A great Take-Away

Donner Kebab, made up of sliced lamb or chicken loaf slowly roasted on a vertical rotating stand, has become a common sight in almost every main street in Holland. Doners can include various salad ingredients such as carrots, red cabbage and fresh mint as well as a number of creamy sauces or even hot sauce.

The original form of today's doner kebab is grilled horizontally and the slices are cut thicker, served on a plate with rice and a hot sauce with melted butter and ground paprika. Today, doner kebab is typically served as a pita sandwich (flat bread).

Oranje Facts

The Netherlands national football team does not wear the colors of the Dutch flag of today, but instead plays in bright orange. Orange is the historic national colour of the Netherlands, originating from the coat of arms of the Dutch founding father William of Orange-Nassau.

The title of Prince of Orange became synonymous with the Governor of the Netherlands. Prince of Orange is a title of nobility, originally associated with the principality of Orange in the valley of Rhone in southern France. Since 1983, the heir to the Dutch throne, whether male or female, bears the title Prince or Princess of Orange.

Clever Cow

Standing in the middle of a shopping alley in the Hague, this clever way of advertising a clothing line provoke a moment to ponder. Why is the cow wearing human clothes? (Because it's funny!) If it is truly a happy cow, it would be outdoors eating grass and making milk. This cow looks more sophisticated, though. It probably use Apple computers and got shares in faraway stocks ... well, may not.

Now I'm just being utterly ridiculous.

Blessings of Muharram

It is the first month of the Islamic Calendar. In Holland, first Muharram falls on Friday 19th.

There are many bounties of this month, especially the tenth of Muharram. The day is named Ashurah. There are several Hadiths that refer to the importance of the day. It is recommended to be generous on this day towards family members and parents and to fast.

O' Allah! Bless us to perform good deeds. Make the new year one of unity, cooperation and success.

Morning Snow

After two freezing nights below zero degrees, snow finally arrived early this morning albeit a sprinkle or two forming a thin coating on the road.

The next few days is of mix forecast depending whether the system is more dominant from the Arctic north or the warmer air stream from the Atlantic to the south.

Turkish Bread

Today we ate at Tadim Restaurant, a Turkish restaurant along Kempstraat Road near the famous Haag Market.

This restaurant is a bit unique as it has a large grill place where you can sit and have meal around it while watching your mix grill being cooked.

Turkish bread is normally served while you wait, to be eaten with yogurt sauce.

The Backyard

At the back is a small garden store and quite some space as well. Can't wait till the weather is a bit warmer to do outside activities again and perhaps do some barbeque.

This week the temperature is supposed to plumet and a small chance of snow shower. Watch the space!

Home Sweet Home

View of our house from the front.

Its a corner house with tall hedge all around and plenty of greens on the side and back. Built in the 70's, this multi-split level design has a garage at the base, kitchen and living room, followed by 6 rooms in the top 3 levels (including the attic).

Rental is at Euro3300 per month and that excludes utility costs!

Binnenhof

The Binnenhof is a collection of buildings in The Hague. It houses the Dutch parliament since 1446.

The grounds on which the Binnenhof now stands was purchased by Count Floris IV of Holland in 1229, where he built his mansion. More buildings were constructed around the court, several of which are well known in their own right:

- the Ridderzaal (Knight Hall), where the Dutch Queen holds her annual speech.
- het Torentje (the small tower) has been the working space of the Prime minister of the Netherlands since 1982.

The City of The Hague (Den Haag or 's-Gravenhage in Dutch) is internationally recognized as the world's capital of international Justice. After New York and Geneva, The Hague is the third UN city in the world.

Dinner at Museum Bredius

Invited for dinner at this Museum together with a group of high level visiting Government delegate. This small Museum can be booked for corporate functions such as entertaining business partners or visitors - quite a brilliant concept.

Located right across the lake in front of the Parliament House in The Hague, the Museum is named after Abraham Bredius, known mainly as a Rembrandt expert and collector.
Bredius lived from 1855 to 1946 and was born in Amsterdam to a prominent family. In 1922 when Abraham Bredius left Holland to live in Monaco, he gave all his art collection to the municipality of The Hague.

Skating Season

This year's winter might be mild but that does not stop the enthusiasm of the populace to skate. Here's a temporary skate rink put at the centrum of The Hague.

But skating on frozen canal is even more interesting. Back in 1997 when we were here, the last Elfstedentocht or Eleven-cities Tour was held.

The skating tour, almost 200 km in length, is conducted on frozen canals, rivers and lakes between the eleven Frisian cities in the province of Friesland in NE Netherlands. There is minimum requirement that the ice must be a minimum thickness of 15 centimetres along the entirety of the course.

Since 1909, the tour has only been held 15 times. That 1997 race was the the most recent one. The winner took 6:49 hours to complete at an average speed of 29.3 km/h. Some 15,000 amateur skaters also joined the race.

The Big Storm

Gale-force winds and heavy rains hit the Netherlands in what is the worst storm in years.

Workers were advised to go home early. Across Europe at least 40 people dead with winds packing up to 200 km/hr. Here's the fatality statistic : Britain (11), Germany (11), The Netherlands (6), Poland (6), Czech Republic (3) and France (3).

The photo is of a fallen tree close to our home blocking the main access road. The emergency services however were very efficient and managed to clear the tree within hours.

My boy is hooked to RuneScape

With over nine million active free players and more than 850,000 paying members, RuneScape is rated among the most popular online games in the world.

RuneScape takes place in the fantasy realm of Gielinor which is divided into the 3 Kingdoms and various other areas. Each region offers different types of monsters, materials and quests.

Players are shown on the screen with medieval customes. They set their own goals and objectives, deciding which of the available activities to pursue. Players can engage in combat with other players or with monsters, complete quests, or increase their experience in many skills. Players interact with each other through trading, chatting, or playing combative or cooperative mini-games.

A walk in the Ardennes

Last October, Zim went on a school trip to the Ardennes for 4 days. It was her first trip on her own.

It took 4 hours by bus, the place itself is deep in the Ardennes Forest, suitable for doing all sort of outdoor activities. She did the lot - canoeing, trekking, rock climbing, archery, river crossing, some team work etc etc.

She looked really tired after all that but she really enjoyed it. It was a good experience for her.

What's in Fiz Mind

I found this in our shared drive. Looks very interesting and tells a lot of story.

Apparently it is one of Fiz making. Emm...

Warm Winter

It has been the hottest Autumn on record i.e. 300 years. And the mildest Winter if it stays like this.

Temperature only dipped below zero only once. Technically we are in mid-winter but the day temperature outside is hovering around double figures.

But I also hear people saying that winter seems to come much later lately and snow might appear in February or even in March.

Entertaining New Trainees

It turned out to be a big crowd. 9 chaps were on training here and we managed to entertain them with a good array of Malay food at the Toko Corner Mix Restaurant.

Owned by a family who originated from Kelantan, this restaurant is definitely another favourite hunting ground. The owner has been living in Holland for 27 years.

Fiz Birthday in January 2007

Turn of age, we celebrated it at one of our favourite eat-out - the Indian Glory. The owner, Ahmad, is a Muslim Indian who used to work in Sandakan Sabah. He still can converse in Malay!

Our favourite dishes are Chicken Tikka Massala, Aloe Gobi and Chicken Tandori. To end the evening we normally have Tea Tarik!

Roermond in December 2006

A 2 hours drive towards Maastrict, its a shopper's paradise.

The Roermond Factory Outlet has over 100 shops and gives at least 30% cut from normal retail price. After Christmas sale is even better with further 50% discount.

This is a place where all my countrymen would love to go.

"Banyak tah shopping?"

"Indalah jua banyak..... ganya panuh saja Bonet!"

Paris in October 2006

Our first long-distance trip from Paulaland was back in October 2006 to Paris.

It took 3.5 hours by Thelys to reach Paris, staying at a nice place close to the Arc de Triumph courtesy of a good friend there.

Among the itenary was spending 4 hours whizing through the history of the world in the Louvre Museum and getting a glimpse of the world famous potrait of Mona Lisa.

Photo was taken looking from inside the museum looking up the glass pyramid.

Next stop was the Disneyland. My advice - one day is not enough.

On the third day we celebrated Hari Raya Aidilfitri at the Embassy, later climbing Paris rotten steel landmark better known as the Eiffel Tower.

This photo was taken from the second level of the tower looking west towards the more futuristic part of Paris.

Mulu Caves in May 2006

This splendour is hidden in the thick jungle of Borneo.

Hidden underneath the forested slopes of Gunung Mulu is one of the largest limestone cave systems in the world. Accommodation can be found in the form of the Royal Mulu Resort, quite a surprising facility deep in the jungle of Borneo!

It’s a place for adventure and walking - 3km walk to the Deer and the Lang Cave and then witness some 5 million bats ascending in the sky in the late evening. Followed next morning by a long boat ride going up river to explore the Wind Cave and the Clearwater Cave.

Cameroon Highland in April 2006

This shot was taken during a trip to the Cameroon Highland.

The drive from Kuala Lumpur was about three and a half hours. Once we hit the slope near the town of Tapah, its a long winding road from there on (about 60km) to reach the top.

The place is well known for its tea plantations but also a place for cool and fresh air. We visited one of the tea factory (Boh Tea) to see the process of tea production.

Other things you could do are strawberry picking, seeing the cloud pass by below you etc etc.

The Start

Hi everyone,

This is my first stab of creating my own blog - a bit late you might say considering there are already zillions of blogs out there.

But lets see how it goes. It might end abruptly ..... or .... it might develop into an exciting journey.

This is the Google-Earth picture of our house. We moved in way back in August 2006. Its located in a nice neighbourhood in The Hague.