Category Archives: netherlands
if toast always lands butter-side down, and cats always land on their feet, what happens if you strap toast on the back of a cat and drop it? ~ stephen wright
AM and i decided that one’s trip to amsterdam is not complete without a near death experience with a bicycle. if you ask me, it is a hit or be hit deal. as in, either you make a bicycle fall, or the bicycle makes you fall. and trust me, the temptation to just trip one of those bikes zipping through the lanes is just so great. like that spectacular acrobatic bike stunt we saw the other day.
in my defence, i did get my toe rolled over KM’s bike the other day. she was not riding it and i did get in the way of her pushing the thing. but i insist that that counts as being run by a bike. so that’s at least half the deal right there. now to go trip one of the other bikers.
for my part i know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream. ~ vincent van gogh
so this is my home for the next few days. i considered going completely backpacker but did not follow through. it is winter and one of those things i really really am not prepared to sacrifice is warmth. as it is, this (pix) is what they call a 3-star hotel in amsterdam. tiga bintang is a single bed jer worr. what you cannot see in the picture is the bathroom with is at the foot of the bed. the bathroom does not even open all the way, and its size is just about double to width (not length) of the bed.
consolation is that ada air panas and heater. cable tv pun ada jugak. my only qualm is that i have to put my specs on the floor when i sleep because takde side table. but i’m not complaining.
there is a park just down the road from my hotel. i forgot the name of the park but it’s supposed to be the biggest one in the central area of amsterdam. i think. snow snow snow everywhere and the lake is frozen, but there are still people out jogging and all.
the fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore. ~ vincent van gogh
dinner with KM and the gang. i have to write something here about the dutch stamina, and what it does to people. KM’s 5 minute walk felt more like a half an hour marathon through half of amsterdam. it was, nevertheless, such an awesome thing to see her again and our next date shall be in india. woot!
but back to all this pedestrian movement. it is weird. i do feel like i have been walking more and more. and seeing that i will be staying away from the central station in the coming days, i will be getting more and more walks.
oh, tapi basikal is out of the question. no, thank you. with all this sow and ice and all the crazy dutch cyclists out there, sorry beb. i choose life, and even that is at the mercy of cyclists :P
hot chocolate made with real belgian chocolate. this is AWESOME stuff! :D
great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together. ~ vincent van gogh
got back from a really nice hosted dinner with the organisers. one thing about dutch food is that the portions are super enormous. i think this is why they are like, the tallest people i have met in all of europe. now all i got to find out is how the food makes them grow vertically and not horizontally, and i would have hit jackpot!
olives. just about everyone eats olives here. and like everywhere in europe. and america. tapi kat asia takde. the canned ones just aren’t the same.
no pictures of the mains, only dessert. because the cold weather kinda makes you want to eat all the time and the food came hot and i did not want a cold dinner. also because dinner was so filling, that i dah takde space dah to makan dessert. heh.
there may be a great fire in our soul, yet no one ever comes to warm himself at it, and the passers-by see only a wisp of smoke. ~ vincent van gogh
on the train, on the way to work. all bundled up, i look like a giant walking popiah :P
i like these cold, gray winter days. days like these let you savor a bad mood. ~ bill watterson
according to the swedish girl who sat next to me on the plane, the snow covered airport runway is nothing. that’s not snow, she tells me. snow is when you have to put your foot has to disappear under the stuff in order to touch the ground.
i arrived in amsterdam on a blardy cold sunday morning. to her, this is a nice, warm day. to me, i have arrived in a region of the world which is unnatural for the human species.
apparently, she was not the only one who thought so. i met up with MW and MA later that day and MW came wearing a skirt! its a warm enough day, she said, radiantly smiling.
what is wrong with you people?! and i mean, ALL you people who live here? there is snow on the ground! my boots are WET! and i have had near death experiences by people who ride their bicycles on the ICE formed on the sidewalks! cycling on ICE! can you, sitting on that nice warm chair in a human conducive climate like back home, can you imagine the kind of skill, and not to mention guts it would take for a person to cycle on ice? and now, can you imagine an entire city filled with that kind of bravery? and i’m not talking about seratus or dua ratus buah basikal. i am talking about beratus-ratus ribu, hundreds of thousands of bicycles on this suicide mission!
passing through schipol
boys and girls, i have finally landed in europe *confetti* and am welcomed by the sight of windmills, milk maids and wooden clogs.
