 |
| T. and his cheese |
I've had a few days in Amsterdam But
it's all been a bit of a blur. I roamed canals, sketching the floating
houseboats that drifted passed me. Checked out little market stalls selling
scarves, coats and hats. Being pulled in to by the most useless things - almost
coming out of the market with old tin boxes and books that I'd never read -
until sense kicked in. We made our way up to the Rijksmuseum - enjoying the 30
minute walk past the bustling coffee shops, the temporary funfair in Dam square
and café's. We got to the Museum centre, van Gough on my left, the
contemporary art museum on my right and the closed Rijksmuseum straight
ahead. We walked into the museum shop to browse through the books on artists and their work; I ended up spending half an hour reading about contemporary, political and abstract art, so I still gained a little something from the (free) visit.
 |
| Post-dying phase |
 |
| Stretching the sugar |
 |
| Stretching the sugar |
I don't like the fact that all the museums cost money here, there's the 'hemp and marijuana museum that's €9, the sex museum that's $4 and the art museums that are all
around €15. I did have a little sneak-peak into Van Gough's 3D exhibition. At
the entrance before you pay for your ticket they had 3D glasses, that created
the illusion of the paintings coming to life - looking at the screens was an interactive van Gough experience as you were virtually taken through 'The Yellow House', out of the window to gaze at 'Irises' and then carried up into 'The Starry Night. We
couldn't decide between paying for a peep-show in the red light district or a
stroll in the sex museum, but to be honest - the red light district was a full
on exhibition already. You passed windows with girls of all shapes and sizes
wearing kinky clothes and doing their thing inside their glass boxes. Most of
them avoided eye contact with other girls but some had the confidence of queens
and held their head up high no matter who walked passed. We soon decoded the lights in the windows, red meant girl and blue meant tranny - at least you got more than one option?.. I saw a 'for rent' sign
in some of the rooms and after ranting about how ridiculous it was for a woman
to put herself up for rent (getting into my inner feminist) a friend explained to me that the signs referred to the rooms and not the women - woops! I still did feel a pang of
sympathy for them though, it was so degrading. It was though we were all in a shop, with all our options parading themselves in front of us in little glass boxes.. The only thing that
reminded me that this wasn't just a tourist attractions and it was a real life
set-up, were the few creepy old single men leering under the shadows, and the police
who stood ready at the street corners. It has a completely different vibe here to
the red light district in Thailand, that feels quite dodgy - In Holland,
everything feels safe. We never made it to any of the shows that they had on offer,
or the sex museum but we had our fair share of provocative entertainment.
 |
| Goats cheese and mustard, hm |
We also managed to catch a bit of Amsterdam night life - being economical teenagers we had pre-drinks at a friends apartment, huddled in the living room with glasses of wine and malibu-cokes. It was funny being the odd one out, not being able to chime into the conversation once the Dutch started kicking in. I'd have my friend L. turn to me every now and then to explain what was going on -- but it rarely matched the dialogue that they'd been speaking in my head. Watching people's body language and facial expressions as they talk I've learnt, isn't actually a great representation of what they're actually saying. For example when we were crossing the road the other day, a Dutch woman stopped her bike and said something to my friend with a smile. My response was "Oh she looked nice!" When in actual fact she'd said rather patronizingly "This is a road, yeah?" With a slightly malicious smiles, Implying that we had to move out of her way pronto, and hope she stayed smiling :s.
Our night out in Amsterdam was fun - the walking in-between venues wasn't as our hands and feet lost all sensation, and body heat just seemed to stop generating. But the clubbing scene was great - We went to 'Paradiso', a well known club that's quite central, full of hundreds of raving teens and cheap drinks (surprisingly)! We danced till 5 in the morning before making our way back through the crisp night.
 |
| Muffins and tea! |
 |
| Mexican breakfast! |
 |
| Cheese fondue |
 |
| Stoopwaffles |
Rather hungover from the night before
the alarm clock did not go down particularly well but prior commitments to see
an old friend whom I hadn't caught up with in 4.5 years won, over another
morning in bed. The cold does wonders in waking you up that's for sure! I was
reunited with my old buddy and it didn't take long for the conversation to flow as we reminisced over our days together in Sri Lanka.
One of the weirdest things though that I've found, is when you haven't seen
each other in so long, the list of things to catch up on is so immense that it
can be hard knowing where to begin. Sometimes new topics of conversation or
just discussion of little things going on around you are easier than sifting
through the ups and downs of the past. I do love the sudden flashbacks of people, places or things that haven't come to mind for
years - and remembering the person you were to them and how that's changed.
We spent the day being tourists in Amsterdam. Prancing around cheese
shops with hundreds of free samples, munching on stroopwaffles, watching candy being hand-made, stopping in at various coffee
shops (both kinds) and restaurants for a casj Mexican breakfast and spot of fondue. It was a day of splurging, the hot
chocolate that T. ordered came in the form of a wad of pure chocolate on a stick
that had to be stirred into the accompanying mug of hot milk that was served
with cocoa dusted chocolate almonds - I hope your mouth's watering as much as mine was.
We later met up with other old friends from
Malaysia in 'Belushi', the one coffee shop we'd found with huge black sofa's
that we all lay down on as our minds rose in unison. I couldn't tell you what happened within those few hours, but it was all shits and giggles. As the clock ticked on, we unwillingly left the warmth of the coffee shop and pushed through the cold (that had dipped to -5 degrees) to the
station as we struggled to keep our eyes open. We soon needed a rest so we stopped off for hot chocolate and a glass of warm wine - $3.50 per glass but so worth it, before continuing on, and eventually arriving in Leiden where I was staying for a night. After a hot shower
and clean PJ's we munched on our recently purchased chocolate muffin - it made us all very happy indeed ;). The
rest of the night was spent in a wake-dream state wondering where I was,
realizing, and then wondering again - but it's funny that no matter where I am now, If I'm comfortable, it feels like home.
No comments:
Post a Comment