Nicht Rauchen, Niet Roken, No Smoking

The good thing about holland, or leiden to be precise, is that you can smoke in the hotel rooms. And the good thing about this trip is that i am travelling alone so that my "room mate" cannot complain about working and smoking at the same time in the room :-).

This is the view from my room, nice kan? :-)

Smoking prohibition in public space is spreading. I basically agree with it, but i do think that pubs and clubs have to be exempted and there must be smoking rooms in hotels. Some states in Germany had introduced the law last month and will be more in January 2008. England, too! Arrgh. Again, i agree that smoke haters should also have their rights of smoke-free places, but pubs and clubs?? I remember feeling cold outside a pub in New York in winter 2003 and leaving my drinks inside. That was awful. Also when i went for some drinks with some colleagues in seattle - drinking without smoking is really bad.

Leiden is nice, small and old. Have series of meetings and a conference with an annoying organiser who does not understand that "law reform" and "legal reform" basically have the same meaning and did not read my abstract. D'oh!

Surprisingly I met Rikardo in the post kantoor just behind de Doelen hotel. Now in Niuew Minerva hotel. The bad thing about the old and nice hotels here is that it does not have lift, lucky that I am travelling light this time. But unlucky thing about this trip is that ramadhan is approaching so that I am getting too many "maaf-maafan" sms (and they are usually long with supposedly poetic words, or trying to be at least) while they charge me for receiving sms, pelit banget ya kesannya hehe, but they are just unnecessary, i know it is just a nice and practical way to keep in touch, i also thought about it frankly speaking, but why now??

"dengan tidak mengurangi rasa hormat, segera hentikan sms puasa dan lebaran itu! I can't stand it anymore!!!"