Blog
Lucy’s Breed
Lucy’s results came in yesterday and they were not what I was expecting at all, but they were awesome nevertheless. It seems that Lucy is a Western European Village Dog. It may sound stupid at first. I even got really mad because I paid so much to know that my dog is a mutt? Like I didn’t already know that.
The Battle of Verdun – A visit in May 2019
Me, my colleague and his wife went on a two-day trip in May 2019 to see some impressive leftovers from the battle of Verdun in France. He knows for sure almost everything about war so it was a very interesting thing to experience.
Tour de la Famenne – The Elevated Restaurant of Belgium
Me and a good friend of mine stumbled upon this urbex treasure while exploring Wallonia, the south part of Belgium, and we were extremely excited to enter such a tall architectural structure on the highway from Marche-en-Famenne to Namur. It was truly worth the visit.
Travel diary: Hong Kong, winter 2018
A premetro is a form of public transport as a tramway, which includes segments built to rapid transit standards, usually by the construction of tunnels in or near the central city area. And the premetro of Antwerp was just so awesome to explore. Too bad it’s now in use.
Story of my sister Iris on how we got our first dog
How we got our first dog, from rescue dog to a happy family member. Fostering, adoption and finding the right accessories to dress up your beautiful dog(s).
Review of the best CAD workstations and what is CAD?
What is CAD and how is it related to me? Computer-aided Design or in short CAD. My profession is called draughtsman and I review some powerful workstations which fit my needs.
The ultimate camping and hiking gear for solo and family travellers
I am born in a family that loves to travel the adventurous way. I also love their way of travelling, it’s so awesome! Find my essential camping and hiking gear here.
Are you in a reading mode? Here is my top 50 Kindle eBooks
Are you in a reading mode today? Here is my top 50 eBooks to read during the weekend. Plus find your favourite Kindle device here as well.
Travel photography gear guide 2018
What’s in my camera bag? I love taking pictures of beautiful moments while I travel or when I visit amazing places. Keeping those memories with you are great to enjoy them later while you look through plenty of photo albums.
Where to stay in Hong Kong – Best recommendations
My best hotel, hostel & resort recommendations in Hong Kong all in one post. So far I did some of them and will do more very soon. I am surprised by the layout of certain hotels in the big city, but once you’re at a decent property you’ll really feel very welcome and spoiled.
Travel guide: top things to do in Hong Kong
My Hong Kong travel guide packed with stuff you need and how to get somewhere as a total newbie to the country.
Travel guide: 14 best places to visit in Hungary
I simply fell in love with the country. Budapest is such a beautiful city with many secrets and top-class specialties. Hungary’s countryside is as spectacular as its capital. This trip was a true experience and I kept some Hungarian Forints for next time.
What once was the oldest theme park of Belgium, Dadipark
Dadipark was amzing to visit, we even slept on the parking lot at the back. And best of all experiences was that we arrived on the day of Halloween. Imagine some scary and noisy people entering the park from where we were camping…
Ngong Ping Tea Garden, Hong Kong
The tea garden of Hong Kong was once a great business, but as the last owner passed away, he had no one to take over this time-consuming job.
Spreepark, Germany
Germany is probably one of the best places in Europe for urban exploring enthusiasts with Berlin being a very interesting city to explore history from an exciting era. From leftovers of the war to theme parks, factories, castles, houses and much more.
Our dream: making a trebuchet
Our dream was to make a historical war machine. A trebuchet was build to besiege an enemy by man power and with the help of a huge wooden structure to catapult objects toward the enemy. The trebuchet existed from the 4th century BC as a siege weapon until the 13th century. I adore the mechanism and the thought about how those men fought with it during the war.
Travel diary: Hong Kong, winter 2017
Hong Kong was magnificent and extraordinary, simply an amazing place to explore from top to bottom and find new friends. A short review of all the places, hotels/hostels, hikes and daytrips are included in this blog.
The sanatorium for curing tuberculosis
A sanatorium is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis (TB). A.k.a. the “Great White Plague”.
Travel diary: England & Scotland – October 2017
Yay, my frist trip to Scotland starts here. Finally! First I visited my best friend in London and then I went all the way to Glasgow and even a bit higher up NORTH.
Château Miranda – the fairytale castle of Noisy, Belgium
This Château was built in 1866 by architect Edward Milner. However, Milner died before the castle was finished. Construction was completed in 1907 after the clock tower was erected. As of 2018 it is completely demolished to the ground.
l’Amicale Solvay a.k.a. piscine mosaique
Let’s go back in time and see how things changed at l’Amicale Solvay. A building constructed for the workers of Solvay in 1935 to accommodate them with a cinema, a casino and a swimming pool.
Alan’s strange habit
A strange habit of mine…
It’s un unstoppable process where I’m going to pass out in the end. It bothers me a lot but I’ll have to deal with it until I die. Fortunately nothing all too serious or bad, just a little issue I truly wish to be different.
Post X – was the biggest post sorting office of Belgium
This building was for sure the biggest mastodont of Antwerp until it came into disuse and finally in a state of neglect. I’ve known this building for years and my parents had to go there for their mail. This huge post sorting office was in use until 2007 and it was built around 1987/1988.
Zillion Antwerp – dance club facts & photos
A nostalgic place for many party people, is hereby gone, forever.
Doors opened in 1997 and closed in 2002.
Goodbye to the famous Zillion.
The Red Star Train – a collection of historical trains
A picture of an abandoned train with a star of the Soviet Union on its nose is not something you see every day.
Quickly figured out that its location was Budapest and that this beauty was long forgotten glory of a past era.
Architecture of Antwerp, Belgium
From the typical architecture of Antwerp to its world famous painters and artists.
Combined with my eye for indoor and outdoor architectural photography this article will be very delightful to scroll through.
Statue of the Future, a moment of silence
Do we have to build a new statue “the Statue of the Future” on the solid ground of Belgium?
It is terrifying to hear such bad news of Brussels today.
Villa 19 – an old abandoned villa with a greenhouse
This was a special one, I admit. Close to Sint-Niklaas and only 19 kilometres from home, so I decided to go there by bike. I’m a real cycling fan and enjoy simply everything of this sport, especially mountain biking.
The Nationalestraat
A poem about the drive to speed up and never stop.
De Badboot – The Swimming pool with no happy ending
What once was a truly awesome swimming pool ship, moored to quay at the Kattendijkdok in Antwerp.
It sank to the bottom and a year later a lifting vessel digged up three parts of the ship and soon the last leftover was taken to the scrapyard.
10 days in Taiwan – January 2016
My trip to Taiwan was extraordinary, marvellous, sometimes spicy when it came to driving across a 3000 metre high mountain range right in the middle of the island, but after all the adventure was well worth it.
Family Party – 2015
It is once again time for our family party, because first of all it is a very long time ago since we organised one. And secondly because we had some amazing things to share with all of our friends and relatives.
First Italian peak trek, the Gran Paradiso – September 2015
After a beautiful trip to the higher grounds of Europe, just out of reach for the dark clouds, we returned home safely with a lot of nice pictures and memories to never forget. We topped the Gran Paradiso in Italy in open sky and temperatures high above zero, that’s how it was.
4 days in Riga, Latvia – August 2015
There is so much to see in this city and four days is just not enough. I didn’t go for a swim in the nearby Baltic Sea, I didn’t bought anything from the Riga Central Market and I didn’t do any museum, but I stretched my legs instead and had a good walk in and around the city.
Abandoned navy ships
At least half an hour of paddling until we reached our destination, a massive bow of a ship rose in front of us. We picked the largest ship to our delight, a huge military French frigate anchored at the bay for years. Covered in rust and ready to be dismantled at the yard at any time.
An underground adventure in the Premetro of Antwerp
A premetro is a form of public transport as a tramway, which includes segments built to rapid transit standards, usually by the construction of tunnels in or near the central city area. And the premetro of Antwerp was just so awesome to explore. Too bad it’s now in use.
Camel thorns born in Antwerp
From seed to bonsai in 10 years.
Seeds from southern African camel thorn for sale!!!
Germany and Poland – July 2014
A road trip to Germany and Poland took me and Hannes to many unknown places in both countries, an extra special event awaited us at the end of our two-weeks holiday.
The Bucket Dredger
The weather was pretty nice on a beautiful day in June, just perfect for spending a day outside. This time I wanted to explore the gigantic Argex dragline machine just 20 minutes from home, standing bulky near a clay pit in Kruibeke.
Zone Braams
A huge whitish sphere somewhere in the fields of Flanders, looking impressively good for its age. At first you recognise a bit of a weird shape and what the heck is it doing there in the middle of nowhere, you ask yourself. Yet another pearl gone unfortunately.
1 week in Lesbos, Greece – September 2013
A good friend of mine asked me once: “Why don’t you join me to the beautiful island of Lesbos in Greece?” I heard him talking about that island for a while now and I thought yeah why not… It was pretty much worth it, perfect weather, beautiful place and lots of sweet sunsets.
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