My main mode of transport and 19 windmills...

The Belguim Royal Palace

Monica Pissa in Brussels

What happens when you have such an amazing holiday, that you forget about your burnt finger for a week.

Wheat, cabbage, brocoli and lettece - all perfectly aligned

Time for a silly photo (the classic move from the Karate Kid)

Eating mussels with Thomas in Brussels...

Brussels - Belgium

What Brussels has going for it is the number of old buildings that are still in existence.
What Brussels has going against it is a lack of building maintenance laws. I.e. like the laws the Netherlands has which specify what style of house you are allowed to build, how tidy you have to keep it, the height of your hedges (and you get a strongly worded letter if you don't maintain your house).
This means that in Belgium you get very poorly maintained houses and a clash of continuity when a 21st century house is built next to a 17th century building.

On my trip around Brussels I did meet Thomas who provided me with a insight in the life of a merchant ship seaman. Short summary: their life is very un-PC. e.g. after 9/11 all the huge Merchant ship companies fired all the Muslims without regard to employment law. However he has set foot in places I have only flown over and experienced a whole range of cultures (French women he said, are the most beautiful in the world). And he's also an excellent cook which he demonstrated by cooking the most delicious mussels I've ever eaten (and by using such phrases as "the sauce will be too dominating").

Me being showing my patriotic side in the EU parliment (god the tour was boring...)

I couldn't resist...

Prairie in North Belgium (where the three remaining buffalo's exist)

Look at my clothes I brought for the wedding mum!!

All that I need now is a pink tie...

Day One: Bleiswijk -> Rotterdam -> Dordecht -> Moerdijk

Below you will find my interpretations of what I've seen and experienced during my 6 day cycle tour of south Holland and north Belgium.

Day One: Bleiswijk -> Rotterdam -> Dordecht -> Moerdijk

Woke up on day one realizing that I didn't have a tent for camping (how did I miss something major as a tent? I remembered my deodorant but forgot my tent?) so the first stop was a hardware store to buy me a plastic sheet.Then I'm off on my cycle tour.
First mode of transportation is a bus to pick up my bike from Rotterdam. The bus ride is uneventful except for the occasional random stops needed for the bus driver to respond to his text messages.
Next I use the Metro to get from Rotterdam to my Tante (Aunt) Wil's house in Portugaal (a Rotterdam Suburb) to pick up my tour bike. Although I could interpret the train schedule, I just couldn't figure out where I had to pay for my train ride. There was no (working) turnstiles, no conductor and no exit turnstile, so I used my foreign ignorance and rode the metro for free.
Leaving Tante Wil's with my tour bike, I looked back over a picture perfect row of Dutch houses complete with sheep, a dam and two huge smokestacks in the background. I was so impressed with the contrast of suburbia and industry, I just had to take this picture. Despite the smokestacks, the first section of my tour, from Portugaal to Dordecht would have to be one of the more serene and beautiful landscapes I would see. It had just the right ratio of open spaces to villages, a large river (the Maas), a golf course and wooded area's.Arriving in Dordecht I was impressed by the age of the buildings.
Arriving in central Dordecht, everything seemed to be stuck in the 14th-15th century. The highlight of the city was the old church where was possible to climb the church tower and survey the old and new sections of the city. Best of all, there were no cars in the city! If only all cities provided a car free central, it would makes things so much safer for us cyclists.
From Dordect onto Moerdijk where I spent my first night in a camping ground. I quickly realized that all my survival skills I learnt in NZ are based on the assumption that there are trees around. There were no trees in this camping ground, so I created a tent around the frame of my bike and spent the worst night of my life trying to fight off waves of mosquito attacks and get some sleep.

Malaysian Rubber

Nice combination

Windmills found in Malaysia

How they drink beer in Singapore

Toastmaster club of Singapore - Singapore

The Toastmaster club of Singapore was the first club outside New Zealand that I have visited. It is also the oldest of the 150 Toastmaster clubs in Singapore as it was founded in 1966. What was even more surprising is that a founding member still regularly attends the meetings - now that's what I call commitment!

The reason I think the Singapore club has been going for so long has been that core group of Toastmasters who make the club work - organize the meetings, volunteer for those odd jobs and mentor new members. This core group is a common theme that I have seen throughout the club meetings I have attended.

Another thing that I noted about the Singapore club is that they asked for "volunteers" for tabletopics. This is an interesting concept as it allows people to choose topics that are suitable for them. For my topic I choose why men should have long hair - focusing on my facial hair. I managed to get a few laughs but was marked down for having a poor conclusion - doh!

The night ended with three marvelous speeches. One about coral reefs around Singapore (something to visit next time I am in Singapore). Secondly a call to action about how to increase club membership (currently sitting at around 30). Finally concluding with an inspiring speech about why we are here at Toastmaster by the area govenor.

All in all a very organized meeting that ran for approximately 3 hours and really showed the range of cultures and opinions of the people that populate Singapore. Thank you Singapore Toastmasters!

Malacca - Malaysia

I arrived in Malacca yesterday with no place to stay, no local currency and no idea of where I was. When I said my holiday was going to be unplanned, I didn't expect it to be this random. However, I was approached by a trustworthy looking Malaysian who suggested that I stay at the "Eastern Heritage". He was even kind enough to negotiate my taxi ride in Singapore dollars so I didn't pay twice the local rate.

Costing 8 RM (~$3 NZD) a night at the eastern, you cannot expect much more than a safe place to sleep. In fact it is so safe, you don't even have to lock up your gear (this could also be because there are no lockers to lock your gear in).

I would highly recommend the Eastern if you don't mind the lack of hot water, lack of air conditioning, basic sleeping conditions and mixed dorms. A redeeming quality is the Malaccain (spl?) receptionist, Mohamed, who is very friendly and is a great source of information of what to do or (in my case) not to do in Malacca.

One of the things Mohamed advised was to take in the sights and sounds of China Town stalls that appear every Saturday night. There I found karoke displays where people actually pay to get up and sing. You have food stalls that sell everything from delicious fresh mango juice to honey lime kebabs (I tried both). You even had the Malaysian book of records man who can punch his ways through a coconut with his finger (as well a sing a whip to cut pieces of paper that his son is holding up). When he heard that I was from NZ he started doing the Haka - which got me thinking if that's how other people perceive NZ as...

So today I'm relaxing - checking email admiring the Dutch architecture (the Dutch used to rule Malacca for around 170 years) and drinking more of that delicious fresh mango juice. Things I learnt from this trip are to do minimal planning. I.e. plan and book where you are going to stay and how to get there. I could have easily wound up in some overpriced western hotel paying for too much for the taxi ride if it wasn't for the guy who put me onto the Eastern Heritage. However don't plan what you are going to do. Leave that to the locals who know best and can advise you what to do.

P.S. unfortunately there are no Toastmaster clubs in Malacca, despite the city having a population of 600,000!

Next stop: Singapore! (again)