The Even Greater Tokyo Region

I originally thought that the trip from Holland to New Zealand would give me plenty of time to decide which country is better. But I should've known better. International travel is not made to be relaxing. In all, I travelled for 39 hours, and not one of them was quiet. I'm not complaining. I flew Cathay Pacific and on both flights I had asile seats (according to airline policy they gave the long-leg seats to a chinese family with 2 and 4 year old kids), and I was next to nice Chinese ladies who weren't fat. And there were quality movies and programming to distract me from asking for extra food. And my 7 hours at Hong Kong International was where I tried to catch some sleep, but I find it difficult trying to sleep in a room the size of a large city. Even when I got back, I still had no time to myself. The first thing I did back in Nelson was try and track down my passport which I had apparently lost in Aukland. It is not the first time I left my passport behind. I believe my passport has an opposite magnetic force to me. Luckily the Airline and two different Courier companies assured us that it was impossible to have my passport sent back to me.

But after the best welcome home greeting from my dog, I had to come to terms with that my holiday is over. I shouldn't be sad. As I've said many times, it will be a long time until I have a 2 month holiday again. And I've been able to do many of the things I wanted to do. Sure, I never got to travel to Paris or London, and there were many people and museums and cities that I regret not visiting. But I was able to learn to be Dutch again, and forget everything else. My Dutch language went from awkward and hesistant to just awkward. I was able to find my roots, for example; I was shown the place where I was born, but when we arrived, all that was left was a recently demolished building. And it was good to see lots of people who claimed to be related to me. As long as they fed me...

And over these two months I visited many places, and being an ex-photography student, there were many photo opportunities. As I said, it wasn't the ideal time of the year for tourists (i.e. no tulips), but then, I wasn't really a tourist. And Holland is such a beautiful country. A lot of people in Holland asked me if I didn't miss the beauty in New Zealand. Its so easy to say that New Zealand is beautiful. In fact, isn't that a slogan? And it is. We are spoiled with nature and wide open spaces, isolated beaches and rivers and mountains. Basically, everything that Holland isn't. But although the cities, dykes, windmills and polder landscapes aren't "nature", they are still beautiful.

You may have noticed the photos of windmills. I'm sorry, I am reinforcing a stereotype. Windmills are probably of French origin, but then, no symbols are really of their own country. the statue of Liberty is French, the English cup of tea is from India, and the buzzy bee is from America. But windmills are everywhere in Holland. Most people in Holland actually live in a windmill. The others live in New Zealand. And they somehow fill me with an enourmous amount of pride. Especially the windmills in Schiedam, my hometown, which has the 5 largest (and most elegant) in the world.

And here are some night photos. I always say that it is night half the time, and so you should take half of your photos then. But walking around with a deceptively expensive-looking camera and tripod at night in Amsterdam is only for the brave of heart. But it was worth it. Amsterdam is officially the capital city of Holland, but I think it may possibly be the laziest capital city in the world. The 2nd night photo is of the parliament buildings... in Den Hague.

Next we have some images of my boat trip inland through to Germany. This was such a great way to see the real Holland of rivers, dykes, bridges, boats, riverside towns and poweplants (don't worry, this is not a nuclear powerplant, it is 'clean power'). Travelling at a fast-for a-boat-but-really-quite-slow-when-compared-to-a-car 15-20kmph inland for a whole day was a strange thought. And to see all those boats with cargo of oil or cars or whatever, really allowed me to see the sheer scale of transporting of goods and the infastructure of such a highly populated country... and more windmills. Ah the pride. (never mind that these windmills were in Germany)

And so, with this lousy presentation of my photos, just as those giant windmills do, the sun sets and I wave my time in Holland goodbye. It has been a great holiday/unemployment/retirement. I was asked in my first week about whether I would ever want to live in Holland. I replied "ggggchhchggg" ("ask me in two months"), but I still don't have a proper answer. I've realised that I could live in Holland. I'm not attached to New Zealand. This may sound ungrateful, but that isn't what I mean. I will always be more a New Zealander than anything, and I love coming back here. And even if I did live in Holland, I will always be slightly foreign. And it is good to be slightly foreign.


Thanks to everyone who has been reading this weblog. I hope it hasn't changed your mind about freedom of expression and the benefits of the internet. I've enjoyed writing it, and if you have any comments/hatemail or just want to stay in touch, you can email me at ruvaman@gmail.com.