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

In many places of great historical and cultural significances around the world, wall sculptures left by generations before us convey messages of events past. Such messages are recorded versions of history of the places where they are found.  I have always been fascinated by how our ancient ancestors were able to faithfully convey events that would otherwise require many pages of descriptive words, through a series of wall sculptures. The creative ingenuities, stone masonry skills and storytelling talents of our ancient forebears were translated into these beautiful and amazing wall sculptures that allow us of later generations, to learn and study the civilisations that preceded us. Are these wall sculptures from the past simply just art? Or recorded history? To me, they are both and more. In my previous visits to Cambodia's renown Angkor Wat in 2015 and 2022, I spent time studying the many wall sculptures that still remained in this ancient site. The experience has made me more awa...

I had previously posted articles about going analogue and using physical notebooks for my daily and travel journaling. While it can be cumbersome to bring along physical writing materials as I go about my daily schedule or during my travels, nothing beats having physical pens, pencils and notebooks to write with. Physical writing helps me relax and unlocks my mind as I pen down my thoughts and experiences. Most people I know maintain just one physical journal for everything. I like this concept but for me, I prefer to compartmentalise my writings separately in different journals. The burden of bringing more notebooks in my bag is "lightened" by using simple minimalist-designed notebooks. I thus have a combination of standard A5-sized notebooks, the slim A5-height Traveler's Notebook (TN) in their so-called Regular Size and of course, smaller TNs in their Passport Size editions. I usually don't carry with me any physical notebooks bigger than A5 in size due to weight a...

  " For some, who are travelers, the stars are guides ." - from Le Petit Prince by  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Night view taken from the balcony of my cabin at the aft of the ship when I cruised with Spectrum of the Seas in July 2022, Straits of Malacca (2022)

How often does anyone chanced upon a major event featuring one's personal hobby while traveling? I did, in August 2023. Arriving at Yokohama two days early to rest and relax before boarding my cruise to the Kyushu region and other parts of Asia, I found myself in the midst of the Pokémon World Championship 2023 event. The areas around the very hotel that I was staying, was decorated in Pokémon theme, large and small. A giant blown-up Pikachu, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan (2023) There were Pokémon everywhere, literally everywhere. Being a big Pokémon fan, I had a field day exploring the Yokohama marina area indulging in sightseeing and also Pokémon searching. An awesome and unplanned side trip this had turned out to be. Without skipping a beat, I literally went around town catching 'em all!  Pokémon  fans everywhere, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan (2023) Me and Blastoise, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan (2023) Who'...

Spontaneous Trip......  With the year-end festivity mood taking over, I decided to book a spontaneous trip to nearby Kuala Lumpur next week. Nothing fanciful, just a simple trip to eat, shop and relax. Since I returned from my month-long pan-Asia trip in August, I have been hard at work for the months of September, October and November, including working every weekend. With office schedule finally, and hopefully, clearing up a bit after those intense months of working almost non-strop, I decided to reward myself a bit with a short trip. Redeeming my air miles for the short 1-hour flight and booking a 4-night accommodation right in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, I am all ready to spend a few days sipping coffee at cafes, dining on delicious food and doing a little bit of shopping. I also plan to take some time off my mind to write. And of course, for the bookworm in me, I am definitely visiting bookstores to enjoy the ambience of being amongst books and will most probably buy a good rea...

Singapore, Turtle Island Off the southern coast of Singapore lies many small and beautiful islands that one do not normally associate with a high-tech driven city. But herein, havens of tranquility, nature, beautiful beaches, turquoise-coloured waters and wide-opened spaces offer unique escapades from the busy city-life of mainland Singapore. That all these islands can be reached within half an hour by ferry makes traveling there even more appealing. UNESCO World Heritage Sites these islands are not. But they definitely do qualify as  personal Bucket List items . In this blog post, I am featuring one of these island. Kusu Island is where one can find several shrines, nice beaches and yes, many turtles (mostly red-eared sliders,  Trachemys scripta elegans). ****************** Kusu Island, a.k.a. Turtle Island in the local dialect, is also known as Pulau Tembakul in Malay. Lying less than 6 km from mainland Singapore, Kusu I...

As digital technologies and devices continue to take over our daily lives and habits, I now try to "digitally detox" myself whenever I travel. While my work dictates that I cannot fully rid myself of my digital communications channels even when I am on vacations, I have tried to limit time spent on my digital devices in my recent trips. And I will continue to do so in the future. Work aside, I believe we had all spent a fair bit of time reading news, checking in on social media and even doing some online shopping while we were traveling. Besides, what was there to do if we happened to be chilling out in a cafe in a nice Tokyo suburb or dining at an eatery by a picturesque riverside along the Mekong River? Enough of that, for me at least. I have decided that books and journals are the way to go when I travel. Conversations with people around me; with my travel partners, fellow travelers, folks working at the cafes or the locals. Through conversations, I discovered whole new wo...