Europe Trip. Part Un (1)

Ta da! And here it is, the post regarding my recent trip to Europe where I took a short trip to Holland and Belgium when I had settled my university matters in UK. Made the trip together with Patricia, my classmate and good friend from CJC days. Good thing we managed to arrange this holiday to be over the Easter break and save her from taking too many days off from work. :P

To start things off, here's a snap shot of me. Why? Just cause. This is my blog remember?


The observant will have noticed that I've named this part 1. Why? Just felt that it'll be too daunting to try and encompass the trip on all 4 cities (Amsterdam, Brussels, Bruge, London+Oxford) in a single post.

Alright, alright, on to the main show we go: Amsterdam!

As soon as the coach arrived in Amsterdam, our tour guide harried all the slow pokes to drop their luggages in our respective rooms before heading out to enjoy/experience the hedonistic night-life of Amsterdam. Surely you have heard of this city's notorious red-light district before? Safety tips and advice on how to navigate around the city was given to us as the coach driver zipped to the city's central.

After an eye-opening walk around with the guide, we went to Cassa Rossa the world knowed (supposedly, but both Pat and I have never heard of it) pink elephant that signifies high quality porn. The show lasted about an hour before the acts start to repeat themselves and some of the acts weren't too bad, but I wasn't overly impressed. Once I got over the shock on how the couples were really having sex up there on the stage and not stripping and acting only that is. Here's a shot of me outside Cassa Rossa after the show. I looked exhausted don't I? Wonder why.... hehehe


We were left to wander by ourselves for the rest of the night from there on. This was when I bought the slice of chocolate cake laced with cannabis (hashish? low grade marijuana? Whatever, just a kind of drug) and it tasted like.... Chocolate cake. No swooning, buildings dancing before my eyes, psychedelic colours or harrowing illusions. Guess I didn't take large enough of a dose for it to have any major effect on my body, but that wasn't the aim anyway. If I had wanted that, would have gone straight for a joint (smoke) of the stuff. Following that, the two of us soon felt a little snappish and decided to get a pack of Fritters (French Fries) to snack on. Verdict? FABULOUS! Even though the fries were fried twice, they weren't overly oily or crisp and the Mayo coupled with vinegar was just heavenly. Looking back, this was the start of my regrets. I totally forgot to take any pictures of most of the wondrous food Pat n I got to try on this trip. We must have been too engrossed with enjoying them or overcome with hunger pangs. (we seemed to be starving most of the time before finally having a meal) Apologies in advance for the lack of those pics.

That's about it for the night. Why aren't there more pictures of the red-light district the horny ones among you ask? Well, go try taking a pic of a prostitute parading her wares and tell me you can get away unscathed.

Next day, we went to a Cheese n Clogs factory n visited a fishing village as well. This pic was taken by Pat on the bus along the way to the factory. Really gives you the feel of the great plains of Holland.

plains of Holland

Did you know that "Holland" is actually a nickname for this country and it's really named Netherlands? It has something to do with how most of its landmass is reclaimed land and thus over 50% of it is actually below sealevel. Amazing eh? What's even more amazing is that most of the land was reclaimed by building dams across bodies of water (lakes, rivers etc) and then pumping out the water using the ancient technology in this pic: WINDMILLS! I can just imagine how this modest workhorse contributed greatly to the common Dutchman since time immemorial - irrigating farmlands, reclaiming land, grinding grains - all using the power of the wind.

Go Holland of course must see windmills!

Too bad the equally famous tulips weren't in bloom yet when we were there... :( Oh well, be glad for all that we have already I say. Next up, Cheese and Clogs factory! Here, we're introduced to the cheese as well as clog making process in both traditional and modern forms. Highly entertaining, especially when a "volunteer" was selected from our group to try his hands at making a clog in the traditional method. Of course, we were then released into the souvenier area to burn our wallets. However, I didn't find it too bad as there was tasting allowed for the cheese on displayed and ... whoa... were there loads of cheese with all their different flavours! Enough talk for now, onwards to the pictures!

Cheese and Clogs

yes, a giant clog!

all those clogs waiting to be made

I'm done, now paint me!

clogs:"I'm being worn, I'm so happy"

I shall try one that actually FITS me

nxt main event, CHEESE

Cheese galore, cheese :)

Taste test!

Pat and obasan in traditional Holland costume

Hellooooo bloc of cheese

Bye bye bloc of cheese. Heee heee

The End....not! Hahaha. Next up was a visit to fishing village called... Voldenham if I remembered correctly. It used to be on a river that had saltwater in it as it ran into the sea nearby, but the Dutch built a dam across it and with the use of windmills (yes, them again!) managed to turn the river into a lake cut off from the sea. Over the years, the saltwater lake eventually changed into a fresh-water one. Remember my earlier mentioned regret on how we seemed to forget taking pics of the great food we ate? One of the candidates appeared in this town: profiteroles!!! These ones aren't really cream puffs but were more like mini-poppable-at-a-single-gulp-pancakes showered with sugar powder and toppings of your choice. Pat n I decided on egg liqueur which really looked like mayo (guess cos both constitutes mainly of eggs) but had a very strong alcoholic kick to it! A good thing the huge amount of powdered sugar complemented it really well or we would have been reeling from it. Also had a raw herring sandwich, an authentic Dutch dish, but I can't say I enjoyed that much. Just a whole lot of fishy taste in my mouth. Excessively fishy. Pat had the inspiried idea of getting a cone of ice cream to get rid of the taste. Genius! XP

At just past noon, it was time to head back to Amsterdam for a day tour ( we arrived in the evening) on the river. If you do happen to go for a holiday in this amazing city too, SKIP THE BOAT TRIP. Mind boggling boring I say! Half the tourists, including me, fell asleep at some point or another during this river tour. What a dreadful waste of an hour or more. Most of the pictures taken didn't turn too well anyway as we had to snap from behind the glass panels of the boat. What's more, my camera pretty much died on me from there on. ARGH! Still feel quite bad and apologetic towards Pat over this as I was the one who suggested bringing only 1 camera. Thus, the beautiful Van Gogh Museum, pretty night views and interesting sights we saw while exploring Amsterdam on foot had to be committed to memory and not digital photos. We did have a very nice time discovering "stuff" though. Even tried the yogurt drink that was even mentioned in travel books and guides! Was quite perturbed initially at the fuss over just a yogurt drink, but a swig of it convinced me that the author knew his stuff! Smooth, but not so diluted that you feel like you're drinking milk. Food again. Heh, typical Singaporean I am.

That's about it for Holland/Amsterdam and I'll have to say that I wouldn't mind going there a 2nd time, but hopefully with a bunch of guys this time around. Bet it'll be quite a different experience from this time (with a gal) after all, there are certain things a guy can't do with a gal, right? This brings Part 1 to and end and I'll leave you with a picturesque shot of idlyic fishing village, Voldenham

Fishing village