On Timeline: 25-26 Aug 2007
Ok so to continue from my previous post (which was meant to be a 2-in-1 post of Utrecht-Amsterdam), which was my journey up north from Eindhoven to Utrecht, and then to Amsterdam with Aunt Babe and Nicole (my guides!)...basically Amsterdam is world-famous for its red-light district and the numerous coffeeshops which line its streets. Of course, one cannot forget the presence of canals (well the Dutch MADE Netherlands haha), the various shopping areas and the old buildings (I lurve architecture. haha)!
It was an early morning for all 3 of us, and we slowly made our way to Amsterdam Centraal (there are 2, one's the business centre, the other's the shopping area), which has begun to warm up and there were many tourists in the area when we arrived! Saturday's a tourist day in Amsterdam, so it's pretty cool to be amongst the crowd early in the morning, with sunshine in your eyes.
What really impressed me was how they managed to incorporate the trams, buses, bicycles, pedestrians all into one road network. Furthermore, the trams and buses have their own dedicated lanes! That's pretty great and it ensures the trams are moving at their maximum speed. But the problem lay near the train station, with the numerous pedestrians jay-walking it was kinda difficult for the trams to move...until I noticed the presence of the Dutch Police in the hot sun. That's Saturday morning duty for you!
First thing I see when I get out of Amsterdam Station!
Trams!
Amsterdam Centraal station
More trams!
Victoria Hotel at the corner
Rederu Plas Rondvaarten - river excursions
Public (MALE) toilet - guys u know where to let it go....lol
Sex Shop in the background
Sex Shop in the infamous red-light district
Not your regular coffeeshop ;)
Public toilets ruining the landscape?
Me, my stolen bike (lol!) and the canal in Amsterdam
Amsterdam or Venice?
Of course, I took less pictures in the red-light district because:
1) It's more lively at night
2) The moment you take a camera out you're automatically looked at
3) Lingerie models line the streets by looking out from full-length glass windows
4) Number 3 is really worth double the mention.
So being a lazy Saturday morning (well there were some already at work....) we walked past, saw some things here and there, and moved on to the next street, which was the Chinatown street (every major city has one!)
Chinatown Street
Apparently the Queen gave 1.2 million Euros to renovate...or something o.O
Food!
Nicole and Ducks
Egg tart & Chinese donut! Delicious!
Eating in front of the oldest cafe in Amsterdam :)
Presenting...man-made waterfall! (Discovered by chance too lol)
Buildings with hoists (Kartol)
Monument to depict the restoration of the surroundings (P.S. Poor turtle)
On and on we walked...and I was given a rare opportunity to view the rising of a bridge to allow a family's boat to pass! OMG. It was super interesting, both the raising of the bridge, how the trams managed to move along a 'movable' bridge via electric lines, and how the entire family can live on such a huge boat! And Aunt Babe told me that for the many times she walked in Amsterdam, she did not have the chance to see such a view of the bridge rising for a boat to pass, so I was in fact very very lucky.
Oh yea.
I even had the opportunity to take a video! But too bad, cant upload here =X
Bridge readying to rise
Barge passing through!
The family on the boat!
Holy Pigeons!
And after the big "hoo-ha" over the bridge is past, we walked past Wertheim Park which was most probably a public park, where some couples were lying there enjoying the nice summer sun, and some ladies with their dogs were enjoying a picnic of some sort.
Walking down the street, we passed by a certain Rembrandt Hotel, as well as a museum/zoo/aquarium/dinosaur park all rolled into 1! As we did not intend to go inside, we managed to take a peek at some of the animals inside, and there were flocks of flamingos and emus.
Wertheim Park Entrance
Front of the Museum
Close-up shot of the Emu
Stegosaurus
Aquarium building
Fun along the canal!
What is this? (reply in the message window below!) 1) Hotel 2) Hostel 3) Old Folks Home
And lest I bore you with too many pictures...you might wanna answer the question above ;) Type your answer into the message window below! :)
Soon, we reached the weekend market of Amsterdam - the Dappermarkt. Anyway, the more important thing was that you can basically find almost anything and everything you wish to - clothes, shoes, socks, food (yea good food!), household items, bags, flowers, fruits, fish...etc etc. It was really a flea market of all sorts! But the prices are kinda fixed, and no bargains are allowed. Moreover, one had to be careful of his/her wallet at all times.
Managed to get a long sleeved tee for 2 Euros, and 2 pairs of socks for 1 Euros. Got 3 shampoo and shower gel at 5 Euros in total, and they were brands like Herbal Essences and Nivea! Gosh.
I must recommend the Haring. It's a Dutch delicacy (?) and it's super duper nice! Served ala sashimi in Japanese retaurants, it's generously sprinkled with onions and it was really tasty. Totally loved it!
Oversized handphone
The weekend market
Haring
It's great!
A hot saturday afternoon at the Dappermarkt
Flower shop
Dutch version of slurpee...really had a brain freeze -.-
Ticketing counter in the tram
And we took the tram back to Amsterdam Central, as we had to go for BBQ at Aunt Babe's relative's house. Going back to the central area was fast and there was no traffic.
Some Dutch palace. Nicole said "Shit man"
Monument of Freedom
Shopping street of Amsterdam
Invasion of the pigeons
The horse used to give carriage tours in Amsterdam
Me @ Amsterdam Central
And the shopping street was really crowded. There was indeed a wide range of shops and they were all pitched at different buyers! Went to the Perry's Sport and was disappointed to see that the original jacket I saw yesterday in Utrecht was not available in this outlet. In the end, I got myself a 45 Euros ski jacket which has a removable inner lining, as well as a microfleece jacket for 15 Euros. Both are rather good investments and I would definitely want to bring them back to Singapore!
Nicole was looking for her trackpants for school usage, but there was no suitable ones for her. However, she did manage to find a winter-type jacket (which is stylish to top it off) and her mum really bought it for her! Wow!
After that, we went to a shoes shop to have a look, and then headed back to the train station to go down to Hoofddorp for the BBQ + Dinner. Great food, great time spent with some of Nicole's younger cousins, and it was fun ;)
Sumo's ass facing me
Delicious!!!!
Guess what this is?
Chicken wings - BBQ Styled
Oooh...aint he cute? :)
The dinner lasted quite a while, and they were mostly from Hong Kong (thus the super fast Canton accent and speech which I cannot keep up)...and finally it was time for us to leave. Got a ride from one of her relatives and it was a fast journey home!
Long day...super exhausted BUT super hyper! Whee!
Current Mood:
HperactiveCurrent Music: Wang Lee Hom - Luo Ye Gui Gen