The Dam

The central of Amsterdam is much more smaller than my expectation. From the central station walk to Damrak Square, it only about 1km. All trams will passby central station. There are a row of hotels located opposite canal and central station.The building behind is the central station, you can get metro, bus, tram, train here.It look a little bit messy and its always crowded.
One of the building along the dam road.
View from Damrak Square looking toward to central station.

Madame Tussaud and Royal Palace both located at Damrak Squre. Basically, you just need to stand on a same point, just turning the direction then you can shoot the photo with different building.The street beside madame tussaud is a shopping street! It is full of shoppers. One of the famous shop item in Amsterdam is "boot" Wow, it is really nice and trendy! The price range from E15 to E 300, of course if you have budget, you can get a true leather boots as low as E99. For me, i bought a grey color velvet boot at E29.90. And surprisingly the boot is very comfortable although i just wear it for the first time.
The Royal Palace, former town hall of Amsterdam is under renovation.
Our hotel is located at the far end of this row of building. Walk straight and pass by 2 canals, you will reach Dam Square.
We walk along damrak to find some excursions package. My colleague-Bergson had recommended us a travel agent - Lindberg, but i only remember it after we purchased the package. There are a lot of shops selling the excursions package. However we decided to go for the main shop - Tours and Tickets which is located at 34 Damrak. We decided to buy a Belgium day trip, cost us E53 per pax, and Marken, Volendam and Windmill half day tour which is E32. Initially we plan to go for Madurodam -the miniature world. But Bergson's comment was so so only, not really worth going. And i am glad that we listened to his advice. :)

Amsterdam Nadia Hotel

From the Central Station, we found no problem in finding the Nadia Hotel. Its a nightmare to find a hotel in Amsterdam. We need to take into consideration of location, budget and hotel condition. Beside that, most of the hotel in Amsterdam require min night of stay during the weekend. I had searched for more than 50 hotels and B&B.

Among the accommodation that i had searched, it included Vita Nova boat house, only euro27.50 per night, however i found out that the surrounding area was port from the google street view and the room was damm small and it was not convenient to look for food there. Another hotel was youth hostel , only girl in same dome, it is quite cheap with euro30 per night. But you need to share room with another 3 girls and was common bathroom.

Backpacker tips no 2: fully utilize the google map - street view while doing your research. I dont even need to look at the map to find the hotel when i was there as i had already know how it look like from street view.

After struggle for few days in searching the lodging, finally i found this Nadia hotel, www.nadia.nl. Reading at the review from tripadvisor, almost all guests gave it good compliment. The location was very near to Dam Square, only about 3 min walked, the room is clean, good hospitality and breakfast provided. The only thing is the room rate was E100 per night and it was a little bit out of our budget. After considerate, i decided to take this hotel as i wanted to ensured we had a good beginning for our trip.The result... i am very happy with this hotel.

Backpacker tips no 3 : see the photo from traveller in tripadvisor rather than believe in the photo on hotel website. The truth can be quite scary sometime . :)

The hotel main door was locked, you need to press the bell then only they will open the door for you. Although i already prepared for the "famous" staircase, but yet i still felt "phew....." when i really looked at it. It is damm damm small and slant! In fact, mostly all the building in Amsterdam had this kind of staircase. Curious on how they move things up? i found the answer when i went to Belgium. However, the hotel staff will help you to carry your luggage. So no worry!

Each time when we go down from the staircase, Allysa will walked in front of me. When we go up, she will walked behind me. Reason being was due to our size. For just in case she fall down, she will not hit me.haha.

The room size is just nice. Washroom is a bit small but no problem to fit me in. hehe.
Hotel facility included tea making, luggage room, fridge, hair dryer, tv, wifi, safe box, individual bathroom...
From my observation, this hotel was run by a family. The manager name is Mr. Osam, and sometime you can see his father, Osam senior at the counter.When we reached there, it only 9am in the morning so the room is not ready yet. However, Mr. Osam invited us to wait at the breakfast room, enjoy some free food :)He also pass us a map and tourist guide. Which later i found out the map is very useful and clear. Our room ready after about 20 min. Really appreciate for their flexibility and efficiency.

Some hotel will charge additional if you pay by credit card. As for this nadia hotel, 2 nights rate was Euro 220 if pay by credit card, while only Euro 206.80 if pay by cash. They gave me discount Euro 0.80. So end up we pay Euro 206 for 2 nights, each person cost about RM 515.

Backpacker tips no 4 : Check is there any additional charges or not if you want to pay by credit card.

After settle everything at the hotel, is time for us to go out and hunt for some day trip.

Arriving in Amsterdam Schipol Airport

I had not taken such a long haul flight since 2002.As usual, i prefer to gain more precious sleeping time by skipping supper. It is difficult for me to sleep well for the whole journey as my butt was felling pain. Or maybe i am already aging...Haiz...after slept for about 6 hours? or maybe less, i became so aweken until i finished Terminator 3 movie, and the last part of night at the musuem 2 movie before breakfast was served. Allysa told me: hey we take the cup , spoon and folk ya, later if we want to cook mee then at least we have some "ka chang ". Oh... i had been long time never doing this kind of "stealing" things from plane already :) . However it turn out we had made a wise decision by doing so, Those thing really help.

Backpacker rule no 1 : Get the spoon, cup, folk, nuts, cake, juices... from the plane if you forget to bring yourself.

Finally, the plane touched down at 645am at schipol airport. Once came out from the flight,cool air make me felt so fresh. There are some officers checking our passport and asked what is our purpose to come to Amsterdam. My colleague told me, last time she had been questionned until she felt like they suspected her to go there for prostitution.Hihi.

On the way going to custom, i saw a cow statue nearby a shop. Netherland is famous for the cow and cheese. So i asked allysa to take a photo for me. Just out of sudden this Mr. XX appeared from no where and he just wanted to take the photo together with me. Hmmm...well, ok lor what to do. After taken the photo, as an asian i was prepared to shake hand with him. But i forgot here was not asia, He, as a non-asian open his arm widely and gave me a hug! What the....??!! Can this consider my first encouter with Amsterdam?Next time can send someone more handsome or not har? End up there was no sight of the cow in my photo.

The immigration was ppl moutain ppl sea and yet they only open up 4 counters. The most annoying part was the luggage collection.Can you immagine that 3 flights shared a same luggage conveyor? What the.... There are many other luggage conveyors which were not working but why they only open up one? Compare with Schipol, KLIA had the better service.

We took sometime to find the train ticket counter. After we got the ticket from the officer with Euro 4.30, Allysa asked : can you tell us which platform is it ? The officer say : no cannot. hahahah!He was really a joker.
The train to city center is a double decker train. I was attracted to their annoucement board. Out of my suprise they are still using this a bit "lao ya" turning board rather than LCD display!So i got another conclusion, Do you think Europe countries were very advance? Think it agian!

From KL to Amsterdam

18.9.2009.....the departure day

I still worked that day, all my colleagues came to ask me, " are you excited?" Honestly speaking i dont felt the excitment. Maybe i need to settle too many jobs before i went on leave. but thanks to them who send me all the regards and best wishes for my journey.

However, everything changes after working hour when i on my way going home. The excitment raised bit by bit. I had been treated with seafood dinner at Lala Chong by 3 handsome guys (or perhaps they pitty me had to eat roti for 9 days??!!) Then these 3 body guards accompanied me to airport, make me felt like VIP. HEHE!

Wow, now i became really excited when i stepped into KLIA and looked for the check in counter.

See see, MH0016 Amsterdam !

I had already done the web check-in, so i just went to the counter and check in my luggage.

Amsterdam! Here i came!

My Awaiting Trip

2 days before departure...

I had been repacked my luggage for the third times. Take out clothes put in clothes...This is first time ever in my life that i took 1 week to do packing. Previously, i will just dumped in whatever T shirt that i can found and closed the case.

But...but...this trip is so so important+special until i need to actually think hard which clothes to wear on which day. And the most surprising is i put in a dress! OMG, it really not me at all!

I had waiting for this trip since year 2002. Planned it for about a year and now i only have 2 more days to go. Time pass so soon before that but for this few days, i felt the time pass extremely slow.

Beside that, i felt this trip had a lot of similarity with my Korea's trip.
1) I am going backpack, not alone but only 2 of us.
2) H1N1 is everyway
3) I speak a little bit of french and they dont speak english.
I think the only different is no more iraq war this time, which is good .

Before i went Korea, i also had a nightmare. I dream that i had been robbed by 2 black mans(sorry i am not racist, is just a dream) at Seoul. I was so angry and i punched each of them on their face and defected them. Hehe.
This time, i think is because i had drunk 老泡参炖鸡汤before i sleep, i dream that i only went to Paris for 1 day , only able to see the eiffer tower throught my hotel window then i came back already! OMG! what a sad and horror dream.
Looking at the similarity, does it mean that it will also be a wonderful trip as the korea trip? :) Sure it is, i will make it come true.

Long time ago i had promised to myself, i MUST go to Paris before i turn 30, and now i am 29 years old and 1 month, so here i come!

吵架的艺术

在河南的整个旅途中，最为我们津津乐道的是这里的人都很厉害骂架。
第一次我们见识到是在街上的路口前，一个大婶没有看车，就倒退他的电单车。结果我们的巴士差一点就撞到她。可是她不但不当一回事，还对我们的车破口大骂！搞得我们的司机还开了车门和她骂过。要是在这里不懂会不会被人打。
第二次，在去西安的高速上，过收费站时，不懂是不是司机给了大钞，结果又和收费站的女孩骂架。连原本在睡觉的我都醒过来了。可是他们骂架在我听来还是算斯文的，那个女孩讲得最严重的字眼也只不过是“无赖”。哈哈哈，要是在这里，什么knn, cb,txx,fxxk...一定会出来的。
我终于见识到了中国女孩的本色！西安的那个女导游骂功应该也不差的，看她对我们说话的语气，就像对小学生说一样，一点也不尊重我们客人。结果是我想骂她。
最为经典的是在北京看到的那一幕，一辆脚车和一辆的士的骂架。那个脚车竟然螳螂挡车！然后当的士想要后退开走时，脚车骑士竟然跑到的士后面去肉体挡车！我的天！结果的士不理他，猛又一向前绕过挡在前面的脚车开走了。事到如今还没结束，那个骑士立马跳上脚车去追逐那辆的士。哈哈哈！不懂要讲他不自量力好，还是该赞他不屈不饶。

春天是有颜色的 ！

原来，春天是有颜色的。我没有试过在春天的时候出国，结果从来不知道原来春天是那么美。远远看过去，就像一幅画！ 在停车场，随随便便就有一颗那么美的花。而且这里的花，叶子都落光，满棵树都是花。

有黄色的花，也有黄色的油菜花。一和绿色配搭起来，相映成辉！

在华清池里白色的花。古代的帝王，因该也曾经见过此情此景吧。可惜人面全非，只有桃花依旧笑春风。

紫色的花树。

到处都是的桃花。

看过春天，才知道什么叫如诗如画，什么是春回大地，万象更新。。。春天，真的是美，美的让人惊艳，真的是能带给人希望的一个季节。

好笑的商标

途中，发现了有家商店。 哇，果然是有家商店喔。到底是周星驰抄他的还是他抄周星驰的？ 有听过酒吧，网吧，还是第一次听到茶吧。

吃了臭豆腐，你就会一臭万年！

来来网网，你来我给你网。在少林寺入口处看到的。

这个真不同饭店真的不同，就是吃水席的，每一样菜都是汤底

哈哈哈！果然是大车哦。怎么不叫公交车？连猪肉也叫大肉。

中国结造型的街灯。 马来西亚会不会有个keris, wau,的街灯？

吃在河南

在北京机场的第一餐，就是这个拉面。后在在sunway pyramid我们又去吃了一次重温旧梦。旁边那杯奶茶，小小杯比starbuck 还贵！ 在路边摊看到的这个螃蟹。哇噻！如果不是因为怕吃了泻肚子，我立马就买来吃了。那么圆，很像pirate of the carribean里帮jack sparrow推船入海的 螃蟹！

全程最吃不惯的西安回族餐，东西很咸很咸，然后还加了一些粉，变成很麻。一吃下去嘴巴就没感觉了。搞得我们后来去吃快餐。

这个麻辣火锅。吃到一半还有人进来表演拉面。我们都在担心，担心面条粘到地上的灰尘。因为他用面条来表演跳绳！

在这个“真不同”饭店，吃着真不同的东西。所有的菜都是汤base的。我的妈呀！中间还有一个碗，让我们把吃不完的汤（肯定是吃不完）倒进去。由于每道菜看起来都差不多，我们说不懂会不会倒错。刚说完。。。我的同事就把吃剩的汤倒入一碗刚端上来的菜里。晕。。。

这一次，尝试了很多不同的料理。是我以前都没有吃过的。估计在这里也没有，因为不合我们的口味。还记得早餐，我拼命吃的就是馒头。午餐晚餐也照吃不误，因为是最好吃的了。然后我们还去买strawberry!即溶奶茶。。。很想念那里的即食品，因为真的很不错的哦 ！

Hard Rock Cafe Beijing

Am i in Beijing? Oh it is unbelievable. This is first time in my life that i stepped in a Hard Rock Cafe. Before we were here, my colleagues were crazy about it. They wanted to buy the Hard Rock T shirt as collection! What so special about the T shirt?

The T shirt was printed with the city name that the cafe was operate. Ie: In bejing it will be hardrock beijing, london it will be hard rock london.But yet this restaurant make me felt i am in US rather than beijing. How can it be?? we must enjoy chinese dinner in China.

However it was an unforgetable experience for me. I know Hard Rock now.The food was not bad, the song was nice, we celebrated some colleagues birthday here. We shop at the rock shop but i didn't bought anything.

Most of the customers were Mat Salleh.

在北京还有一些地方。上次来过的王府井，我还记得那只应天上有的烤羊肉。可惜啊可惜，事过境迁，人面桃花依旧在，唯有羊肉无所踪。这里的小贩区经过整顿，我已经找不回那个美味羊肉串的味道了。心痛中。。。花了5元买的烤羊肉，一点都不好吃。

巴士有经过地坛，不过我还没去过。估计和天坛差不多。

北海公园，皇帝吃饭的地方，也是还没去过。

景山公园， 明朝最后一个皇帝上吊的地方。去过了。

升旗礼

上次来北京，错过了升旗礼。这一次我不想错过。当天一大早，我看大约是5点多吧，就从酒店搭的士到天安门！huray!天安门我又来啦。其实我想念的不是天安门，而是紫禁城呢。
之前就听说是满多人的，可是没想到，真的很多很多很多很多人！我们那么早到，竟然已经看不到了。阴公咯。 结果，我是看前面那位仁兄手上的射影机小小的荧幕。

再见天安们。

回程的时候，就是看着我手上的小簿子，里头有我在google map画下来的地图。结果我们还是费了一番功夫才找到地铁站的入口。途中还经过国家剧院。好像一粒大蛋。

地铁站，我们从天安门西到西单。

结果我们只坐了一站地铁就到了。。cheh...早知道走路啦。不过也蛮有成就感的。啊哈哈哈 ！我的北京自助旅圆满结束。

北京-鸟巢

与水粒方遥遥相对的就是这个大名鼎鼎的鸟巢。再一次，如果用英文翻译搞不好会变鸟窝。。。

从来不知道在鸟巢旁边有一条河。当初，多少的健儿满怀希望来这里，当中又有多少人失望而归。我想他们心中百般复杂的滋味，就有如鸟巢外面纵横交错的表面。 虽然奥运已经过了半年，可是我觉得这个鸟巢还不断在赚钱。看看入口处的人群吧，天啊！不知道的人，还以为是谁在开演唱会。人们都在你推我挤，好像怕死进不去。一张门票RMB50。看看一天可以赚取多少利润。

终于被人挤进来了。一进门就听到那首北京欢迎你。然后我的第一个感觉就是，怎么那么小？？？我沿着跑道缓缓走了一圈，在想象当时的盛况。仿佛可以看到耍着太极的武者，看到吊着wayer的太空人，看到各国运动员欢乐的眼神，看到世界赞叹的目光。我想，恐怕再多20年，我们都无法看到超越这个奥运的表演。

特地从马来西亚带回北京的福娃，为他在他的出生地留影。

就是这一条条钢线，还有李宁最后精彩的表演，全都在这里发生。

红色的椅子，红色的布条，红色的我。。。

奥运村，果真不虚此行。看了两千多年前的兵马俑，再看了公元两千年的建筑。我这一次，跨约了五千年的历史。