Windmills of Holland Part I

The North sea. Every year while we lived in Holland, we witness the raw power of this temptuous sea. She is tough and harsh especially during the winter. Low lying Holland thus face her mighty blows all the time.

An epic struggle has stretched out for more than a millenia, as the Dutch people sought ways to temper the mighty sea. We recalled stories told to us by our friends about the winter of 1953. While it was not just Holland that suffered in the hands of that great flood, it bored the brunt of the brute force that nature is capable of wielding.

How has the Dutch responded?

Why they built windmills of course! And many of them. The structures weren’t all large ones you see today and came in a mix of size. But their primary role was to pump water and drain the land. Successful they have been and today they are supplanted by modern pumps. To see these venerable old ladies at work, one could venture to Kinderdijk where they were used right up to the middle of the 20th century.

It’s a marvel of engineering  feat of the Dutch. If you do have the opportunity, make sure you be there!

A new kind of Cuba emerging?

Don’t know why but I keep associating Cuba ONLY with cigars.

Like many folks whom we read such as the post here, it was with with trepidation that we felt when Obama made that historic visit to the island just 90 miles (or is it less?) from the tip of Florida. Almost immediately, a cruise ship was due to dock (it had since) and more than 20 flights (6 airines approved) will be soon shuttling between the continental US and the island that some says look like a crooked cigar (ah that’s why).

Like the post’s author, the impression we have of a communist country is that of a militarized society, where freedoms are curtailed. But it appears that life is just as colorful on the island though choked by sanctions for many years. It clearly demonstrates the indominable spirit of people to overcome adversity yet continue to build a life story.

Some years ago, Suan’s brother visited the island to attend a friend’s wedding (read post here). The images that he brought back echoed the author’s observations.

Our intent is to journey to tap on Mel’s business trip to fly direct into Cuba from NYC for a few days before returning home. We want to get there before thousands of tourists pound the streets of Havana like the rest of the Caribbean…not that we have anything against Americans. Just that it becomes another Cayman, Cozumel etc…

It seems that it is becoming more of a challenge to find a really exotic destination these days. With the advent of budget flight, it’s like taking a short bus hop for a couple of hundred miles in just an hour. Google’s about just mapped every square inch on earth (almost anyway).

We wish that Cuba would retain most of the old charms it has, hopefully without holding back progress for the living standard of Cubans. Our hopes seem to be a little dashed as the first US chain of hotels make its landing. At least until we made our landing there. Yeah it’s a wet dream. But on a blog you can dream and write all you want right?

Don’t you wish they’d switch to this plane?

Sometimes when you are onboard the plane, do you get the feeling that you are being squeezed like sardines? That’s why some call flying coach : Cattle Class.

We all need our own space. And with the ‘democratization’ of travel, more are on the road eh sorry, in the air. We all would have read somewhere about bad beahavior onboard flights, so much that the Tokyo convention is expected to be replaced with the Montreal protocol. What’s that? It’s an agreement that facilitates law enforcement agencies around the world to prosecute folks whose misbehavior crosses the line.

Why do people behave like that? Perhaps its because we are squeezed like preserved fish in a flying aluminium can? Sorry, digress again…

What plane are we talking about?

If you read this article, you’d think that they are being technical with the inches of space of a seat on an aircraft. However these small but significant improvements do make your life (well those couple of hours anyway) more comfortable and you will definitely be grateful for it.

In our research, it appears that some literature suggest that if you fly under 6 hours – comfort would rank below a variety of other factors, eg flight availability, cost, frequent mile etc. Really? Why don’t you tell? We wouldn’t want to have our knees bent in the same direction for more than 2 hours. Its called thrombosis aversion.

Let’s hope that not only Delta and Swiss Air that will buy and fly the planes…

Castles & Forts of Holland

Basically flat and in many cases under water, Holland is probably not known for having strategic fortresses or castles like its larger neighbours. France have their Chateaux. Germany has its many ‘schlossen’ and castles all along the Rhine.

Stroll in the gardens of a palace that feels or looks errily like Versailles, but is not as the Dutch will remind you. They built the palace after the war with Louis XIV!

Imagine how the baliffs of the day might have run the dungeons in the gut the castles. These are just some of the sights that we thoroughly enjoyed while we lived it up in Holland. If you have similar experiences, do share them with us!

So don’t be surprised that Holland boasts of some of the finest preserved pieces of medieval heritage.

Mapping our journeys

We have always struggled with the use of maps and guides. And how if you attempt to use apps on your mobility devices that saps away mobile data costing you a money? GPS devices such as Garmin used to be our main tools. But they don’t figure any way close these days.

So the use of Google maps to plan has always been something we did.

But the cheapos in us always had a problem. Those custom maps we cannot access when we are on the road because we stick with only using free wifi. And you don’t get free wifi out in the open road. So how now brown cow?

A very well thought out post here shares how you custom your own maps using Google mymaps and use them offline (the Mapeme app). Best thing is – its free to use. Follow the steps Jenny recommends and you can save on paying mobile data. Especially useful for planning road trips, we intend to use it for city navigation all the time and you will see it for our coming Phuket journey. This saves us from the “mandatory” step of buying a local SIM card and data plan. Let us tell you how this works out in the journalog.

Remember that there are folks out there helping to virtually map out walks, treks and hiking trails? It will not be long before you can easier create custom maps for these activities too. Life will get better with technology.

Don’t let it enslave you. Be its master! Google Trips. That’s the next thing to really harness.

Evacuating from a plane

Let’s hope its not this funny

Last thing you want to hear when you are flying. “Brace! Brace!”.

What do you do when the plane you are traveling on has to be evacuated? Do you bolt up and make for the exit or will you start pulling out your luggage from the overhead compartments.

Well, the folks on EK521 apparently did in a recent incident recounted by an article in the Huffington post. The video has gone so viral it’s not something that needs to be linked to anymore.

In the middle of a plane with smoke filled air, the passengers were scrambling to bring their luggage with them as they made their way to the emergency exits. It was such a miracle that no one was hurt in the melee.

We can understand.

Usually, Suan packs only the most ‘important’ and ‘precious’ of cargo from her journeys in the carry-on luggage. So it would not be a surprise to us that many on that flight had the same. How could you leave your most precious behind? After all that effort to meticulously squeeze them in, using up each available cubic inch?

So believe it or not, this can be the real behaviour of people and its apparently not unique for this incident alone. Scour the net for more stories here and here. Some day, we’re really gonna get a nasty one.