This time, i will not talk about a city trip or a hike I did. I chose this time to discuss a bit further about the Dutch health care running in The Netherlands.

I have been living as an expat here in the Netherlands for the last 14 years. Overall my expat experience has been fairly good. However if I have to complain about one thing, I will chose without any shadows of doubt the Dutch health care. At beginning I thought it was just me, but over the years I heard similar complain from Dutch people and expat.

Oh yes Dutch health care is very bad !

Here are some example:

Story 1:

My son fall on the playground. He was unconscious for a moment. So I bring him to the Emergency at the hospital for a check up. I went to the reception and asked to see a doctor.

Her first question: do you have an appointment ?

I answered: this is emergency room, I don’t need an appointment

Finally, I manage to see a doctor, I told her my story (my boy fall unconscious, he does not remember of what happened …..). The doctor was listening and was googling the symptoms I was describing. At the end, the doctor informed me that we need to wait 24 hours and see how it goes. I asked her, what about if we do a scan of the head. Her answer: sorry it’s too expensive.

Story 2:

I played badminton, fall down on my elbow. Get a lot of pains. In the evening I decided to go to Emergency, I told them the complete story and inform them that my elbow might be broken. they proceeded by doing Xray. Could not find anything. After one hour, they found a tiny fracture. They wrapped my arm with some sort of cotton, band aid. I asked them: no cement. They answered: No need.

A few days later, I went back to Belgium to see a doctor. After hearing my story, he sent me to the hospital to get a cement around my arms and could not believe that Dutch Healthcare has such a poor service.

2 months later, when I go for a check at the Dutch hospital and inquiry for some physiotherapy session. They came back to me with a Yellow pages and told me to find one there.

Story 3:

My son got diaree symptoms. Go to hospital, after a check they gave him paracetamol. Few days later he start showing signs of dehydratation. Back to hospital, same verdict again, take paracetamol. I talked with some specialist in Belgium who told me paracetamol does not cure this thing, what you need is Imodium at first. At the end, I gave him one Imodium pills, next day no more diaree.

Story 4:

My wife and I take an appointment to see our doctor. So my wife start talking about some symptoms she has…After a while it was my turn, I explained that I had pain somewhere etc etc.

The doctor answered: sorry Sir, but I handle one topic per session, it means you need to take a separate appointment….I told her: never mind , just forget it.

I have many stories and I could surely write a book about the Dutch health Care..

After talking with many Dutch people, many of them told me that Dutch people who have money are going to Belgium or Germany to get a proper treatment.

In a country where the paracetamol is evangelised as the medicine curing every sickness but also where health insurance are outrageously expensive, I have some serious doubts about the way Dutch doctors  (GP) are trained to answer their patients but more importantly they are neglecting their patient health. Dutch health care  has a very poor customer service and a total wrong approach with their patients. We can call it a lack of engagement and commitment !

For instance, I received a far much better treatment from doctors  and a better customer approach when I was in Malaysia, Korea, Belgium and The Philippines.

Therefore, I strongly believe that Dutch Healthcare are offering a third class service, which is totally abnormal for a country part of the EU community.

So if I make a quick summary about the Dutch Health Care, we have:

• A poor customer service, They don’t own any customer experience at all
• A lack of engagement and follow up from doctors and staff related
• 9 to 5 aptitude
• one topic per session can be discussed
• A poor quality when it come to provide recommendation
• Super expensive Dutch health care insurance even at basic level.

If I have some recommendations for people thinking to migrate in The Netherlands, I would say:

• Keep in mind of the poor level of the Dutch health care
• Bring with you some basic medicine
• Keep in mind you can get always go to Belgium or Germany to get a second opinion, it might cost a little extra, but health has no price.
• Take and international insurance, so you can be on the safe side and avoid silly situation with the current Dutch health care system.
• Eventually, keep in mind to go back in your country to be treated.

Nomadcitizen

Summer is coming and I start to prepare my next trip. My next destination will bring me to the frontier of Europe and Asia.More specifically : Western Asia !

My starting point will be Istanbul (Turkey) where I intend to spend a few days. I found Istanbul being a very good starting point for my odyssey.  Istanbul represent the end of Europe on one side of the Bosphore and the starting point of Asia as soon you cross the Bosphore river.

Leaving Istanbul, I will be travelling on the footstep of Armin Vambery (traveller of the 19th century, popular for his trip to Western Asia and Central Asia disguised as a dervish) until Erzurum (Turkey). Then I plan to continue to the East.  Once I reach the border of Turkey, I will step in the Caucasus territory. Georgia will be my first country part of the Caucasus region but also part of Western Asia.  My first stop in Georgia will be  Batumi along the Black Sea. After a few days along the Georgian coast, I will be travelling by train until  Tbilisi the capital of Georgia. The final leg of my journey will bring me to Yerevan in Armenia.

Western Asia is not a traditional tourist destination

The choice of my destination was not randomly made. Let’s say, there are some region on the map that I’m very keen to discover and  Western Asia is one of them.  I kept in mind the different silk road passing in Western Asia and Central. Finally in terms of history and culture, this region of Western Asia has a lot to offers such as:

• Mt Ararat (where the supposed Noah’s Ark might remain)
• caravanserai (along the silk road), one is visible in Tbilissi
• Greek mythology:Jason and the Golden Fleece, Prometheus
• Oldest vineyard in Georgia
• Monastery in Armenia and Georgia
• Soviet reign in Armenia left some remains

I will be travelling mostly in Western Asia by train. You can travel long distance by train for a very cheap price. Yes it’s slow but it’s a good way to enjoy the scenery and give the time to yourself.

So expect this summer to receive a couple of posts detailing my impressions but also some tips about this coming journey !

Nomadcitizen

Tallink ferry is just in front of us. we just left our hotel in Tallinn. 10 min earlier, we reached Tallinn harbour.

In my previous post, I was giving you some overview of how great was our stay in Tallinn in Estonia. We are a bit sad to leave Estonia, we would have loved to stay longer. But as we have a tight schedule, we need to be back in Amsterdam.

Tallink is a ferry ensuring the crossing of the Gulf of Finland between Finland and Tallinn. Tallink Silja is also operating between Stockholm and Riga, Stockholm – Helsinki and Stockholm – Turku. So Tallink Silja is covering the Baltic sea.

The crossing between Tallinn and Helsinki is about 2 hours. Tallink ferry are big enough to welcome several hundred people. There are 3 floors offering all the catering you need during the crossing such as restaurant, bars, video game room, playground for the toddlers.

In terms of price with Tallink Silja, I pay for Helsinki – Tallinn/ Tallinn – Helsinki about 145 euro for 2 persons and a baby.

I checked with other company such as Linda line for instance and prices were relatively similar. I chose Tallink mainly for the schedule.

If you are travelling over the week-end, be prepared to see a big kettle of Finnish who go to Tallinn to enjoy the cheap prices of alcohol. Well I don’t blame them, many people living in Belgium or France goes to Luxembourg to buy gasoline or cigarettes, same thing for people going to Spain who do a stop over in Andorra.

Anyway, back to the topic of my post. The crossing between Tallinn and Helsinki was very smooth. We enjoyed a lovely sunset when entering in the harbour of Helsinki. Yes the sun was showing in Helsinki some ray of light when it was time for me to go back home. Ironic isn’t it ?

Nomadcitizen

Tallinn was the very good surprise of this trip.

I left Helsinki with a bitter taste. A city where I was perhaps expecting too much.
So after a very wake up call in our hotel in Helsinki, our little family embarked on the ferry in Helsinki harbour. The crossing itself was ok, two hours crossing. The boat was full of Finnish people crossing the Gulf of Finland to reach Estonia where they could buy in bulk all sort of alcohol (beers, ciders ….). Based on the quantity purchased by the Finnish, I deducted they must have a very dry throat

Two hours after our departure, we reached Tallinn harbour. 30 min later, we were in a taxi on our way to our hotel. For our stay in Tallinn, we stay at Lermitage hotel. We enjoyed the place. The staff was very helpful and kind. Our room was just perfect. The hotel was located just a walking distance from the old town.

Note:
Tallinn is also reachable by flight from Amsterdam in 2h20 min.
You can travel from Tallinn to St Petersburg by train. It takes around 7 hours (Moscow is also reachable from Tallinn).

Yes Tallinn is divided in two. On one side you have the old and medieval city and on the other side you have the modern city. The city itself can be covered by walk easily. However feel free to use also some old electric trolley bus.

Note: If you are travelling with a baby or a toddler in Tallinn. I would recommend using either a trolley with big wheels or eventually use a baby-bjorn (or sling) to walk around the city.

If I had to compare Tallinn with another city, I would choose without any doubt the French city of Carcassonne.

I visited the following during our stay in Tallinn:

• Alexander Nevsky Cathedral
• Freedom Square
• Town Hall Square
• St Mary Church (climb the stairs to the dome to have a view of the city)
• Viru Square
• Toompea Hill
• Russian Market

My two picks are:

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, it reminded me Russia, but also I had the chance to attend a mass and capture the atmosphere of it.

The Russian Market, located beside the Tallinn’s main train station. It takes place everyday. Most of the goods are coming directly from Russia. Fan of tacky furniture, soviet items, tombstone, russian books, this is the place.

I almost forget to mention that we ate great food in Tallinn and at a very good price.

Here are my resto selection:

• Clazz Great food and also a very good place for Jazz event.
• Chakra. They called themselves as best Indian restaurant in town. The food is authentic, the cook is from South of India. The place itself is fantastic, it’s an old house in stone decorated with style.

Overall, Tallinn was a great surprise. Great place, great food, friendly people, and affordable for a family thinking for a long week-end gateway. I would surely come back !

Nomadcitizen

A few days ago, I went to the Finnish capital spent a few days.
I visited Helsinki in November 2011. At that time, as expected, we had cold and foggy weather.

I thought by going in the Finnish metropolis around the end of May, I should be able to see the city surrounded by the warm Spring atmosphere. To my despair, it was not the case at all. It was raining, sky was very low. Well Helsinki was really depressing. Perhaps I was cursed to visit the Finnish capital under the sun .

Despite the bad weather, I had no intention to spend my time in my bedroom under my comforter.

As soon the rain disappeared, I went to walk around the city. I stopped by the following:

• Uspenski Orthodox Cathedral
• Aleksanterinkatu
• Helsinki Train Station
• Helsinki Harbour
• Helsinki Cathedral
• Senate Square
• Parliament
• Hakasalmenpuisto Park

One activity, you should not missed is a finnish sauna. A must try without any shadow of doubt !

My overall impression about Helsinki was mixed. There are a lot of things to keep you busy for a few days. However I found the Finnish capital having a lack of personality, well basically I was just not impressed.

Again perhaps, it was related with the bad weather which make the Finnish capital gloomy and depressing. I’m sure if I had some shiny days during my stay in Helsinki, I would probably have a different point of view. But well this is how it goes. At the end, we chose the date of a trip but we are always dependant of the weather. We simply can’t anticipate that factor. Don’t you agree ?

Below, you will find a series of shots taken in the Finnish capital. The next section of this trip will be focused on my trip to Tallinn in Estonia. I will tell you more about it in my next post.

Ciao

Nomadcitizen

The other day, I had to take a taxi in Bangkok to visit an Art Gallery located at the other side of Sukhumvit road.

I used to take the BTS or the MRT rather than taxi in Bangkok, because it’s often faster and you avoid traffic jam. But anyway, for some obscure reason, I thought that going by taxi will be faster.

There are around 150.000 taxi in Bangkok.

Tips: taxi in Bangkok are really inexpensive, you may consider using them but keep in mind you can use other way of transport in the city.

My wife, my friend and I stopped a taxi near Siam Square.  We all went inside, I informed the driver our final destination. Our driver nodded his head in a way that he knows the place.

Note: Bangkok is a gigantic city, don’t expect that every drivers to know every streets (soi) of the megalopolis. Some might ask their way around to some taxi motorbikers or to local people living in the neighborhood. The worst case scenario, they might ask you to go out of the taxi and called another taxi (it happened to me a couple of time). Don’t worry, there is so many taxi in Bangkok, you will not wait too long.

Our driver was an old man, his cap (from another era) was glued on his head. A small buddha was stick near the review mirror, and some old pictures paled with the sun were stuck on the dashboard …Aircon was at the maximum (as usual, well at least it was functioning). He was obviously listening some debate on one of the Thai radio channels.

As our ride would last at least 20 min, I start talking with the driver. You know, the usual questions such as: are you from Bangkok, any kids …? Quickly, it appears the driver what ever was his name, was a nice and humble guy, making lot of jokes while talking. He was also telling that since his wife death (10 years ago), he was living alone and had tendency to spend time drinking Thai whiskey. I asked him if he drank already today, he said “not yet”

In the meantime, I could feel  the car was going faster and faster, as I could hear also the engine roaring. So I told him, wow your car looks very strong. He said yes and I’m a formula 1 driver We all laugh, at least he has some sense of humor.

Not even 2 minute after, while talking with me, he was not really looking at the road, I shout “be careful” there were a car coming into our direction …so our taxi driver turned abruptly on the right side and the taxi wheels were drifting on Sukhumvit road.  Yep it sounds similar to the movie The fast and The Furious . We avoided the car of less than a few inches …We were all quiet in the car, livid. Suddenly the car driver was laughing and told me: you see I’m a formula 1 driver

I asked him after this episode, if he was involved in the past in some car accidents, he said: of course many times but no problem it’s part of life. Sometimes you win, sometime you lose, he said. Some may call it Karma, I guess I had a good karma that day.

Shall I take again a taxi in Bangkok, my answer is YES without any doubt.

I want to conclude this post by telling that the job of taxi driver in Bangkok is not an easy one. It’s a tough job.  You may encounter different personality of taxi driver (good fellow, silly fellow, weird fellow, you name it..).  Keep in mind, they are working long hours for a little fee.

Note: a vast majority of taxi in Bangkok used a meter. However during peak hour or some traffic jam or bad weather, they might refused to use the meter and propose you a flat  fee (often exaggerate). If it’s the case, chose another taxi.

For the one who are not convinced of taking a taxi in Bangkok, I would recommend then to use:

• BTS (Sky Train) – Click on BTS to have the map of the sky train and the fare.
• Metro – MRT – Click on Metro to have all the information related about the metro in Bangkok

Nomadcitizen

In 10 days, I will be flying again to Helsinki. It’s my second stay in the capital of Finland.

My first stay was in 2011 in the cold November, Helsinki was in fact my starting point to an incredible journey to St Petersburg in Russia. You can reach St Petersburg through the Allegro Train, it’s only 3 hours away from Helsinki.

This time, I expect to see Helsinki from a different angle as Spring is there.

Again this year, Helsinki will be my gateway. Yes I decided to visit also Tallinn (capital of Estonia), I’m very excited for this trip but also very curious.  After all, Tallinn is  easily reached by ferry. It takes only 2 hours to cross the Gulf of Finland and it’s not very expensive (about 39 euro one way crossing). So why not grab that opportunity !

I found 3 ferries company proposing the crossing Helsinki-Tallinn.

• Linda line (Fast ferry)
• Tallink Silja
• Viking

I chose to go with Tallink Silja. The main reason is just a question of schedule, nothing else. So, let’s see if my choice was good

Another reason of my excitement is simply because I will travel with my wife but also our 6 month old boy. This is his second trip already with our little boy (well the first one was a trip to Belgium…) and so far it’s going well. We expect to travel further this coming Summer and for a longer period, so it’s important for us to find the right balance and rhythm that satisfy everyone.

In Helsinki, I’m looking forward to stroll again (again) around:

• Uspenski Orthodox Cathedral
• Suomenlinna Maritime Fortress
• Senate Square with the Helsinki Cathedral
• Esplanade Park
• Helsinki Train Station
• and many more …

I will provide you my impression of this trip at the end of this month, you can expect a new load of pictures but also info, tips about our stay in Helsinki and Tallinn.

Nomadcitizen

Edinburgh, capital of Scotland but also home of Charles Darwin, Shirley Manson (from Garbage the band you know right ?), Arthur Conan Doyle, Sean Connery, is super well-known among backpackers. Before to go to Scotland, I always had some stereotypes about Scotland such as haggis, bagpipe musician, guys wearing kilts, Lochness monster, mysterious castle well you name it ! It’s only when I reached Edinburgh, that I realized it was more than those.

We left London King Cross train station early morning for a journey until Edinburgh.

Note: I recommend anyone who consider travelling by train in UK but also anywhere in the world to have a look at SEAT61. In this website, you will find tons of info, useful tips that will help you in the preparation of your trip.

4h20 min later with the East Coast train. We reached Edinburgh Waverley train station. The station, located in the heart of Edinburgh, is connected to Princes Street (very popular commercial street of Edinburgh). I was caught, immediately, by the imposing Balmoral Hotel (also called North British Hotel). Of course the Balmoral is beyond my budget.
For this city trip, we were staying at Ibis Hotel. Not a bad choice, as the hotel was located centrally and their price and service were good enough.

NOTE: I would recommend to skip the breakfast at your hotel, and instead, take a traditional Scottish breakfast at The Scotsman Hotel. For sure you will not be disappointed !

Edinburgh is, without any doubt, a city you can easily discover by walk.

Moreover, despite the relatively small size of the city, Edinburgh stays a very dynamic city, it’s certainly due to their well-known university, their flamboyant music scene, their lovely people but also the various museums/exhibitions available all year round.

I particularly enjoyed walking in the following area:

• High Street with St Gilles Cathedral, Parliament House
• Edinburgh Castle located on castle rock
• Calton Hills with the Old Calton Burial Ground (located on one of the seven hills of Edinburgh: Calton Hills). Great place to go to have a panoramic view of Edinburgh.
• Victoria street and the several whisky shops (you can’t live the city without trying it !).
• Arthur Seat (formed by an extinguished volcano ..)
• Georges street, popular street with lot of shops, restaurants (why not stop at The Dome for an afternoon tea).
• Princes street where I passed along The Scott Monument In remembrance of the famous writer Sir Walter Scott. Don’t miss also the Princes Garden as well.

Finally, I want to conclude this post by encouraging anyone of you if you have an opportunity to visit Edinburgh, you will not regret it !

Nomadcitizen

A quick word over what happened to Nomadcitizen website 10 days ago.

Recently, I got a very bad surprise to see my website hacked. Not a pleasant surprise I must say. I felt like having been robbed inside my house.
After going from panic mode to freaking mode, I started to gather my mind and look about how to get back to normal and have Nomadcitizen website operational again.

After several interactions with my provider, I realised, to my despair, they could not do much. So I had no choice to spend more time looking at the deeper layer of Nomadcitizen website  but also reading several forums in order to educate myself as well. It took me a while, but it seems I’m back online again and it seems to be ok at this moment (even though I’m still monitoring the current situation …).

What I learn from that experience:

• Ensure to have a backup available at any time
• Make sure your security protection is updated regularly
• Make sure to have a strong password
• Make sure to have a unique username (avoid admin as user name for instance)
• Work fast if you get infected
• Learn the mechanic behind your website
• and finally  don’t panic !

I’m finally happy to announce that Nomadcitizen website is back online !

Nomadcitizen

Delhi, huge megalopolis of 22 millions habitants. Delhi is the second biggest city in India just behind Mumbai.

We knew that we had very little time to discover Delhi as we were in transit for the beautiful Ladakh. We knew there are so much to see that it will be impossible to visit even the tenth of the long list of sightseeing. However, what we didn’t expect was the extreme heat that was hitting Delhi at that period of the year.

We landed in Delhi International Airport around midnight. About forty minutes later, we met our taxi driver. It was midnight, and the temperature was around 30 degrees celsius. Yes it was hot, very hot. No fresh wind around.

We reached the Woodcastle hotel, located in Karol Bagh, about an hour later. First thing was to start the air-con in our bedroom then take a cold shower before going to sleep.

The next day, after a rapid breakfast, we asked with the owner of the hotel, if we could have a driver for the day. So we won’t lose so much time looking for our way. Also, we didn’t want to rush to visit the maximum of things, instead we chose two or three places to visit as we wanted to be relaxed the entire day. Usually, we always mange by ourself and often use public transport but because we had such limited time, we didn’t have the chance to experiment it.

The hotel owner kindly provide us the service of a young driver who know very well Delhi. As soon, we step outside the hotel, we felt the heat hitting us like a knife so sharply. We had the feeling to be the chicken in the oven. No escape possible. We bought a few litres of water in order to avoid any dehydration.

The car has no aircon, so we open our window as much as we could. Riding around Delhi, has been a great experience.

We just felt in a different world, no repair mark. I found Delhi a real paradise for the eyes, but also in terms of flavours.

Finally, if  you are a photographer, Delhi should be on your top 10 destination.

During these few hours, we visited the following:

• Humayuns Tombs and the beautiful Char Bagh Garden
• The Indian Gate
• The National Museum

We will come back to Delhi, no doubt, for a longer time and hopefully that time we will try to avoid the extreme heat we had.

Nomadcitizen