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

  Japan, Tokyo Metropolitan and Chiba Prefecture This was another previous article written by myself and posted in this travelogue blog as the very first entry. Although this was a working trip, it was also the very first overseas trip for me traveling without any family members. Needless to say, it was also my first trip to Japan, a country that I had come to enjoy visiting over the years. While Japan and Tokyo are no longer strangers to me after so many visits over the past years, this post which was unedited from the first time I wrote it, truly reflects what I felt and experienced during that so-called virgin sojourn into a land unknown to me (at that time). ****************** Japan is a large country and I have only been to Tokyo. Although Tokyo is the capital of Japan, I'm sure there is more to the country than this city. In May 1995, I was sent to Tokyo on a one-week working trip while I was still working in Apple Computer. I shall not go into the detailes of the working nat

One of the first touchpoint when a foreign visitor arrives at any city by flight is typically the subway or rail station that provides transport to ferry passengers to the nearby cities and surrounding districts.  When visiting any city, I always made it a point to take a photograph of the subway/rail station which transported me to my first destination on arrival, typically the hotel. This photograph is a memento of my trip and usually the first of many I will take when I am overseas.  Why a photograph of a subway/rail station? Because, thanks to such efficient public transport systems, I usually get to arrive at the hotel on time, drop off my luggages, take a shower and have a fresh change of clothes before I head out to explore, sight-see, dine and shop. Arriving at Helsinki for the first time in 2017 on an early-spring morning, I was surprised to find the subway station at the Airport's Terminal 2 totally absent of any passengers. On hindsight, this was not surprising as I had

I always enjoyed photographing buildings and architectural structures wherever I travelled to. While I am no architectural buff, buildings have always been favourite photographic subjects for me. A photograph of a building tells us stories about the place where it stood as well as the history of the place between its construction and the present. It also tells us about the culture and people of the place. Depending on how one looks at and interpret a photograph of a building, it can be different things to different people. It can rejuvenate memories of previous experiences and people, and it can also invoke a longing to travel to the place. Building, Jaffa, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel (2017)

  Looking on in envy....... The United States and Europe are slowly opening up for leisure travel while here in Asia, things look almost exactly the same as they were in 2020! While some Asian countries have relatively low Covid-19 infection rates compared to the US and Europe, they are firmly standing their grounds to stay shut. This is reflected in countries like Australia, New Zealand and Japan amongst many others. Australia and New Zealand are now like impregnable fortresses to foreign arrivals. Meanwhile, even though Japan is looking forward to hosting the Olympics next month (July 2021), it is at the same time saying that no foreigners are allowed into the country, wherever you are from. Such "disconnect" in policies is hard to fathom. I am not sure if policy makers are simply being too conservative or too cautious or both. Whatever it is, this continual shutting off from the World is having very damaging effects on their local hospitality and tourism industries. As Asi

" There are no foreign lands, It is the traveller only who is foreign." -  Robert Louis Stevenson (13 Nov 1850 - 3 Dec 1894) - Scottish Novelist) Fireplace, Grand Prairie, Texas, United States (2019)

Seychelles, Mahé, sea west of  Mahé This was a previous article written by myself and posted in this travelogue blog in September 2014. Those were the times when fishing was a favourite personal past-time. I had not been on open waters fishing trips for more than 10 years since, except for the occasional fishing trips to commercial fishing ponds. ****************** The main purpose of my visit to the Seychelles in  May 2000, was for some big game fishing action. One of my fishing buddies, Kenneth, was there with me for the same reason. But the dates of our visit in the month of May, did not coincide with the big game fishing season which normally starts around September. Therefore, we learnt to our disappointment that big game fishes may not be easily targeted during our fishing trip. Still, we decided to go ahead and charter one of the specialised fishing boats. We contacted the organisers and chartered a small sports fisher for our fishing trip. The sports fisher was the Striker II.

Looks like 2021 is going to be another year of staying at home... for many of us....... While we were all told that 2020 was not going to the year where leisure travel was possible due to the pandemic, many of us thought that 2021 would be the time when international leisure travel will be able to resume, albeit slowly. However, amidst the news that new mutant strains had started to rear their ugly heads coupled with slow and lethargic vaccination programmes in many countries, 2021 is now more or less looking like it is going to be a lot similar to 2020. Renewed social distancing measures and stay-at-home practices are going to be the norms for at least another year. While the US, UK and many EU countries are looking to slowly reopen their borders to international leisure travel, countries in Asia are firmly keeping their borders shut for now. And that is for good measure. I personally believe that rushed border re-openings when things are still bleak with respect to the pandemic can b