Hammered the 4hr ride from Tournai to Brussels and then spent an hour trying to find out where the fuck I was and where a hostel was. Drivers here are stark contrast to French and Belgium country drivers. These fuckers are impatient pricks, always leaning on the horn and breaking rules… it felt just like Melbourne!

The ‘Sleep Well’ hotel had one bed in a four-bed room, but only for one night. This place sucked basically. Geared up to bring in the dollars. No cool YHA atmos at all. I was sunburnt bad, dehydrated and mad, when I had a shower I thought I’d be glad..

Anyway I was kinda stuffed after hot, hard ride (hehe) averaging over 22kph which is FAST on my tank. I was on the N7 national road which I thought would be bad and I’d have to bail. It had less traffic than Whitehorse Rd!!! It also had bike lanes for most of the way and bike paths nearer to Halle/Brussels. Had the ipod cranked and it was an awesome ride. Even tacked onto the back of some crazy fit lookin roadies and pretended that I wasn’t suffering.. I lost them when they turned off at some town. Heapsa fun!

Stop in a place called “Silly” on the way for photos and vanilla slice and drink.

Um, so I left my entry card (no keys here Chop) in the frickin lift and had to run down the fire escape to get em back. Just got to a guy before he handed them in. Um, so then the fucked up timed, push-button shower sprayed EVERYTHING down because the water spread was FUCKING WIDE! Not happy.. couldnt adjust the temp either!!! Hot shower with sunburn.. Fan-fucking-tastic!

All was saved when a roomie rocked up and he turned out to be from Sydney! Chia was his name. We went out for dinner – I had vego pizza (yes, all of it!) and Grimbergen Blonde. We saw some of those Giraffe 3L, 15euro beer funnel things in action. Pics from Tournai will show what I mean..

Um, spent the rest of the night in a bar we’d spotted while wandering – “2 for 1” it claimed.. what this means was not at all what it said. It meant whatever you order you get a double portion and only on draught beer and basic spirits. Lucky they had Hoegaarden on tap! I had 3 of the biguns to Chia’s one haha and then I think he got me another, but I was a little drunk by then. Dehydration finally abated I needed to break the seal – 3 times – each time I had to pay a chick in the dunnies 20c to piss!!!!

Note to self: take advantage of ANY free dunnies/trees/alleys you see!!

Anyway this chick from Amsterdam is hittin on me all fucking night even though she keeps claiming she’s not.. “My intentions are honourable, tell me about yourself”

So, I’d start, then she’d get weird and tell me that what I was saying wasn’t what she meant.. and “You’re a really nice guy, I want to get to know you..” and then “but I’m not hitting on you..”

Fuck.. by the end of the night I was too confused to know what the hell she was talking about. Declined her offer of hitting Club You or Club U?? Said “goodbye” and got some well needed rest at the hostel.

4-5 hours sleep then up for brekkie.. sad affair.. dudes handing out Nutella, butter, etc..

I want my HELP YOURSELF brekky!! Met a chick from Brissie (not Tam 🙁 ) and her Canadian lad..

Started exploring Brussels, oh, that was after moving to a cheaper and MUCH cooler hostel up the road that had two nights free.. Looking good so far. They have ‘out the back’ bike parking, unlike Sleep Well, where I was WELL SUSS about leaving my loaded bike in the main entrance! All seems intact.. hostel dudes might look dodgy.. could they be honest? 🙂

Waffles kick arse!