Introducing Mechelen

Mechelen is a quiet little town in Flanders. Why do I like it? Besides the bicycle paths all over the city and its surroundings, there is a nice canal with weird boats (bicycle path follows it through 60km) and the center is actually full of shops and a great church.

I get to see storks up close. Yep, it's that quiet and nice.

The bad thing is that you need to take the train to Brussels. If you're like me leave well in advance and walk slowly towards the station. Why do you want to leave the peace and quiet and go to Brussels? More on that soon...

Belgian balloons

Despite what the blog might indicate I've been keeping myself busy during these forced holidays. I have a new passport, paid my taxes, organized a hen party and Friday I am attending a wedding and acting as official DJ. All this in a country full of chocolates, beer and comics. It's been hard, I tell you...The best part so far - apart from seeing my friends and eating like a homeless in a free buffet - was attaching balloons to a bicycle and crossing a town at full speed. Have you ever heard the sound of 10 balloons rustling against the wind? Let's just say that a lot of people turned their heads, winced (to make sure their eyes weren't playing tricks on them) and then gave me a huge smile. Naturally it was a windy day.

Another fun bit was going on the train with said balloons. It was an old train so I couldn't fit in with the balloons and sit down, I had to stand between to carriages right in front of the door. Which is perfect if you want even more people to see you, one guy even missed his step while giggling at me. A friend of a friend went to pick me up and asked me how she would recognize me. 'I have balloons, you can't miss me.' And there I was, backpack with wine and snacks, phone in one hand, balloons in another, she knew exactly who I was. As did half the town.

For those planning to do something similar make sure the balloons' string isn't too long otherwise you'll hit passing cars and little kids. On that order.

Mekong Delta

We started the day quite early in order to be in Cai Be's floating market on time. We were ready at 7.20 am but the bus left almost an hour later. Vietnam guides and buses have a strange system where you are given different pick-up times regardless of the departure hour, two girls from the same hotel were given two different departure times for example.

I tried to sleep during the morning ride but at one point the guide Leng started cracking jokes and gave us some history notes. I caught something about Vietnam's sacred animals being the unicorn, the dragon, the turtle and the phoenix and something about the driver racing motorbikes, getting arrested and now being called Alonzo like the F1 driver.


We took a boat around the market in Cai Be. The floating market is pretty self-explanatory except that I think we arrived too late, when there wasn't much to see. Plus it was raining. I liked the idea of putting up a high bamboo stick on the boats to show what you are selling, we saw pumpkins, potatoes and fruit being shown off like that. See the sticks on the below photo:


After the market we hopped on to smaller boats and took pictures with the traditional hats. Somewhere in Europe or Asia is where mine is. I am starting to reconsider my career in politics with all these photos around the world.

By the time we got some food everyone was starving. We cycled around the village and rested a bit in hammocks. If you come and visit the area I recommend stepping away from guides and tours and setting off alone or with another traveller. You can also enter Cambodia by boat which is pretty neat. The nature is stunning as it has been all over Vietnam.

Just wanted to share a proud moment

I just managed to cycle during rush hour in Vietnam. I didn't hit any motorbikes nor did they hit me (I came close once) nor did I run over someone - one fat ass came close to knocking me to the ground but that was it.

For those out of context I learned to ride a bicycle last summer.

Also a few days ago G. taught me how to ride a motorbike. I didn't go past 2nd gear but it was great. Let's hope he remembers to send me the pictures once he's back in Malaysia. Yes, I think he will read this. :P