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

A recent trend on social media is to have one's selfies being digitally transformed into anime renditions of oneself. For those who are not familiar with the term anime, it is basically animations of hand or digitally drawn stylised characters that originated from Japan. Because I am currently unable to travel due to heavy work commitments, I decided to "travel" digitally into the world of anime using selfies of myself taken during my travels.  Travel is after all not just physical journeys but also journeys of the creative mind! Here are some of my photos, transformed into anime character(s) of myself. Digitally generated characters of what I would possibly look like if I live in an anime world! 😂 The original photo from which this digitally generated picture of Anime Timothy was taken in Busan, South Korea (2019)  A semi-accurate rendition of myself in anime-style. The original photograph was that of myself taken in the balcony of a cruise ship somewhere along the Stra

Holiday accommodations with personal spaces to relax in.......  Living in an apartment in a city, I am literally walled in. Yes, there are small pockets of greeneries within walking distance of my apartment, but I always believe it is good to live in a place with its own patch of open space, no matter how small. Where a small garden is not possible, at least a balcony where I can sit and enjoy the fresh air with a cup of coffee after a long day at the office. While I can't change much of my permanent living environment due to the high cost of real estate where I live, at least I have the luxury to choose my holiday accommodations when it comes to those few days of vacation escapades. When I travel, I thus tend to choose accommodations where the rooms come with a balcony accompanied by nice views or those rooms with a patio overlooking lush greeneries. When I am not out and about sight-seeing or shopping, a cup of coffee, some snacks and a good book will always accompany me on a nic

Israel, Caesarea The original article was first published in this blog in 2016.  Caesarea was an ancient port and administrative city on the Mediterranean coast of Israel.  Located between the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa, this ancient city sits within the Caesarea National Park. If you like history and are visiting Israel or the surrounding regions, I highly recommend a side trip to Caesarea.  For me, my visits to Caesarea were the fulfilment of a personal bucket list item.  ****************** Caesarea is a small town in central Israel. It is located along Israel's Mediterranean coastline and is situated 45km north of Tel Aviv and a similar distance south of the northern Israeli port city of Haifa. Caesarea was built sometime between 25 to 13 BC by Herod the Great (a.k.a. Herod I). In the Bible, Herod I was described as the ruler who ordered the "Massacre of the Innocents" based on a prophecy at the time of the birth of Jesus.  Walking amongst the Sands of Time,

Travel Plans for 2023 .......  With the completion of a cruise trip on 31 October, I wrapped up my leisure travels for 2022. Following the pandemic-induced stay-within-home-city period which for me stretched from February 2020 to April 2022, I had the luxury to go on six trips in 2022. A trip to Ipoh and Cameron Highlands in mid-May was followed quickly by an escapade to  Siem Reap in the last week of that same month. My first ever cruise experience happened in July when I sailed with Royal Caribbean onboard its Spectrum of the Seas ship from Singapore to Penang and back to Singapore on a 3-night trip. In August, I visited Kuala Lumpur, the city I visited in January 2020 just before the worldwide pandemic struck.  A repeatedly postponed trip to Bali, no thanks to the pandemic, finally happened in the first week of October. In the last week of that month, I went on my second cruise trip. Again on Spectrum of the Seas, I sailed from Singapore to Port Klang, Penang and Phuket. And so, tho

  " Travel whenever you can, Choose your journeys, Live your adventures, Write your story. " - Timothy Tan, tankstraveltales Port Klang, Klang, Selangor, Malaysia (2022)

Mobile phones with good quality cameras are now an essential part of everyday life, travel included. Gone are the days when one has to bring along a chunky conventional camera when travelling so as not to miss those opportunistic photo moments that one is bound to encounter. Whilst on a recent cruise trip as I was sighted-seeing from the balcony of my cabin located at the back of the ship on Deck 13, I took this photograph. As the ship pulled out of Singapore's Marina Bay Cruise Centre and travelled along the Singapore Strait heading for the Strait of Malacca, I decided that this view of commercial shipping will be a good digital memento of my trip. This photo reminded me of the busy shipping that contributes to global trade and keeps the economies of many countries humming along nicely. Commercial Shipping, Singapore Strait, Singapore (2022)

Australia, Western Australia, New Norcia The original article was first published in this blog in December 2018.  This was an unplanned side trip that ended up as a personal bucket list item for me. While visiting Western Australia, I had planned for a trip to Rottnest Island. However, inclement weather on the day of my planned visit to Rottnest Island meant that I had to cancel my travel plans leaving me with a full day of free time in my itinerary. Someone suggested I should visit New Norcia. Until then, I had never heard of this town before. And since I had a rented vehicle for the duration of my stay in Western Australia, I decided that a drive to this monastery town was a good idea. Instead, it turned out to be a great idea. Besides enjoying the relatively long two and half hour drive (one way ) from Perth to New Norcia, I got to experience an actual monastery town for the first time in my travels. This trip is proof that bucket list items don't have to be planned years ahead.