We stayed on a houseboat in Amsterdam for 3 days and 3 nights. There wasnt wifi on board though so I couldnt really update my blog and stuffs.
It was a novel and memorable experience bunking in a boat on the sea. Although the cabin was rather tiny, it was quite comfy and the wash basin in the room made things more convenient too!
The moment I reached the houseboat I felt at home and without fear like how I occasionally feel weird about some accomodation ...as in feel eerie about the place etc. But not with the houseboat. Daily breakfast was included in the accomodation and it was not bad at all!!! There were cereals, toast, ham, cheese, milk, different fruit juices, coffee and tea. We all love starting off the day with it's breakfast.
Amsterdam was our first stop in Europe and I actually experienced quite abit of cultural shock! Probably due to the nature of the city's culture itself.
As mentioned, Amsterdam was a city full of sex and drugs.
Soft drugs like marijuana, hash, weed are legalized so everywhere u go, it's common to see COFFEESHOP selling space cake (muffin/brownie containing small doses of drug), cannabis lollipop or special coffee.
I guess this was what GF tried to warn me about before but it's actually not that scary. Instead of being doped with drugs unknowingly in the food/drinks, people actually pay to consume such stuffs and they're actually not cheap. Their so-called "coffeeshop" are shops "licensed" to sell soft drugs, they do not refer to cafe like starbucks.
We actually tried the space brownie which was at 5 Euro each for just a small piece but I think the dosage was just too minor to feel the effects of the drug.
Amsterdam is also well-known for its VIBRANT red district scene. Just google it on the iternwt and you might probably get to see those famous girl-in-window pictures.
From the free city tour conducted by Sandemans, we got to know that the prostitutes actually work by renting the window/room at variable prices per day depending on the location where they do their business. We actually saw all kinda of girls. From young sexy and pretty ones to the big-sized black mamas which was totally disastrous to my guy pals lol!
On almost every street within the city centre, be it the red light district or not, you will see sex shops or live shows theatre. Such open sex culture in the city really shocked and even frightened me at the beginning! I'm just wondering... How do Amsterdam kids grow up healthily in such environment full of sex and drugs.
Nevertheless, the city was a real eye opener. I really enjoyed the scenery with the interesting lean buildings on both sides of the canal running through the city and also friendly people who didn't turn out to be as mean and dangerous as I previously thought.
And of cuz! We had to visit the WINDMILLS! We're in holland!!!
On the second day of our stay, we took a train ride to the nice peaceful windmill village of Zanns Schanns and saw many beautiful windmills! The wind was so strong and it was irritating when you have messy hair in your photos though. Haha!
The guys weren't interested in the Anne frank house so I went alone and visited. It was quite an experience seeing the actual secret annex which The Frank family hid in away from the Nazi during the anti-Jewish period. I just can't help feeling sad upon seeing their living condition and abstracts from her diary. I want to read her book when I get back to singapore.
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