Finally Amsterdam!

Haha..yeap, i have been to Amsterdam! It was very tiring and exhausting. Hold your horses. I know what your thinking. It took me sometime to recover from the jet lag and the exhaustion but I think its really worth it!!

Its been a while since I wrote, and to those who wonders, its just another tough week. When the going gets tough, the tough get going.  I think to some, its almost the same. But to me, I would like to learn from the past, get up again, keep learning and keep moving forward. One of the quote which I would love to remember today was, "When we learn once, you have to learn thrice". And if there are times when you feel lazy, I have to despise that idea and tell myself to think of tomorrow, of what should I answer in the boardroom. Its like a shadow chasing me yet depending on me at the same time. Its the lil thing called pressure that elevates you of your comfort zone and always producing results beyond your means. The feeling of not to be satisfied easily and always to double check. Double check.

Alrite, enough of work! Let me bring to you one of the trip which I have always wanted to go all this while!

AMSTERDAM!!! Amsterdam is a lovely place! Just when I thought I would have to dismiss the idea of getting there as mere fantasy, I had the call from Alex AJ :

"Ba Guz, suda beli tiket ka? (Have you bought your ticket yet?) "

"Huh?, ala..macam nda dapat owh..belum lagi tima duit nih..(huh?..i dun think I can make it, money not in..) "

"Buli tu ;p!! (Sure you can!!) "

What the heck, its now or never! Thank God for easyJet! easyJet is just like Air Asia to Malaysia! It makes dream come true. We board the plane from Liverpool's John Lennon Airport. The feeling was nervous and thrilled. Its so anxious not to know what is to be expected on the other side!  Dup dap dup dap! The crowd was just what you would expected, young and crazy. Hehe..one could only know too well what's in their mind ;p

The trip took us one hour! As per all other flight, I always get into hibernation mode once I sit in my chair. I don't know why. Just after I put on my safety belt, I was fast asleep and  the next thing I knew, I was already up in the air in the Airbus A319, and just before I could enjoy my dreams, I'm already awake when the landing gear touched the ground of Schiphol Airport. Fuyoo Amsterdam here I come!

Approaching the immigration officer, I'm all lit up like a lamp; excited and also jittery!

"How long you will be here?"

"Till Sunday"

"Purpose of visit?"

"Pleasure :) "

Looking at my smirk, the officer just smiled and chopped my passport!! AMSTERDAM SCHIPHOL!!

Wowee!!! Now now, one thing that I overlooked on my trip to the Netherlands is, the language!! Everything is in DUTCH!! Haha, I didn't spend a lil time learning a few simple words in Dutch, and everything from the signboard to the menu, the train ticket and to the travel info! I always assume there will be multi lingual signs just like what we have in KLIA, with all the signs up to all major languages you can think of but err.. not much.

We took the train to Rotterdam and bought the weekend return ticket which cost €20,40. If you must, I would have to say that the living cost in this beautiful city is expensive to me. At least its more expensive compared to the UK. Its more like in Malaysia where a normal 500ml of coke cost €1,60 (in Malaysia would be RM1.60). Considering the expensive exchange rate of the Euro, we would have to ration our food, thanks to AAJ, we have free European buffet style breakfast in his apartment, in Crown Rotterdam Hotel.

Next morning after visiting a local club in Rotterdam(that being the first club I entered in Europe), we headed down to Amsterdam on a return ticket which was more expensive than the trip from Schiphol to Rotterdam, €24,80. It was a gloomy morning with slight rain, the whether that week was cold and its was raining snow in the UK. Argh..of all the weekend, it has to be raining! Not wanting to hamper our mood, I keep my spirit high as we arrived at the Amsterdam Central Train Station,with my thoughts on the Visitor Information Centre. I'm looking for the first thing most people will look for.. the RED LIGHT DISTRICT!!  Hey hey, cool down cool down, I know what you're thinking!! Haha, I know that grin! Well the place is amazing, breathtaking, lots of things to see, to smell and touch(oops although I didn't choose that 3rd option!). We spent most of the time around the Red Light District, walking around and around and around looking at things, which weren't what I expected. Its still early in the morning though, only 9:30am, I bet the city is still sleeping(or other "thingy" is still sleeping) ;p!

 

Nevertheless, we didn't let that pull us down as we walk around the city, and the city is full of bicycles. Even the tourist polices are using bicycles. You got to watch out for bicycles rather than of cars in this country. Even though, the oil company, Shell, is from the Netherlands but the oil price here is pretty expensive per litre. Being a tourist attractions for various reasons, there were lots of people by midday and we opted to go to Madame Tussauds instead. We didn't mind the ticket price, which costs €21,00 per person, its the Madame Tussauds of Amsterdam. The wax museum was my first of its kind and there were lots of wax(obviously) to see, and I took lots of pictures with "celebrities"!! They looked real and shiny(because of the wax)! I have few naughty shots with "J.Lo" and "Beyonce" too ;p!

   

For lunch, we had Indonesian food. Funny, rite? Well, the Indonesians have a long history with the Dutch and there were lots of Asian in Netherlands as well, and some of the Indonesians that have been in the country so long that they speak just like the Dutch. Fascinating huh? :) Believe it!

 

We walk more and more throughout the RLD in the evening where the raunchy and spicy shows starts. There were lots of "dolls" in the glass house and in each lane that we past, they seem to cater for each preference that you have in mind. Big, small, Asian, three-some err..etc. and I believe they are licensed. Its quite fascinating to see how the girls will try to entice you for a short "visit" with their skimpy dresses and erotic moves with price ranging from €50 and more depending on the services that you require (i knew that from the shopkeeper ahaks!). There were lots of live shows but it looked very dodgy so I choose to pass. There were also Strip Shows and some sneak peaks! Its nothing that you have never seen already(gotcha!). Yea yea I knew I wasted it but sincerely at that point of time, it feels like one of the exposure program that I attended and its more to empathy that I have rather than pleasure on my mind. Nevertheless, they were pretty tempting though for the faint hearted.

 

Well Amsterdam is not complete without the "coffee shops" around. There were lots of them in the RLD and weed is legal in Holland. Yeap, they even sell you the seeds and I would like to think that the stuff is pretty dangerous. We see quite a no. of people that got "stoned" and there are some experience which isn't too nice to think of. For those who are more adventurous, they will have a puff and also a slice of cake which has marijuana in it. As a personal advice, I would choose to say to you to refrain from it. Well its a matter of opinion but I will strongly tell you to enjoy other stuffs. As the side effect of marijuana is extensive and by any means, its still illegal and its still a drug which has negative effects of your body.

We left Amsterdam by 7:15pm although most of us still wanna stay. As for me, I'm pretty satisfied with the trip as I have come to see what I want to see and I will look forward for my next destination, which I will let you know soon!

Cheers!!