One of the few things I used to love doing during my spare time was biking. When I was young, I had this multi-colored, barbie-like bike that really took a lot of attention, mainly because of its girly colors of pastel pink/purple and mint green hues. But heck, I didn’t mind. I was a child back then, so owning such pureeetty awesome bike is deemed “cool”.

As years pass by, the streets have been getting really annoying. Aside from the fact that I don’t currently own an adult bike, the streets here in my neighborhood are getting really rowdy and congested with vehicles omnipresent. It’s more likely to meet an accident, than to ride safely to and fro. The pollution makes it worse, as the stench of the dusky black smoke emitted by autos smothers and gags like a serial killer on the loose. Well, I can’t blame the city; it’s the center of everything. Therefore, I gotta love the province, where I can still feel some fresh breeze, and see the nature with wide, open skies.

Hence, our lodging place in Ghent has the same scenery as of the usual Philippine province, except for the extreme coldness, brick houses and medieval architecture. So, it’s actually best to bike around the place, since there’s less cars and little to no pollution at all. I consider this city as one of my favorite places in Belgium. It’s really clean and classy, and the sky looks so clear and wide from afar.

So there, I finally had the chance to use a bicycle, and go around the Afsnee neighborhood. If I reckon it correctly, it took us about 15 minutes to bike from Kwaadham (where we stay) to Drongen. Drongen looks like a town center, where there are more infrastructures and shops available.

We had a chance to pass by twice[!] in a local specialty store called Marc’s (not a Marc Jacob’s store for that matter ). Here we bought lots of Belgian’s finest homemade truffles and pralines. I even managed to get a pack of Belgian waffle which quite surprised me with its uber sweet taste! I got commercialized chocolate bars to boot. Everything in that store looks and [actually] tastes so delectable. The woman in the store already recognized us when we returned after a few days.

We also passed by a church, an underpass where local trains pass by, and a mini bridge where I found hard to paddle because of its brick road. Most of the pavements are made of bricks, making my travel a lot bumpy. Nevertheless, the extra paddling effort’s worthwhile, since it helps me ward off those extra calories from bingeing too much food (that’s what I believe so. LOL). Another thing is I had a chance to meet my old childhood hobby after a decade or so.

I must say, biking’s a real exercise for the body and soul!

More Pics:

*House in Kwaadham where we stayed*

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