Amsterdam 17th-20th March 2006

The wind is always against you in Amsterdam.

It’s true.

We actually became convinced why windmills exist in the Netherlands the moment we stepped out of central station in downtown Amsterdam. But I’ll elaborate more later. The weekend in Amsterdam was fantastic, less the (incredible) fatigue we all experienced by the 2nd day when walking about town. I could take one weekend to pen down what we 11 Singaporeans experienced, but I’ll try to sum it up as best as possible so as to provide the most wholesome (and clean) entry which I’m assuming the others will take reference too (read=plagiarise). *cough*

Friday night, 17th March 2006

Let’s start at the check-in in Copenhagen airport Terminal 2, where the X-ray machine at the departure gates detected my pocket knife in my carry-on backpack. Having failed at “sneaking” in my utility tool (not because I wanted to hijack the plane but simply so I didn’t need to wait for any baggage at the arrival hall in Amsterdam), the security packed my utility tool into a cardboard box and directed me back to the check-in counter to, what else, check-it-in. *duh*

Okay, fast forward an hour or so of flight time later, we arrived safely at Amsterdam Schipol Airport just before 9pm, where I became the first “RDS” (rate determining step) that held the rest of my friends up because I had to wait for at least 20minutes before my white box (containing a solo utility tool) appeared on the baggage carousel. Thanks for being patient guys. Then again, you had no choice since you needed me to lead you to the hostel where I made the reservation for all of us.

SY and Andrew had arrived in Amsterdam early that morning, and were kind enough to receive us at the airport. After proclaiming how expensive food downtown is, we advised us to eat our dinner at the Burger King joint at the airport, where the cheapest “double”-bacon meal with fries and coke cost €4.75. *holds back whining and complaining*

We bought a ticket to downtown Amsterdam for €3.60, but committed the same mistake as we did for Roskilde, where we sat in First Class of the train. When the inspector came and clipped our tickets he was kind enough to warn us not to commit this blunder again for it will incur a hefty fine. What we really appreciated was the fact that he let us remain in that exclusive cabin (which actually looked and felt no different from the 2nd class cabin less the privacy) for the rest of our journey until we arrived in Amsterdam Central. As we got off the train, he even bid us farewell and wished us a good stay for our weekend there.

SY’s pseudo-experience in navigating the streets of Amsterdam (and the red-light district) seemed to take a wrong turn he realized the streets at night looked remotely different from that he and Andrew took in the day. Safe for Andrew and his newly purchased guide book of Amsterdam, I used his map to bring us back to our designated hostel within minutes. We checked-in to Stayokay Stadsdoelen where our hostelling card saved us €7.50 off room rates (We each paid €65.75 for 3 nights stay, inclusive of breakfast and bed-linen). That being my first hostel stay since traveling for over 23 years, I wasn’t all ready to accept our living conditions – 20 bed mixed-dorm, common toilet, locker facility along the corridor outside the room, but later warmed-up to the fact that this is what bed-and-breakfast really meant.

Summoning whatever remaining energy we had after the flight, we decided to walk along the red light district and take in the “sights” it offered. In any case, our hostels were located just 2 streets away from Chinatown and the red light district so everything was within walking distance. Amsterdam is pretty small, as we soon found out by Day 3.

For educational purposes and broadening of seemingly-closed Singaporean mindsets (me excluded), I shall attempt to describe what the famous red light district of the world was like, since we didn’t manage to take any picture of the prostitutes (or kueh, as described in Hokkien by SY, who warned us against taking any pictures of them for they will get du-lan). Taking pictures of anything other than the sex-workers themselves was fine, but we definitely took SY’s advice seriously, just in case of anything.

Now….

How the way things work around there was “simple”. Prostitutes rent a window space in a house from a landlord. They will entice potential customers with their skimpy lingerie/bikini outfits as they stand by the window. If they are “engaged”, the curtain would be drawn shut to indicate that a business is in progress. Otherwise, she would be available. All this happens along a street no longer than 3 Geylang Lorongs combined I think. The difference between Amsterdam’s red light district and Geylang, according to SY, was how open the former is, whilst in Geylang, one would have to bear the embarrassment of walking into the house in order to see the girls sitting behind window panes. Of course if you were a regular like SY, you wouldn’t feel at all bad knowing where to go. Just kidding.


Saturday, 18th March 2006

Interestingly enough, my bodily clock responded to the sunrise and by 7.30am, found daylight streaking through the window into my eyes. A quick wash-up later, we headed downstairs for a hearty breakfast that was to last only between 7.30am and 9.30am. With bread, ham, cheese, cereal, and a variety of juice and hot drinks available to the early bird, we ate our fill, knowing lunch was to be combined with dinner.

After walking about town for a good 2 hours, I met up with the rest a little past noon at the Rijksmuseum (National Gallery) where we would meet our guide for the Mike’s Bike Tour in and around the city, including an exclusive visit to a cheese factory and windmill in the outskirts. I’ll let the pictures and videos do the rest from here.



When we ended the bike tour at the bar Boom Chicago, we rewarded our 4 hour effort of cycling with a round of beer each, before proceeding to the adjacent Burger King for a “cheap” dinner again.

Save for Andrew, the rest weren’t keen on watching a live comedy and improv show by an American/British cast at the Boom Chicago. Highly inspired by the hit-comedy series Whose Line Is It Anyway based in the States, Andrew and I couldn’t let the chance of watching something similar in a city like Amsterdam pass us by. So we each paid €18.50, and sat down for slightly under 2 hours, in a 200-strong audience, sipping (by sipping I meant ordering only ONE glass and savoring it the whole time) one pint of Heineken, and living the moment where the lines between reality and comedy blurred.


Sunday, 19th March 2006

After breakfast we headed straight to the Van Gogh Museum, which housed several hundred paintings, drawings and letters of the late Vincent Van Gogh. Thanks to our hostel, which offered a slightly discounted ticket price of €9.50 (usual price €10), we queued in a different line, which moved a lot faster than the one where people hadn’t yet bought their tickets. Photography inside the museum was forbidden, and so I tried my best to remember certain facts, one of which was Eugène Delacroix’s pieta, a depiction of Mary mourning for her son Jesus. For the who, what and how of the description, google it because I forgot. What I did learn after strolling through all 3 storeys, was that Van Gogh shot himself in the chest in 1890, and died only two days later (don’t ask why, I don’t know why either), after seemingly losing faith that his art wasn’t well received or reciprocated by the public.

After noon, we walked down to the Heineken Brewery, where we paid €9.50 (usual price €10) to enter. The ticket entitled us to tour the museum and understand how beer is made from malted barley, hops and water, after which we were entitled to 3 “free” beers and a souvenir glass. I’ve put up the steps to brew a Heineken so if you’ve got what it takes, do it. Overall I felt better about visiting Heineken than Carlsberg (back in Denmark) since it offered more (like 2 simulator “rides” and the souvenir I could take home). With my visit to 2 breweries completed, how many more can I have?

We headed back to the hostel sometime in the evening where we took a break. There, the rest were enthusiastic about visiting Moulin Rouge after SY brought them to have dinner at some Chinese restaurant. I figured €25 was a little pricey to pay especially after I already watched Boom Chicago just one day before, plus I also had to visit the Anne Frank House since I bought the €7.50 ticket a day ago. It was sheer coincidence Daren came into the hostel and indicated that he too bought an evening ticket, and so we left at 6pm on foot. Despite sayings that the house is just another "tourist magnet" that only seeks to earn your money (which to some extent is true), walking in and about the house, and climbing up the steep stairwells and bookcase opening gave me a sense of how the Frank Family lived during the war, and the air of uncertainty was never more surreal.


Monday, 20th March 2006

Right after breakfast, Song Ning, Edwin and Emmy left by bus to some tulip auction, whilst Daren went for a tour to more windmills and a fishing village. Andrew, SY, YS, and YH had already left for Copenhagen early that morning, so that left Grace, Lin Chang and myself to explore Amsterdam free and easy on our last day.

According to Lin Chang, who was miserably disappointed that SY, YS and YH pang-seh-ed him and Andrew, they decided to pass on the opportunity to visit the Moulin Rouge the night before. It was also surprising for him when only Andrew seemed keened on going nonetheless. Either way, I didn't miss out on much then.

We headed for Waterlooplein to check out the “pasar malam” (outdoor flea market) of sorts, before heading back to Singel where the flower market offered a better variety of souvenirs and such. Given that much time and that little energy remaining, we decided to sink €6.75 each on a canal cruise ride which took approximately 75 minutes (after grabbing a flyer from the nearby casino that took 25% off the usual price of €9). With at least 100 bridges over the numerous canals, and the some parts of city being 3m under sea level, Amsterdam offered a different experience for the uninitiated.

At the end of the boat ride, we entered the Holland Casino with a free admission ticket obtained from the canal cruise ticket office (normal admission fee €3.50) just to see what it was like. There wasn’t much about the casino, as it is with every other casino. However, what caught my eye were the jackpot machines (most of them had buttons as opposed to the lever), which varied in credits from 2 cents to a few dollars of Euro. Normally I wouldn’t have bothered trying since it was pure luck and the house always wins. But when I caught sight of a section of machines that gave 25 credits for €0.50, I figured there wasn’t much harm sinking one gold coin into the machine. Even Grace agreed in trying her luck after we were both convinced the machine said €0.50.

When I tried slotting the €0.50 coin in my machine it didn’t seem to go in. When I tried it on Grace’s machine it went in halfway, so I summoned brute force in jamming it in, thinking the hole might have been just a wee-bit too small.

Then it got stuck.

So I signaled to the security, indicating my problem, to which he gladly helped open up the machine. He took out my coin and tried slotting it in the machine first, before he turned to us and said, “this is a real coin…you need to get a token.”

*insert super embarrassment here*

Grace and I left that area promptly while I was still looking out for some machine or counter to change for tokens. When I finally saw one counter, several people were changing hundreds and thousands of Euros for chips. I looked at my €0.50 gold coin and thanked myself for not asking that security guard earlier on where I could change my one gold coin.

After strolling one round about the roulette and black jack tables, we left the casino (without spending or losing a single cent) to grab a free beer at Thodebeckplein, which the Bike Tour coupon rewarded us with. Unfortunately for Grace and Lin Chang, their coupons were valid only on the date which was specified 2 days ago, whilst m 0.5L frozen pint of Heineken came free because my coupon was stamped improperly, allowing some gap between 2 dates, causing enough ambiguity to reward a long weekend of never-ending walking.

We rushed back to the hostel to grab our belongings from the cupboard, before heading to Central Station to catch the train to the airport for our 9.25pm flight back to Copenhagen. Just one weekend and everyone agreed how tiring it was. We now fear the 12-day long Easter vacation to London-Barcelona-Madrid-Berlin, and even more so the proposed “grand Europe tour” in June/July.

4 pages of blogging, 5 hours later, here are the pictures, which I haven’t even completed adding captions to.

http://ableabel.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album19

Amsterdam – done.