Holiday 2008 part 2

Woopie.....as I've confided to you in an earlier post "Holiday 2008 part 1"....there would be an extension to our holiday itinerary.

And I can proudly announce to you all that after our Hong Kong trip we will be flying off to Belgium, my 'motherland'....

Oops...with 'we' I mean 'Laetitia & me' only....Jessica isn't going along on this trip as someone has to earn the bucks. Too bad as it's been a while already that she went to Belgium. But we'll try to make up for that in the hopefully not-to-distant future (with a trip to her beloved Scotland countryside, fingers crossed).

3 weeks Hong Kong, 3 weeks Belgium and back in time to celebrate Christmas and New Year with Christmas. You sure won't see me complaining. Now, what should I buy Jess for X-mas? Definitely something one can't find here in Asia....quite a challenge, but I'll do my best, rest assured.

Belgium....in a nutshell, just a small country. So small that it has no native language of its own, because it had been invaded by its neighbouring countries so often that the locals have adopted those lingo's as their own, namely Dutch (or Flemish), French and German. If one would ask somebody to sum up what Belgium has to offer......most probably the answer would be 'Chocolates!!'.

Come on, it's not only chocs that makes this country famous.......highly cut diamonds trading (if you wanna know whether they are 'blood diamonds', I can neither confirm nor deny it), headquarters of NATO and European Community, Antwerp's port which is only second to Rotterdam in Western Europe regarding container traffic, ....... renaissance painters Rubens & Van Eyck, the sexy saxophone instrument is invented by a Belgian, Adolphe Sax.......battle of Waterloo, battle of the Bulge,.....and almost forgot.....BEER!!

'Beer?!?' you are asking.....yups, BEER.....home to countless, small and historical breweries distilling a wide variety of tastes........ and since not so long ago also home to the largest brewing company of this planet, INBEV. Yupperdeyups, a small country selling beer to each and everyone in every corner of the world. Take that from a small country!! Haha, who's laughing now.

As for our itinerary, shop around, indulge ourselves with Belgian food, sightseeing and most importantly......spending time with my mum, Laetitia's grandma........Past 12 months were kinda hard on her, and hopefully we are able to cheer her up a bit with our visit.