When I visit a country, I naturally take photos like everyone else. But over the years, I’ve also written a number of stories. Some of the earlier ones are collected below.
Camping with lions: In 1999 with a group of friends I visited Tanzania to climb mount Kilimanjaro and we also went on safari in the Serengeti.
The car started to chase the lion and it appeared that there were three more just next to the campsite. We were in real danger and the French ladies started to panic.
India, Begging for rest: In 1996 I visited South India on my own. It was so impressive that I almost wrote a whole book about it.
When I open the door of the shower, I can’t believe my eyes. There’s a black hairy spider at least half a meter long on the back wall of the small space. I’m standing about two meters away from it, and I’d very much like to keep it that way.
New York marathon 2000: In 2000 I run the NYC marathon with a group of friends. Read how I suffered and ended 1 minute faster than 83 year old Toby Green from the UK.
I approached the 23 mile sign in Central Parc. My legs were becoming heavier with every step and my pace slowed. I was near collapse.
Balkan Blues: In 2002, not long after the war in Yugoslavia, I visited Serbia and Croatie and drove to infamous places like Novi Sad, Belgrade and Vukovar.
You can clearly see where these rockets hit the building. A gaping hole and collapsed concrete floors show the impact of precision bombs.
Paris, Texas: During a business trip to Houston, I finally had the chance to visit Paris, Texas—a longtime dream of mine ever since I saw the Wim Wenders film of the same name.
A man walks alone in the desert. He has no memory, no past, no future.
Skating for health: During a business trip, celebrating a famous 1978 primary health care conference, in 2008 I could visit the (in Netherlands) famous ice skating ring in Alma Ata, now called Almaty.
Medeo was still in my mind, so I bought a bigger suitcase and I packed my skates together with my suit to grasp this chance to see this historic place. Perhaps I could even skate a world record myself.
White Barcelona: In 1998 I went with my friends to Barcelona and visited a match of the football club with the same name. Louis van Gaal was trainer and Frank Rijkaard and Marc Overmars Dutch players.
The headlines of the newspapers next day were very critical. This was the worst position in the primera division since 1969 and the position of van Gaal was seriously in danger.
The Swedish model: In 1994 we went with the association of young civil servants to Sweden, visiting other ministries and trying to find out about the Swedish model.
A massive machine with two gripping arms saws down a tree in ten seconds, strips the trunk of all its branches, and chops the whole thing into three or four pieces.
Bombing in Belfast: In 1993 we went with the association of young civil servants to Ireland, visiting other ministries and the Guiness brewery. As the peace process was going on, I naively rent a car and drove to Belfast.
At the border, a large sign with red letters reads ‘RAMP, meaning disaster in Dutch.’ Convinced that I shouldn’t drive slowly in a disaster area, I press down on the gas pedal
Fred Lafeber 