can't change this feeling
i'm way out of touch
can't change this meaning
it means too much
never been this lonely
never felt so good
can't be the only one misunderstood
i remind myself of somebody else
feeling like i'm chasing
like i'm facing myself alone
i've got somebody elses thoughts in my head
i want some of my own
- Lifehouse’s “Somebody Else’s Song” –
Padan muka, padan muka, padan muka.
*sigh*
Am at crossroads again, therefore, susceptible to temperamental postings. But today, to lift the gravity of the situation, I’ll talk about the 2 day trip that I took to the Netherlands back in September. Yes, I avoid my problems by concentrating on other things instead of confronting them like other normal people would do.
The trip to Netherlands was planned earlier, but without much thought to the itinerary. All I know is I wanted to go to a different European destination. Was leaning pretty heavily on Italy, but I guess that would be something to work for next year *cross fingers*. The couz wanted so badly to go the Keukenhoff flower fields, but since those tulips bloom only in April/ May, we decided to go on an organized tour visiting the customary windmills, cheese and clog-making factories instead. The lil sis was just happy to come along on a sponsored trip, cheh.
We were pretty skint travelers, so we opted for a 12-hour bus ride which would traverse France and Belgium. I’ve done this 12-hour bus ride thingy so it wasn’t something new or painful to experience. Honestly! I mean, you get on the bus at 8 p.m, ride on till you arrive in Dover, board the ferry, ogle at the duty-free shop on board, get back on the bus and snooze till you reach your destination. Easy peasy. The bus ride was smooth, despite the late start, and of course, we wanted to buy everything on board the duty-free shop, but made rash promises to ourselves that we would get them on our way back nanti, and stuff ourselves with the bekal of croissants, biscuits and junk food that we brought on the trip. Told ya, we were skint.
Arrived in Amsterdam on a rainy Monday morning, and needed to brush our teeth and sleep off from our faces. Didn’t have change to pay the toilet toll, so had to buy some coffee. Was very tempted to buy the breakfast cereal with some yoghurt in a cup to start my morning off, but thought of the many souvenirs that may need to be purchased, so kept tummy quiet. I guess the underlying motive for choosing Amsterdam was because everyone could speak English there hehe. And that was a major, major boon for us. Which really helped us everywhere we went.
We didn’t have any reservations at any hotel/hostel/b&bs, but what we do know is that we needed a place to lay our heads on for 1 night, and it has to be near to the main train station at the Damrak. Firstly, because we needed to get on the train to go back to the bus station the next night for our trip back to the Londres. Secondly, because the main tour operators would start their tours on the Damrak. So, upon arriving, in the misty rain, we started searching for a respectable hotel. It’s no mean feat pun, because the Damrak is lined with convenience for the tourists, be it fast food takeaways, souvenir shops, halal kebab shops, hotel/hostel/b&bs and the complimentary sex museum *no, I didn’t visit it, call me a prude if you want, but I was more interested in other aspect of the city*. We chose this respectable but kinda pricey place *I think la* called Hotel van Gelder, that had a tour operator operating on the ground floor. Sparse décor ye, with super steep steps going up to our room on the 3rd Floor, but was clean and respectable la hehe. After dumping our stuff, and pooh-poohing the rain, we went for a walk around the city.
Our hotel at night:
We registered for the 9-hour tour the next day first, then started walking down Damrak, stopping in the many souvenir shops, armed with a tourist map. Amsterdam is renowned for its canals and its museum, both of which we didn’t explore. We didn’t go on any canal cruise, nor did we jejak into any museum, the uncultured people we are. I wanted to go on a canal cruise, but since it was raining, and we planned on walking and I found out that many were concentrating on sights instead of places of attraction, I decided not to blow my money on it. We walked down to the Royal Palace and Madame Tussaud, and took pictures in the rain. Decided to walk down to the Flower Market instead to satisfy the couz’s appetite for flowers. Turns out there weren’t as many flowers as there were tulip bulbs and blue-white souvenirs hehe. We decided to walk further down to this flea market, but it was disappointing. Not a patch on London’s Portobello or Petticoat Lane. But the scenery along the way was picturesque and the canals we passed were very pretty. And yes, we had to dodge cyclists who would arrogantly ring their bells whenever we stray on to their path.
Amsterdam's trademarks; canals & bicycles:
It rained the whole day, at times heavily. During lunch, we took shelter in this departmental store with the most amazing Marche-like food court. They had the most amazing and mouth-watering array of pastries and breads, salads, pastas, meats, fish and deserts. We couldn’t help salivating and decided to have our lunch there, our bekal conveniently forgotten. After lunch, we decided to go to the Albert Cuypmarket, to have a look see, on our first tram ride. The tram we were on had a ticket booth in the middle of the coach, but I think that’s prolly for a certain type of trams.
Something funny but kinda unpleasant happened while we were at the market. We were passing by all these stalls, looking at the trinkets when we arrived at this cool nuts, chocs and seeds stall. They had all kinds of nuts with variations such as sugar/cheese/cinnamon/candy/chocolate/etc –coated, dried fruits of imaginable kinds (dried cherries, plums, blueberries, etc) and they had home-made chocolates with all kinds of fillings. Those chocolates caught our eyes because they were served in huge blocks and will be sold per weight. What made us squeal in the delight was the genitalia-shaped chocolates. (!!!) So, there we were looking at those, urmm, tall-shaped ones *raised left eyebrow*, when my sister decided to snap pictures of them, haha! I did too, albeit at a further angle without much focusing. We got this pretty sleazy comment from a passer-by which we ignored while we decided on what to purchase from this stall as they had kindly allowed us to snap pics of their wares.
Now, it’s been raining all day right? So, the street was wet, and so were the canvas tents that they put up. All of a sudden, this freak wind blew, and hit the water gathered on those canvas roofs, which in turn splashed the water on 2 unsuspecting innocent bystanders and soaked them both! Me and my couz that is! Arrgghh!!! It was so sudden that I was just stunned into silence while both my sis and couz screamed! God, that was humiliating! And disgusting! Our corduroy jackets were soaked, and our hair was wet, and it was kinda funny, cuz it’s actually sunny at that time. The stall owners of course, couldn’t help laughing as they handed us paper towels. My sis was laughing her head off and telling us that it’s God’s punishment for staring at those chocolates for too long!
We just didn’t really have the heart to go anywhere after that, so we went back to the hotel, dried our clothes, had hot showers and had a long nap. I think the three of us had developed a slight cold after walking in the rain the whole day and that unwelcome shower, so I was thankful of the fact that I happened to have some Lemsip in my bag, and forced them to drink a sachet each. My sis is prone to colds, so we have to be extra wary when she gets sick.
That night, after the nap, and feeling a little bit better, we went off to the Red Light District to have a look see. No problems with directions as everyone was basically headed towards that area, although we were kinda shy about asking for directions from our hotel receptionist hehe. It was getting dark, but still early so there were lots of people walking up and down the street. We’re talking obvious elderly tourists and young college kids, so I thought it was pretty safe for us to walk around. Besides, my couz seemed to be the only hijab-ed person, so I didn’t want to risk walking around too late.
The Red Light District was interesting, but since it was early, I guess it was pretty tame. We did see a few ladies in the windows with their lingerie on, smiling suggestively and dancing, but none of those lurid poses you see mostly on souvenir t-shirts. They were of varying kinds though, the smart looking one with her hair in a bun and glasses, the manly-looking one in a nurse uniform, the blonde and brunette ones. We just went round the area once, and then we went off to look for HRC.
This is one of the canals we crossed before going to the Red Light District:
To get to HRC, we needed to get on a tram, but before that I went to buy these cool touristy umbrellas with the tulip flower as the handle. Mine was a slightly larger one with a white transparent shade, while my sis got an opaque red one. Those umbrellas really came in handy later on during our trip. After buying some t-shirts at the HRC, and more pics snapping, we went back to the Damrak to look for dinner. My sis and I had earlier on spied these 2 cafes in the alleys selling colourful, scrumplicious looking Belgium waffles, with a myriad of toppings, yumss! So we went back to those shops and after buying a strawberry and whipped cream topped, chocolate-dipped one, we ducked into a kebab shop to have our dinner. Oh, by the way, there’s this frites (chunky fries) shop on the Damrak which was voted the best frites shop in Amsterdam, where you’ve gotta try the frites..yummmo!!! The Dutch are known to have their frites with mayonnaise instead of ketchup, and in my case, with a dollop of melted cheddar cheese topping….such bliss!
Lookie, desserts:
After breakfast the next day, we checked out and went on our 9-hour tour. The tours over there offer basically the same things; the Zaanse Schans windmills, the clog-making factory with those beautiful clogs that you can buy in your size and in such funky colours too, the cheese making factory where I bought the smoked cheese and the one with cumin seeds in it, then to the fishing village where you can have your picture taken in a traditional Dutch costume (I didn’t though, not my kind of thing) and a boat ride. What I found most interesting was the existence of their lush lands which they achieved by draining lakes. These lakes provide really good soil for their cows, which in turn produced super-quality milk to be exported. So, these lands (formerly lakes) area actually below sea level, and they make up for a big portion of the Netherlands (according to the guide, Netherlands actually means low lands). You could really see the difference between the sea level canals which holds the water from the lakes and the depth of the low lands. Pretty cool actually.
Pretty clogs:
In the afternoon, we were taken to the Delft Blue pottery museum in the Delft village where they produce the Delft Blue potteries. The potteries were beautiful and expensive, even the tiniest dish cost about 25 Euros. We intended to get something for our mom there, but since it was too expensive, she had to settle for something else. Then it was of to the Hague where they showed us Queen Beatrice’s palace, the ambassador’s homes, and a few other buildings of importance (can’t remember la pulak). After that, they took us to visit Madurodam for an hour.
Delft Blue Potteries:
Madurodam was built by this couple to commemorate their son who died in the war. It is like a miniature town, with tiny figures and precise scaled down buildings, monuments and historical sites in the Netherlands. An hour wasn’t exactly enough, but we ran wild with our cameras there. What was also amazing was that everything seemed intact, and in its place, with nary a trace of vandalism. I’m sorry, but I don’t foresee that happening in our country. After Madurodam, they took us to see the beach where stalls and restaurants will be erected only during the summer. It’s a pity the weather wasn’t that sunny, as there weren;t that many people on the beach.
Minis:
We arrive at Damrak at around 7 plus in the evening, and had some time to buy more frites and last-minute souvenirs, before going back to London on our 10 p.m bus. It’s a good thing that we budgeted for unforeseen circumstances, as we missed our stop while taking the train back to the bus station. Alas, the bus did not board a ferry this time, and that dashed my hopes of buying duty-free stuff (just like in 05!). Instead we went back on the train, with the bus entering a long, narrow container, for the journey across the Channel.
And here's the umbrella's debut:
That was the second trip I made with a bunch of people, who have not been to that destination, moi included, acting as a group leader, sorta. I think I’m game for more *winks*, although the fact that language wasn’t a barrier helped immensely. It wasn’t particularly a thrilling trip, nor was it adventurous, but I was glad that I made that trip. It helped that my couz and sis are not whiny people who don’t mind walking for hours and relying on their, sometimes, scatter brained leader here haha!
So where to next? Onwards Italia!
