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On my 2nd day..

Amanda decided to sacrifice her Sunday to take me and Chris out for a ride to the north side of Netherlands…Enkhuizen. It was a very long journey .. around 2 hours ride I think.. Seem long coz of the speed limitation I suppose. At least Chris knows how to make use of the time

So what's in Enkhuizen? Amanda said it's an old fisherman's village.. for them it might be.. but from where I came from I consider this as Harbour Town…

We did a tour in Zuiderzeemuseum.. hosting the life in that village throughout history.. quite interesting museum except for the part in some floors they did some multimedia presentation.. a huge turn-off but it's worth a visit..

Zuiderzee Museum

One of the old houses that is still preserved for tourism purposes…

Amanda wants the sheep so bad coz it's cozy and warm. hahahahaha

My first dutch meal… Kroket.. and its not the last.. most of the time for lunch while at work I have to eat this coz not much of choice at the canteen..

One thing I like about visiting Enkhuizen is the part where the Dutch built a dam. Its not just a dam but they closed some part of the sea..

It's not small you know.. see the red line along the sea? That's somewhat around 30km.. and you cant see the land around it.. that's how big it is. If I can remember correctly this was built to prevent flood and to create additional land for argiculture? Not to foget they are telling the world indirectly that if the could conquer the sea.. they could conquer you !!! hahahahhaa

The whole trip lasted almost a day, by the time we reach Delft it was almost 6pm I think… wait.. before that we did make a pit-stop in one of those R&R place to freshen up.. or was it for tea? The pit-stop supposed to help me feel a bit relaxed but noooooooo… it makes me to work my brains out real hard.. why in the world they have a thong vending machine in this place ???

.. and it only cost 2 Euros !!!… why…? why here? 

- Maybe coz some girls left the house forgetting to wear one?
- Is it free size?..
- Does that mean the dutch guys really freakin aggresive?
- They (girls) left theirs in the car and its too cold outside to run and take it back?

This conversation took place when I was in Geelong, Australia on my way to Vish's house

Vish : Why the f$3K you coming to my shit house man?… you should have get yourself to stay in hotel or something, its way much better
Me   : Huh? Shit house? Why do you say that?
Vish  : Seriously man.. its a shit hole, even I dont like to stay there
Me   : For you everything is shit man.. It's up for me to decided if your place is really a shit hole lile you claimed.
Vish  : Yea. yea.. right… right… (his fav tagline)

I was thinking how bad could it be?…

The House…..

My room for the next 3 days…

The bathroom… like a hotel huh?

The living room… just give me this and I can live there hahhaa

The kitchen….

I call this "The Pinky Room" … no guys allowed in here.

Seeing all this I don't understand why he calls his home a shitty place.

Vish,

I know you are reading this… you have too..I'm not giving you any choice hahaha. You have a wonderful parents who provided you all these without you asking man.. consider yourself lucky. Without you asking them.. they gave you a awesome bathtub for you to shower

When I asked my old man can I have a bathtub for our new apartment 8 years ago..he said " Sure..why not?" and he gave me this…

With much envy, I'm gonna warn you.. the next time I hear from someone you call your house a shitty place, you will be staying in your granma's house the next time you come down to KL. You dig me bro?

Its way too early for me to be here. This is my first trip to Europe and without going to the hotel to rest and freshen up, I decide to go straight to Amsterdam as soon as I touched down in Schiphol. What was I thinking? Adventure? Yeah sort of..

Amsterdam Centraal station is really huge..

Before I came to Europe, I had made some plans with Chris, a collegue of mine from the US IT Team. My morning schedule in Amsterdam was pretty much boring , didn't visit anything till I meet up with Chris around 2pm (his flight came in later). Together we come up with places to visit while we were in Amsterdam:

1. Coffee Shop (if you get my drift! it's not your ordinary coffee shop!)
2. Sex Museum
3. Red Light District
4. Madame Tussaud's
5. The Dam
6. Canal Ride
7. Heineken Factory
8. Diamond Factory
9. Van Gogh Museum (Chris's Idea, i'm not much of an art-y person)

My first problem once i arrived at Amsterdam Centraal Station was the luggage's locker room. It only accepts credit cards and I didn't have one !! I had to practically ask someone to swipe their card and paid them back in cash. Why cant they just use coins or notes instead??

After the luggage ordeal, I decided to just walk around in Amsterdam.. It was a beautiful day there.. clear skies, cold yet sunny.. There are many types of people from all around the world.. Tourist are flocking to this city like ants in a cave filled with sugar! Japanese, Chinese, Canadian, French, Eutophians - it could have easily be a United Colors of Benetton advertisement !!

It's pretty much easy to find what you want to see.. use the old skool technique.. just follow the crowd! I did that and I managed to find the places I wanted to go except for the Diamond and Heineken factory…

The Dam

Madame Tussaud's, classy but expensive so I skipped it..

Flower Market

Look what I found !!!!!!

Most tourists were taking pictures of this instead of buying the fries. The fries company should charge people for taking picture of their van instead of buying their fries!

I actually thought this place had some mushroom which can perform some magic!!! but when I went in, well my whole idea was crushed!

In the end I ended up at the red light district.. it's actually quite close to the Amsterdam Centraal Station…  Did see few doors/ windows opened with girls standing behind em.. If you see that girl, you will be suprised! it's like they were born out of PhotoShop CS3!! and she was jumping up and down.. her boobs almost popping out from her bra! well she would have to do more than that to turn me on hahahaha…

At 1:30pm I was back at the station waiting for Chris.. waiting and waiting till 3pm.. he didnt show up or reply any of my smses. So I decided to go visit the places that i wanted to go.. Again.. I started to walk.. first stop Sex Museum of course. Remember - this is not a place that will turn you on before you pay a visit to the red light district!

Its home to an extensive collection of erotic pictures, paintings, objects, recordings, and sculptures. This is where you will learn the truth about your ancestors who claim they were goody 2 shoes during their days… yeah right !! Seriously there are loads of pornographic photo's back from the old days very old days

At least you know there is a place to sit when your feet hurts… and that's not a place for a guy like me.

Once I was done with that i revisited certain places like The Dam Square… flower market… and I still couldnt find the factories… so my next stop is the Coffee Shop… One of many things on my to-do before I kick the bucket..

 The place is quite dodgy though.. loads of people in there.. but very quiet.. Most people were either staring at the TV or the wall. I was given a menu card with funny names in it… a bit scary though since this will be my first and last time. I just asked them something for beginners and they gave me one which cost 4.50 Euros.

Then I started smoking… smoke and smoke along with my coke… and nothing happened!! Seriously I didnt feel anything at all… so whats the whole hu-ha about weed anyway?…sigh waste money only

Right after my big disappointment, I went back to train station and caught the next train to Delft. It was almost 6pm .. I think.

I noticed a funny sign on the train

What does it mean? You can dig your nose in this coach? or keep quiet? hahaha.. whatever it was.. it kept me wondering all the way to Delft…

I know I have been missing for quite sometime. Life have alwayz been hectic with work for me nowadays. I work hard and I play hard too. Last month 2 months ago, I was on my first maiden trip to Europe!.. sort of vacation and work trip for me.

Amanda was very sweet enough to send me 2 books about Holland..

The first book "Culture Smart! Netherlands" was given to me on her last trip to KL. "How To Survive Holland" followed after new year… the book title sounds very scary though..

It's very exciting before I depart from KL.. but at the same time I felt a bit like errmm scared?..no ..not the right word… "the fear of making myself look like a fool" not in the new continent but to my teammates in Delft. They have been in the company for like donkey years.. at the amount of experience in the company they have is wayyyyyy more than what I have here… Now I wish Amanda had given me a book " How to Survive IT Team in Delft"

Let's forward to my Itenary…

MH   16   08FEB    KL-AMSTERDAM   2345 /  #0555 -ARRIVED ON 09FEB
MH   17   17FEB    AMSTERDAM-KL   1200 /  #0645 -ARRIVED ON 18FEB

My flight trip was good.. after 8 years now only I'm getting a 747-400 flight. Since I'm smart I have asked for the seat neat the emergency exit so that I can have more leg space. No matter how smart someone can be, there are dumb moments as well, I forgot to ask for the aisle or the middle seat which in return I got the window seat where I have to put up with the bulging thingy from the door.

See what I meant?.. not a big mistake though. Just put my leg on top of that thingy solves the problem. 13 hours flight.. 4 movies and 5 hours nap brought me to Schiphol Amsterdam airport…

The first thing I look for at the airport is the smoking room.. cant be found since it's smoke-free airport now. How can they do this where marijuana is legal in that country ? Sigh… disappointed with that I look for my other stuff

My first coke after 13 hours.. (MAS flight doesnt serve Coke.. only Pepsi )… bummer !!

By the time I collected my checked-in luggage it was only 6:30am.. I guess that it is wayy to early for me to go Amsterdam so decided to hang around in the airport area for little longer. Nothing much to do though.. was just sitting down… reading the final pages of the book Amanda gave me.. and few smokes outside the airport. I was even smoking without lighthing up my cigarette.. it was really freezing. I think the temperature was somewhat 5 degrees? Out of 10 shots of photo's outside the airport .. only one turned up good.. my hands cant stand the weather….

I'm not complaining about the weather.. it was really nice to be somewhere cold for the first time in life… maybe it's just a matter of getting used to it. I'm sure I won't be able to get adjusted with the temperature since I'm only going to be around for a week.

Well… I'm not going to crap bout the weather much here.. or what else I did at the airport. Around 9 ish I decided to take a train to Amsterdam. Tell you Malaysian's out there… their train system much better than our's… always been on time whenever I'm taking one.. the rest of the time I don't know la… but compared to the Putra LRT management that you can get in KL.. NS train management are way much better

Next station Amsterdam Centraal !!!!!!

I decided to have a pet after the following conversation 3 weeks ago

Me     : (Staring at the ceiling in my room)… "Babe, how come the cicak (lizard) so black one?"

Wifey : (spontaneously.. without even looking at me)"… because it's staying in the same room as you, must be same kaler ma.."

Since then I decided to make it as my pet and I named it "Saripah", after a dear friend of ours ;p.

Saripah (the cicak) really does't need any attention at all, easy to maintain as she prefers to hunt for her own food - She's the predator !!!!In the day she roams out from my room and will get back to her port when I'm home…

Last week after coming back from dinner with the 'person' Saripah..

Me    : Baby, how come I didnt see Saripah for few days d?

Wifey : Maybe she chill out somewherefuther, boring ma here.. she will come back later..

After few minutes while I was taking my shower I discovered that Saripah has been squashed to death under the pail … Sigh…There goes my Saripah ..