A weekend in Amsterdam

I consider myself lucky to have my old college buddies also working in Europe, and as a by-product, we get to travel to places together. A short 2 weeks notice that goes 'hey, let's go to somewhere together this summer, a short weekend'; and we found ourselves on our ways to Amsterdam.

Our trip was not planned with detail itineraries, more of a 'see as we go' trip, not necessarily covering all essentials of Amsterdam but we had great great time. Honestly, I miss travelling with friends, not that Mr.T is not a good travel companion but being in old friends' company where I'm also comfortable with, is a precious experience.

We started walking around Rembrandt Square, scouting for the recommended Indonesian restaurant but to find that it's not open for lunch. So we had some Argentinian mixed grill with a bottle of red Argentinian wine instead. My friends set off with plans to make me drunk but one of them has even lower alcohol tolerance level than me, so he always ended up the one pulling the stop sign, so much for their ambition :)

After a satisfying meal, we went for a walk (in the drizzle) along one of the many canals, and then eventually switch to shopping street which leads to the palace. The weather is not our side, so we decided to take the tram back to hotel to take a pit stop. I've never try to take a metro yet but the tram is really really convenient and provides a good view on the street, no reason to skip the scenery, isn't it?

Well our supposed 'rest' turns out to be rounds & rounds of card games (winner gets to use the toilet first) and some internet surfing. The hotel room can accommodate 3 guests (2 on the double bed & 1 on the sofa bed), so we have more time to get 're-acquittance', talking from daily life to non-sense, and sharing old time jokes. Oh, I already miss the times!!

When it's getting late for dinner, we set off again to the recommended Indonesian restaurant - Indrapura, to try their infamous rice table. Apparently rice table is just the conventional way we eat rice back home, where lots of dishes were served to be shared among diners. Why Indonesian food? well, simply because there're so many Indonesian immigrant (Indonesia being an old Dutch colony and all) in Amsterdam, some of their restaurant is bound to be good.

We went for the spiciest option available, a bottle of rosé, and had a great 2hours dinner. Food is great and service is good. We started practising a bit of Malay/Indonesian with the waiter :) When asked about recommendation of coffee shop, he pointed us to one just around the corner from the restaurant, so we thought we'd give it a try some time during our stay.

Well, if you have been to Amsterdam, or have read about it somewhere, you'd probably know that coffee shop in Amsterdam sells more than just coffee, they sell weeds too. The only thing they cannot sell is alcohol, hence naming the shops as 'coffee shop' rightfully reflect their side products :). Magic mushrooms are also available, at 'souvenir shops' or 'smart shop'.

Instead of trying weed, we went to the red light district. Women dressed in skin revealing illuminating bikinis or luring under-gourmets poses themselves in front of glass windows. Curtains down, then business is on. I never know the price and my friends don't seem to be interested to try (maybe because I'm there?). The quality of the 'show women' differs, although most of them seems to posses silky smooth skin under the special lighting effect, and almost all of them have perfect figures, argh!!! I'm not sure if photography is permitted but I don't want to try my luck, so no photos to share.

After our round of 'window shopping', we caught the last tram back to hotel, feeling too tired to continue the day after having to get up at 4am in the morning (to catch the plane). And the next day is to be continued...