Ostende, Belgium

Since I only went to Ostende straightly from airport and stayed in Brussels overnight prior departure, I really cannot claim I have been Belgium.
But anyway, I marked that I have been in this country on my map now.
One thing I have to say, is the internet service is really ...... "limited"...

Many hotels I found in Ostende has no internet but 3. I called the hotel before booking to ensure they do have intenet working.... But man, yap, it worked. But just half of the time....
Then on the return route I picked a higher ranked hotel in Brussels. I couldn't believe the detail when I checked in... 10 Euro for a hour on 802.11b!!?? what the heck?? paying premium for obsolete technology!!!!!

Anyway, the country is very clean, everything seems well organized and people are generally friendly and nice... I hope I have another change to visit it and dicover further, and make sure I have proper connection firstly - go get a wireless 3G first. :)

Fiat Panda

Oh. befor talking about this car. This is the first time I tried to use car rental whole saler in Europe. It turned out pretty good. The rental company eventually is National, which is ok. But the price is excellent, prett much half of what I guoted on Hertz. I start to wonder whether there is similar things in US. However, the trip went smoothly. But I will be in concern if anything happens, who will be in charge for car... I guess both side will leave us along, just like wholesale air ticket.

Last time I got Fiat Punto in England. This time in Belgium, I got a Fiat again when key chain cames from car rental...urr...not too excited about it. But it turned out ok.
so, it is actually a tiny, neat car... of course lack of power, but hard to critisize. Its manual transmission fit its engine very well.Even with three adults on the car (myself only most time, but gave rides to my other two colleagues couple times), I still hardly have any issue to steer car around Belgium curvy road and up/down hill.

Its exterior design made to recall the Suzuki wagon Z in india. it is easy to access and retrieve stuffs. The suspension had some issues with its pushing bearing, but I am guessing it is due to its over used. The interior space is good. It is compact but not too bad, still can still fit whatever I want (my suitcase !?). The console it not badly (but cheap), can access whatever needed.
Overall, I like this car. Have not check the value but I am guessing it has a good money-to-value ratio.