Travel
The Last Supper
It’s a warm Friday evening in Bangkok. The last evening the Three Musketeers will spend together. For the occasion, our team is complemented by one friendly ghost. The orange juice and lemonade comes with added salt instead of sugar. All of it adds to the alienation of this evening. Thai food, but please no lemongrass… … Continue reading
Lassie The Wonderdog On Fire
My very brave and very blonde pilot Robbie is not so very brave this morning. At breakfast he’s reluctantly chewing away on honey crackers instead of bacon & eggs, his watery eyes staring into infinity. I’m guessing he has come down with light flu. Logistically not a big problem, since the weather for today and … Continue reading
The Hypocrite
I’m having trouble coming back home after two months in Cambodia. In the beginning I could blame the jetlag. After more than a week nobody is buying that anymore. Everybody tells me that I’m so quiet. That I am lacking of my normal vibrant charm (sarcasm alert !). I can see that too, every morning … Continue reading
Djibouti Dinner
Two quick knocks on the door. Seven ‘o clock, dinnertime. Joining Jeroen (pilot, bright green Hawaii shirt) I walk to the elevator like every evening. At the reception I exchange a crispy clean one hundred dollar bill for a wad of filthy Djibouti francs. Pecunia non olet they say, except in Africa. Continue reading
Superstition
Valencia, May 2002 – Fortunately, I’m not superstitious. I am writing this email being at ease and at the thirteenth floor of our Spanish apartment building. Young Master Jan (calls himself a pilot) has gone to the supermarket, so we have some time to spare. In the CD player a disk with a bunch of Partita’s, written by good guy Bach. Glenn Gould … Continue reading
Djibouti, Pearl Of Africa
Djibouti, December 2008 – Yes, the Pearl Of Africa, but it certainly could benefit from some improvements. We flew here under a beautiful starry sky. During the flight I saw two falling stars and made a beautiful wish for each one of them. In hindsight one of those wishes should have been for hot running water, a luxury … Continue reading
Positive Thinking
Bangkok, March 2007 – Happiness is not something that you stumble upon by chance, nor is it dropped into your lap by divine providence. No. Happiness is a thing that you pry from the clutches of The Universe by force. It’s very much a cliché, but also a very accurate description of what I experienced today. … Continue reading
Tintin in the land of the Maya
Guatemala City, February 2006 – It’s good to hear the Spanish language around me again. You can be homesick for your motherland. Or the place where you used to live. I knew that. But can you also have the same nostalgia for a language? Even if it is not your own? I just realized how much I have grown to love the … Continue reading
South Sudan, A Luxury Trip
Juba, February 2009 – Scarlatti is filling this ‘room’ with his genius. I’ve managed to attach my iPod to the huge television set and the combination of the two makes for a reasonable sound quality. Although at the moment, I must say, they’re not making it very easy for poor Domenico. I’m sitting in the middle … Continue reading
Drooling in Kaunas
Kaunas, July 2006 – “Man look at those legs ! And each and every one of them you know. Jesus Christ. There must be something in the water here…” Thus sighs an unnamed pilot on a cafe terrace in Kaunas, Lithuania, the hot summer sun an accomplice to the suffering that takes place under its rays. … Continue reading
