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Megacity Bangkok

March 27, 2019/in Blogs/by Sabine

Reasons to go: Amazing food, very affordable, night markets, modern big city convenience, tropical warm weather, beautiful Buddhist temples

Bangkok

Bangkok is immense – probably the biggest and most densely populated city I’ve ever been to! It has busy traffic with as many scooters as cars on the roads, constant background noise, and chaotic electrical wiring. It has buildings on a scale I’ve never before seen towering far above, a futuristic skytrain running stories above between the skyscrapers, and massive very modern shopping centers. It has tropical blue skies most days (at least in the dry season), constant heat, and high humidity. It has beautiful temples with ornate pointed roofs housing giant golden buddha statues, intricately patterned floors, and orange robed monks. It has exotic unknown fruits in the grocery stores, vendors selling drinks or cooking up fresh meals along the side of the street, and colorful bustling markets packed with people – I loved it all!

I was here for about 3 weeks in March.

The Visa Situation

Thailand grants free 30 day visas to Americans (and people of many other nationalities) upon arrival. Many people who visit Thailand fall in love with the country and end up wanting to stay longer. So, how to resolve this?

One option for this is applying in person at the embassy after you’ve arrived to Thailand on the 30 day visa asking for an extension. There’s a fee for this, and a limit on how many additional days you’re able to get.

Another option is to enroll in a Thai school, which grants you a longer student visa. Many people do this, then legitimately attend a Thai school to study Thai or a different topic from one of the English speaking schools. Some not-so-legitimate schools exist as well to help foreigners acquire student status permitting them to stay in Thailand longer.

Another option is teaching English or being employed by a Thai company. Yet another option (requiring a much greater investment) is to actually open a business in Thailand. There are numerous regulations applying to this, and the added requirement of employing a certain number of Thai people full-time.

One of the most common (though somewhat tedious) solutions is to simply leave the country then re-enter with a new 30 day visa, which is known as a visa-run. Obviously, it’s not ideal to have to repeat this process every month if staying long-term, especially if you live far from the border.

I’m sure many other options exist, these are just some of the more typical ways that foreigners are able to stay in Thailand for longer periods of times.

SIM Cards

You can purchase a SIM card upon arrival at the airport, there are many kiosks selling these with various plans depending on the length of stay and amount of data/minutes you’re looking for. I paid something like $25 for unlimited data for a month for mine, including a phone number and some talking minutes (which I didn’t need but were included anyways). Your passport is necessary for registration of the SIM card regardless of where you purchase it. The process of getting a SIM card was extremely quick and easy, taking less than 5 minutes to complete. I still don’t understand why America hasn’t gotten on board with pre-paid SIM cards, when literally the rest of the world uses these to get significantly cheaper cell service and data with no contracts!

Language

The main language written and spoken in Thailand is Thai. The alphabet is non-Latinic and the language is tonal, meaning that the pitch of the word matters. The Thai language has 5 tones (middle, low, high, falling and rising) for different syllables of a word, which can change the meaning considerably. Fortunately, most signs in Bangkok have a smaller English translations underneath, and a many people speak at least a handful of words in English.

People

People in Bangkok are so nice! In Thai culture, losing your temper and becoming visibly annoyed, impatient, angry or yelling is looked down on, and definitely won’t help you resolve a situation. This was explained to me as having something to do with pride and “losing face” – it’s an embarrassment and a disgrace for a person not to be able to maintain their composure, especially in public. If there’s a problem, Thai people address will the situation calmly and quietly.

Additionally, Thai people seem genuinely much more patient with everything. Things which would make American people anxious and irritated (like things moving slowly or rush hour traffic) just don’t seem to bother people here, they take it all in stride with a “well, that’s just how it is” attitude. Which is very refreshing and pleasant to be around!

Accommodations

Finding a place to stay in Bangkok was a little different than in previous cities, where I’d largely relied on AirBnB rentals. In Bangkok, however, AirBnB rentals are technically illegal, as is renting any part of a private home out for less than a month. Which isn’t to say you can’t find AirBnB rentals online (the laws regarding these don’t seem to be strongly enforced) – there are just less of them available.

Hoping to rent a tiny studio as opposed to a hotel room, I signed up to a couple expat and Bangkok city forums, but those wasn’t terribly helpful. The problem I ran into was length of contracts. Most were looking for tenants willing to sign a 6-12 month lease, whereas I was only looking for a 1 month.

Here again, Vara’s advice and knowledge of the city was immensely valuable! It was actually Vara who ended up finding the perfect home for me to rent – a tiny, very modern and clean studio with laundry machine on the ground floor, close access to the skytrain, with many restaurants and grocery stores within a 10 minute walk. It was part of a small house 3 stories high that seemed to have 3 apartments on each floor, though I think some of them were bigger models than mine. Best of all – it was literally right next to Bangkok Fight Lab!

The only downside was the noise, which I think is just a constant part of Bangkok wherever you go. Even with all the windows closed, the noise from vehicles driving by in the street was pretty constant and not quiet. In addition, I could feel the whole building tremble when larger vehicles passed by on the street outside a couple times a day. Oddly enough, this didn’t really bother or prevent me from sleeping at all. I enjoyed my stay here so much that I went ahead and made reservations to stay there for another month in July!

Outlets are both US and European style in one. Since I had various devices from my time spent in Belgium and Arizona with both US and European style plugs, this was really convenient!

Bum Gun

Toilets here are still the western-style (seated), but you cannot flush toilet paper. Instead, you dispose of it in a trash can off to the side. There’s also the addition of the “bum gun” which is a little spray hose off to the side for, well… exactly what it sounds like. As a westerner, this seems a little odd at first, but is actually really refreshing and seems much more clean when you get used to it! America and Europe should consider getting on board with these!

Wires

You’ll see some pretty crazy electrical wiring all throughout Bangkok! The story I heard is that the electric companies can’t keep track of the wires. Every time new electrical work is needed, rather than sort through the wires and figuring out how to tap into the existing connection – they just add more new wires.

Transportation

There are two main public transportation systems here which have a handful of lines throughout the city: the metro (MRT) which is underground, and the skytrain (BTS) which is a couple stories up, offering really great views of the buildings both below and towering above.

Most of the time, these won’t get you exactly where you need to go (because, Bangkok is HUGE!) but they will take you to the general area, and from there you can walk or take a taxi. Both metro and skytrain are very easy to use, very well organized, and very affordable. You can get a ticket from either a ticket machine (which has an English translation option) or a ticket counter. For the skytrain, you can either get a rechargeable card or just pay by trip (which cost about 0.75-$1.50 per trip, depending on the distance). The only slightly tricky part is that the trains get very full during rush hour traffic. I’m told you might sometimes actually have to wait a train or two for there to be room to board the train if the queues are long. I was always able to get a place, though they were packed pretty tightly with people on a couple rides. Fortunately, both metro and skytrain come very frequently, about every 10 minutes.

Besides the metro and skytrain lines, taxis are the main method of transportation for getting around town. They’re easy to find and very affordable. You can recognize a scooter taxis by the bright orange vest of the drivers. For price, drivers will either give you a quote in advance, or turn on the meter when you enter the vehicle. Another popular option is Grab, which is basically the Asian version of Uber. This is technically illegal in Thailand, but widely used regardless.

Overall, the streets in Bangkok are fairly regular, so it’s pretty easy to find your way around. The only slightly challenging part on occasion is finding the entrance to the underground metro.

Pollution

Bangkok was the first city I’ve traveled to where polluted air has been an issue. On the worst days, it wasn’t uncommon to see people wearing surgical-looking air masks, or to hear people coughing. People on scooters more frequently wear air masks as well regardless of how bad the pollution is that day.

Knowing pollution might be a problem in advanced, I’d purchased high-quality cloth air mask online before leaving US from Vlog Mask. Air masks come in a couple different ratings. You need one with N95 or N99 rating to filter out the most particles. It’s possible to purchase air masks in stores around town as well, though perhaps not of the best quality. Besides the rating, another important factor how well the edges fit around your face to prevent bad air from leaking in through the sides. Yet another factor to consider is the type of pollution. Air masks are more effective in filtering pollution caused by things that cause larger particles, like smoke from controlled burns. They’re less effective for things like exhaust fumes.

There’s a handful of different apps on your phone you can download to give you daily reports about the air quality – the one I used is called AirVisual. Some people are more sensitive to the pollution levels than others. General (short term) symptoms of pollution include coughing, burning eyes, sore throat, and difficulty breathing. Most days I wouldn’t have notice it at all, though I did get an itchy phlegmy throat and slightly stinging eyes on the worst days. Unfortunately, the air conditioning units pull air from outside and many places don’t have the best filtration systems, so you’re still breathing polluted air even when indoors.

Food

Food in Thailand is amazingly delicious! My studio didn’t include a stove (most rentals don’t) but with full plates of food costing only a couple dollars, eating out was very affordable here. I had a really fun time trying a huge variety of new meals with flavors I’d never tasted before! Food in Thailand consist largely of rice and noodles with various meats, veggies, and sauces pour over it, and light soup or small salads on the side. A lot of the food is fried, so perhaps isn’t particularly healthy. Despite this, it’s very uncommon to see overweight people in Thailand. Some meals included egg as well, either poached or as a thin omelette draped over a ball of rice. Pork, duck, or chicken is much more common than beef here.

Thai people love spicy food. I learned very quickly to avoid anything that looked like peppers or had an orange sauce, and to double check how spicy it was with the server before I order. Even meals that Thai people consider just “a little spicy” make my eyes water, nose run, and are borderline inedible to me!

I ate brunch most days at the food court in a giant shopping center near my studio. Here, I could get a full plate of food cooked fresh from one of many small restaurants for $1.75 – $2.50. Food courts here often function on a pre-paid card system. You get a card and load money into it, then pay with that for your meal instead of fiddling around with money at every shop, which is just much more efficient overall.

Fruit

Thailand grocery stores and street vendors offer a great variety of fruits I’ve never seen/tasted before – I wanted to try them all! Many of the fruits that are rare exotic imports in US (such as dragon fruit) are common and cheap here. On the other hand, many fruits American/European residents are accustomed to (such as apples and grapes) are imported and therefore much more expensive. New fruits I tried include longkongs (normal and mini), jackfruit, dragonfruit, mangostens, snake fruit and rose apples.

Ratchada Rot Fai Train Night Market

This is one of Bangkok’s many markets full of fresh-cooked vendor food, open every day. Vara led the evening, guiding myself and fellow globetrotters Alika, Scotty, and Josh up and down the very busy market aisles trying various snacks, giving us tips on what to try and explaining things along the way. There are stalls selling various non-food items here as well but again – the main attraction really is the food. All of it was amazingly delicious!

Vara somehow convinced all of us to try eating some grilled bugs that one of the vendors was selling. This is more of a tourist thing and not something regular people habitually eat though. We went with a kind of small grilled cricket, which seemed like a good “beginner” choice among the much larger water beetles and larvae looking things. Not saying I’d go out of my way to eat more but honestly – they really weren’t too bad!

Wat Saket (Golden Mount Temple)

This is one of Bangkok’s oldest temples, featuring a large temple as well as a giant golden chedi (a kind of stupa, or pointed bell-shaped decoration) at the top of a building which sits on top of a low hill that you can access by stairs. The temple at the bottom is free, though there’s a small fee to go up to the golden mount.

The walk up to the golden mount is 344 stairs long, but is a rather gentle climb with many decorative statues along the way (especially towards the base). There are also flat levels along the way, with lines of large bells (and even a couple giant gongs!) which you can ring for good luck. The path to the golden mount offers great views of the surrounding city all around!

The temple at the base is very lovely as well, and consists of a large hallway lined with golden Buddhas, an open courtyard areas with heavily patterned tiled floor, and a large temple in the middle containing a giant Buddha statue.

A couple things to note: it’s important to dress appropriately when visiting any of the many Buddhist temples. This means shirts with sleeves (no tank tops), and dress/pants/shorts that extend at least below the knees. Some rooms require that you remove your shoes to enter, so keep an eye out for signs near the entrances or (if it’s a smaller temple without signs, or non-English signs) see what the local people are doing and follow suit. Out of respect, you should back away from the Buddha statues instead of turning your back to them. In addition, some statues or objects are meant for circumambulation – walking around them in veneration, meditation or respect. The direction here matters – these special objects should only be walked around in a clockwise direction. Also, avoid pointing the bottom of your feet at any of the religious objects or people (that’s super rude), and if you’re a woman absolutely do not touch the monks.

Lumpini Park

This is a fairly large park in the middle of the city with many benches and seating areas, some artistic sculptures, a couple large ponds, little rivers crossed by bridges, an outdoor gym, a playground and the special feature of having big monitor lizards! I had the chance to see two of the lizards: a smaller one walking around near a tiny pond, and a much larger one swimming in the biggest pond.

I was here on a Sunday, it was pleasantly lively but not overly crowded, with many other people of all ages walking, jogging, and lounging around in the shade enjoying the park. Being in the middle of the city, it’s not isolated enough to drown out the background noise of cars, and you can still see the tops of tall buildings in the distance. But it was still a nice break from being surrounded by the dense buildings and busy streets of the city for a bit. I was very impressed by the large amount of people out jogging here, given that it was an exceptionally hot and humid day.

Training at Bangkok Fight Lab

Bangkok Fight Lab is owned and operated by black belt Morgan Perkins, with a handful of other black belt instructors teaching classes as well, and is part of the Pedro Sauer Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Association. It’s very conveniently located about 10 minutes away by foot from one of the On Nut skytrain stop, with classes given in English. Besides BJJ and nogi submission grappling, they offer classes in MMA, Muay thai, boxing, judo, general conditioning, and occasionally yoga. Vara teaches kids BJJ classes here a couple times a week as well.

Bangkok Fight Lab was a wonderful place to train – very technique oriented with an exceptionally friendly and welcoming group of people! I instantly felt at home here, it didn’t take long before I could recognize and knew a little about most of the regular students. This gym has a very international group including many expats as well as locals, with new visitors (many of them BJJ Globetrotters!) dropping in regularly. Vara continued to be my most regular training partner during my 3 weeks here, which did wonders for my technique overall but most notably vastly improved my triangles.

Training in the high heat and humidity was a real challenge, especially at first. Oddly, I felt most exhausted 10-15 minutes into the warm up, then somehow forgot about it for the rest of the class. It did become more bearable after a week, though I’m told it’s not something anyone ever truly completely acclimates to.

I meant to check out a few of the other gyms in the city to add to my training list… but have to admit I got a little lazy on this and didn’t end up making it happen. This was in part because I knew I’d be returning to Bangkok for another month later in the summer, so felt like I’d have plenty more time to do it later. It was also just hard to get motivated to take a longer commute to train much further away when I had such an awesome BJJ gym literally next door to my studio!

Bangkok Fight Lab: Nourish Cafe

On the upstairs level of Bangkok Fight Lab is vegan cafe called Nourish, owned by Tammi Willis (purple belt who also trains at Bangkok Fight Lab). Here you’ll find plenty of healthy meals, juices, energy bars, and protein shakes. If you need a break from rice and noodles, it offers some more western-style meal options as well, such as (veggie) burgers. They also have coconuts, which I now believe are the ultimate post-workout drink (natural electrolytes, refreshing, tastes great). As an added bonus, you can sit at the back counter looking down at classes training below!

Bangkok Fight Lab – Ice Bath

Every Saturday, Bangkok Fight Lab had a DIY ice bath session after training! This consisted of filling a giant round plastic bin with 4-5 immense bags of ice, filling it with water, then submerging one person at a time up to the shoulders with the goal of staying in for a full minute. Doing this is supposed to have all sorts of great health benefits that have something to do with capillaries and blood vessels constricting.

I hadn’t tried an ice bath before and the thought of getting into a giant bucket of ice water sounded like just about the worst idea ever, but I wasn’t about to turn down such a unique experience! The guys at the gym assured me that I wouldn’t have a heart attack, (probably) wouldn’t pass out, and that they’d rescue me if I did. Fortunately, Morgan didn’t give me a lot of time to think it over after I agreed to try it, otherwise I probably would have backed out!

The initial plunge felt about as bad as you’d expect from putting your entire body into bucket of ice water. My breathing and heart rate shot up, I found myself gasping uncontrollably for breath until Tammy reminded me to take deep breaths through the nose, which gradually brought it back under control a bit. Before I knew it, Morgan was saying the first 30 seconds was over, and shortly after that, the entire minute was done!

Felt amazing when it was over, so crisp and refreshing! I was actually really proud of myself for having made it through the entire minute. I continued to feel pretty great for the rest of the day, though whether or not that can actually be attributed to the ice bath is difficult to say. Anyhow, I enjoyed the experience so much I did it again the following weekend!

Traveling & Training in Liege, Belgium

December 19, 2018/in Blogs/by Sabine

Reasons to go: Finest waffles, chocolate, and craft beer of all the world! Modern city convenience, old European city charm, museums, beautiful churches/castles, unique cultural festivals, open air markets, holiday markets, good public transportation, reasonably safe for solo female travelers (there’s a few sketchier areas to avoid, especially after dark), many English speakers.

This Trip

I was only in town for a handful days passing through from Budapest to America on this trip, so spent the majority of the time hanging out with my very wonderful aunts and uncles, tying up a few loose ends, and of course – training! Having lived in Belgium for 2.5 years previously though, I’m quite familiar with the city, so wanted to take a moment to share with you what Liege and beautiful Belgium has to offer.

Belgium

Belgium is culturally split roughly in half between the Dutch-speaking Flanders region to the North, and French-speaking Wallonian region the the South. There’s a very tiny German chunk to the far East as well, giving the country 3 main national languages. One thing to keep in mind when traveling between the three regions is that the city names change based on the language of the region. Take the French name Liege, for example. This city is also known as Luik (Dutch) and Lüttich (German).

Some of you might already be familiar with Belgium from the (now retired) massive BJJ Globetrotters Summer Camp in the small university town of Leuven. When people visit Belgium, they typically see Brussels, Bruges, Ghent, and Antwerp – all of which are quite beautiful and rich in culture, art and history. Liege (a medium-small city with the river Meuse running through the center) isn’t generally thought of as much of a tourist city but despite that, I think, still has a lot to offer!

Liege

Belgium (Liege especially) has a very special place in my heart. It’s the city where I was born and was my first destination upon leaving the US. Most of the days in the 2.5 years I stayed there were like living in a fairy tale, a feeling which never entirely wore off despite becoming quite familiar the city. It’s a medium sized city with a very elegant old European city vibe mixed with the modern. Walking down the pedestrian cobblestone streets near city center though, it’s easy to look at the buildings and imagine what the city was like a couple hundred years ago. My days in Liege were filled with fun times, great food, beautiful strolls, and a million happy memories. I arrived in Liege a stranger with a handful of distant memories from past childhood trips, and left there with a second home city.

Form the beginning, I felt a much stronger sense of community and connection in Liege than I previously had in any other American city. This was, I think, due to a big combinations of things. Part of it my attitude. Outlook towards a place does so much to change your experience and perception of it, after all. I’d dreamed about living in Liege for a very long time, and very much wanted to be there. Another part was my history, knowing this was the city where I was born and the land of my ancestor. Another part was my family. I’d grown up in America with parents and brother, but without any other extended family. Suddenly living in a place with so very kind and welcoming aunts, uncles and cousins nearby was a very cool new experience.

Stronger sense of community in Liege is also due, I think, to the layout of the city (and most European cities) compared to the American cities. Most American cities have a very poor public transportation system, making it excessively time consuming and impractical not to simply drive there yourself. Also, distances to get anywhere are much larger. This results in an immense amount of time spent alone and isolated inside a car. Liege is a very pedestrian friendly city. There’s a very well developed public transportation system and almost everything you need can be reached within a 20 minute walk from city center. Seeing the faces of people in your community and many small interactions helps foster a sense of community which isn’t developed when constantly driving from place to place. You experience a city much more directly when walking or taking public transportation than when driving everywhere.

Logistics

Language

Most people you meet will speak very good English (though they’ll probably very modestly tell you that they speak terrible English).

Public Transportation

Liege has a very good public transportation system, made up mostly of above-ground buses. There’s one major train station in the city (Gare de Guillemins) which connects to a couple smaller stations within Liege, stations in all the nearby villages, and stations in other major cities all throughout Belgium.

The bus system is called TEC. Bus rides can be paid for in cash when you enter the bus. You can also purchase a 10-trip bus card from the Public Transportation Building near Place de St. Lambert (one of the two main city squares). Make sure you you keep your ticket while on the bus as ticket agents do come through periodically to check passengers.

Train tickets are slightly discounted Saturday and Sunday. If you plan on traveling frequently between cities by train in Belgium, purchasing a 10-trip Rail Pass will save you a lot of money. The Rail Pass is a physical ticket with 10 slots for details of each trip which you fill out yourself. Be very diligent to actually fill out your trip details before or as soon as you board the train, as ticket agents come through very regularly checking tickets and absolutely WILL charge you a much higher price if you didn’t fill it out in advance when they come around. You won’t get off the hook by claiming you forgot or get any leniency for being a tourist. This happened to me once as an honest mistake… lesson learned!

Business Hours

One thing to keep in mind: many shops in Liege are closed on Sundays. Additionally, many shops in Liege close much earlier than an American person would expect them too. Grocery stores often close around 8pm, for example. No late night grocery shopping trips in Liege! Also, there’s much less of a “customer is always right” attitude. Living in Liege taught me to be a much more patient person, overall.

People

People in Liege have a reputation for being exceptionally friendly, so don’t hesitate to ask if you need anything. A kiss on the cheek is the normal greeting between relatives, friends, and even between casual acquaintances, regardless of gender. Coming from America, it might seem a little odd to have people you don’t know well (and sometimes even strangers at training) greet you with a kiss on the cheek but, you get used to it quickly. And, of course, can always decline if this makes you truly uncomfortable.

Tourist Time

Montagne de Beuren (Beuren Staircase)

This is one of Liege’s biggest tourist attractions and isn’t a mountain but is actually a giant staircase. It’s 374 stairs high arranged in a series of flights in a straight line up. The staircase doubles up as outdoor gym for various fitness enthusiasts – you’ll often see people people jogging or sprinting up, or even doing extra push-ups and squats at every flight of stairs for additional workout, solo or in groups. I once saw a really hardcore looking guy carrying a 25kg plate up!

This is the story I heard explaining the staircase…. In the past, soldiers and armies needed to reach the city center from the barracks on the perimeter of the city. Before the Beuren stairs were built, the only way to get to city center was to pass through a labyrinth of smaller streets filled with bars and working ladies, resulting in many soldiers being delayed, arriving drunk, or altogether not reaching their destination. So, someone built the stairs to give the soldiers a more direct access to the city center with fewer distractions. Wikipedia has a different explanation though, so I have no idea if any part of this story is actually true.

Fort de la Chartreuse (Abandoned Barracks)

Tucked away on the North side of Park des Oblats, surrounded by a small park forest in the middle of the city is the Fort de la Chartreuse – a series of giant abandoned army barracks and handful of other buildings. It was built around 1817 by the Dutch (before Belgium was even a country), then used by the Belgians to house troops, then used by the Germans as a prison, then used by the Americans as an army hospital, then at some point abandoned.

This places is HUGE and basically completely opened to the public! It’s a good place for entry-level urban exploration, though make sure to bring good shoes as there’s some broken glass on the floor of some of the rooms. The insides are filled with graffiti, rubble, and nature reclaiming the ruins. Most of the buildings are in amazingly good state, though some of the upper levels are collapsing in a few of the buildings, and I haven’t ventured into any of the basement levels. On the walls in some of the rooms, beneath and among the graffiti, you can still see remnants of some of it’s past lives with much older little paintings of soldiers completing tasks in their everyday life. It feels eerie, beautiful, peaceful and mysterious all at once.

I must have returned here at least a dozen times. Most of my Belgian family and friends don’t understand my fascination with these crumbly, dirty old abandoned buildings. The thing is, this place would NEVER exist in America! First, we simply don’t have much history and older buildings. Second, it would have been fenced off and destroyed a long ago, deemed a safety hazard and eyesore, certainly not left open and accessible to the general public.

The last time I was here (Fall 2018), part of the buildings were fenced off, and I heard a rumor that part of the buildings were going to be rebuilt as housing. Not sure whether or not that’s actually true, or if the plan is to eventually demolish the entire set of buildings. So, there’s a chance this place won’t continue to exist in the future.

Every Sunday: Marché de la Batte (Market)

Through the center of Liege flows the river Meuse. Every Sunday along the waterfront is La Batte Market, where a 3.5km long portion of the street is blocked off and lined with vendors selling wares. It’s one of the oldest continuously running markets in all of Europe! Here you can find fresh fruits, veggies, nuts, spices, fine cheese and meats, an assortment of fresh street food (like giant baguette sausage sandwiches and waffles), cheap household goods and clothing, plants, and small livestock. If you’re there close to closing time (between 2-3pm), you can get some really AMAZING deals on the last of the fruits or veggies! But might end up with impractically large quantities (like many cases of a single type of fruit or veggie). It has a very old-market ambiance, crowded with locals purchasing groceries and vendors loudly advertising their wares.

People say to keep an eye out for pickpockets (like in all crowded places). I grocery shopped here regularly, was mildly cautious, and never had a problem.

Marché de Noel (Christmas Market)

In addition to the regular Sunday Market, in December the city’s two main squares (Place de St. Lambert and Place de la Cathedrale) are filled with vendor stands for the yearly Christmas market. Here you can purchase winter clothes, craft gifts, snacks and candies, and lots of delicious fresh vendor food.

Four special treats found mainly around the holidays are baked marzipan, nougat, and mulled wine, and fancy boudin. Marzipan is a very sweet almond paste, sold in blocks or small candies. Nougat is sortof like hard marshmallow, with various other things (species, fruits, nuts) mixed in. It’s not especially Belgian, but there’s a lot of it sold at winter markets for some reason. Mulled wine is hot red wine spiced with a mix of cinnamon and orange zest (which I LOVE), great for staying warm on a chilly night. Mulled wine isn’t especially Belgian either, most European countries do have some variation of this. Boudin is a kind of blood sausage. It’s sold all year round, but comes in extra varieties around Christmas.

Gaufres (Waffles)

Little known to Americans, there are actually MANY different kinds of waffles. There’s what Americans called “Belgium Waffles”, which is usually a light dough topped with fruit and whipped cream. There are smaller wafer thin cookie waffles. There are big square fruit-filled waffles. And there are dense doughy Liege waffles, with solid chunks of pearl sugar baked into the dough (my favorite!). Try them all!

Bier!

No post about Belgium could be complete without mentioning the beer: Belgians are the undisputed MASTERS of craft beer! There’s a million different varieties to try, and plenty of cozy little cafes all around town where you can relax and have a drink. One word of warning – most beers you will find here are MUCH stronger than those typically found in America. If you like collectible things, every beer has a unique special glass you can purchase. The breweries change the design of their glass every year, and also release special editions. Around the holidays, you can also purchase “advent calendar” cases of beers and try a fancy new holiday brew for every day of the month!

Special Events

The city of Liege has many organized many special events for its citizens throughout the year, some with paid entry requirements but many totally free. This includes music festivals, concerts, expos, special exhibits, jogs, organized walks/hikes, theater performances, firework shows, fairs, sports displays, markets, and picnics/breakfasts. Also, every first Sunday of every month, most museums are free to the public.

Nocturne des Coteaux de la Citadelle (October Candle Festival)

On the night of the first Saturday in October, the Beuren staircase and all the neighborhoods surrounding it are closed off to vehicle traffic and lined with thousands of tiny candles in cups for one immense evening block party. There’s live music, drink and food, performers telling folklore stories or wearing elaborate costumes, and huge crowds of people walking around having a good time. The Beuren stairs are decorated with thousands of little candles in an elaborate pattern. Very festive, crowded, loud and lively!

Montagne de Beuren in Flowers (Beuren Staircase in Flowers)

Every two years in June, the Beuren Staircase is decorated with thousands of potted flowers arranged in an elaborate pattern. It’s up for a week or so. Once the event is over, citizens from Liege are welcome to take the flowers for their homes.

Enterrement de Matî l’Ohé (Burial of the Festival Bone)

This festival spans from August 15-16 and takes place in the Outremeuse neighborhood, which is on a sort of big island where the Meuse river splits then rejoins itself. The first three days of this festival are pretty standard – lots of live music, food and drink, a parades of the statue of the Virgin Mary, bands, and also parades with giant figures of characters from religious and folkloric stories.

The last day is when it gets really special: the burial of the bone. This consists of a large parade of people wearing black (sometimes very elaborate) funeral clothes, waving branches or bunches of celery (yes, the vegetable you eat), following a procession of official people carrying a giant fresh bone in a casket through the neighborhood streets. Anyone is welcome to wear black, get some celery, and join the parade! The mourners alternately cheers/dances or cry/mourn according to music. The idea is that the previous day’s festival is now over, all the food and drinks have been consumed, nothing remains but the bare bone and people are mourning the end of the party. I have no explanation for the celery though!

I sincerely regret that I can’t find photos of this from previous years.

Other Attractions

For more traditional tourist attractions, I recommend the following….

Church of St. Bartholomew: church with very beautiful exterior and interior, including a baptismal font.

St. Paul’s Cathedral: another big pretty church, located in front of one of the city’s two main squares. The decorations of the main square area changes every couple months. Usually it’s patterns made of plants and flowers, but for a couple months in the winter it becomes a covered ice skating rink.

Grand Curtius: a HUGE museum, often with special exhibits.

Museum of Walloon Life: offers a great overview into the history of Belgium and Liege, including large collection of black and white photos in slide-viewer glasses which make them appear 3D. The building it’s located in used to be a monastery.

Courtyard of the Palace of Justice: the small courtyard is actually a parking lot but is lined with decorative stone pillars, each with a unique design.

Science Museum: aquariums in the basement with a HUGE ancient taxonomy collection upstairs, including a really impressive whale skeleton!

Parc Boverie: nice park with a rose garden and art museum at the center. On hot days in the summer, it’s packed with people sunbathing and having picnics.

Training!

Gracie Barra Liege

I trained at Gracie Barra in Liege for 1.5 years towards the beginning of my BJJ career, and take every opportunity I can to drop in when passing through Belgium/Liege. It’s always a pleasure train here, and see how much the group has progressed in my absence.

There are three main instructors here: Florent Minguet (black belt, gym owner), Jordy Peute (black belt head instructor of Gracie Barra in Maastrict, who also gives class in Liege twice a week) and Valere (brown belt instructor). Valere and Jordy are probably the two individuals who have contributed the most to my BJJ career thus far and helped give me a very solid understanding of the foundations of BJJ. Both compete regularly, with Valere occasionally participating in MMA fights as well. Their classes are very detail oriented, professional yet casual, and fun – I always looked forward to training.

The gym includes both gi and nogi classes, and has evening class 5 days/week with Open Mat on Sunday afternoon. Classes are given in both French and English. Here, you’ll find a huge rage of students from total white belt beginners to very experience, fast, fierce hardcore athletes.

How to get there: A note on finding the place – it’s actually located in a building called “Le Pole Image de Liege” which appears to be some kind of television and recording station. You need to enter a gate to get to the main building, then ring the doorbell labeled “Gracie Barra” to enter. Once inside, go down the main hallway past the bathrooms and the cafeteria until you see some stairs leading upwards on the left. On the second floor, go down a (much smaller) hallway painted with bright, bold graffiti letters to get to the gym.

Budget Flights Overseas

I left Belgium from Brussels, flying to Los Angeles on Wow Air, an icelandic budget airline. I’d already been accustomed to flying on budget airlines within Europe, but this was my first time using one for an international flights. I had more than a few doubts about this after reading terrible reviews for this company online BUT, having found an incredibly great deal on the price of the plane ticket, decided just to go for it anyways.

Honestly – it was totally fine! The airplane was smaller, there were no little TV’s on the back of the seats, no blankets or pillows, and no meals, water, or snacks included, and no checked baggage included (without paying extra) – but those was the only real difference between this and a standard carrier. These differences didn’t make the trip significantly worse and were well worth the money saved, in my opinion. I think a large part of the negative reviews online can probably be attributed to passengers not understanding how a budget airline functions and probably expecting the service and amenities of a standard carrier. Anyhow, I wouldn’t hesitate to fly with Wow or another international budget airline again in the future.