I took a total of 540 photos and it's taken me about 4 hours to sort through them and try and recap what happened on my trip to Amsterdam. So let the story begin...
Friday, 1st May:
Having slept a couple of hours, i laid in bed wondering what the day had to offer. Perhaps if the weather was good, we would venture out of our apartment and head down to the Rhine. I lay there contemplating whether i should fall back to sleep but then out of nowhere J suggested we drive to Holland. And that immediately woke me up and my first response was, "Are you serious?"
Sure why not.
We spent the next 3 hours checking out the map and places to go. J's initial thought was to head to a beach and laze around there but i guess in my head, Holland = Amsterdam.
We checked online for hostels and even called a few but every hostel or cheap hotel was fully booked. We soon found out that Holland celebrated the Queen's birthday the night before and the very fact that it was a long weekend meant finding a place to stay would be close to impossible.
So we decided to pack a few blankets, pillows and necessary items and worse comes to worse, we could always sleep in the car.
Once again, packing "light" is a word that doesn't really exist in either of our vocabulary. We made enough sandwiches to last us the journey and then some. Eating at a restaurant or café would definitely increase our expenses, so we tried our best to save on where we could.
Lucky for us J's navi was able to pick up the route to Amsterdam and the journey there would be just over 2 hours.
After pumping in 60 Euros worth of petrol and buying a Netherlands map just in case our navi decided to die on us, our very random and impulsive getaway began officially at 16:31.
In Germany, some parts of the Autobahn [the highway] have no speed limit which makes traveling from one point to another rather quick.
It only took about an hour to get to the border. And since Holland is part of the E.U there was no need to dish out our IDs or passports and go through a customs check-point. All the customs signs had black X's through them which meant vehicles could just drive through. How cool is that!?
There was no huge banner to welcome motorists into the Netherlands. All there was was a blue sign with the E.U stars around the word "Nederland" to say we were no longer in Germany.
We had finally entered the land of tall people and a country where certain things that are considered illegal in practically every other country, did not apply.
And although the Dutch seem to be quite lenient on some things, they are quite strict when it comes to their speed limit. Every few metres was a speed trap.
We followed the signs to Amsterdam, hoping we'd find our way to the City Centre but at some point we got lost somewhere in Zeeburg. J's navi didn't recognise the area and having no idea where exactly on the map the place was, we kept circling around. But we did see a bunch of guys in suits riding on their bicycles. It looked like they were heading to some meeting in another building. It was a strange sight to see.
We were so relieved to find the city centre and our next mission was to find a park house. And found one with high security. And only when one got their ticket, would the metal gates open.
The streets were covered in litter. I'm guessing we missed one helluva party because there was trash everywhere. We followed the crowds and it didn't take us very long to find the Red Light District.
We also found The Bulldog, one of Amsterdam's most famous hostels and "coffee shop".
The Red Light district consisted of practically everything taboo that you could imagine. Whether it was fashion you were after, a live sex show or a coffee shop also known as Head shops selling more than just coffee if you know what i mean. Or maybe a visit to a Hemp Gallery is more up your alley.
Or simply walk into a shop and buy biscuits or even truffles. Yes, it was that easy.
One shop even proudly displayed their fridge of assorted natural LSD Truffles.
Most stores even had a list of the items they sold on the shop front window...
Another shop even had a guarantee in their window shop front to confirm that all their products are 100% safe, natural and legal in Holland...
I even saw one guy pass out on the street. The back of his head slammed against the front of the door and made this hollow sound. He lay there motionless whilst his girlfriend panicked and people passed by wondering if the guy had knocked himself unconscious. The tenant opened her door and yelled at the woman to get the police but the girlfriend just stood there and refused to leave him on his own. Within seconds, the tenant ran up the road in her slippers and not long after the police came.
But just so you know the guy eventually woke up.
One of the guys in the bar next door came out to give him seat. I reckon he has a massive bruise on his head now and is still trying to figure out what happened. Perhaps that's a reminder to everyone that one should never underestimate how much one can really consume.
Funnily enough we even spotted a Malaysian restaurant somewhere.
But one thing i thought was unfair was the number of urinals plotted in every street corner. How come there were no public toilets for the women!? And apart from my full bladder, our mission to find a hotel room was still on our minds. Even one hotel which could mistakenly be called Hotel Vagina was also full.
And what would totally suck, would be if we had booked one place, only to arrive to a sign that said...
But i have to say, having a hostel or a place to stay saves you A LOT of hassle especially if you go on a public holiday or long weekend.
And if it weren't hostels that you were looking for, one could entertain oneself with either a live show, a visit to one of many sex shops or perhaps a prostitute could attend to your needs.
As soon as the sun went down, more and more blinds were open and the girls came out to play. You could recognise the red light above the windows even from up the road. Busty women in very small bikini's would flaunt themselves in front of the glass window. The streets were packed with tourists and locals.
Most weren't very attractive but you'd get the occasional one that looked decent.
And although there were no signs that one couldn't take a photo, i think it was known that taking pictures of the prostitutes were not allowed. Having witnessed one woman running past to take a photograph, the woman behind the glass window screamed and pounded on the glass the second the flash went off.
And that's when i chose NOT to take any photos of the girls otherwise i may have risked my camera being thrown into the canal or some bald, scary looking pimp demanding me to delete the shot.
After walking around in circles for about 7 hours, we finally called it a night. It's no wonder there are so many bicycles in Holland, parking is really expensive! Even parking out on the street would have cost us 5 Euro/hour and the chance that your car will be broken into would be even higher.
But we had no luck in finding a hostel to sleep in, so we had no choice but to sleep in the car. I reckon even if we did find a hotel, it would have cost us at least 100 Euros seeing that we just entered the peak season and that was money we didn't really want to spend.
So we busted out the map and looked for the nearest beach. It so happened that the North Sea was about half an hour away and that was our next destination. Completely exhausted from walking around, all we wanted to do was sleep.
We circled around trying to find a parking space but i'm guessing the area we were in was the check-point where people could jump on a ferry and cross over to Britain. It looked rather industrial and not the typical secluded beach we had imagined. But then again, it was pitch black and it was freezing.
We jumped back into the car and eventually turned down some road and found a spot to park the car, away from the trucks and possibly police who would knock on our windows to say we couldn't sleep there. It was a free car park which made it even better. A shop with a red neon sign with the word "the Bedroom" was directly behind us and we took that as a sign to tell us that this was where we'd sleep for the night. I think it was just after 4am when we both passed out.
Saturday, 2nd May
6 hours later we woke up to a beautiful blue sky. The carpark had a few more cars in it and made it through the early morning without being disturbed.
The woman that was parked next to us had just taken her dog for a walk. We asked her if there were any nice beaches around and she informed us just over the dunes was a nice beach. And so our journey through the sands, prickly plants and thorns began.
And there it was, The North Sea...
This was as deep as we got into the water because it was absolutely freezing! But now i can say i had my feet in the North Sea! The Dutch are very respectful of their surroundings, so much so that yellow bins line the beach. There is no excuse to say that you couldn't find a bin.
I was surprised how clean the beach was because that part of the beach was a dog beach. They even had doggy poop paper bags for dog owners to clean up their dogs mess.
The interior of the Beach Inn was covered from ceiling to floor with all sorts of memorabilia. They even hung barbie dolls above the bar, which could either be kind of freaky or rather cool, depending on how you look at it. But seeing that the weather was so beautiful, everyone was sitting out on the deck whilst their dogs roamed freely.
And i must say all the dogs were very well behaved except for one that kept sniffing at everyones' table when their food came.
They even had couches that you could sit on instead of the regular chairs. Every so often a cloud would cover the sun and the wind would pick up and suddenly the temperature would drop. But we ended up getting slightly sun burnt anyway.
Their bathrooms were quite cool though because the tiles were all layed out on an angle. Peeing never looked so trippy. So after spending a couple of hours roasting in the sun, we decided to walk up the beach. I'm not sure how long the beach was but i reckon it was a few kilometres.
By the time we got to the end of the beach, we headed towards some old war bunkers...
At one point i think they tried to seal them off but people just kept breaking into them and so they gave up. The walls were filled with graffiti and pieces of broken beer bottles littered the floor.
We scaled a few walls and jumped through a few holes [not the one above though - are you crazy!? I didn't want to risk getting cut by glass or grazing my knees]. We were amazed at how solid these bunkers were and how good of a condition they were all in. One could just imagine tanks bulldozing through the area and men with firearms looking out through the holes.
And seeing that we made one whole circle, we weren't too far away from the car.
The walk back was slightly more challenging. We were extra careful not to get poked in the eye by even scarrier looking thorns. Passing by a mini swamp on the way back added to the whole nature trail.
One more sandy hill to go and all i could think was, "Are we there yet!?" Seriously, that was the most exercise we've done in ages.
And this is me driving on the right side of the road with the steering wheel on the left. J wanted to see whether i remembered how to drive. I'll let you know that i do have a license but i haven't driven in over 7 years. Shocking isn't it?
It took a little bit of time to get used to driving a Manual but J thought it would be a good idea to let me get a feel for driving in a quiet car park with no traffic. And after a few rounds around the block, i was more than happy to pass the keys back to him.
Then we decided to drive back to Amsterdam and take one last look before heading back to Germany. We figured we'd leave on Saturday night as opposed to Sunday, that way we wouldn't get caught in the traffic and we'd have one day of rest at home.
One last stroll down the Red Light District and we noticed some random guy sitting on top of his roof and probably not the safest of boats on the canal. I wouldn't be surprised if one of them fell in to the water. They didn't look too sober either.
Oh and i've never seen such a big Red Bull before! Nearly half a litre of Red Bull - that should keep you awake. But i couldn't leave Amsterdam without a souvenir, so we dropped by the souvenir store and had a browse.
I didn't really see any windmills or tulips but i did see some wooden shoes.
And there you could choose from authentic Dutch Miffy items. So cute! I had to refrain myself from buying them though. But J bought me this really cute bag by Robin Ruth with AMSTERDAM printed all over it. My not-so-real grey Tokidoki bag that i bought at an insanely cheap price in KL broke on me and i was in search for a new one.
But now i have an even better bag that i absolutely love, with great memories of a trip that i can show off and say was absolutely amazing.
Having slept a couple of hours, i laid in bed wondering what the day had to offer. Perhaps if the weather was good, we would venture out of our apartment and head down to the Rhine. I lay there contemplating whether i should fall back to sleep but then out of nowhere J suggested we drive to Holland. And that immediately woke me up and my first response was, "Are you serious?"
Sure why not.
We spent the next 3 hours checking out the map and places to go. J's initial thought was to head to a beach and laze around there but i guess in my head, Holland = Amsterdam.
We checked online for hostels and even called a few but every hostel or cheap hotel was fully booked. We soon found out that Holland celebrated the Queen's birthday the night before and the very fact that it was a long weekend meant finding a place to stay would be close to impossible.
So we decided to pack a few blankets, pillows and necessary items and worse comes to worse, we could always sleep in the car.
Once again, packing "light" is a word that doesn't really exist in either of our vocabulary. We made enough sandwiches to last us the journey and then some. Eating at a restaurant or café would definitely increase our expenses, so we tried our best to save on where we could.
Lucky for us J's navi was able to pick up the route to Amsterdam and the journey there would be just over 2 hours.
After pumping in 60 Euros worth of petrol and buying a Netherlands map just in case our navi decided to die on us, our very random and impulsive getaway began officially at 16:31.
In Germany, some parts of the Autobahn [the highway] have no speed limit which makes traveling from one point to another rather quick.
It only took about an hour to get to the border. And since Holland is part of the E.U there was no need to dish out our IDs or passports and go through a customs check-point. All the customs signs had black X's through them which meant vehicles could just drive through. How cool is that!?
There was no huge banner to welcome motorists into the Netherlands. All there was was a blue sign with the E.U stars around the word "Nederland" to say we were no longer in Germany.
We had finally entered the land of tall people and a country where certain things that are considered illegal in practically every other country, did not apply.
And although the Dutch seem to be quite lenient on some things, they are quite strict when it comes to their speed limit. Every few metres was a speed trap.
We followed the signs to Amsterdam, hoping we'd find our way to the City Centre but at some point we got lost somewhere in Zeeburg. J's navi didn't recognise the area and having no idea where exactly on the map the place was, we kept circling around. But we did see a bunch of guys in suits riding on their bicycles. It looked like they were heading to some meeting in another building. It was a strange sight to see.
We were so relieved to find the city centre and our next mission was to find a park house. And found one with high security. And only when one got their ticket, would the metal gates open.
The streets were covered in litter. I'm guessing we missed one helluva party because there was trash everywhere. We followed the crowds and it didn't take us very long to find the Red Light District.
We also found The Bulldog, one of Amsterdam's most famous hostels and "coffee shop".
The Red Light district consisted of practically everything taboo that you could imagine. Whether it was fashion you were after, a live sex show or a coffee shop also known as Head shops selling more than just coffee if you know what i mean. Or maybe a visit to a Hemp Gallery is more up your alley.
Or simply walk into a shop and buy biscuits or even truffles. Yes, it was that easy.
One shop even proudly displayed their fridge of assorted natural LSD Truffles.
Most stores even had a list of the items they sold on the shop front window...
Another shop even had a guarantee in their window shop front to confirm that all their products are 100% safe, natural and legal in Holland...
I even saw one guy pass out on the street. The back of his head slammed against the front of the door and made this hollow sound. He lay there motionless whilst his girlfriend panicked and people passed by wondering if the guy had knocked himself unconscious. The tenant opened her door and yelled at the woman to get the police but the girlfriend just stood there and refused to leave him on his own. Within seconds, the tenant ran up the road in her slippers and not long after the police came.
But just so you know the guy eventually woke up.
One of the guys in the bar next door came out to give him seat. I reckon he has a massive bruise on his head now and is still trying to figure out what happened. Perhaps that's a reminder to everyone that one should never underestimate how much one can really consume.
Funnily enough we even spotted a Malaysian restaurant somewhere.
But one thing i thought was unfair was the number of urinals plotted in every street corner. How come there were no public toilets for the women!? And apart from my full bladder, our mission to find a hotel room was still on our minds. Even one hotel which could mistakenly be called Hotel Vagina was also full.
And what would totally suck, would be if we had booked one place, only to arrive to a sign that said...
But i have to say, having a hostel or a place to stay saves you A LOT of hassle especially if you go on a public holiday or long weekend.
And if it weren't hostels that you were looking for, one could entertain oneself with either a live show, a visit to one of many sex shops or perhaps a prostitute could attend to your needs.
As soon as the sun went down, more and more blinds were open and the girls came out to play. You could recognise the red light above the windows even from up the road. Busty women in very small bikini's would flaunt themselves in front of the glass window. The streets were packed with tourists and locals.
Most weren't very attractive but you'd get the occasional one that looked decent.
And although there were no signs that one couldn't take a photo, i think it was known that taking pictures of the prostitutes were not allowed. Having witnessed one woman running past to take a photograph, the woman behind the glass window screamed and pounded on the glass the second the flash went off.
And that's when i chose NOT to take any photos of the girls otherwise i may have risked my camera being thrown into the canal or some bald, scary looking pimp demanding me to delete the shot.
After walking around in circles for about 7 hours, we finally called it a night. It's no wonder there are so many bicycles in Holland, parking is really expensive! Even parking out on the street would have cost us 5 Euro/hour and the chance that your car will be broken into would be even higher.
But we had no luck in finding a hostel to sleep in, so we had no choice but to sleep in the car. I reckon even if we did find a hotel, it would have cost us at least 100 Euros seeing that we just entered the peak season and that was money we didn't really want to spend.
So we busted out the map and looked for the nearest beach. It so happened that the North Sea was about half an hour away and that was our next destination. Completely exhausted from walking around, all we wanted to do was sleep.
We circled around trying to find a parking space but i'm guessing the area we were in was the check-point where people could jump on a ferry and cross over to Britain. It looked rather industrial and not the typical secluded beach we had imagined. But then again, it was pitch black and it was freezing.
We jumped back into the car and eventually turned down some road and found a spot to park the car, away from the trucks and possibly police who would knock on our windows to say we couldn't sleep there. It was a free car park which made it even better. A shop with a red neon sign with the word "the Bedroom" was directly behind us and we took that as a sign to tell us that this was where we'd sleep for the night. I think it was just after 4am when we both passed out.
Saturday, 2nd May
6 hours later we woke up to a beautiful blue sky. The carpark had a few more cars in it and made it through the early morning without being disturbed.
The woman that was parked next to us had just taken her dog for a walk. We asked her if there were any nice beaches around and she informed us just over the dunes was a nice beach. And so our journey through the sands, prickly plants and thorns began.
And there it was, The North Sea...
This was as deep as we got into the water because it was absolutely freezing! But now i can say i had my feet in the North Sea! The Dutch are very respectful of their surroundings, so much so that yellow bins line the beach. There is no excuse to say that you couldn't find a bin.
I was surprised how clean the beach was because that part of the beach was a dog beach. They even had doggy poop paper bags for dog owners to clean up their dogs mess.
The interior of the Beach Inn was covered from ceiling to floor with all sorts of memorabilia. They even hung barbie dolls above the bar, which could either be kind of freaky or rather cool, depending on how you look at it. But seeing that the weather was so beautiful, everyone was sitting out on the deck whilst their dogs roamed freely.
And i must say all the dogs were very well behaved except for one that kept sniffing at everyones' table when their food came.
They even had couches that you could sit on instead of the regular chairs. Every so often a cloud would cover the sun and the wind would pick up and suddenly the temperature would drop. But we ended up getting slightly sun burnt anyway.
Their bathrooms were quite cool though because the tiles were all layed out on an angle. Peeing never looked so trippy. So after spending a couple of hours roasting in the sun, we decided to walk up the beach. I'm not sure how long the beach was but i reckon it was a few kilometres.
By the time we got to the end of the beach, we headed towards some old war bunkers...
At one point i think they tried to seal them off but people just kept breaking into them and so they gave up. The walls were filled with graffiti and pieces of broken beer bottles littered the floor.
We scaled a few walls and jumped through a few holes [not the one above though - are you crazy!? I didn't want to risk getting cut by glass or grazing my knees]. We were amazed at how solid these bunkers were and how good of a condition they were all in. One could just imagine tanks bulldozing through the area and men with firearms looking out through the holes.
And seeing that we made one whole circle, we weren't too far away from the car.
The walk back was slightly more challenging. We were extra careful not to get poked in the eye by even scarrier looking thorns. Passing by a mini swamp on the way back added to the whole nature trail.
One more sandy hill to go and all i could think was, "Are we there yet!?" Seriously, that was the most exercise we've done in ages.
And this is me driving on the right side of the road with the steering wheel on the left. J wanted to see whether i remembered how to drive. I'll let you know that i do have a license but i haven't driven in over 7 years. Shocking isn't it?
It took a little bit of time to get used to driving a Manual but J thought it would be a good idea to let me get a feel for driving in a quiet car park with no traffic. And after a few rounds around the block, i was more than happy to pass the keys back to him.
Then we decided to drive back to Amsterdam and take one last look before heading back to Germany. We figured we'd leave on Saturday night as opposed to Sunday, that way we wouldn't get caught in the traffic and we'd have one day of rest at home.
One last stroll down the Red Light District and we noticed some random guy sitting on top of his roof and probably not the safest of boats on the canal. I wouldn't be surprised if one of them fell in to the water. They didn't look too sober either.
Oh and i've never seen such a big Red Bull before! Nearly half a litre of Red Bull - that should keep you awake. But i couldn't leave Amsterdam without a souvenir, so we dropped by the souvenir store and had a browse.
I didn't really see any windmills or tulips but i did see some wooden shoes.
And there you could choose from authentic Dutch Miffy items. So cute! I had to refrain myself from buying them though. But J bought me this really cute bag by Robin Ruth with AMSTERDAM printed all over it. My not-so-real grey Tokidoki bag that i bought at an insanely cheap price in KL broke on me and i was in search for a new one.
But now i have an even better bag that i absolutely love, with great memories of a trip that i can show off and say was absolutely amazing.
In case i forgot to mention, i absolutely heart Amsterdam. So much so, that J and i would even consider leaving Germany and moving there. I love how everyone spoke English and the people were so friendly. It seemed so much more laid back and chilled compared to where we live. But one thing i will add is i much prefer the sound of German over Dutch.
I guess we can't have everything, right?
I guess we can't have everything, right?
3 comments:
what? 2 hours drive away? that's like driving up to Ipoh! haha dang!! but yay for so many photos...really enjoyed the post.
great posst! enjoyed reading it!
ms. redd: Crazy huh? It's SO CLOSE! And you know what, i don't think i've even been to Ipoh. Funny, since lived in KL for a total of 8+ years. I'm absolutely useless in that way.
xes: heya! Thanks... not sure when the next road trip will be but it's either at the end of this month or in July... =)
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