But yeah anyway I went to Amsterdam from Saturday to Monday (no I didn't skip school, I have no lessons on Mondays). A bit short on sightseeing, but overall it was an enjoyable trip. Think this time it is easier to divide the trip into things that we did or saw.
So when 6 guys go travelling, what is the main objective (besides looking for chio bus lah...)? To watch football lor, what else? We went to watch Ajax Amsterdam vs FC Twente and signed up for a match day tour package too.
Crest of Ajax. For those of you who don't follow football, Ajax is the biggest club in Holland, the originator (I think, or at least they made it famous) of the 4-3-3 formation and the total football style. Over the years they had produced truck loads of footballers for the Dutch national team from the likes of Johann Cruyff to Dennis Bergkamp, Clarence Seedorf to present day gems like Rafael Van Der Vaart and Johnny Heitinga. I remember there was one season in the mid 90s when they went a whole league season unbeaten and also beat Real Madrid 2-0 in the Champions League and had a lot of goals disallowed, that's how dominant they were.
Yeah, that's the name of the tour. It wasn't very comprehensive, lacking the usual tour of the changing rooms etc which was understandable as it was a match day.
But still we got a chance to see the players' tunnel and go to the pitch side where the Ajax people took a photo of 6 of us but I can't scan it onto my computer.
Pitch side. Don't ask me what the figure head represents because I don't know. But it does look quite nice actually.
The pitch and the big screen
Some of the honours won by Ajax.
The away fans' stand is right in the middle. They have walls around that section and it is also covered by netting to prevent things from being thrown into the away stand. Quite scary to think that it is actually necessary, for I have never seen anything like that before.
The away stand, should be able to see the netting and the walls around it more clearly now.
So it was off to the museum next. This is confirmation of Ajax being one of the top clubs in Europe, having won 4 European Cups.....
as well as numerous Dutch league titles. The two shields in the lower row are for the Dutch league.
The "megastore"
Then it was off to De Toekomst, which I think is the youth academy of Ajax. We had our lunch there and saw a lot of young Ajax trainees there too. I think they just finished a match and was having their lunch as well. Maybe some of them will make it big....?
The Amsterdam ArenA. Quite impressed with the stadium itself actually, looks rather nice, like a spaceship. I think I have a fetish for stadiums.
Irving, Derrick and me. Scarves were given as part of the tour. But I got a lousy design...damn...
Players warming up before the match.
Where the so called "F-side" is seated, something like the Stretford End of Old Trafford. When the ArenA opened sometime in the late 90s, the F side were located in various parts of the stadium and according to the tour guide, they "missed" each other and thus now they are seated together. I think they are quite violent fans :P Anyway if you look closely you can see the Star of David (I think that's what it's called, anybody knows for sure?) of the Jews hanging in the middle. According to Li Yeng who went to Amsterdam last year, the Ajax fans are hated by everyone (like the Jews, not very politically correct to say that but that is what she was told if I don't remember wrongly) and thus have the nickname "Jews". But the Ajax fans don't give two hoots about it and actually adopted it. Thus sometimes you can see the Israel flag flying sometimes when Ajax fans celebrate their league titles.
The other end of the pitch where the 'ultras' are seated (at the flag on the left side). Just before kickoff they have a song which was played over the PA system (like You'll Never Walk Alone at Anfield) and everyone sang and the 2 flags rose from the bottom and were passed all the way up. I must say I am quite impressed with the effect. By the way I think the 'ultras' are another group of qutie hardcore fans because most of the singing originated from that side of the crowd.
The 100+ or so FC Twente fans having a good time in the cage. The guy in the bottom right hand corner wearing white is one cool dude. He wore sunglasses to watch the match and smoked a joint (I think its cannabis, a recreational drug, more about that later...) which was as big as a cigar!! WTF....
The players coming out
The players shaking hands
The ultras setting off flares. Again first time I see such things for they are banned in UK I think. Quite interesting but the smoke obscures the view which is quite shitty. And the smell is quite strong too. We could smell it even when we were seated on the other side of the pitch.
The band conductor. The quality of football on offer was rather poor. Ajax started off well and took the lead but damn fucked themselves by allowing Twente back into the game despite having Rozales the right winger and Heitinga playing really well. I was rather impressed with Heitinga. Not sure if its because the Dutch league is poor but he seemed to be able to play the Roy Keane role really well. The central defender with number 3 for Twente also caught our eyes. He played like Jaap Stam.
So with the poor match on offer on the pitch, my attention was continually distracted by this band conductor. First time I have seen a proper band allowed inside the stadium. Every once in a while this conductor would stand up and wave his hands and ask the band to play some music to liven up the atmosphere as well as encourage the rest of the spectators to sing along. He looked really passionate but I couldnt tell whether he had passion for music or for Ajax. But he really amused me nevertheless.
The next major thing we did in Amsterdam was to eat. Just to give you all a shock. The accommodation and match package was already fully paid for before we left and I brought along 120 Euros for the 3 days for food and other expenses. And it WASN'T enough. In fact almost all of us didn't have enough and had to use our cards at least once. I still owe my friend 20 Euros and had 20 pounds charged to my card. So you can just imagine how much we spent on food.
Dutch pancakes, which we had for breakfast/lunch on the first day. Cost: 8 Euros.
Ok ok I know it looks like an omlette but let me reassure you that its not. Dutch pancakes is just about the only unique Dutch dish I know and I really like it a lot. I am not usually a person who likes such 'pastry' stuff but I still like Dutch pancakes. You all must try if you all have a chance!!
Rijsttafel, or Indonesian rice table, which we had for dinner on the first night. Cost: 19 Euros per person.
According to Irving, its because Indonesia was once a Dutch colony and so that's why you can find brilliant Indonesian food in Holland. Rijsttafel is a set meal with a lot of dishes eaten with rice. For our set, we had curry chicken, soy sauce pork, satay, vegetables etc etc. I can't remember all the dishes but most were very very nice to eat. It helped that all of us were hungry also. One word of caution though, the rice is most probably not free flow. We ended up having to pay 3 or 4 Euros extra per person coz we ordered a lot of extra bowls of rice. Don't be smart aleck and say that we should have asked because we did ask but the waitress English CMI and misunderstood our question of whether the rice was free or not. She thought we just wanted more rice and just brought it to us with us assuming its free. So if in doubt, don't order.
Portuguese tapas buffet, which we had for dinner on second day. Cost: 22 Euros per person.
Not sure if I had mentioned tapas in my email about Spain last time. Just in case I didn't, tapas is a term for small Spanish dishes. Usually they eat it for lunch. And so it was quite a surprise that this Portuguese restaurant offered tapas 'buffet' for dinner also. At first we thought it was a real buffet as in all the dishes were free flow but apparently its not. I think buffet in the ang moh context is a set meal with a lot of dishes but not refillable. So beware! Anyway as it is we didnt need a refill at all coz there was so much food that we nearly couldnt finish. And the food was as usual superb. I once again have to reiterate that Spanish and Italian food are damn nice. Think I should go learn how to cook then can use to xian girls. hahahahaha.
Apple tart from Apple Winkel near Noodermarkt. Cost: 2-3 Euros per slice (not sure)
The Apple Winkel shop is renowned for having the best apple tart in Amsterdam as claimed by the locals. It was told to Li Yeng and also to us by the person at our hostel. And it really is quite nice (that's a lot coming from me who doesn't like pastry stuff...). But then it also helps that the shop has...
Yes a chio waitress :P
Some usual sightseeing photos...:
Koninklijk Palace
Raadhuisstraat. I think this street is epecially nice. All of the houses here have balconies. In fact I think a lot of streets in Amsterdam can be attractions in themselves.
Dam Square with the National Monument, fondly known as Big Dick....hahahaha
Nieuwe Markt
Anne Frank Huis (House)
Derrick and me with statue of Anne Frank.
Anne Frank is this famous little Jewish girl who wrote a diary while she was hiding in an attic to escape from German soldiers. Not really sure about the exact story. But the attic she hid in and the original diary is displayed in this house. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to go in.
Some pictures of canals in Amsterdam. Amsterdam has a lot of canals (remember your secondary school geography classes about land reclamation in the Netherlands? haha) and some of them are really scenic. Some photos of canals:
The photo above shows something like a boat house. There are lots of thems in various canals but I am not too sure whether people actually live in them or are they shops or what.
Ice skating rink outside Rijksmuseum.
Me in front of the ice skating rink. Please ignore idiot on the left.
Another thing that Holland is famous for is tulips. The Chinese name for tulips is yu jing xiang (blogger doesn't display chinese characters properly :( ) Anyway I am quite impressed with my mum coz she told me the yu jing xiang term before I left for Amsterdam. Even my mum knows what Holland is famous for. Damn I must buck up!!
The zhao1 pai2 says it all...Tulips from Amsterdam in Bloemen Markt (a flower market)
Tulips of various colours! Very very nice. Unfortunately the picture is blur. Shitty photo taking skills.
A clearer but not so good photo. The tulips are rather cheap too. You can get 50 stalks of tulips for 7.50 Euros. In UK it costs like 4 or 5 pounds for a miserable bunch.
School bus outside Van Gogh museum. Yes we act arty farty and went inside but ok lah, saw the famous sunflowers painting. Apparently he painted quite a few sunflower paintings...hmm... Anyway doesn't this look the the magic school bus from the cartoon? hahaha, wonder if it can fly....
Ok I guess most of you all must be bored by now...that is if you had read until this point! Anyway Amsterdam is not called vice city for nothing.... I really like the following photo:
Not that I think being gay or lesbian is a vice but this is the most suitable section to put it in.
See the word in the top right of the door? Yes you never read wrongly... DA MA. Recreational drugs are totally legal in Holland and walking along the streets of Amsterdam, the smell of pot is unmistakable. It is the only place in the world where you can smoke pot beside a policeman without the policeman batting an eyelid. In Amsterdam, there are a lot of shops which are called 'coffee shops'. But they are not the Singapore kopi tiams. They are a term for shops selling drugs etc. They are dimly lit bars with tables and couches. Candles are available on the tables for people to light up and the smell of weed fills the air totally. It somehow feels decadent to be inside but at the same time it feels really relaxing, like what is the big deal.... but I didn't smoke lah. Shihua is still a good boy. Or should I say humji boy. Coz need to go back NS mah.... oh yeah you can buy seeds to grow from just about anywhere too...even at the flower market! WTF...
Next vice: Sex...
Amsterdam is also famous for its red light district....so how can the 6 of us miss out on it leh? hahahaa. Yeah anyway there red light district is spread over an area with numerous alleys and side streets. The unmistakable red neon lights hang over each window-like door and in it, the prostitutes strut their stuff in their underwear which looks like they are fluorescent because of the neon lights. It really is an eye opener for me because I had walked about in Geylang before. Anyway my photos aren't very clear because we aren't allowed to take photos. Heard horror stories about bouncers bashing up camera-taking tourists but didn't actually see any bouncers. Wonder who protects these prostitutes actually. Quite pity them actually....what if they meet some psycho killer?? Hai... anyway the small lighted spots in the photos are the underwear...
AND NO I DIDN'T DO IT!! haha
Anyway yeah I guess this is the end. Amsterdam is quite a nice place. Should go if have a chance!
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