In September 2017, I was in Holland and Belgium, and spent a few hours in the French city of Lille. The 2-week travel around Flanders territory was actually an interesting experience.
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It was one of my last 'assignments' as a student at Glasgow University. I was part of the university team that competed in SensUs Competition at Technical University of Eindhoven, the Netherlands. We were tasked to build a biosensor to detect heart attack. It took 6 months to prepare.
Amsterdam Schiphol, one of the busiest in Europe, was an hours flight from Glasgow. From Amsterdam, we took a 1.5-hour train ride to the city of Eindhoven.
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| Nowadays, I wonder if our technology could do something to assist the fight against COVID-19 |
Technical University of Eindhoven (TuE) campus was green and really pleasant.
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| Introduction by the organizers |
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| As expected, bicycles~ |
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| Team Glasgo - We may have had more fun than work |
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| Competition hall - Brilliant event organized by the students of TuE. Teams came from Sweden, Denmark, Scotland, England, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Egypt, and the USA. |
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| Happy to camp again - We had a tent as a team (Leader Teo on the right, was amazing throughout) |
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| Accommodation was camping style - Simple and economical (My 17-year old sleeping bag was not sufficient to take 12 degrees ambient) |
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| What an idea to house students! |
The 4D3N event was an eye-opener. The founder and chairman of this competition - Dr. Meno Plins was quite inspiring. He was always engaging, joined us at the pubs, and always had a broad smile. To lead such an event was not at all easy.
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After the 4-day event, we head back to Amsterdam by train We spent a pleasant afternoon exploring Amsterdam Old Town, and tried different things... I booked to stay at Mevlana Hotel, and the owner was really kind to let my teammates keep their luggages there. Majority of the guys took the night flight back to Glasgow. I bid farewell to the team, and knew the late night meetings and lab sessions at Rankine Building 7th floor will be fondly remembered. |
I would continue my journey and explore the Amsterdam, and the neighboring city. I was in my final 3 weeks after a year in Scotland, having completed my studies. I booked my return flight to Glasgow from Brussels about 12 days later, and planned backwards.
Amsterdam - We all know it is full of canals and is lower than sea level
As usual, I would join the walking tours available as a guide. Sandemans was big here, and I met Felix, a 79 year-old from the Philippines. This retired accountant was on a shoestring travel, and was quite a legend! He does not use a handphone, navigate his way using maps and actually travel very lightly. He did all his bookings back home, using Google and Booking.com websites. He will look for a internet cafe to send an email home once in a few days.
If you own a property, no matter how small, it is still your own property~
After the 2-hour walking tour Felix and I continued walking around the old town, and visited Ann Frank House, a (top attraction) museum that commemorates the story of Ann Frank.
I also spotted my first windmill
Van Gogh museum - Felix and I just wanted to have a glimpse
Like any top tourist attraction, the was a queue
Felix and I had lunch at Rijks Museum's foyer - Felix ate his apple and bread (while I ate mine). We were similar being a backpacker on a shoestring! Eating healthy was important. Traveling definitely require some meticulous financial planning. It's like, you could go for 1 luxury trip, or make multiple reasonable trips with a finite budget. I would choose the latter. I was also happy to have found Felix, who is similar in many ways.
After lunch (and many times as we walked), Felix took out his maps, and list of interesting attractions
Thankfully, I came from a generation who read maps and have genuine sense of direction.
In front of Rijks Museum, is the famous 'I AMsterdam' wordings
The underpass of Rijks Museum
The weather was not fantastic, and it rain at erratic intervals. So Felix and I actually spent some time exchanging views of our countries. Felix explained that after WW2, the Philippines was actually one of the richest countries in South East Asia - Singapore and Malaysia were still small villages with coolies under the British. Corruption ruined the Philippines...
We parted ways around 4.30pm in the evening - It's been a pleasure Felix, wherever you are
I couldn't feel my legs at the end of Day 1... What will I be when I am 79?
Anyway, there are still 2 more full days in Amsterdam... To be continued....
PS: Finally, a new President-elect... Looking forward to better, more peaceful and predictable international relations.
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