It is with a little nostalgia that I write this current post. This month has been quite turbulent in terms of my emotions, and it took me a while before I was able to move on, and be able to continue to blog about my time in Europe. It's often interesting when life takes an unexpected turn, and as a result you engage on a long detour before finally returning to the main road. I'm glad now that things are relatively back to normal, but of course, there's a part that remains forever changed.
A couple of weeks back I took a quick weekend trip to the Netherlands to the city of Eindhoven (budget airlines flights). It is definitely not a touristy city like Amsterdam and is one of the smaller more modern towns. It is sometimes considered a student town because of the Eindhoven university of Technology and the main industry seems to be that of the Phillips factory (think light bulbs). The city centre is mainly pedestrain, and is very nice to walk through. The Eindhoven cathedral which is of gothic architecture is also very nice to look at. Inside, at night, there is some modern art exhibition in which spotlights travel around the church interior at varying angles.


The weekend I was there, there was the Phillips Light festival and at night, there were various performances at various places throughout the city. Below, they had a acrobatics performance of people balancing and performing on this giant ball with fire tricks being involved as well....


Performing musicians...they reminded me of masked members from the Priory of Sion :P

Many buildings also had light shows during the night time...


Eindhoven during the day.... it was relatively warmer than Hungary and so it was nice to being able to walk around in just a couple of layers, and I didn't really need my gloves at all...

Besides Eindhoven, I also had the time to take a quick day trip to Hertogenbosch (also known as Den Bosch). It's only 20 mins away from Eindhoven, and before you know it you're there. Went there on a Sat, which was like market day as well, so I got to see the marketplace and all the fresh produce that people were selling...

Walking towards the city centre...Den Bosch definitely has more older buildings than Eindhoven, and I gotta admit, I did like Den Bosch more than Eindhoven...

Marketplace...It was rather crowded, alot of people were out and about...

Eating a waffle, they were super cheap and SWEET... only 1 Euro!

Performing band in the marketplace...

Statue of Mr Bosch... founder of the Bosch group...


Having a Dutch snack before heading back home :)

This trip made me realize that the Netherlands is not just about Amsterdam.... in fact there are many more cities in the Netherlands that are just as nice to visit.... and after this, I really hope to be able to see the other Dutch cities like the Hague, or even Rotterdam in the near future.... *fingers crossed *

I suppose you could say that as a conversative Asian girl, coming to Amsterdam was an eye opener for me. Never have I been to a city where you could open hear, see and smell people openly smoking drugs, and this was the moment I stepped out of the train station even. The smell of weed is so distinctive that you can't fail to recognize it anywhere. There irony of it all that I learnt while in Amsterdam is that while the government banned smoking tobacco in bars, it is still ok to smoke hash indoors... like wth...
During our walking tour, our guide explained to us the gist of the drug use policy here in Amsterdam. Legally, it is illegal to do drugs in the country. However, common opinion/attitude in Amsterdam is that "if we don't see anything, we didn't see anything." So if the police don't see you directly doing it... they won't really specially come up to you and check out the cigarette that you are smoking. However, having said that, Amsterdam has had a conservative government for the past few years, and there have been rules added to clamp down on the image of Amsterdam as a sex and drugs city. For example, the coffeeshops (where most people go to buy their joints) are not allowed to have more than 500g (if I remember correctly) of joints in stock at any time. They're not allowed to buy their stock... they just happen to have some on hand to sell... hence another example of the "blind eye" policy in the city. And also, it is common misconception that because there is a pretty lax policy on drugs here, that most Dutch people are drug users... but contrary to public opinion, this is not so.... and even our guide said that he has never touch nor have any interest to use drugs ever. I thought about it and decided that it must like you never really want something when it is so readily available....
But anyhow, the group I was with were really keen to experience hash for the first time, so we headed over to a coffeeshop where they could purchase some joints. For me personally, I have never been interested in drugs, nor do I have any interest to try. So I declined to join. I just bought a drink from the bar and sat in the corner and watched while they all slowly got stonned.... In the sense, I managed to see first hand for myself the effects of hash on the human body...

The coffeeshop Amnesia where we were for the afternoon. I was looking through my brochure later and this is what it had to say about Amnesia: "the menu is unlike most other coffeeshops in Amsterdam, offering more non-commercial varieties."

Later on in the afternoon, while everyone was slowly entering space, James and I went off for a walking tour of the red light district.... So first of all, you won't see any pictures of the prostitutes here because I was warned repeatedly not to do so as it would have resulted in a very angry prostitute chasing after me and dumping my camera in the canal, or worse, she maybe would have thrown a bottle of her urine at me...
So some quick facts of Prostitution in Amsterdam:
- Prostitution is the oldest profession in the world.
- Prostitution is legal, but pimping is not. These prostitutes all work for themselves and they pay taxes too. The minimum age to be one is 18 and they can range from all shapes, size, races and ages, all the way up to 75! But apparently the older ones can be super expensive coz they are super experience.
- So for me, what was interesting was the windows. Prostitutes rent these glass windows that line the streets (rent is from 80-170 Euros) for 8 hour shifts... the doors are closed coz they are not allowed to go outside... they stay behind the windows, flirt with the men outside and if a men comes hither, she opens the door to let him come in. They negotiate a price for what he wants, the curtain is close, he pays up, she does the deed and after 15 mins she stops. If he wants more they negotiate again, if not it's next customer. The rental of the booth comes with security as well, as there is a button that prostitutes can press for help if some customer becomes too mean.

Start of the red light district... it actually looks like just a normal district in the daytime... and families do live around this area too... so it's not like some shady part of town actually. Many hostels are located in this area as well....

One of the many "kinky shops" in the area... it's actually very interesting to go in there and take a look because they do have some creative things on display there :)

Not very well photograph... but you know how the Rainbow flag = Gay district? This flag with the red/white/blue/black colours represent S&M...

Condom store!!! Condoms of literally all shapes and sizes... they even have condoms in Ultra small size for men... which James and I had a good laugh about...


Ever wanted to be in a window yourself, but did not have the courage? This is a photo studio which allows you to play dress up and pose in front of the window for your very own prostitute pic for 25 Euros.

Live sex shows...available...

So these two are the two biggest sex show theatres in Amsterdam. The pink elephant is the most expensive at 45 Euros. For Aimee's b'day we went to see a sex shop at the Moulin Rouge, which is a bit cheaper at 25 Euros.... haha... I don't know if I should say much... but I saw five different sexual acts.. and yes I did see Live sex on stage... though it was similar to what the sex expo at Auckland 2008 had to offer (except for the Live sex part)... so pretty much wasn't really impressed by the whole thing... but oh well... at least I've seen it already..

Banana bar: apparently the only place in Amsterdam where you can get topless dancing on the bars..

This is the information centre for all things related to prostitution... set up by former prostitutes themselves. One of them has even written a book on how to break into the prostitution industry. Next door to this is the security room for the window booths.

The Bulldog coffeeshop which likes to claim that it is the first coffeeshop set up in Amsterdam.

This sign is so misleading... you gotta agree that it looks like a walkway for families and kids right.... but this narrow alleyway leads into the elitist prostitution area where the best of the best can be found posing flirtatiously in their windows.....

So after the tour... James and I went back to look for the rest... and apparently they had spent the last 3 hours doing nothing.... they had just been sitting in the bar watching 3 football games non stop ( a sure sign of the effect of the hash... where you just lose sight/consciousness of the surroundings around you)... As I did not take any... understandably.. I was quite bored and I dragged Aimee up to do some shots with me for her birthday..


After which I dragged Kate out of the bar with me to eat some food.... one thing I really liked about Amsterdam? Late night food.... It was like nearly 11pm, but shops were still open selling fruit tarts/waffles/savoury foods... I could not help but purchase a fruit tart... and that's a picture of me eating it outside the shop...

We are so.................

Check it these vending fast food machines!!! On our way back to the hostel... i bought one of these dutch snacks... they are like curry croquettes... super delicious...

The next day everyone just kinda took it easy.... but I asked if we could go hunting for the I amsterdam sign :P. And so we did... later while everyone went back... I stayed to go inside the Van Gogh museum... that was in the area as well..

Celebrating Aimee's b'day...


The things you do when you're drunk and maybe still suffering from the after effects of hash...

Last sightseeing of Amsterdam before we left for Brussels. James and I headed back to the redlight district... gosh.. it seems like we went to the red light district everyday isn't it... and we went to exotic museum... which showcases sex throughout the ages... Just 5 Euros to get in...

Porno cartoons...

Prints collected throughout the ages... Karma Sutra where are you?

So this was surprising... I never knew that John Lennon had drawn a series of risque drawings which he published under the publication bag one....

So let me try to sum up my experience here... Amsterdam is a really pretty city... expecially with its unique architecture and vibrant young atmosphere/lifestyle. Out of the 3 cities I visited during this trip, Paris/Amsterdam/Brussels... I found Amsterdam to be the friendliest city. I do wonder whether that had anything to do with French... but that was just my experience. The visit to the red light district was definitely very eye opening, and I'm glad that I got a chance to see it, as currently, the government is working on closing down the windows, and at the time of my visit, half of the windows had already been closed down. Go in a couple of years time, and you may be hard pressed to find the prostitutes widely lounging in the open glass windows as you can see them today. ON the other hand, I had to see for myself the effect of hash on the people that I was travelling with and to be honest, it has left me with a stronger distaste for drugs. I guess that I'm just one of those pple who hate to lose control over myself, and the effects of hash were strong enough for really hurtful and mean words to be said among the group that I was in. Let's just say that if we hadn't known that those words were said under the influence of the hash... it is possible that certain friendships might have been destroyed that night. So in a way, and it is the stand that I have been taking when people ask me about my trip, there are some parts about each city which I liked, but some parts which I disliked as well.... But oh well... time to move on... to BRUSSELS...