Belgie in het Verre Oosten

Een stukje Belgie in het Verre Oosten,

'k Ga niet loochenen dat ik Belgie soms toch wel wat mis, want uiteindelijk ben ik er geboren en getogen....'k mag er dan al niet eruitzien zoals een doorsnee blanke Belg, maar begot, roots kan men nooit verraden...

Aldus met de hulp van Roel en m'n broer hebben we het toch maar voor elkaar gekregen, dat m'n huisje in Kuala Lumpur een Belgische tint heeft gekregen......'taraaaaa!'.........met name een wegwijzer naar Mortsel met de vermelde af te leggen afstand :p en een dikke Belgische sticker op m'n auto......

En de mensen hier die me vragen wat 'Mortsel' eigenlijk betekent......"google het maar op jong!!"

Zodus al die lokale geruchten en wilde verhalen over de oorsprong van "Mainyee" worden hier bij deze grondig de kop ingedrukt.............wat ze ook moge zeggen in het moederland van "Belgie barst" en allerhande onfrisse communautaire toestanden...........den deze hier is toch wel een beetje trots dat hij van Belgie komt........

Een Belgische Chinees of een Chinese Belg? Wat maakt het uit........ik ben van Mortsel, Antwerpen...........wat dus ook wilt zeggen.......ik ben en blijf een Belg.

With the help of a dear friend and my bro, our 'casa' in Malaysia has been spruced up with a signboard showing the way to my Belgian hometown and ofcourse, a big fat sticker 'B' of Belgium on our car.....

That's for the people who doubt my origin :p........let's make it loud and clear....having been to numerous places on this planet of ours.....savouring the best that every culture has to offer......I have to admit that the place where I was born and brought up, is still high on my list of favourites.......

Notwithstanding the fact that Europe is an Old Continent in decline, burdened with massive debts and an aging population, the Europeans still know how to balance their lives and get the most out of it....................should introduce that too in rat-race Asia..........well, I made my contribution, announcing to my neighbours that I'm not a local dude.....they are more than welcome to get a taste of Belgian hospitality in my casa anytime........

Little Belgium in Malaysia.....no need to erect an expensive pavilion like at the Shanghai World Expo.....:p

Guys and Guns

Guns again.....

On my first visit back to Belgium (late 2008) since the inception of this blog, I mentioned to you that some of my longtime friends and bro were kinda gun nuts....so to speak.....

Click on below link to read an earlier posting about it.....

http://yuenslair.blogspot.com/2010/04/most-welcome-carrier.html

Well, nothing has changed much.....in fact, the gun mania has even gotten worse up to a point where they have promoted themselves from owning small sized replica's to the full blown near-real deal.......

Owners of 'Airsoft'guns, as these 'toyguns' are called, have banded together in fan groups....and these groups have sprouted like mushrooms all over Belgium and garnering quite a following.......inclusive legions of Dutch peeps who come down here and practice the 'game' as this particular 'sport' has been banned tout-court by the Dutch government.....for obvious reasons....

Just taking a glance at it, you won't see the difference between the real or fake thing......a mind-sobering prospect for law-enforcement officers who stumble upon hobbyists playing 'weekend-soldiers' in forests and abandoned factories/warehouses in Belgium. There have been cases where concerned citizens called up the police to investigate 'soldiers' prowling around the neighbourhood in full combat gear......needless to say it has irked quite some troubled feelings in this post-9/11 era.......won't be surprised that it will be banned in the near future.....

And does my bro feel rather gung-ho with his 'toy'? He won't admit it, but I'm quite sure he does feel like a rejuvenated Rambo on steroids with the gun in his hands :)

A most welcome carrier

Etihad Airways,

A burgeoning new airliner based in Abu Dhabi, UAE (United Arab Emirates), offering premium services at cut-throat prices to people who shuffle between the Old Continent and the Far East, using its Abu Dhabi airport as a hub.....

As traditional carriers demand inflated prices for what is just a long-haul trip in a sardine tin can, the choice was easily made to switch allegiance to this new outfit. And goodness me, apart from the fact that the extremely long stop-over was made in the Mid-East at ghastly wee hours of the night in a near deserted airport......the onboard service was of the utmost impeccable quality as to speak.

Being a brand-new outfit flushed with petrol dollars, it is no surprise that its fleet is quite modern and offering topnotch creature-comfort amenities as opposed to non-descript national airlines, especially those from the Old Continent where they save on every single cent.

Served by a multi-national staff....apart from the lovely hostesses there was even a 6ft+ tall dude from Brazil, who could easily figure in the national volleyball team, who served me with the most pleasant of smiles....

But great was my surprise when I sought entry to the outwardfacing toilet.......it was quite unusual to find a porthole in the loo, adding quite an effect.....imagine doing your stuff in there and enjoying the sunrays and splendid aerial view......

Made me almost wanting to stay in the loo instead of going back to my aisle seat....:) As this was my first ever travel with this airline, just traveling economy....I would seriously consider to try out their premium classes on my next trip.....curious what I would discover there......Ali Baba's caves? :)

Etihad.....thumbs up....cut down the transfer time and I'm yours for life!!!

F&F's

F&F visits…..

aka “Family and Friends”……..

Apart from divulging myself into the fine gourmet food that good ol’ Belgium has to offer, another must-do on my checklist is visiting long-time friends and family………

Aaah, it never ceases to amaze me how my decade old friendships never wither away…….you might argue that thanks to the worldwide connectivity that the internet has brought upon us….it is easier to stay in touch with far away friends………but bear in mind that I’m born way back in the pre-mobile era and that goes the same for my ‘friends’.

So despite having the modern tools to stay in touch on a regular basis, we somehow seldom make use of it…….due to numerous reasons like time zone differences, family priorities, work, friends…………

Thus, every time I return to my ‘home town’…….I do experience a queasy feeling as to whether the bonding with my ‘oldtime’ friends has diminished over time……

Luckily, 99% of the time, all things turn out well,…..yes, we all have aged, seeing bulging tummies and diminishing hairlines is the perfect proof of that ………. J……….but the youthfull rashness that drove us when we were still green behind our ears is gone, …….replaced by a sense of maturity and laissez-faire passer attitude………

Apart from sharing old memories of long bygone days, the now and future makes up a major topic in our conversations, ………as alas, we all are heading towards the twilight of our active working days, making do with what we have at the moment and sharing 1 common theme…….trying to figure a way out to have a decent pension available when we ‘retire’………

Well, that’s still 2 decades down the road from now, but it is nevertheless inevitable…….the European social welfare state is on the brink of collapse and it is a major topic in all conversations on how to cope without the state caring for us in the future…..and a major grievance for Europeans who pay sky high taxes as compared to non-Euro citizens and possibly get nothing in return when they hang their ties up……

Oops,……..sounds like serious, hardcore discussions that my old-time friends and me have held….but nah, there was enough time for a dose of humour and the occasional prank…….

Thanks m8’s for welcoming me back into your ‘inner’ circle…….

Frituur

Frituur,

Belgian's hugely popular equivalent of snackbar

Since ages it has provided relatively cheap comfort food tailored to the taste of the Belgian populace.........and guess once what the main salivating 'gourmet' dish is on the menu..........righto.......BELGIAN "French Fries" with a slab of mayonaise!!!

Yeah, the origin of the ubiquitous French Fries is not in France but in the fields of Flanders, Belgium, era World War I, ......the Allied troops discovered and unanimously loved the taste of the crispy, fried, thinly cut strips of potatoes rolled up in sheets of paper served upside down.

But ofcourse, back then in the war, the rolling frontlines of the war made it hard to for the 'soldiers' to tell in which country they were fighting at that particular moment.........so Belgian fries eventually lost it out to "French fries"....

A visit to Belgium warrants a must-visit to the frituur or "friterie" in Walloon/French in order to appreciate what food the locals so unanimously adore.....

Frituurs have evolved over the years ofcourse, adapting to changing tastebuds and diversifying their food selection in order to compete with the all-intrusive Italian pizzajoints and Moroccan/Turkish pita/durum snackbars ...........

Thus nowadays frituurs offer numerous other sauces to go with the 'Belgian Fries' like tartare, pickles, curry, tomato, gypsy and meat sauces.......not to mention the countless other snacks which for the foodlovers are a real treat from heaven....

Needless to say that I have paid numerous visits to the frituur....:)....darn, nothing beats the smell and taste of the genuine fries in its land of origin..........yummy!!!!!

High School reunion

Klas reunie,

Facebook, a godsend or a menace, the answer is still out there....

But nonetheless, thanks to a former classmate, Mandy Van Haren, who has put up our erstwhile class picture and tagged the peeps who have a FB profile.....I managed to get in touch with quite a few of them.....

I'm talking of about 20 years being out of touch, so it felt kinda strange to get in touch through cyberspace with my former classmates again.......and yes, time has played havoc on our kiddie's faces :)

Whilst being back in good ol' Belgium I took the effort to meet up with as many as possible......'cos who knows how long it will be before I have the chance to come back again.......another 20 years?........

Alas majority of them took a rain cheque,......understandably most of the peeps have their own busy lives to attend to, or I presume some are totally not interested in meeting up again (who can blame them anyway, out of touch for 2 decades, and we were not that close anyway during the school years)

My efforts were not totally fruitless ofcourse.........did manage to meet up with Nancy Van Noten, Dave DeBuysscher, Steven Van Allemeersch and Steven Bulens.....my inner circle.....wooopieeee!!!! Nancy introduced me to her cute son, Sam....and the 2 Steven's did the same with their lovely wives Wendy and Ellen :)

It turned out to be a heartwarming experience, rekindling ties, reminiscing shared memories..........

Looking forward to the next reunion, and hopefully there will be more people attending and furthermore.........won't have to wait another 20 years for that to happen!!!

HakenDover

A whole month without a single blogpost?.......Dear me......

'Bout time then that I keep everyone abreast........

Where to start then....ermmmm....oh yeah, trip to Belgium for God's sake last month...how can I forget about that...

Reason how I ended up in Belgium without Jess and Laetitia was that the family business needed some help and how could I say 'no' to it, as I was raised into this business and has made me into what I am today.....so hupsakee....off I went end of February,.......

Any noticeable happenings apart from the time I spend in the kitchen? You sure bet there was, and this first post is about a small, little village located practically in the middle of nowhere called 'Hakendover'.....

Roel Van Roosbroeck, a longtime highschool friend, and his lovely family invited me to spend some quality time at their home, an erstwhile old farm renovated into a cosy house....

Thank God for the existence of GPS, otherwise finding this little village would have given me a sure headache :p

Apart from rekindling old ties with Roel and Inge and their kids, I fell totally in love with this village, situated between acres of fields as far as the eye can see, dotted here and there with some age-old farms, a truly magical vista, lust for the eyes....

Ofcourse, the modern world has crept into this little village, slowly but surely expanding its concrete roads and adjacent houses into the fields....

Will it ever look the same again in 20 years time? I sure do hope so, that is if the government bureaucratics do know how to protect this place's heritage from the unsatiable appetite of property developers.

Combine this together with the lovely hospitality of the Van Roosbroeck's....serving traditional Flemish dishes like mussels, Belgian fries!!, and asparagus with bacon, mashed potatoes for lunch and dinner....yummy......I wouldn't replace this feeling with any money in the world....

And would we like to live here? It's still affordable, it's in the middle of nowhere but conveniently close to major towns like Tienen and Leuven.........

Better jot this place down as one my favourite places to stay then....:p
Thanks Roel, Inge, Cisse, Janne and Dries for the Hospitality....