Sustenance

A trip to Belgium is never complete without sampling their excellent food and beer.

At the top of the beer list is Cantillon. I didn't get to visit last time as they are only open during normal business hours, and that's when I usually either work or travel. But this time I finished my day early, and on the pretense of saving the customer 100+ Euro I dropped off the rental a day early and booked a room in Brussels at day early.

It nearly without a hitch.

After dropping off the rental at the airport on Friday at noon I also ditched my suitcase in an overnight locker so I wouldn't have to drag it around town. I folded up the receipt and stuck in my wallet, as it has the code I need to get my suitcase back tomorrow (Saturday). Then I buy a roundtrip train ticket to Brussels ($15) and jump on that. Once in Brussels I find a waffle and hop on the subway.

It turns out that my hotel in the Schumann district is half a block from the European Commission, and has a posted daily rate of *gulp* 450 euro (about $510). But I check in at 10% of that rate, without breakfast (+$20) or internet (+$15). Pfft, all I need is sleep ... later.

So ... I pull up my maps and figure out how to ride the rails to Cantillon. Once I get there I'm pretty glad they're not open outside business hours because it is not a good neighborhood. But in the waning daylight hours it's ok.

Cantillon itself is well known for making beer the traditional Belgian way, which is with wild yeasts creating spontaneous fermentation. Try that in Minnesota and you'll have moldy beer. But in Brussels, which is in the Senne river valley, once the beer is pumped into this coolship:

which is a large shallow brass container in which the wort cools. slats in the roof are opened and the local air, carrying the local microfauna, inoculates the wort and starts to make it's magic. The brewery is old and dank, and has lots of cobwebs, which are protected as that's part of dust and trappings which contributes to the flavors of the beer.

And what flavors it has! These brews have dry tart flavors to which they add fruit for sweetness. I brought a few bottles home ... but will have to show patience as they get better with time. I would like to point out that it is possible to get Cantillon in the US, but expect to pay $20-$50/bottle.

While there I talked to a couple to a couple Norwegians while avoiding the "oh my god, there's a cork in that beer bottle!" Americans. Also noticed a flier for a bar downtown called Moeder's Lambic and after buying a couple bottles I set off for that location.

Turns out Moeder's Lambic was just a block or two from where were staying in February, and it also turns out they had 47 belgian brews on tap plus two American smoked porters (Stone and Alaskan). There wasn't much there for food, so I replaced dinner calories with beer calories. Like a monk.

Sitting next to me was Andy Greene, a 22-year-old backpacking through Europe, all by himself. His blog is here. I'll warn you ahead of time: he uses rough language and is getting quite a different tour of Europe than I am. Compared to him I'm a patsy, but I enjoyed the conversation immensely. My regret is that I didn't have enough cash on me to buy his beer to help him on his travels ... on the other hand, when I was 22 I didn't have six months and $6000 to travel on, so maybe I'm not regretting it much after all.

The next morning ... no hangover. That's odd. I had six beers, with alcohol contents ranging from seven to twelve percent (ordinary beer is 5.4%). This is ain't right, but I'm not complaining. Except that I could find any waffles at 6.freakin.thirty in the morning on Saturday.

The next morning I left the hotel and took the trains to the airport and then tried to get my luggage. Now, see, that piece of paper with the code on it to get my suitcase wasn't in my wallet. Dammit. I figure, someone here has to be able to unlock that thing, after all, they said they remove all things locked up more than three days, and there was a phone there for me to call security. At this point I have two hours before my flight, but I haven't checked in yet.

I pick up the phone, it dials and dial, I get voicemail. Dammit.
I pick up the phone, it dials and dial, I get voicemail. Dammit.
I pick up the phone, it dials and dial, I get voicemail. Dammit.
I pick up the phone, it dials and dial, I get voicemail. Dammit.
I pick up the phone, it dials and dial, I get voicemail. Dammit.
I pick up the phone, it dials and dial, I get a person!

"Yeah, I lost my ticket, can you help?" Sure they said .. they would send someone. *click*. The next 20 minutes I think "....right away?"... thinking I could leave the suitcase, it would be cheaper to ship it home than miss the plane. But then I'd have to throw away 2.25L of Cantillon or drink it within 30 minutes.

But they did send someone, and then I got checked in and upgraded to Economy Comfort (Platinum membership has it's plusses) and went to the sky lounge and had some pastries and coffee before boarding. After ten hours of flying to Atlanta my butt felt OK the first 6 hours as the Economy Comfort seats do in fact have very nice cushions but then I started to squirm.

The rest of the trip was uneventful except for the snow in Minneapolis which delayed Delta in getting our luggage from the plane to the carousel. It was like the old Northwest Airline days when you stood at the carousel and watch it go around with no luggage for 30 minutes before the luggage came sliding down one piece every 50 seconds. Maybe the luggage cart got stuck in the snow.

But I am home now. Let's see ... where to next?

Crazy @ss European Drivers

They're actually very good drivers, but they drive with machoism to show how manly they are, because we all know that manliness is linked to the ability to skillfully pilot a vehicle in a way that will scare the panties of the ladies. Especially when the drivers have spiky hair and leather jackets.

Although that doesn't explain why the ladies drive like that too, unless a) they're lesbians or b) european men wear panties. I suspect neither a) nor b) are mutually exclusive.

So hear's the scoop on driving in Belgium:

• Cars here don't have many cupholders because you're in the car to drive, not drink coffee.
• Learn to drive in roundabouts. Yes, you are supposed to use your blinker. Next time you're in a roundabout ... note how many Americans use blinkers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundabout
• Cars to the right have priority unless there's a sign saying they don't: http://www.transportsfriend.org/int/driving.html#priority
• Create gridlock on purpose. You are expected to enter intersections on green and yellow regardless if you can clear it.

Note that in Greece, cars in the roundabout must yield to those entering the roundabout. This is a surefire way to make a traffic jam when it gets heavy, but this appears to be consistent with everything else Greece does and I guess it wouldn't be Greece if they did things rationally, now would it?

And drive fast on narrow roads with no shoulder right next to the buildings. I think the roads are narrow and crooked because they used to be horse lanes. In fact, there are many obstacles created to slow traffic, for example they will narrow traffic to one lane on purpose. This is dumb because opposing heavy traffic you'll never get through the narrow part. Why not post a speed limit and enforce it?

Also, get a GPS. There is very little road planning and you'll find yourself going through little neighborhoods at 30kph to get to a major highway intersection. Then you'll find that some neighborhoods didn't like all the traffic so they put up concrete barriers which means you'll have to find another little neighborhood. The fun really starts when there were multiple construction projects underway and you'll spend an hour finding a way to get the 5km to the freeway. This would be impossible without a good GPS.

Just a tip: if you plan on using your phone's GPS then make sure you have service in Europe.

In the end driving went ok, but it was a relief when I could drop off the car at the airport and ride the rails for a day.

Belgium, Part Dieux

Alrighty, I am back from another trip to Belgium.

This time I had a load of US cash, which I didn't need. I was planning on flying into Brussels, renting a car and driving to Hasselt. Which I did.

But first I had to visit The Worst Airport In America, JFK.

Yeah, it used to be ORD or LAX that received those honors, but now that I've been to JFK again I realize just how crappy of an airport it is. I don't suppose I have any memories of traveling through there with my mother and brother back in the early eighties, when we used to walk out of planes and onto the tarmac in 95F then enter the un-air-conditioned airport and stand in the wrong line for an hour. That totally sucked. Fast forward to 2011, and it it's the same shitty airport but they now have jet-bridges and air conditioning. The airport is still a dumpy old grimy mess with very poor signage and for all those coming to visit New York for the very first time it may in fact be appropriately setting expectations.

But it was really the signage which irked me. When I disembarked from my MSP flight I knew which terminal (three) and gate (B24) I needed to go to. The problem was that there were no signs for how to get to Terminal 3, like there signs to get to Terminal 2. There signs to get to gates 1-35, but none for the gates that start with 'B'. I found a "terminal map" which did in fact show all three terminals - but they weren't labeled so I couldn't tell which terminal was which. Since I had six hours I just walked around, and laughed at the "business office" which consisted of four telephones in partitioned standing booths. Eventually I found the place to transfer to another terminal and that's how I knew where to go. Then I had to find my gate ... aha, a sign for the "B" gates! As I went to them I passed signs for gate 24 in the other direction. Huh? Yes Dorothy, there's a '24' and a 'B24'. And when you're at '24' there is no indication that there is a 'B24' in an entirely different terminal, to which there is very little guidance to locate. In the end ... I found it.

Ok, thinking about this, I think what happened is that the old part of the airport had "normal" gate numbers like 1-35. When they added a new terminal they started a new range .. B1-B35. Being an old terminal they didn't bother to update the signage or make the old gates A1-A35. Nor does it makes sense that Terminal 3 has the 'B' range, or why bother to actually label the terminals on the map. They should have looked to MSP as a good example ... the 'A' terminal has the A1-Axx gates, the 'B' terminal has the B1-Bxx gates, etc. and there are signs EVERYWHERE showing which direction the terminals are. My hats off to the MSP Airport Commission: They did a great job planning and building and easy-to-navigate airport!

My remaining flights to Amsterdam and Brussels went without a problem. The transportation strikes in Amsterdam did not impact me.

Then the next challenge ... driving.

Green worm soup and pig-sh*t

Every day we went out to lunch, and the first question was "do you like spicy?" and yes, I do, so that's what we did. Every day we ate something spicy. Turns out they don't like spicy, and when I went for the hot-sauce or chili peppers or curries they were surprised. So each day they wanted to find something spicier! 

On the third day we went to a place with traditional Malaysian dishes and it was very good ... Beef masala was the best, and some chicken and tofu dishes which I have no idea was in there but it was good (and spicy). Then for dessert they said "you want green worm?" I explained I'll try anything ... as long as it doesn't move, and at any point I can refuse, and may not eat more than a bite. I figure, might feel gross, taste bad, or smell disgusting, and as long as I don't have to take a second bite and it won't make me sick, then it's ok.

So. Green worm soup.

That's in a coconut milk bath with red beans and I stirred in some coconut syrup (gotta find some of that for pancakes!). It was served cold. The worms did not move. So i took a spoonfull and swallowed ... mmm mmm delicious! They said "let them warm up in your mouth, they will start moving!" uh. ok.

So I did.

They didn't move. 

I looked at them closely - I could not discern any legs, segments or hard parts. No eyes, antenna, or feelers. Heeyyyyy.... these aren't real worms! Turns out they are a jelly of sorts, and this is a joke they play on visitors!

They asked whether I had tried durion. Hm .. no... I've heard of it. So we stopped at a grocery store but could not find any. The closest we found was durion cake, and that wasn't bad at all.

But another day, we DID find it!

They don't allow people to eat it in public or enclosed places. Banned on planes and trains. So ... naturally ... I wanted to try it!

Here are various  descriptions:

"like eating sweet raspberry blancmange in the lavatory."


" a food of the most exquisite flavour it is unsurpassed."


"... its odor is best described as pig-shit, turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock."


"it is of such an excellent taste that it surpasses in flavour all other fruits of the world, according to those who have tasted it"

The local team found an outdoor vendor selling it. The husk has thick spiny thorns, and inside are compartments with soft yellow pods. Inside the pods is the flesh, which is gooey like custard, with seeds shaped like hemoglobin, about in inch in diameter.

The odor is very strong, smells like warm brie with a hint of musk. I wouldn't call it unpleasant, and it certainly doesn't smell like shit. But it is very strong.

They gave me a glove to wear so I wouldn't have the smell on my hand for a long time ;-) And then I tried a bite ... hmm .... tastes like it smells! It is ... um ... not my thing.

I wouldn't say it is repulsive. I don't think it lives up to it's reputation. On the other hand, I didn't eat much and I don't want any more. I will say it was better than some fruits I've eaten, like peaches or apricots. But I don't like it.

Apparently I was only the second visiting IBMr that has tried durion.

Sweating buckets

My most recent business trip was to Kuala Lumpur, in Malaysia. After some wrangling with work policy, contracts, and customer expectations, I ended up in coach for ten thousand miles. Not just coach .. but "window seats made of flat plywood". I hate window seats, because I have to bother the other two in my row to get up, stretch, pee, etc. and since I can't sleep on planes I get up a lot. To compensate for this I tend to reduce my liquid intake considerably when I am not on the aisle.

So anyway, I have REI hiking seat-pad which is a lifesaver on long flights. But the seats were so bad on these two Delta flights that even with the REI pad I was squirming ten hours into a 14-hour flight. Ugh.

But in the end I managed to arrive, after reading a book and watching four movies.

When traveling internationally I usually make cash withdrawals from my checking card using a local ATM to get local currency. Airports have lots of ATMs. However, one of the things I advise travelers to foreign countries is to carry about $200 in US cash as "Plan B". This should be enough to get you from the airport to a night in a hotel in nearly any circumstance. There are places credit, debit and bank cards don't work. One such place was Indonesia - when I was there a year ago I discovered that American Express was not accepted in the country except at hotels, and then reluctantly. My credit card didn't work, and neither of my debit or bank cards worked in the local ATM's ... all I had to get from the airport to the hotel was the cold hard cash in my pocket which I exchanged to rupiah. Eventually, at a local bank, I found a row of ATM's and tried each one, until the 4th one I tried actually was able to process my card.

But for some reason this escaped my brain when I left home on this trip. I was actually thinking "Good, I don't have any US cash that I need to haul around". Doi. While I was sitting in that hard crappy seat I realized ... crap .. I have no cash with me. And then I recalled a conversation I had with a co-worker about getting to the hotel and specifically asked whether I can pay for the cab using a credit card and his answer was "no, cash only." I had to rely on whatever I could find at the airport. Now I was started to get a little nervous. So when I landed I made a bee-line for an ATM ... and it had a sign that it was out of service. Crap ... well, there are usually multiple ATM's in airports, the Kuala Lumpur terminal proved to be no exception. But the other ATM's were out of service too! At this point I was starting to think about calling the hotel to send a cab the 40km to the airport to come and pick me up. But I wasn't ready to throw in the towel yet. My Nerv-O-Meter was escalating!

I sought out the money exchangers and asked if I could purchase local currency on any of my credit cards. Nope ... they said that between 8pm and 1am (it was 10pm) all the ATM and bank transactions were suspended in that airport terminal. Son-of-a-bitch. Thus I went to stand in line at the immigrations counter and while there I pull up my Sprint phone to call the hotel to send a cab, and sure enough there was no CDMA signal. Ok, no surprise there - Sprint sucks for international travel, which is why I carry a second GSM-based quad-band phone with a pre-paid SIM card. I fired that up, and .... ohuh .... it was asking for a PIN code to unlock the SIM card, which, after two attempts, I resigned myself to not knowing the code. Double-crap! No money, no way to make phone calls, 40km from the hotel on a Sunday night. From the immigration line (which I stood in for 45 minutes!!!!!) I could see that there was a cell-phone store on the other side, I'm thinking, maybe I can use a credit card to overpay for a prepaid SIM card with which I can use. Ok. So I had a plan ... that helps.

After getting through immigration I head towards that cell phone store thinking "this HAS TO WORK!!!" and see another (Closed) money exchanger with an ATM and think, what the hell, I'll try it, and ... sweet mother of mercy I got cash! Yaaaaaaayyyyyy!!!!! Now it was just an issue of getting a taxi to the hotel, which involved going to the taxi desk, telling them where I wanted to go, pre-paying for a cab, and .... wait ... what's that? An AmEx symbol on the kiosk? "Do you take American Express?" "yes we do!" .... hahahahahaahahahah! All that worry for NOTHING! I paid for the cab with credit! (but I will still carry $200 in cash the next time).


For you military folks out there, be aware that USAA bank cards do NOT work in most international ATM's.


In the end, I arrive at the brand new Doubletree about 00:30 and check into the executive suite.

Check out that room - it has a shower with a glass wall so that if you're in the room you can see whomever is showering! The shower is huge too .. you could get a bunch of poeple in there. There is a blind that can be lowered if privacy is your thing, too, as the toilet is also visible from the main living area.

For the hallway outside my room I can see the twin Petronas Towers. Unfortunately they are closed to tourists until December or so.

And this was the view out of my window the next morning, from the 12th floor. Those are monorail lines.

Unfortunately the AC in the room did not work, so the next day I had to switch rooms, and they had no more executive suites so I had to get a "normal" room on the 22nd floor, which was still pretty damn nice. it is amazing what $75/night will get here in Asia.