TRAVEL AND LIFESTYLE DIARIES

When I am not travelling abroad part-time, I am still travelling within the country (Netherlands including Belgium) full-time. Next week will be a heavy week with Maastricht again and Belgium on the list among other places. Anyway, I have always loved driving. It gives me the rush, the freedom and I actually look forward to long drives. I just need to watchout for speed cameras otherwise I will end up paying lots of penalties every month! Picture of my car's GPS was taken today during mid day after my first meeting and a quick lunch in Amstelveen (beside Amsterdam). I have simulated here the route for my next meeting in the south of the country which is in Eindhoven. February 2012 Keep in touch and follow me on Facebook: Travel & Lifestyle Diaries by Dutched Pinay Travels Happy Travels! Enjoy Life =)

Brussels is the chocolate centre of the world and I had the chance to attend a chocolate making session in the European capital last month. If you have been reading this blog, you would know of my penchant for anything else other than sweets. Now, I was in Brussels for work, and after the business meeting we were given the option to participate in a beer tasting session or a chocolate making session. I was quite confused about the agenda actually as it was a last-minute surprise, thus I ended up following the women to another location where the chocolate making session is held. Had I known about the beer tasting option, I would have changed course. We first had a chocolate history lesson and some chocolate snacking. Afterwards we were asked to dress in plastic gowns, plastic head caps and plastic shoe covers before we start the actual hands-on activity. The whole dressing up process was like a déjà vu to me. More than a decade ago I used to sell enterprise software applications ...

The Netherlands is without a doubt a coffee country. Tea as well. Fact is, the Netherlands was the first country to trade coffee beans (and tea leaves). The amount of coffee drank in this country is just incredible, unimaginable even. In the recent years though, gourmet coffee has managed to sneak in slowly but surely into the kitchens of the average Dutch. This started with the outdated Philips Senseo and now, the most sought-after, Nespresso. At my workplace here in the Netherlands we have a big Nespresso machine. At our EMEA headquarters in Geneve we have a much bigger Nespresso machine that fits to a wall. Because I am in field sales I am not always in the office, but when I am, I make sure to take a cup or two or three a day—usually espresso. At my customers and business partners they normally serve me Douwe Egberts which I do not mind at all. When travelling, I have my guaranteed daily dose of espresso fix at lovely cafes matched with some people watching. At home though, ...

Last month I was in Brussels for work and we had a meeting at the first floor of the Belgian Beer Museum (no. 10—the ‘den Gulden Boom’ building) on the Grote Markt (Grand Place). It’s a gorgeous building, it’s façade adorned with gilded elaborate designs. I’ve been to Brussels many times and I’ve seen Brussels at its loveliest. January wasn’t the best month though as I was met with rain and overcast. After the business meeting, we had a short beer history lesson in the basement of the building. Like many beer museum visits, I was really expecting a beer tasting session afterwards but unfortunately that did not happen, well, not at least right away. In fact I was quite confused on what's next on the agenda and I accidentally followed the women who were going to the chocolate making session held a few blocks away. I did not know that the beer tasting session is at the same building but at the first floor where we earlier had the business meeting. Oh well. If I was to turn back the cl...

Our winter sport holiday is now definitely over. Normally it takes about 15 minutes’ drive from our chalet hotel in Le Crey to the valley in Aigueblanche, however with the snow aftermath and cars driving slowly, it’s about half an hour. On the way down we saw busy locals manually ploughing the snow on the streets. We also passed by a bus that went off the road. Tough situation I reckon. Lots of dangerous things can happen after a heavy snowfall, especially in the mountains. Convoying: driving slowly down the alpine zig-zagged road. The bus that went off the road. Here are the videos I took as we drove down the zigzagged alpine road: It was a picturesque alpine drive. The mountains were immaculate and it was a bit hard to say goodbye after a week of winter (sport) holiday in this lovely part of the world. But life goes on and we will be both back to work on Monday. Welcome reality. When we reached the valley, Dutchman and I saw the French police barricading th...

Snow continued to fall the whole day and until into the evening on our last day in the French Alps. We survived the almost 3 hours torment under freezing temperatures of fitting the snow chains on the car’s tires. Halellujahs in order! Sadly,the ski holiday is coming to an end. Our last night at the chalet hotel was actually very nice. We had drinks at the bar followed with some soup with our new found acquaintances, then we moved to our tables and a 3-course dinner was served. The whole evening was spiced up with lively conversations and laughs. All in all it was a great closing of the holiday with great company. Meanwhile, snow kept falling outside and we were a bit worried about the aftermath, mainly because the next day is our departure day back to the Netherlands. After breakfast in the morning we packed up and when we went outside... oh dear, look at what we have found: the car totally snowed in! lol Thus, shovelling ensued! I thought it was fun. But before we started shovellin...

When you are wearing a burka and you pose for pictures, what is there to see? It’s a bit funny and I am not mocking the woman in this burka okay so hopefully no one will jump on me with a politically correct statement. It’s just that there is nothing to see in the picture except for a woman in black head to foot with a slit opening for her eyes. I mean, hello? This was taken in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia the other week. Travel Period: Febraury 2012 Keep in touch and follow me on Facebook: Travel & Lifestyle Diaries by Dutched Pinay Travels Happy Travels! Enjoy Life =)

After my eventful last skiing day in Valmorel , I called the Dutchman who is left at the chalet hotel nursing a hurt arm after a fall the other day. It’s been snowing all day and the roads are covered thick with snow. I knew that it would be injudicious for me to drive the car back to the chalet hotel without installing the snow chains. So while waiting for the Dutchman to get to Valmorel town centre, I looked for a cosy restaurant to have lunch. I found La Marmite Restaurant located under Hotel du Bourg and the arch. When I stepped inside I was warmly greeted by a glowing fireplace. Outside is snowing cats and dogs and a fireplace is just what I needed at this very moment. I settled myself quickly beside the fireplace and ordered a ‘Reblochon chaud sur pain perdu’ (salade with stewed tomatoes, French toast and hot reblochon cheese) and paired it with ‘Lapero de maison’ (rose wine with raspberry and blueberry cream) for my drink. The salad and reblochon French toast was nice, 4 ...