Nikon Studio

Montevideo offers excellent guided walking tours that showcase its history, architecture, and vibrant culture. Most tours last about 3 hours and cover highlights like Mercado del Puerto, Plaza Zabala, Teatro Solís, and the scenic Rambla along the Río de la Plata.

As the first 15 days draw to a close on sea, it takes both determination and discipline to approach each meal! Simplicity becomes key to enjoying your food onboard.

Montevideo was our next port of call! To my surprise, Uruguay is classified as a high-income economy by the World Bank, with GDP per capita among the highest in Latin America.

Last set of scenes from Salvador, Bahia. The security was tight as it could be as Military polices secured the entire harbor.

Just like the Favela, houses here on the hill are packed densely together as the poor struggles with their daily livelihood here.

Capoeira, the Afro‑Brazilian martial art that blends fight, dance, music, and ritual. In Salvador, Bahia — the birthplace of capoeira — it’s common to see groups of kids and adults gather in a circle (roda) with live drumming and singing, performing acrobatic kicks, sweeps, and playful movements.

The Lacerda Elevator in Salvador is a short but iconic ride that links the Lower City (Cidade Baixa) with the Upper City (Cidade Alta), offering panoramic views over All Saints Bay; it’s free (for now), quick (about 30 seconds), and doubles as both daily commuter transport and a tourist attraction.

The area around Salvador’s Lacerda Elevator is one of the city’s most vibrant crossroads — the lower terminus sits by the Mercado Modelo craft market and waterfront, while the upper terminus opens onto Praça Tomé de Souza, surrounded by colonial architecture, museums, and the gateway to Pelourinho.

Salvador is Brazil’s vibrant Afro‑Brazilian capital in Bahia — a 16th‑century port city famed for its colonial Pelourinho, Afro‑Brazilian culture, music and cuisine, and a UNESCO‑listed historic centre that blends beaches, baroque churches, and lively street festivals.

Just when we thought that the two days' delay from leaving Lisbon was bad enough, we had another medical emergency while enroute to the Tenerife Island, meaning we had no choice but to skip that port too.

I guess it's almost inevitable that the boat was packed with mainly retirees, only whom who can spare the long absence from a work desk. I was kinda looking forward to seeing the Canary Islands for a change though.

The slightly more complicated issue bears a little reminder - that multiple train routes exist from Sintra outbound. One slight misread will get you on an entirely opposite direction, though passing through identical train stops!

By the time we arrived at Timeout Market, we were so pressed for time that we could only squeeze a purchase of Portugal's finest egg tarts there before heading back to the ship.

At a stone's throw away lies Quinta da Regaleira, a mystical estate built between 1904–1910, famous for its Gothic‑style palace, lush gardens, underground tunnels, and the iconic “Initiation Wells” used for symbolic rituals.

With each step comes the sense of appreciation of the beauty of Sintra, fusing rural crudeness with that hint of modern flare. Being a walking tour, opted out of paying National Palace of Pena a detour visit.

Located just outside the city limit of Lisbon lies a beautiful site called Sintra. The most famous palace in Sintra is the National Palace of Sintra (Palácio Nacional de Sintra), a UNESCO World Heritage Site known for its iconic twin chimneys, Moorish origins, and centuries of royal history. It is Portugal’s oldest palace, blending medieval, Gothic, Manueline, and Renaissance styles, and served as a royal residence for nearly 1,000 years.

To cover the remaining unreached crevasses of the Singapore island and beyond, a new tool is required that neither my Felt Time Trial nor my Giant Escape bicycle can go - Gravel.

We are talking about trail networks found in Ubin Island, Batam Island, Johor, Chestnut Nature Park, Lorong Halus Red Sands, Bahtera Track etc. Capturing these locations with my camera would be one new initiative of mine this year.

The lockable clutch system (preventing chain slaps) is a welcome on this model, among other surprising feature like tubeless-ready "38" tires, carbon fork, front pannier mounts, and even a conventional seat stem that allows me to incorporate a Red Shift suspension stem!

For USD350, its a steal for a crummy 2026. With all my trips to Europe cancelled, I have nowhere else to go except for my later journey to Los Angeles and Tokyo for the second half of the year.

Let's go!