tek-monkey
wanna see my snake?
Just removed all the incriminating photos (and by that I mean peoples faces!) and thought I'd post them up here, but also thought I'd put a few thoughts about the place down in case anyone else was thinking of going. Feel free to ask any questions.
https://goo.gl/photos/zRb4XqHEJxGG4yhp7
Roads
I was only there for 5 days, nowhere near long enough to work out the roads. They appear to usually have 5 sections:
1) pushbikes and mopeds
2) cars and mopeds
3) trams and taxis and sometimes the odd moped
4) cars going the other way, plus mopeds
5) pushbikes going the other way, plus mopeds
Thats not to say you won't also find bikes or mopeds on the pavement! Also each lane (apart from the outer bike lanes) has a separate crossing, so you often find yourself stranded in between sections waiting for a different set of lights to change. Even when on green, look both ways as there is a high chance of being hit by a moped. The weird thing is nobody cares.
Bikes
Everywhere! Thousands of them, all knackered, mostly ridden by ridiculously good looking young dutch women with great arses. They have no gears, many have no brakes, nobody cares. The pannier racks are usually used by other people, hopping on and off randomly at junctions. They don't cycle in lines, they act more like swarms of flies (with mopeds flying between them like wasps). We saw a few bicycle collisions, just seems to be an accepted part of life. Nobody gets angry, they just make each other are OK and leave it at that.
Public transport
It works! Its also really simple, trams are paid by the hour or day rather than based on stops - an hour is 2.9 euros and I think a full day was about 7ish. Ferries are free, trains are pretty cheap too. Not sure I saw a bus but I guess the trams do all that. Everything ran on time, trams were very frequent, getting about was very easy.
People
Extremely friendly, I mean really nice. Everyone seemed happy, maybe it was because they could get high or laid whenever they wanted! I guess the fact that we stayed in a hotel that tries to be environmentally conscious (called conscious hotels actually, we stayed at the tire station) may have influenced what we saw, we also took the advice of a very nice lady who worked there to go north of the river and visit a restaurant/bar/fake beach type place made of shipping containers (Pllek, worth a visit).
The red light district
Honestly not what I was expecting. It all seemed less seedy and more touristy than I imagined, the girls in the windows were more like attractions. Not sure I saw a single person go in! They seemed to immediately clock that we were just tourists rather than punters, they all smiled and winked etc. but it felt remarkably non-sexual. That said I don't think I went past after midnight, and it was mid week. Certainly Friday afternoon seemed more rowdy than Wednesday evening so I expect it changes a lot at weekends. We did have someone that couldn't understand why we didn't want to buy cocaine off a random guy in a back alley though!
Food & Drink
Good, but fairly expensive. Didn't really eat much traditional stuff other than the odd bitterballen, did have some very nice tacos and a meal in a Tibetan restaurant though! Drinks were also expensive but hey, we were in a city. I'm sure if I shopped around it'd be cheaper but we were paying 5 euros for a pint of piss weak heineken. That said our hotel did an organic lager at 5.50 which was rather nice. We were right near a Lidl and a Jumbo, so a few times we just grabbed snacky bits and pieces like meat/cheese/bread and some pots of tapas type stuffs and sat in the park which was very nice and much cheaper.
Scenery
Lovely. Very nice and clean, everything seems well laid out and looked after. The parks were really nice, saw lots of people just sat around having picnics and drinking wine. We were in a hotel just off vondelpark so had a great walk into the museum district. Also saw a woman feeding the herons, which was odd as they behaved just like ducks. I thought they were solitary animals! Did the banksy/dali and the van gogh museums, preferred the banksy TBH as it had a better atmosphere (van gogh felt sterile and a bit too busy).
Coffee Shops
There were fewer than I expected, and they were emptier than I expected. Apparently Amsterdam has lost 60% of its coffee shops in the last 15 years, and those that survive now often sell alcohol but not cannabis. I'm not sure on the legality, but it seems they sell one or the other but let you smoke regardless. Not tobacco though, they are very strict on that! At least it meant I could have a pint of piss tasting heineken while the others got stoned! As far as cannabis goes it was about 12-17 euros per gram, depending on what you wanted. Only a few sold edibles, many sold pre-rolled joints but disassembling one showed it to be a massive rip off!
https://goo.gl/photos/zRb4XqHEJxGG4yhp7
Roads
I was only there for 5 days, nowhere near long enough to work out the roads. They appear to usually have 5 sections:
1) pushbikes and mopeds
2) cars and mopeds
3) trams and taxis and sometimes the odd moped
4) cars going the other way, plus mopeds
5) pushbikes going the other way, plus mopeds
Thats not to say you won't also find bikes or mopeds on the pavement! Also each lane (apart from the outer bike lanes) has a separate crossing, so you often find yourself stranded in between sections waiting for a different set of lights to change. Even when on green, look both ways as there is a high chance of being hit by a moped. The weird thing is nobody cares.
Bikes
Everywhere! Thousands of them, all knackered, mostly ridden by ridiculously good looking young dutch women with great arses. They have no gears, many have no brakes, nobody cares. The pannier racks are usually used by other people, hopping on and off randomly at junctions. They don't cycle in lines, they act more like swarms of flies (with mopeds flying between them like wasps). We saw a few bicycle collisions, just seems to be an accepted part of life. Nobody gets angry, they just make each other are OK and leave it at that.
Public transport
It works! Its also really simple, trams are paid by the hour or day rather than based on stops - an hour is 2.9 euros and I think a full day was about 7ish. Ferries are free, trains are pretty cheap too. Not sure I saw a bus but I guess the trams do all that. Everything ran on time, trams were very frequent, getting about was very easy.
People
Extremely friendly, I mean really nice. Everyone seemed happy, maybe it was because they could get high or laid whenever they wanted! I guess the fact that we stayed in a hotel that tries to be environmentally conscious (called conscious hotels actually, we stayed at the tire station) may have influenced what we saw, we also took the advice of a very nice lady who worked there to go north of the river and visit a restaurant/bar/fake beach type place made of shipping containers (Pllek, worth a visit).
The red light district
Honestly not what I was expecting. It all seemed less seedy and more touristy than I imagined, the girls in the windows were more like attractions. Not sure I saw a single person go in! They seemed to immediately clock that we were just tourists rather than punters, they all smiled and winked etc. but it felt remarkably non-sexual. That said I don't think I went past after midnight, and it was mid week. Certainly Friday afternoon seemed more rowdy than Wednesday evening so I expect it changes a lot at weekends. We did have someone that couldn't understand why we didn't want to buy cocaine off a random guy in a back alley though!
Food & Drink
Good, but fairly expensive. Didn't really eat much traditional stuff other than the odd bitterballen, did have some very nice tacos and a meal in a Tibetan restaurant though! Drinks were also expensive but hey, we were in a city. I'm sure if I shopped around it'd be cheaper but we were paying 5 euros for a pint of piss weak heineken. That said our hotel did an organic lager at 5.50 which was rather nice. We were right near a Lidl and a Jumbo, so a few times we just grabbed snacky bits and pieces like meat/cheese/bread and some pots of tapas type stuffs and sat in the park which was very nice and much cheaper.
Scenery
Lovely. Very nice and clean, everything seems well laid out and looked after. The parks were really nice, saw lots of people just sat around having picnics and drinking wine. We were in a hotel just off vondelpark so had a great walk into the museum district. Also saw a woman feeding the herons, which was odd as they behaved just like ducks. I thought they were solitary animals! Did the banksy/dali and the van gogh museums, preferred the banksy TBH as it had a better atmosphere (van gogh felt sterile and a bit too busy).
Coffee Shops
There were fewer than I expected, and they were emptier than I expected. Apparently Amsterdam has lost 60% of its coffee shops in the last 15 years, and those that survive now often sell alcohol but not cannabis. I'm not sure on the legality, but it seems they sell one or the other but let you smoke regardless. Not tobacco though, they are very strict on that! At least it meant I could have a pint of piss tasting heineken while the others got stoned! As far as cannabis goes it was about 12-17 euros per gram, depending on what you wanted. Only a few sold edibles, many sold pre-rolled joints but disassembling one showed it to be a massive rip off!
