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

As I geared up for my upcoming month-long multi cities trip across several counties in Asia, I am starting to wonder if I have missed out anything. Travel documentations, accommodation bookings, inter-city transportations, air tickets, travel insurance and more are all in order. At home, I have made arrangements for my pets to be taken care of and my plants to be watered at regular intervals. Pre-travel, I have done all the laundry, paid all my upcoming bills, make sure my phone apps are all updated and decided on which work laptop to bring along for the trip. Yes, I am never far from my work, thanks to the wonders of modern technologies!  But, there is always this nagging feeling that I have missed out something, only to find out when I am abroad! Well, I will only know when the time comes. Meanwhile, I am only left with my luggage to pack, to decide what clothes to bring along and of course, my writing instruments (pens and pencils) and materials (inks, refills and notebooks) to ...

Israel, Tel Aviv This article was originally published in this blog in April 2017. Some may ask, why is visiting a local market even a bucket list item? The simple answer from me is that anything can be a bucket list item depending on individuals. For some, even swimming in the local lake can be a bucket list item while for others; only climbing the highest peak on earth will qualify as a bucket list item, all other stuff don't even come near. Therefore, what is a bucket list item can only be defined by the individual making his or her own list.  For me, morning markets are the heartbeats of any city. In the markets, I can observe and interact with locals, indulge in local street food, buy souvenirs and simply soak in the local atmosphere. Ever wonder why the old Tsukiji Market of Tokyo was such an attraction for tourists worldwide? The precise reasons were what I had just stated. Located in a part of Tel Aviv just steps from t...

  "In the sky, I used to fly with the clouds, From the trees, I sat free from restrain, But in my cage, I long for the freedom that once was." -    Timothy Tan, tankstraveltales Common Black-headed Gull ( Chroicocephalus ridibundus ), Helsinki, Finland (2017)

Gearing up for my vacation......  As I gear up for my upcoming month-long trip, I am busy trying to get as much work done as possible before I travel. While I will always have to work on-the-go, I at least try to keep that to a minimum because I wanted to use my "free" periods in the nights during the trip to write my book. Yes, I am writing a book of short stories.  In-between the sight-seeing and partaking in local festivities like a good old-fashioned tourist, I also intend to explore some other parts of the cities that I am visiting which are not considered "touristy". These will include the Yanaka and Kanda areas of Tokyo as well as some of the often over-looked towns in Niigata and Yamagata Prefectures of western Japan. In Vietnam, I intend to explore Nha Trang on foot. For shopping, of course I would be visiting Tsutaya and Itoya for stationery, Montblanc for pens and Isetan for all kinds of other stuffs that one can only find in Japan. I am not sure what I w...

Over the past 10 years or so, quaint and lovely Ipoh has become more like a second hometown to me. I loved everything about Ipoh, from the unhurried pace of the life here to the delicious food that only people of Ipoh can somehow whip up with the simplest of ingredients. Common yet unique. Myself posing with the wall mural of a Tiger, Old Town, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia (2023) This abandoned shophouse being reclaimed by nature shows the rustic charms of Ipoh, Old Town, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia (2023) And in the last decade or so, many cafes had sprung up here. Most of these are of the local, owner-operated type rather than the international franchise varieties. These are all usually located in the Old Town area of Ipoh where weekends saw tourists, both domestic and international, arriving in their hundreds to enjoy Ipoh as a destination of choice. Cafe chilling sessions aplenty by myself and also with friends, Old Town, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia (2023) A delicious serving of pancakes, Old Town, I...

Singapore, Sentosa, S.E.A. Life Sometimes, we travel far and wide in search of new experiences and new sights. But, right in our backyard, literally, are new experiences and sights that we had totally overlooked. Before I get mistaken, I am a huge proponent of international travel. I am a firm believer of the benefits of travel to far and distant lands. But, I am also an advocate in discovering experiences and sights unknown to ourselves in our own country, city, town and so on. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when international travel was more or less near impossible, I took to visiting local sites that I had never been to before. Visiting the S.E.A. Aquarium at Singapore's Sentosa resort island was one such experience. The visit left me both amazed and bewildered at the amount of sea life on display. What impressed me most were the efforts of the Aquarium to (as close as possible) present the animals in their natural environments and their efforts at encouraging conservati...

With world travel, both business and leisure, now firmly back on track in most parts of the world and the need for cumbersome documentations and proof of medical vaccinations on the back burner, many around the world have rediscovered the magic of travel again. For businesses, nothing beats an in person meeting as opposed to speaking through the camera and microphone of a laptop computer. For leisure travellers, nothing beats seeing another city and its landmarks in person than through photographs, whether these are printed or digital. Personally, I had been on six trips in 2022 compared to just a single trip in 2020 (pre-COVID) and zero in 2021. This year, I had already been on two short trips and have a long month-long pan-Asian trip  confirmed for August. My travel year for 2023 will be rounded up by a year-end retreat at a beach and mountain location. Physical trips aside, I had also recently purchased some writing instruments with travel themes serving as inspirations to their...