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

South Korea,  Gwangan-dong, Suyeong District,   Busan This article was originally posted on this blog on November 2019. It described my experience visiting a morning market in the city of Busan. Should a travel bucket list item be something totally off-the-beaten-track and out-of-the-ordinary? Yes and no. Anything not generally experienced in our everyday lives or out of reach of most folks certainly qualify as a travel bucket list item. But for me, it is not so much doing or experiencing something that not many people have done before. In my personal travel bucket list, an item can also be something that I personally enjoy and do not generally get to experience at home unless I travel. It also mean interacting with locals, seeing and sharing the everyday lives of people in the destinations that I traveled to. Where better to mingle with locals and share their everyday lives in a non-intrusive way other than to visit the local markets! This is one of the reasons why I always make it a

On a recent cruise onboard Royal Caribbean's Spectrum of the Seas, I visited Hong Kong for the first time via a port visit. While I had traveled to Hong Kong many times previously, all these visits were by air via either Cathay Pacific or Singapore Airlines. This was the first time I visited Hong Kong by sea! View of Hong Kong's water from onboard Spectrum of the Seas berthed at the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal, Hong Kong SAR, China (2023) The cruise ship was already berthed at the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal by the time I woke up lazily in my cabin at about 8am. After a quick breakfast at the Windjammer cafe at Deck 14, I disembarked from the ship and was soon onboard the free shuttle bus that ferried cruise passengers from the cruise terminal to different areas of the city. I chose to take the shuttle to Mong Kok and had a great time relaxing over aromatic coffee and delicious waffles whilst people watching at Langham Place. I also found time to shop at the many and varied retail shop

During a recent trip to Ubud, I serendipitously came upon a religious festival. Following the colourful procession from a respectful distance and only using the zoom function of my camera to "get close", I make sure to stay as inconspicuous as possible. I certainly did not wish to be seen as "intruding" upon the locals celebrating their culture and religion. Thankfully, all the locals were really friendly and they did not mind me walking behind, from a distance. They smiled continuously and even explained to me the significance of the festival. The following video on this blog's TANKS Travel Tales YouTube Channel was sewn from a few of the video clips and some of the photographs I took at the event. Hop over to view the video and enjoy the colourful and beautiful spectacle of the festival. Religious Festival in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia (2023)

South East Asia Train Journey......  I had just got home from a train journey from Bangkok to Singapore traveling through the South East Asian countries of Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. While I do not have an exact number on the actual kilometres travelled, my estimate was that I had probably covered close to 2000 kilometres of rail travel as my journey from Bangkok to Singapore took me through the Thai provinces of Nakhon Pathom, Ratchaburi, Phetchaburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Chumphon, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Songkhla, the Malaysian States of Perlis, Kedah, Penang, Perak, Selangor, Melaka (a.k.a. Malacca), Negri Sembilan and Johore as well as the Malaysian Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur. My itinerary took 8-days to complete, with overnight stopovers in Hua Hin, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Hat Yai, and Taiping. There were also two overnight train rides. The first was between Prachuap Khiri Khan and Hat Yai in Thailand. The second was in Malaysia between Kuala Lumpur and Joh

Japan, Yamaguchi Prefectures, Iwakuni This article was originally posted on this blog on October 2020. I was on a trip to Hiroshima when on the spur of the moment, I decided that Iwakuni in neighbouring Yamaguchi Prefecture is not so far away after all. Amending my intended itinerary, I took the train from Hiroshima Station to Iwakuni Station, then hopped on a local bus that took me to the famous Kintai-kyo and of course, Iwakuni Castle. One of the major item on my Travel Bucket List is to visit as many Japanese Castles as possible. Visiting Iwakuni Castle thus checked off an item on my Travel Bucket List! ****************** Located in Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture, the original Iwakuni Castle was built in the year 1608. Sited at the top of Mount Shiroyama, the castle must had looked a formidable obstacle to any attackers in the 17th century. However, merely seven years after the building of the castle was completed, it was torn down based on a decree ( Ikkoku-ichijo ) from the Shogu

The Angkor Archeological Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is also one of the most important archaeological site not just in Cambodia but also probably in the South-East Asia region. The park covers an area that extended for hundreds of square kilometres and include major sites such as the Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom ancient temple complexes. Other notable sites include Banteay Srei, Beung Mealea, Srah Srang, Preah Khan and Preah Lup. I had been fortunate to get to visit the Angkor Archeological Park twice. During these visits, I got to view many of the artefacts and wall sculptures up close, taking digital photographs with both my DSLR and mobile phones. Video clips taken wit my digital devices during the second trip not just recorded what I saw and experienced but also hopefully, document the ingenuity of the ancient Khmer people who built these sites. Here, I had compiled a short 4-minute plus video of my second trip. The video is made up of a combination of video clips and st

A 5-part mini series of videos on the topic of "Love the Seas" has been uploaded to the YouTube Channel of this blog at TANKS Travel Tales YouTube Channel. S.E.A. Aquarium, Sentosa, Singapore The idea behind the mini-video series is to focus on the wonderful world of life under the sea. The main underlying message is of course fo all of us to play a part in saving the seas; to use less plastics, stop pollution and work towards a more sustainable lifestyle in our everyday activities. The video footages and photos were taken at the S.E.A. Aquarium in Sentosa, Singapore. The links to all 5 videos are here: Link to Video - Part I Link to Video -Part II Link to Video - Part III Link to Video - Part IV Link to Video - Part V