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

Malaysia, Perak, Batu Gajah This previous post in this travelogue was first published on 13 February 2016. The trip was made earlier in the same month before the article's published date on this blog. Read on for a brief history of this supposedly haunted abandoned castle located in the midst of lush palm tree plantations. ****************** Despite the title, there is nothing really supernatural about this article. But the title is neither a tease nor click bait. There are indeed stories and rumours of ghostly apparitions being observed in and around this castle! As are often the cases in stories of most haunted castle / mansions, tales of the supernatural are typically intertwined with actual historical events and people. View of Kellie's Castle as seen through the camera lens of my iPhone 6s Plus as I circled the castle in an anticlockwise direction, Batu Gajah, Perak, Malaysia (2016) Kellie's Castle (or the ruins of what remains) is located in Perak State of Malaysia. B

How often do we take everyday sights and sounds for granted when we travel? An impressive building and architectural structure I saw and photographed while travelling on foot from Harrods to the London Natural History Museum, South Kensington, London, UK (2017) A mundane road, a bus ferrying passengers going about its daily routine, people sitting around chatting or resting and pedestrians passing by with shopping bags. Surely, these are sights and sounds that can be found in every country, city, town or neighbourhood.  Not exactly true. Because every place has its own unique sights and sounds. Yes, the flow of people and public transport or the grind of everyday life are structured to achieve the same aims; daily living. But the way each place achieves this is different. There is something unique about every place, even within the same neighbourhood, town, city or country. It is this uniqueness which gives every place an identity of its own.  As an example, London's Piccadilly Cir

Leisure travel....... soon? Sunday morning. As usual, I woke up late, preferring to sleep in on weekend mornings, just so to differentiate between the weekend and weekday mornings of my new work-from-home lifestyle. As I went through the motion of eating my quotidian breakfast of cereal, oats and eggs while browsing the news websites on my laptop, with a little check on the current Olympic medal tally (today, 8 August 2021, is the last day of the Tokyo "2020" Olympics), it suddenly dawned upon me that leisure travel may soon be possible again in this part of the world. Of course, a lot still depend on the "ifs" and "buts" but there is now a small glimmer of hope that folks looking to travel for leisure may be permitted to do so, subject to some minor inconveniences such as swabbing, re-swabbing and more re-swabbing for viral particles that may be hiding somewhere up in the deep recesses of the travellers' nostrils. Meanwhile airports, airlines and othe

"Don't save that travel experience for a special occasion, Travel while you can, Because you never know when you can no longer travel. "  - Anonymous Tram, Basel, Basel-Stadt, Switzerland (2009)

I missed the days when with just a few clicks on the internet, I could purchase my air tickets and hotel accommodation and off I go to my next travel destination. For me, the excitement of travel began as soon as I reached my departure airport, searched for the airline's check-in gates via the airport's departure lobby's signages and check-in my luggages for the trip. While I now await the time when travel can resume without restrictions, I can only looked back on the travel photos of my previous trips and wish for the day when I can go on my next trip. Airport signage, Shanghai Pudong International Airport, Pudong, Shanghai, China (2015)

Cambodia, Siem Reap, Tonl é  Sap This was a previous post in this travelogue. It is a chronology of photos based on a first person view of what I saw when sailing on the famed Tonl é  Sap lake. This was from my trip to Siem Reap in Oct 2015. ****************** The Tonl é  Sap is a huge freshwater lake that connects to the Mekong River via the Tonl é  Sap River. The Tonl é  Sap is unique in that its size varies widely throughout the year as the rainy and dry seasons come and go. The lake is at its largest size typically during the months of September and October due to the southwest monsoon. Conversely, it is generally at its smallest size at the end of the dry season in the month of April. The difference in the lake's size between these two extremes can be as much as six times. Photograph of the lake as my boat makes it way upriver,  Tonl é  Sap, Siem Reap, Cambodia (2015) Life on the lake,  Tonl é  Sap, Siem Reap, Cambodia (2015) The lake is home to many people. These folks live o