If you think for a moment that things are bad in Belgium, think again.
Now I finally know where the word bureaucracy comes from. France !
France - ahhhhh Paris, Marseille, France, French people. La vie est belle...
It would indeed be if there was some sort of efficiency. Which there isn't really. That or I have not seen it. Honestly - if they want get France out of the economical rut it's in, they need to get this country more efficient. Strike more (pun is intended). Just efficient will do for beginners. More can follow.
A country where you still can pay by cheque. You actually get weird looks if for some stuff (call it rental deposit or agency fees) you do NOT have a cheque but suggest something as audacious as a bank transfer. And obviously people use them quiet as a breeze in the thickest of xmas shopping to pay for a telly. 75e go onto the Visa card and 500e (the maximum) on a cheque. Which calls for two security guards. Not to throw the guy out of the store for delaying everyone else at the check out, but to verify the ID given and verify the verification of the guys ID. Surprised they did not have a third guard to supervise the two intellectuals.
New ADSL line ? Four weeks. Et nous on est France Telecom - on est plus vite que les autres. Never heard the word fast in the same sentence as 'in four weeks'. Unless it was preceded by the word 'not' as in 'not fast'. Seemingly if you opt for an alternative operator you then have to wait even more time as they have to wait for FT do their job.
But on the upside, prices are cheap. I get a brilliant pack with free calls (including to landlines in Europe) + 3GB data for 19.95. Just that on a tariff whose USP is free calls to Europe you can not (wait for it) do international calls during the first 15 days.
Internet banking is yet another disaster. So I bank with BNP Paribas. A bank that is relevant to the world banking system. So no shitty savings bank in the hilly mountains of Albania that keeps the money of three goat farmers and one local hoodlum. What did not work for two months ? International money transfer. What do most foreigner, with a mortgage in Belgium, a life insurance in Germany covering the mortgage in Belgium and two kids in the UK need ? Hmmmm ? Oh yes-international money orders. My first agency (Valenciennes) suggested I sent them the money orders by FAX. In 2013. Only after shouting at them for 45 minutes did they accept email. You don't shout in France, you get nowhere. They did charge me for the three transfers too, claiming that according to their T&C only online transfers are free. Fortunately a good colleague found a really nice local BNP agency that undid all that evil for me. So thanks Kalle ! Really !!!
Bins : coming from Flanders (and being german), I need at least five bins to feel happy. A 6th one would really make my day, but hey - I settle for little. Here par contre - two : Paper & packaging go in the yellow one and one for everything else take the blue pill Mr Anderson. Just if the Yellow one is full, just use the blue one instead, which in a new building is easily done by just flinging the outer packaging of you 46" LED telly into the container askew into the container. Or if your Sofa does not fit into neither Containers (the individual chair did though), just leave said Sofa in the rubbish room. Or if the blue bin is outside, just dump your bin bags on the floor. They will eventually be beamed up by Scotty.
I am not making these things up.
I could go on for hours and still would have material left. Maybe one day I think of a second career as a stand-up comedian. I am getting enough material anyway. I just have to write them down so I will never forget.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Thoughts on neighbours
So 1st of November it was then. Set out to go apartment hunting via the internet and -indeed- found something suitable and new in a new building on the ground floor. Mental note for future generations : do not rent ground floor apartments. People with Dogs live there. Yappy dogs bark if the owner is not there. A lot. Which you don't really want, when you want a good night sleep, but you can't get 'cause the tart from next door is out on the piss and her bloody dogs keeps yapping each time the door goes. Cause he -in turn- needs to go for little doggies. Which she lets him do in her garden (which is next to mine). Yikes.
New job in Strasbourg
It has been a while since I wrote something on our blog. Mainly because we did not travel that much for leisure since the summer. Actually exception made for the journey to Germany for xmas to see my parents we did not travel at all other than between Strasbourg and Brussels.
Eh oui - yours truly got offered a job in Strasbourg as part of a team setting up a new European Agency. A TA post in AD at last! Miracles do happen !
And the grass is always greener on the other side.
But let us put a bit of order into all this : So I did participate in an open competition for TAs for this agency, passed the stages and got my name on the reserve list. So I though -yeah right, get back to work. But NO ! Miracles do happen, as two days (!!!) later I got an offer for a job, supposed to be starting three weeks later, with a notice period of three months.
How are we going to fit this square bit into the round hole, you may ask yourself. FFR : if you work in the institutions, get your HoU involved. He can't stop you, he knows this, but he can negotiate a slightly better delay.
And the grass is always greener on the other side.
But let us put a bit of order into all this : So I did participate in an open competition for TAs for this agency, passed the stages and got my name on the reserve list. So I though -yeah right, get back to work. But NO ! Miracles do happen, as two days (!!!) later I got an offer for a job, supposed to be starting three weeks later, with a notice period of three months.
How are we going to fit this square bit into the round hole, you may ask yourself. FFR : if you work in the institutions, get your HoU involved. He can't stop you, he knows this, but he can negotiate a slightly better delay.
Monday, August 20, 2012
My thoughts on Siem Reap
In Siem Reap, the best way to visit the temples IMHO is by hiring a Tuk Tuk for about 15$ a day. The Tuk Tuk driver will take you to each temple complex, drop you off there (IOW he is NOT a guide), wait for you and drive you to the next temple complex. Very nice. In the individual temples you still will do a lot of walking and climbing and so, but in between complexes - you really do not want to do this by foot. Sure - you could rent a bike. But by the time you get to the bike rental place, you will already have sat in a Tuk Tuk....
Plus when it rains (and it does rain there) a Tuk Tuk provides you shelter from the rain. Which means you stay (relatively) dry, whereas the cheapskates get wet (very wet). So up to you what you want to do. Sure as a backpacker you have a limited budget, but if you do not have 4$ pp for this, maybe a few pints less will get you there too.
If you want a guide you need to hire a taxi and guide, which has the added benefit that you travel in an air-conditioned car between temples, so giving you some reprieve from the heat. But each time you get out of the cab you die from the diabolical heat.
Which brings me to the next finding : quite a few blogs say, go really early to enjoy the temples. So does everyone else ! Which means reduces enjoyment. I went in the sweltering midday heat, which was a bit unpleasant at first. But I for once will not have to edit that many people out of my photos via Photoshop. They were not there. Only Ta Prohm was quite crowded (but mind you this was later in the afternoon too).
As there are numerous stalls at each exit of the complexes (where your Tuk Tuk will be waiting), you can always get fresh, cold, bottled water at 1$ a bottle. Bargain hard and you even get the big bottle at this price...
Yes this is a travel blog too, so you may want to apply the same caveat on my rantings than on all the other ones. Just go there with your eyes open, your wits about and you will be fine.
Plus when it rains (and it does rain there) a Tuk Tuk provides you shelter from the rain. Which means you stay (relatively) dry, whereas the cheapskates get wet (very wet). So up to you what you want to do. Sure as a backpacker you have a limited budget, but if you do not have 4$ pp for this, maybe a few pints less will get you there too.
If you want a guide you need to hire a taxi and guide, which has the added benefit that you travel in an air-conditioned car between temples, so giving you some reprieve from the heat. But each time you get out of the cab you die from the diabolical heat.
Which brings me to the next finding : quite a few blogs say, go really early to enjoy the temples. So does everyone else ! Which means reduces enjoyment. I went in the sweltering midday heat, which was a bit unpleasant at first. But I for once will not have to edit that many people out of my photos via Photoshop. They were not there. Only Ta Prohm was quite crowded (but mind you this was later in the afternoon too).
As there are numerous stalls at each exit of the complexes (where your Tuk Tuk will be waiting), you can always get fresh, cold, bottled water at 1$ a bottle. Bargain hard and you even get the big bottle at this price...
Yes this is a travel blog too, so you may want to apply the same caveat on my rantings than on all the other ones. Just go there with your eyes open, your wits about and you will be fine.
Posted with BlogsyMy thoughts on Travel Blogs and transiting to Cambodia
As part of all modern day travel, we inform us about all the choices, things to do, dangers and so on via travel blogs, TripAdvisor, WikiTravel and God only knows what else.
Sometimes this can be a good thing, mostly it can add layers of complexity to your journey. I guess this has best been illustrated by Michael Macintyre in this YouTube clip, when he talks about TripAdvisor (yes I am a reviewer on TA too).
Sometimes the stuff you read just get you hyped up beyond belief, meaning that you can not make a controlled judgement anymore. Or stuff is just plain right wrong. We had a couple of both on our journey and some of them got me into a wee bit of trouble too...
The transit from Bangkok to the Cambodian border was described by (in)numerous blogs as something really horrible. It probably is, when you try to do this on 5€ a nose. If you -however- book an entire cab/minibus yourself, it will set you back about 90-100€, but as the minibus holds 6-7 people, I leave it to your creativity on how much this will actually cost you on a per person basis. We used the services of a chap called Sompoach, Cell phone number +66 81 901 7292. And the ride could not been better. OK I first met him under rather dodgy looking circumstances in Bangkok near the Victory Monument for the down payment. But in hindsight the trip could not have been better. Smooth, stopped whenever we wanted to. Asked us whether we wanted to go to the market in Aranyprathet (no thank you) and carried straight to the border. he literally stopped 50m from the Thai emigration post. He even warned us from the porters 'Not nice people'
OK the small journey between the Thai post and the Cambodian post in Poipet, where you walk through 300m of No Man's Land with casinos and dodgy creatures is not my most memorable stroll. But just say No to anyone NOT in a uniform and you will be fine. If you have an e-visa got straight to Immigration but DO NOT forget to get one of the immigration card distributed by the officials (they are free). If you do not have a visa, go to the VOA booth WITH two passport photos and 20$ and then proceed as above. You will be fine.
Afterwards they will try to usher you to the free bus that takes you to some dusty outpost of Poipet from where the busses to Siem Reap leave (9$ pp) or the official taxis (48$ per taxi or 12$ pp). Now some may argue that this is rip off and all this. Fact of the matter is that some people we met along the route did not go to the terminal but into Poipet and negotiated hard (really hard) and paid 10$ pp in some cab, sharing it with locals.
Quite frankly, you are halfway around the world in a country where people die of hunger and you start being stingy on what - 3$ ???
The ride between Poipet and Siem Reap is nearly 160 km and takes 2.5 hours. Even in Cambodia petrol prices are linked to on how the Crude Oil prices are doing.
So just take a bus or a cab (or organize your own transportation for marginally less), but whatever way you choose is fine. There is no mafia and dodgy people. Just people doing their job. Maybe they work for some corrupt person, maybe they don't, but they do work to feed their family. So respect them. I didn't really, as I was quite hyped up by all this crap, so I shouted at random at people. And they do not like this. At all.
Sometimes this can be a good thing, mostly it can add layers of complexity to your journey. I guess this has best been illustrated by Michael Macintyre in this YouTube clip, when he talks about TripAdvisor (yes I am a reviewer on TA too).
Sometimes the stuff you read just get you hyped up beyond belief, meaning that you can not make a controlled judgement anymore. Or stuff is just plain right wrong. We had a couple of both on our journey and some of them got me into a wee bit of trouble too...
The transit from Bangkok to the Cambodian border was described by (in)numerous blogs as something really horrible. It probably is, when you try to do this on 5€ a nose. If you -however- book an entire cab/minibus yourself, it will set you back about 90-100€, but as the minibus holds 6-7 people, I leave it to your creativity on how much this will actually cost you on a per person basis. We used the services of a chap called Sompoach, Cell phone number +66 81 901 7292. And the ride could not been better. OK I first met him under rather dodgy looking circumstances in Bangkok near the Victory Monument for the down payment. But in hindsight the trip could not have been better. Smooth, stopped whenever we wanted to. Asked us whether we wanted to go to the market in Aranyprathet (no thank you) and carried straight to the border. he literally stopped 50m from the Thai emigration post. He even warned us from the porters 'Not nice people'
OK the small journey between the Thai post and the Cambodian post in Poipet, where you walk through 300m of No Man's Land with casinos and dodgy creatures is not my most memorable stroll. But just say No to anyone NOT in a uniform and you will be fine. If you have an e-visa got straight to Immigration but DO NOT forget to get one of the immigration card distributed by the officials (they are free). If you do not have a visa, go to the VOA booth WITH two passport photos and 20$ and then proceed as above. You will be fine.
Afterwards they will try to usher you to the free bus that takes you to some dusty outpost of Poipet from where the busses to Siem Reap leave (9$ pp) or the official taxis (48$ per taxi or 12$ pp). Now some may argue that this is rip off and all this. Fact of the matter is that some people we met along the route did not go to the terminal but into Poipet and negotiated hard (really hard) and paid 10$ pp in some cab, sharing it with locals.
Quite frankly, you are halfway around the world in a country where people die of hunger and you start being stingy on what - 3$ ???
The ride between Poipet and Siem Reap is nearly 160 km and takes 2.5 hours. Even in Cambodia petrol prices are linked to on how the Crude Oil prices are doing.
So just take a bus or a cab (or organize your own transportation for marginally less), but whatever way you choose is fine. There is no mafia and dodgy people. Just people doing their job. Maybe they work for some corrupt person, maybe they don't, but they do work to feed their family. So respect them. I didn't really, as I was quite hyped up by all this crap, so I shouted at random at people. And they do not like this. At all.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
The way back home
All good thing must come to an end. And so did this holiday.In true Indiana Jones style, we travelled from Bali to Kuala Lumpur, stayed the night, went to Doha, stayed the might and the eventually went home to Brussels.
KL was good as ever and the Pan Pacific at the airport was hotel like out of the Soviet era in the eighties but really good. Apologies for using their airco to dry our swimming gear.
What followed was the trip to Doha and a day in Doha during Ramadan. The heat was incredible. At 19.00 when we could finally eat it still felt like we were standing behing an exhaust pipe or at the outlet of airco - just on the wrong side. How they are going to have football world cup is beyond me. the heat is atrocious. Plus NO BOOZE. Whatsoever. I had my Red Johhny confiscated upon entry into Doha (got it back when leaving though). And beer cost 12.50 euro a can. So football fans will live very healthy I guess.
Doha International airport was a hellish as ever. Do not fall for the Qatar Airways shit fo 5 star airline and all. It sucks. Not enough food, not enough drinks...
But we are happy back home and the weather is nice too.
So let see where our travels will take us to next, but you will find out here anyway.
Last days on Bali
On the penultimate day I wanted to go jet skiing and thought it was good idea to drop off Lourd at the Melia resort in Nusa Dua. Too good of an idea as it turned out. She loved the idea of a beach resort and putting the feet into the white sand so much, that on monday I did not go jet skiing, but rather to reception and negotiated a good rate for a room for two days.
So we had a nice villa and a nice room in the Melia. Things could be worse I guess and it was the only luxury.
I went jet skiing the next day and it was a blast. On Bali you are not allowed on your own on the jet ski, but need a guide. God knows why - but the good thing was that Max got his own jet ski (with guide) and he had a total blast as he was in control of the jet ski.
Poor monitor on mine had to live with me doing high speed donuts all the time and changing directions more than a rabbit that tries to escape a fox.
Other than that not much to report. It was time to go home and leave Bali and its lovely people behind. Let's hope that Max will stay in contact with his mate Zen from Bali.
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