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

Japan,  Yokohama Chancing upon an event featuring one's favourite franchise characters of all time definitely qualifies as a Travel Bucket List item. At least in my opinion! This was what happened to me when I arrived in Yokohama in August 2023 to discover myself in the midst of the  Pokémon World Championship 2023. Needless to say, I quickly immersed myself into the  festival-like atmosphere of the event. It was such a joy joining leagues of Pokémon fans worldwide to celebrate  Pokémon World Championship. The original article was posted on this blog in November 2023. ⛰ ****************** How often does anyone chanced upon a major event featuring one's personal hobby while traveling? I did, in August 2023. Sandshrews! Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan (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...

I visited Penang again in March 2024 when I took a cruise which had a stopover at the Swettenham Pier in Georgetown. Due to the relatively short stopover of only around half a day,  I only disembarked to walk around the pier area to take photographs of the cruise ship. Back to the ship at dusk, I was at Deck 15 and had a rather good view of the city when I spotted this photo opportunity of the setting sun.  Taken with my iPhone 15 Po Max, this is the view I witnessed onboard Spectrum of the Seas' Deck 15 of Sunset over the City. 📸 Sunset over the City, Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia (2024)

Autumn Travel......  I work and live in the tropics so the changing of seasons don't really apply to me. But actually they do, because I love to travel to temperate countries during the autumn season. Why? Because the weather is cooler, the peak summer travel season is over, hotels and air tickets are generally cheaper and there are less crowd everywhere. Coming from the tropics, I can indulge in wearing my thicker clothing items such as my hoodies, wool sweaters and also dabble in wearing layered clothing, something that I cannot do in warm and humid Singapore! This year has been a pretty barren one for me in terms of travel. Into the ninth month of the year and I had only went on one actual vacation; my budget train journey from Bangkok to Singapore, in May and June 2024. My other trips; one to Ipoh in February was for the Chinese New Year Holidays to meet family and friends so it cannot really be counted as a vacation. The other trip was a 4-night return cruise from Singapore to...

Seychelles,  Mahé I had only visited beautiful Seychelles once, in 2000.  During that trip, I drove a rental vehicle around the island of Mahé, charted a sports fishing boat for a big game fishing experience, enjoyed dinners by the beach at Beau Vallon at dusk, strolled around charming Victoria, shopped at the morning market, visited a museum and swam among coral fishes.  This was definitely a travel bucket list item for me. The trip was also the first time I had visited an African country. The original article was posted on this blog in July 2018. ⛰ ****************** The capital of Seychelles is Victoria. Located on the island of Mahé, Victoria was formerly the seat of the British colonial government.  The beautiful beach at Beau Vallon,  Mahé, Seychelles (2000) History and Geography While the city itself was previously founded by French colonies in the late 18th century, the name Victoria was given to the city by the Br...

On my Train Journey from Bangkok to Singapore in May 2024, I decided that it made the most economic sense to fly budget one-way from Singapore to Bangkok. This was because my "return" trip will be via train routes. With this in mind, I searched for the most competitive fares and decided to book the flight with Thai Air Asia. Thai Air Asia is a low cost carrier formed via a joint venture between Malaysia's Air Asia and Thailand's Asia Aviation. From Singapore's Changi International Airport (IATA: SIN, ICAO: WSSS), Thai Air Asia fly to Bangkok's smaller Don Mueang International Airport (IATA: DMK, ICAO: VTBD). Thai Air Asia planes at  Don Mueang International Airport, Bangkok, Thailand (2024) Check-in My flight was on FD356 departing Changi International Airport Terminal 4 on 27 May 2024 at the scheduled time of 2pm. Checking-in was simple and hassle free. I arrived at the departure terminal about 2.5 hours before the scheduled flight time and cleared immigratio...

I had so often heard about Hua Hin but had never visited until during my Train Journey from Bangkok to Singapore when I had a one-night stopover in this town in Thailand's Prachuap Khiri Khan province. Sine this was only a stopover, I had less than 24-hours to explore Hua Hin, less after taking into acocunt my sleeping time and time spent alighting and boarding trains between destinations. It was already dusk when I arrived at Hua Hin from Bangkok on a train ride that lasted more than 3 hours. Walking towards my accommodation for the night, my route cut across the night market. The place was a bustle of activities with many stalls selling stuffs from food to art to souvenirs. There are also shops fronting the night market from all sides, including 24-hour convenience shops. After checking to my accommodation, a quick shower and a change of clothes, I was out exploring the night market. I had dinner and supper, filmed videos for my Travel YouTube Channel, browsed the many stalls se...

Travel Assurance......  Read in the news that there had been an earthquake in Japan's southern region with the relevant authorities warning of a major (or should it be mega?) earthquake to be wary of. Of course, the probably of such an event is very low and the timing is anyone's guess, even if it happens. After all, no one can accurately predict the timing and scale of earthquakes or any natural disasters despite the advancement of science.  Of course, I am not panicking despite that I have a booked trip to Japan in end-October. But I do think that being cautious and not taking things for granted do go a long way to be prepared if and when any unforeseen events occur, however unlikely. I therefore decided to increase my travel insurance coverage for the trip, paying more just to have a better peace of mind. For my Penang trip in December, which I consider to be low risk due to the geography, I bought only the basic insurance coverage.  On a recent backpacking trip via tr...