Chocolate, Beers & Babies.....
Sorry I have not posted in a while.
Last Monday morning, I woke up and went to work as usual... I figured I could take it easy for the week, since my boss was busy on his vacation in Beijing. One week in office without the boss! No pressure! Or so I though.
1 hour in office, and I receive a call from him, all the way from china. "Can't this guy take a break from work? You're on vacation for God's sake! " I wonder to myself... in any case, despite being hundreds of miles away from office, he still manages to worry about work... and that was when he dropped the bomb shell on me...
"I think you better to to Brussels...."
" Are you sure sir? When do you want me to go? "
"As soon as you can. The next flight out. In fact, you can even fly out tonight."
"Erm... OK. How long do you you think I should be there?"
"You just stay about a week first. We'll see how it goes from there."
I didn't know whether to get excited, laugh or feel upset. I get to go to Europe! What's not to like right? Sure, its for work, but at least I get to go to Europe again! Roughly a year after I was there! I'd be staying for a week, so that would mean I would have some time to soak in the country right? On the other hand, my boss was sending me there alone. I
was going to EUROPE alone. Nevermind if it was an english speaking country.. But Belgium is divided into the Flemish, French and German speaking folk.... they all seem to hate each other, and none of them spoke english... Well, at least not most of them. PLUS.... what kind of boss gives you 24hrs notice to pack your backs and go to Europe for a week anyway? Flights need to be arranged, hotels need to be booked, and I needed to be given some money to survive there. You wouldn't expect me to survive there a week with my own money right? Plus I had a mother in hospital to care for. I can't just take off and go missing for a week right?
Anyway, to make a long story short, I was on the next flight out to Amsterdam by Tuesday night. I was supposed to take the train into Brussels since there was no direct flight. Great... now I had to go pick up some Dutch also just to get around. i didnt exactly feel confident travelling with one large suitcase and a laptop bag... in a foreign land half way around the world... alone.. not speaking / reading the local language... AND going into Brussel... which many regards as probable the pick-pocket capital of Europe. It was different the last time.
The last time, I was a student, I was going to an English country, and I was going there with friends. This time, it was more an impersonal business trip more than anything else... I arrive early wednesday morning, checked into the hotel, and to my own surprise, after a 12 hour flight, still had the energy to go straight to office. I survived. I didn't get mugged or pick pocketed & my luggage were all intact......
I did eventually see more of the country, courtesy of my host.. who spend the Saturday bringing me with his family around the outskirts of the city, visiting farms.. cities... churches... etc that show the history of Belgium. Its all about the beers here.. and every single famous beer is named after some town / village and more often than not, was originally made by monks.. I playfully remarked "So that means all your beer money goes to your monks huh?' But I guess a lot of the country side resembled what I saw in Sheffield last year.. lost of crops. lots of cows.. and lost of sheep... Immediately upon landing, I could feel the difference. Life here was different.. the focus isnt so much on work commitments and business performance. People took their weekends off to go hunting, They went mountain biking among the hills.. They laze in the sun enjoying their beer. it's summer anyway..
I visited the small town of Dinant (pronounced Deenoo)... went on a boat ride, and learnt up on the history of some bridge that was used to defend the city from dutch / french / english armies trying to invade. I suppose here and in all other european countries.. they like to talk about their warring past. They actually enjoy recounting to the public the various wars and battles that defined Europe. In Malaysia, we learn about migrates coming to Malaya.. of struggles for independance, of Sultanates & kingdoms... in Europe.. they seem to enjoy talking about who's king was who's uncle, married who and did what... Can you imagine a bunch of tourist comprising french, dutch, germans, belgians and all listening to a tour guide who vividly explain how some conquering french king tied belgian villagers 2 & 2 together before throwing them off into the river? Its exactly at the bridge in the picture on the left by the way. How do you take that? You enjoy that? Anway, I guess there are still lots of things about Europeans I need to understand.
I went into town.. and since I was in Belgium.. I am OBLIGED to do a few things among them:
1. Chocolates
It would almost be a sin not to buy home any chocolates.. since every other person told me Belgian chocolates are to die for. So I duly obliged and went to some of the renowned chocolate makes and bought a few for the folks back home. Not much of a chocolate fan myself, I just tried a few bites.. How did it taste? Well.... forgive the tackiness.. but it still pretty much tasted like chocolate.
2. Beer
This one went without saying. Even when I had no intention of trying any beers, this was practically forced on me. I never lked the taste of beer that much, and having tasted the chocolate... how different could beer be right? Chocolate is chocolate... and beer is beer.... My host went to great lengths to explain to me the history of the various beer around.. and showing me the original brewery where the monks first made them. I supposed many of them were beer connoisseurs if there was ever such a term. But to my pleasant surprise.. I actually did taste a few beers that didn't taste so bad. Unlike the rest of the world, some variety of beers like Orvial are brewed fresh by the monks still.. unlike the mass produced ones we have in the supermarket... and are actually quote flavourful.
3. Famous land marks
On this one, did visit the Grand Place ..... where i suppose grand events take place... basically a square with really really old and grand buildings surrounding the place. And there was this pissing baby (crude I know.. but I forgot the name) that everyone seem to be taking picture of.. You know how Holland has that small statue of the little mermaid.. well.. Belgium has theirs... and its a pissing baby. Again, I was extremely amused as to what this little baby was all about. I didnt really get a chance to read up on this story after my 24 hour notice to fly here.. and wikipedia didn't tell me anything. As I stood by the side, watching everyone else take a picture oof this statue.. i want to ask some people next to me what the big deal was all about anyway.... but decided I better just play tourist instead of intellect. Then there is the Atomium... which I have yet to visit. It was built 50 years ago as th symbol of Belgium... from what I heard.. 50 years ago,. building such an architecture seemed next to imposible, and at the time, it was a real technical accomplishment. So London has the big ben, Paris has the Eiffel, New York has the statue of liberty, San Francisco has the golden gate bridge.... so Brussels decided they needed an identity too.... and its the atomium. I guess suddenly I understood why its so important that KL had its KLCC & KL Towers....
Sorry, this is the only shot I have to do, taken miles away
So that was a week ago, and tomorrow I spend my last day here before flying back to Bolehland on Thursday. Friday is my girlfriends convocation, saturday is her birthday and sunday is our national independance day (merdeka!).. So that would mean hardly a minutes rest! Oh well.. at least I can sleep during the flight.
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posted by Compulsive Blogger @ 5:55 am
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