alleviate the increasing overcrowding and traffic gridlocks in KL. Still, the Greater Kuala Lumpur metropolitan area continues to grow both economi...

"I cannot change yesterday, But I can travel today, So that I can  influence  tomorrow "  - Timothy Tan, author of this blog - tankstraveltales Mount Fuji, near Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan (2018)

Nepal, Annapurna Region This was and still is one of the most enjoyable trips that I had taken. The trip was a long time ago in 1998 when I was still a footloose twenty-something who was rich in energy but poor in resources. Almost fresh out of military service, I had scraped together a couple of years of savings to afford this trip and went along with two other friends.  The total number of days spent trekking was 6 days although I had spent considerably more time in Nepal during the trip, taking the chance to visit Kathmandu and Pokhara before starting on the trek. After the trek, I also took the opportunity to visit the Chitwan National Park in the Terai Region, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984. This is a chronology of the trek from Day 1 to 6. Day 1 (3 April 1998)  - First day of our trek. The day began early at about 7.40am. Driving out of Pokhara (900 meters above sea level), our cheerful driver brought us to the foot of Dhampus Hill. He...

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...