After a long working life at the University of Arnhem and Nijmegen, Jan took an early retirement to live the rest of his life in Thailand, together with his wife Moy.

Jan and Moy then opened, after building for a year, their nice guesthouse Awana House in Chiang Mai. He could be proud with result. Within two years he gained an entry in the famous travel guide The Lonely Planet. In a short while the guesthouse was, by mouth-to-mouth advertisement, known as a cosey and high quality guesthouse.

Jan enjoyed the people who visited his guesthouse. Jan, together with Moy, made the stay at Awana House to a special experience. He was a good host, said hello to all arriving guests, was interested in who they were and was always looking how to make them happy with service and advice. Private tours, organised by Awana Tours, were especially appreciated because of  Jan’s special touch and knowledge of Northern Thailand. This all is underlined by enthusiastic guests and the fact that he kept in contact with them.

Early 2005 Jan became seriously ill. He kept his belief in recovery, but at the end of 2006 he had to admit that he had lived most of his life. Two months ago, around half of may 2007, he had to hand over supervision of the guesthouse. There was no energy left in his body.
Then he also decided that he wanted to spend the rest of his lifetime in Holland. He did not really want to leave his beloved Thailand, but the Dutch sentiments became more important. He left for Holland one week after his last, extra celebrated, birthday with most of his Thai and falang friends.

In Holland he did not have much time left. Two weeks after his arrival in Holland, Jan passed silently away. I have lived a good life, he said.

Moy and his two children, Fang and Daniël will have to live their lives without their tirak and pappa. We hope they can find their way in life again.

It was Jan’s big wish that Awana House would remain in the family Van Delft. Moy and her dedicated team will proceed, in the spirit of Jan, with Awana House and Tours.