Winter. The last twenty years hadn^t fallen that mmuch snow as this year, I could slay down my street.
Slaying with ASML. What do you do when the motor is in the oven and you have a few hours spare time with your clients? Exactly: you take them up into the mountains for a Swiss fondue and slay down again.
Skiing with ETEL. Every year my company organises a skiing weekend for all employees, this year in Zinal.
Amsterdam.
Crisis lay-offs. The economic downturn, especially in the semicon industry, has hit my company severely. ETEL did not hesitate to fire one third of its personal, about 100 people... I had just taken up my new job as a R&D manager, and I felt like an angel of death when I had to announce the bad news to several engineers. This was definitely the worst thing that happened in all of my professional career. For the rest of the year some of the production personal has gone in part time unemployment.
Jacqueline moves in. My girlfriend was also fired and profited from the occasion to move into Switzerland and into my house.
Carnaval. Time to forget about the crisis and lay-offs, and what better occasion than carnaval in Maastricht?
Neuchâtel. And life goes on in Switzerland, with several Sunday-morning ski-trips.
Visit Roel and Richard. My high school friends paid me a visit, and profited from the Swiss sun, snow and cheese.
holiday Laos and Thailand april 2009
Back again. I had never thougth I would return to Laos and Thailand so soon, but Jacqueline had already booked the trip long time ago together with her sister Barbara and her friend Colette, so might as well chip in.
Bangkok. I went back to my Bangkok tailor and saw my own picture on the wall with my bright blue suite I bought exactly two years ago. Very funna, and I ordered some new ones, a bit less bright...
Luang Prabang. Probably the most beautiful and calmest capital of Asia.
Vang Vieng.
Vientiane, Budhist New Year. In the capital of Laos, Vientiane, we met the family of Jacqueline, and uncle and several cousins, and we celebrated the Budhist new year with them.
In laos they call it the Pi Mai Lao festival, in Thailand the Sao Kran festival, and the tourist might know it as the water festival.
I had already seen it before in Thailand, but in Laos it was even more spectacular: they held a contest of home-made rockets, no ordinary crackers but so big that they had to carry them with three guys!
Dangerous ? Yes, especially since the airport was just a few kilometers away and the airplanes came regularly over, while the rockets went up at least a couple of hundreds meter high (4th picture) or exploded right away on the ground (5th picture).
As a dinner we ate fried insects (7th picture) and fried lungs (9th picture). We dance with guys dresse upped as women (12th picture) and were interviewed (?) by girls with large wooden dicks (12th and 13th picture) or guys with real guns (14th picture). Great party!
Vientiane, more Budhist New Year. We also took part in the traditional water throwing, from the pavement and from the back of the pick-up truck.
Uncle and aunt Dang, thanks again for your warm welcome and all your hospitality!
Koh Pagnang, Koh Samui. And finishing it off with some tropical islands, and a halfmoon party which was suddenly stopped by the military because of all the political unrest going on in Thailand.
64.1 MB MOVIE: 200904 thailand halfmoonparty.mov
Bangkok. Even if you have seen the Bangkok royal palace before, it keeps on impressing.
Switzerland / Netherlands spring 2008
Sweikhuizen / Maastricht.
Family weekend An der Mosel.
Neuchâtel.
First communion of my niece Meyke.
Gaiapark. After having done several African safari's, it's very strange to see a giraffe locked up in a zoo.
Limburg.
Utrecht.
Neuchâtel.
Lake of Neuchâtel. A spontaneous and wonderful afternoon with friends on the lake just in front of our house on the boats of Audrey and Jimmy.
Switzerland / Netherlands summer 2009
Lake side barbecue.
Lugano. Looks like Italy, tastes like Italy, but it's Switzerland indeed.
Moving my stuff out of Eindhoven. Since I left Eindhoven to travel around the world 5 years ago, I had still held on to my house in Eindhoven and had been re-renting it with all my stuff in it,
but it was about time to empty it and move my stuff elsewhere.
Street parade Zürich. Despite the rain, half a million people attended the annual Zürich street parade,
and at night inside the Hallenstadion it was raining supersounds from Tiesto and David Guetta.
Having Dutch friends over in Neuchâtel.
A Sunday lake side stroll in Geneva.
via ferrrata 'Echelles de la mort'.
37.2 MB MOVIE: 200909 echelles de la mort.mov
Nando & Lisette's wedding.
Fêtes de vendanges. The annual wine harvest celebrations in Neuchâtel.
Funky Neuchâtel.
Netherlands. For my work I still regularly have to visit the Dutchies (first picture), and in the weekend I can visit fiends and family,
see the pictures of the Muiderslot and Pampus near Amsterdam.
Goodbye Sébastien. As any Swiss bloke up to his mid 30's, my dear colleague Sébastien also has to do his yearly 3-weeks of army service,
but he organised to do it all together at once as a 6-months civil service in Chili. Que les vaya bien !
Portugal Oct 2009
Lisbon.
Train station 'de Oriente' from architect Calatrava.
Porto.
Casa de Musica. Another piece of brilliant modern architecture, from the architect Rem Koolhaas.
Coimbra. A small city with a old university on top of a very very steep hill.
The university library (no pictures unfortunately) is not only famous for its palce-like interior an huge collection of ancient books,
but also because of it bat colony inside the library to keep the insects out.
Lisbon again.
Sintra. I have never taken so many pictures of oen building, since the fairy-tale Palácio Nacional da Pena is difficult to grasp in single shot.
last update: Nov 15th, Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
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Sweikhuizen / Maastricht.
Family weekend An der Mosel.
Neuchâtel.
First communion of my niece Meyke.
Gaiapark. After having done several African safari's, it's very strange to see a giraffe locked up in a zoo.
Limburg.
Utrecht.
Neuchâtel.
Lake of Neuchâtel. A spontaneous and wonderful afternoon with friends on the lake just in front of our house on the boats of Audrey and Jimmy.
Switzerland / Netherlands summer 2009
Lake side barbecue.
Lugano. Looks like Italy, tastes like Italy, but it's Switzerland indeed.
Moving my stuff out of Eindhoven. Since I left Eindhoven to travel around the world 5 years ago, I had still held on to my house in Eindhoven and had been re-renting it with all my stuff in it,
but it was about time to empty it and move my stuff elsewhere.
Street parade Zürich. Despite the rain, half a million people attended the annual Zürich street parade,
and at night inside the Hallenstadion it was raining supersounds from Tiesto and David Guetta.
Having Dutch friends over in Neuchâtel.
A Sunday lake side stroll in Geneva.
via ferrrata 'Echelles de la mort'.
37.2 MB MOVIE: 200909 echelles de la mort.mov
Nando & Lisette's wedding.
Fêtes de vendanges. The annual wine harvest celebrations in Neuchâtel.
Funky Neuchâtel.
Netherlands. For my work I still regularly have to visit the Dutchies (first picture), and in the weekend I can visit fiends and family,
see the pictures of the Muiderslot and Pampus near Amsterdam.
Goodbye Sébastien. As any Swiss bloke up to his mid 30's, my dear colleague Sébastien also has to do his yearly 3-weeks of army service,
but he organised to do it all together at once as a 6-months civil service in Chili. Que les vaya bien !
Portugal Oct 2009
Lisbon.
Train station 'de Oriente' from architect Calatrava.
Porto.
Casa de Musica. Another piece of brilliant modern architecture, from the architect Rem Koolhaas.
Coimbra. A small city with a old university on top of a very very steep hill.
The university library (no pictures unfortunately) is not only famous for its palce-like interior an huge collection of ancient books,
but also because of it bat colony inside the library to keep the insects out.
Lisbon again.
Sintra. I have never taken so many pictures of oen building, since the fairy-tale Palácio Nacional da Pena is difficult to grasp in single shot.
last update: Nov 15th, Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
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homepage
Lisbon.
Train station 'de Oriente' from architect Calatrava.
Porto.
Casa de Musica. Another piece of brilliant modern architecture, from the architect Rem Koolhaas.
Coimbra. A small city with a old university on top of a very very steep hill. The university library (no pictures unfortunately) is not only famous for its palce-like interior an huge collection of ancient books, but also because of it bat colony inside the library to keep the insects out.
Lisbon again.
Sintra. I have never taken so many pictures of oen building, since the fairy-tale Palácio Nacional da Pena is difficult to grasp in single shot.
last update: Nov 15th, Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
top of page
homepage