DAY 29 - Amsterdam

This city was always going to be exciting, with its toppling buildings (from the Dutch reclaiming land), through to the low crime rate because there are few laws to break anyway… Amsterdam was exciting.

Our hostel was sweet smelling, and by the state of the shower, it was the worst conditions we’d stayed in.

Amsterdam “tolerates” Marijuana. Thus our hostel hallways was always sweet smelling. Just breathing while getting in and out of the hostel was the closest we got to “trying weed”, and Jess and Whitey were oblivious to the smell, as both had blocked noses.

The previous night on arriving into Amsterdam a lot of our tour group wanted to experience the unique things Amsterdam offered that a lot of other countries generally wouldn’t. So when we got off the bus most of the tour got changed, grabbed a bite for tea, and promptly made their way to watch a Sex show.

None of us girls (the pack) went.

So we hung out with, two other girls from the tour and got some dinner (and heard the amazing Dutch accent, sounding its best when speaking English).

After tea Whitey and Jess went back to the hostel to bed, and Abby, myself (Kath) and another tour girl, went to see what the red light district of Amsterdam was like. We felt that not seeing it would be missing out on major part of the culture.

We didn’t have too much trouble finding it, just followed the crowed (mainly a lot of men – but one guy had his wife and baby in a stroller with him?!). It was funny because they actually had little red traffic lights on the footpath letting tourists know they were entering the red light district.

Prostitution is rather professional over there, with streets and alleyways lined with glass windows where prostitutes of all sorts beckoned men up to their window and into their doors. Some places had queues.

There were many neon lights and red ones, and all the while its treated as any other business.

The next morning we learnt from the other tour members that we were very wise to not have gone to the show, they were completely disgusted to see some middle aged couple doing it on stage even though they were warned that this was the case. So most of them had gone to try some weed after (probably hoping to erase their memories).

Our fellow tour members mainly took weed that was mixed into baking aka “space cakes”. This left the majority of them very ill for 7hrs++, did not erase their memories from the show, and they unfortunately missed the morning’s bicycle tour that was really fun.

Our bicycle tour guide, Gusbert was an avid cyclist. He used his bike to get everywhere, even to France sometimes! The Netherlands can take 2hr to bike across sideways and a day at the most going from top to bottom. The city of Amsterdam is in a circular layout and in 20mins bike time you can be out of the city, so we spent our time biking in circles.

Lucky for us cycling is the main mode of transport in the city and always have right of way. I was glad for this since out tour guide explained how he failed to hold a drivers licence. He is colour blind and when going for his licence didn’t see the compulsory red stop sign and crashed the driving test vehicle whilst the instructor was beside him!!! So biking is his main form of transport, which is fantastic since cyclists always get right of way J

His sense of humour was odd. But he claimed that Dutch humour usually is.

Our cycle tour stopped by a big archway with a saying engraved in Latin “ Homo sapiens non urinat in ventum” our tour guide said this is a Dutch saying, meaning “A wise man doesn’t piss into the wind”. This affirmed the odd Dutch sense of humour, especially since it cost a few million dollars to put up… somehow they see that as a worthy expense?

The bike ride was awesome and defiantly the fastest way to see the city. Afterwards was a free afternoon so we checked out the Vincent Van Gogh art museum and the house that Anne Frank and her family hid in throughout most of the war. Both were very interesting and worthwhile.

Before dinner we tried to hunt out some internet so we could book accommodation after the tour. We found a hotel that had pay Internet, but since I (Kath) had my laptop I wanted to get free WIFI. Across the road was the infamous Dolphin coffee shop.

It claiming to be the purest in town, and also claimed it had free WIFI. I could get the WIFI from where I was with the girls but I just needed the access password.

NB: “Coffee shops” are where Coffee is and various ways of taking marijuana (in baking/joints/bongs) can also be bought, while “Cafes” are like normal in NZ.

I told the girls I was going to get a cappuccino “to go” from the dolphin coffee shop so I could get the internet password, and be back in the clean aired room they were in and use WIFI from there.

I entered the Dolphin Coffee Shop. It was thick with smoke and had two kids hunched over a bong, which bore a sign stating: “vaporisation is the safest way”.

I made my way to the counter and quickly asked for “a cappuccino to go and the Internet password thanks”.

Unfortunately the shop assistant told me WIFI access was only for customers using weed.

I asked how much a joint was.

“10 Euros. You get it in a bag to roll your own” was her reply.

The cost of weed for free WIFI didn’t undercut the cost of internet where the other girls were.

So I said “no thanks”, and hastily left through the smoky haze, and went back to where the pack was, across the road and paid for internet there.