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

Traveling is always fun, even when strolling in malls. During my most recent trip to Busan in November 2019, I came across this very colourful and beautiful wall painting of characters from Line Friends. I was not exactly looking for something so beautiful and interesting. Rather, I was looking for the washroom after having lunch at a mall when I came across this wall art just beside the washroom. The lively portrayal of the Line Characters simply brightened my already happy day. I just could not resist the urge to snap a couple of photographs to share with friends on my social media account. And here is one of those photographs. Wall art in  mall, Bujeon-dong, Busanjin District, Busan, South Korea (2019)

"Travelling is an adventure in self-discovery "  -  Timothy Tan, author of this blog - tankstraveltales Great Northern Highway, Chittering, Western Australia, Australia (2018)

Hiking on foot when we travel has many advantages. We get to see and experience stuff that would otherwise bypass us if we are in a vehicle or some other form of transport. While hiking in the Okuhida region of Takayama, I enjoyed the sights of many beautiful wild flowers and plants. Following a stream which eventually joined with other streams to turn into a river, I spent almost an entire day just admiring, sketching and photographing the flora of the area. Because it was autumn during my hike, the pleasant weather and temperature made the hike a lot more comfortable.  Wild flowers encountered during my hike, Okuhida, Takayama, Gifu Prefecture, Japan (2014) And of course, I was never far from civilisation as the small clusters of village houses and scattered plots of small vegetable farms were always within sight. Yet, I was alone to enjoy the beauty of nature. I could hear the waters flowing in the stream, birds sing and insects chirping. Armed with my small sketc...

Travel Reminiscing....... In a period where worldwide business and leisure travels are heavily curtailed due to a pandemic, the next best thing to satisfying the travel bug in all of us is to reminisce past trips.  Boat waiting to board passengers, Mal é , Maldives (2014) As part of my travel reminiscence, I started a 30-day Travel Reminiscing series of posts on my Instagram account (timothytanks) for the month of May 2020. For this series, I set a self-imposed limit of one post per country/territory/city. This is to allow me to recap and share 30 different destinations over the course of one month. The featured country/territory/city over the 30-days in chronological order were: Post 1.   Helsinki/Finland Post 2.   Nazareth/Israel Post 3.   Jiufen/Taiwan Post 4.   New Norcia/Australia Post 5.   Siem Reap/Cambodia Post 6.   Loch Ness/Scotland Post 7.   Kanchanaburi/Thailand Post 8.   Rome/Italy Post 9. ...

Gothenburg will always be remembered by me as the first city in Europe where I stayed. But the distinction for being the first European city I ever visited belongs to Copenhagen. Located in south-western Sweden, Gothenburg is a coastal city with direct maritime access to the North Sea. This photograph of Gothenburg's Harbour was taken on my first visit to the city. It shows the harbour's two famous landmarks; the Barken Viking and the Lilla Bommen. The Barken Viking was and still is the Nordic's largest sailing ship (387 feet). Launched in 1906 as part of Denmark's merchant fleet, the ship was decommissioned in 1950. It is now both a hotel and a restaurant. The distinctive building with the red-coloured top to the right of the photograph is the Lilla Bommen. With its unique red-coloured upper floors, it is more popularly known as "The Lipstick Building". Gothenburg Harbour, Gothenburg, Sweden (2000)

Japan, Nagasaki Prefecture, Tsushima Japan is a country which is heavily forested. Close to 2/3 of the country is covered in forests. I had always wanted to travel to and hike in some of Japan's forested areas, preferably in locales where the human population is sparse. Not that I am a hermit but less populated areas usually means more flourishing flora and fauna due to lesser human activities. Over the years and during my many trips to Japan, I had hiked in the Okuhida region of Takayama's mountain range as well as in the forests of Shiga Prefecture. One of my hikes in Japan's forests was in November 2019 when I traveled to Tsushima from Busan (Korea). Located between Busan and Nagasaki, Tsushima is an island group. With a sub-tropical marine environment, Tsushima has unique flora and fauna not found elsewhere in the Japanese main islands. A secluded shore in the n orthern part of Kamino-shima, Tsushima, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan (2019) During my tr...

Andorra is a small landlocked country located between southern France and northern Spain. Andorra is the 6th smallest country in Europe and has a population of only about 80,000 people. Located in the east of the Pyrenees Mountain Range, Andorra's landscape is generally mountains and more mountains, bisected in-between by several prominent valleys. This photograph of wild horses, including possibly the Ariegeois Pony, was taken in the parish of Encamp. Wild horses in the mountains, Encamp, Andorra (2007)