the stop over : London - Brussels

Ah... it took me a while to sort out all my pictures. (Well, for once, I didn't really go that crazy with the camera).

I was back in New York in January again for the ASHRAE conference. There was this one particular booth that caught my eyes. Never really heard of it until Edwin mentioned it to me. (and oh, if you are reading this, thanks for putting me up in your little NY apartment!)
It's the Big Ass Fans. The fans they have operate just like our normal ceiling fans, but they're like 10 times the size. Literally Big Ass! Thought that was quite a cool product - especially for ventilation of industrial spaces!


As usual, on the way back to Dubai from New York, I stopped over in London again. This time, Brussels was on the itenary. I had to make use of the under 26 deal to take the Eurostar to somewhere at least once in my life before I had to pay full adult fare! Well, hence Brussels it was.
It was quite a last minute ok-let's-go-trip. No planning. We just took off and went. Lawrence was my travel buddy. I think I can't remember half the places I went... so if I do label something (pictures) wrongly, pleas correct me!


Haha, I had to take this picture at Platform 9 3/4 - the Harry Potter platform. Doesn't look as real as in the movies. Oh well...

@ St. Pancras International Train Station

The streets of Brussels! - all cobbled stones - i like!

The famous Grand Place. It is supposed to be one of the largest and grandest (duh) squares in the world... and was supposedly a market place in the early days like 10/11th century.

More of the Grand Place


Streets of Brussels
Of course... Belgium and its Mussels... and Beer... and Waffles

and definitely not forgetting the CHOCOLATES!
They have got funny paintings on the walls of some buildings... Oh... and we went to see the Manneken Pis. It's just some little statue that pisses. Why famous? I have no idea!
The Cartoon Museum! Met a few of my friends - smurf. It turned 50 this year!

I reckon one of the highlights of all my sight seeing.... is the Atomium. Standing tall at 102m, it is the exact form of a metal crystal enlarged 165 billion times. The Atomium was constructed in 1958 (which makes it exactly 50 years old this year). Fantastic engineering work - structurally... and even the services design (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) were so well hidden and neat! Sweet.

Inside the Atomium - some exhibition, restaurants, viewing gallery. It houses one of the fastest elevators during the 1950s - still running today!
View from the Atomium

Tea time - more beer, waffles and frites (it's just french fries - not french-french)