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

Jiufen, New Taipei City Since watching the popular and award winning Japanese anime fantasy film,  Spirited Away ( 千と千尋の神隠し )  in 2003, I had wondered how nice it would be if I could one day visit an actual place similar to that shown in the magical world portrayed in the film. The dream became a reality years later in 2016 when I visited Jiufen for the first time during one of my frequent trips to Taipei. Just before the trip, I had transitioned from being a full-time employee to start my own consultancy business. Because I had just started my business and jobs had yet to materialise, I had the luxury of spending more time than usual on vacation. With that extra time on my hand, I planned a side trip to Jiufen, making sure to stay at least 2 nights there. While many visited Jiufen as a day trip, I wanted something more from my visit. To spend more time there so that I could explore the surrounding areas and to make use of the peace and quiet during the nights there to map out m

Planning for my next vacation....... Apart form the trip itself, one of the greatest thing about a dream vacation is the trip planning. Finding out about the places to visit, the food to eat and the kind of experience that can be enjoyed is a joy for anyone who enjoys travelling. While my motto has always been to travel with only a loose plan in place so that I can serendipitously  chance upon some delightful travel experiences, a loose plan still needs some basic information before it becomes what it is, a plan! With the internet literally at my fingertips, I can easily look for information whenever I have some free time in-between work meetings or tele-conferences. And these bits of information that I collect are all cut-and-paste digitally into my smart phone. A month or two before the trip, I will collate all this information to form a broad itinerary such as the cities to visit, the areas that I want to stay for the night and the sights and food I want to enjoy. With th

At the time of writing this blog post, travel around the world for leisure is not a viable option. Many countries are in lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic currently sweeping the world. Many national borders are closed to prevent further transmission of the virus and to stop the pandemic from getting more serious. Air travel has mostly grind to a standstill. COVID-19 first surfaced in November 2019. Slowly but then accelerating rapidly, it has now spread to many countries around the world. Current number of infected is around 1.7 million people with more than 106,000 fatalities recorded worldwide. Today is 12 April 2020. Here in my home country, we are advised against unnecessary international travel. Domestically, we are also advised to limit movements outside the home and to practice social distancing to help  contain the spread of COVID-19. Working from home (WFH) is the trending acronym not just in Singapore but around the world now. All these are in the interest of pub

"The sole cause of man's unhappiness is that he cannot stay quietly in his room "  - Blaise Pascal (19 June 1623 - 19 August 1662), mathematician, physicist, inventor and writer. Upper Seletar Reservoir, Singapore (2016)

Israel, Nazareth Growing up in a family who was and still is predominantly Roman Catholic, I have always identified myself as Catholic even though I am not officially baptised as one. Wherever I travel, I would always ventured into a church to pray when the opportunity presented itself. During a trip to Israel many years ago, I took the chance to book a day trip whose itinerary included a visit to the Church of the Annunciation. Also known as the Basilica of the Annunciation, the church is located in the city of Nazareth in the northern part of Israel. The story goes that this church was established at the very site where the angel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary to announce that she would conceive and bear the Son of God, Jesus Chris t. Church of the Annunciation (a.k.a.  Basilica of the Annunciation), Nazareth, Israel (2002) The current church is a double storey building constructed over the site of earlier churches from the Byzantine and Crusader eras. At the l