About Amsterdam.

Im meant to be cleaning the flat right now, cooking my dinner, shaving my legs, all sorts of shit, but instead im gonna bring you another blog, on you guessed it, Amsterdam.

Im a bit hyper right now, so I thought its a good time to write a blog. All my randomness will come out of my fingers onto my laptop then somewhere in the world onto your screen. Im just gonna write about all the stuff I have noticed in Amsterdam thats different from home (england)

Biking. So obviously my last blog was all about biking. But I think it still needs to be mentioned. The bike lanes here are fab ! We really dont have them back home, or maybe we do, and I just dont bike much and now im making myself sound like a dumbo. The bike lines are red, and once your on them, you have the absolute right of way. Its actually pretty fun ringing your bell like a nutter who has escaped a mental home at the tourists that dare to step onto the paths. Or shouting some kind of obsceneties at them is also fun. Its very busy today in central cos of the Chelsea fans. Dont get me wrong, it was nice to  see them all singing and dancing in the street and having a good time, but get off my fucking bike lane bitch ! Do they not know this RED LINE IS FOR BIKES ? Two guys stepped out in front of me when I was going full speed on damn rak, I had to slam on my breaks and nearly went over my handle bars. Stay off the god damn red lines !

Windows. Windows. Windows. Amsterdam houses tend to have big, open windows. and no curtains/blinds. Its very common to walk around day and night and be able to look into a window and see people having their dinner, watching tv on the sofa or sat there reading a book. Sadly, in all the time I have been here, and in every window I have looked in, I look in every window, I have not yet seen anyone having sex. Very disapointed at this. Im gonna keep looking this last weekend im here, and hopefully I will see someone shagging on the dinner table.


Chips/fries. They seem to be pretty popular here. Im not a big chip eater, so beleive it or not, even though its on all must do lists for visiting Amsterdam I havnt had them. They are served in these paper cones with lashings of mayo, I dont have much to say on this as I havnt had the pleasure of burning the top of my mouth with this piping hot fatty potatos.

Prostitution. Its legal !? Really ?! How , why ? Why should prostitution be legal ANYWHERE ? I suppose it is better that they are doing it in their little windows (see windows again) rather than on the street, even though that still does go on here. But I just cant seem to understand why its legal. Especially as the majority of these girls are trafficked. Sure, if you wanna be a whore, then you may as well get paid for it, but you HAVE to want to do it, thats the thing that bothers me. Most of them, I beleive , dont want to do it. They dont want to be here. Sat in those windows. Sure, if you were only getting nice good looking hot men, youd wanna do it. (NOT ME) But I have seen the men that go in there, you cant tell me al these girls choose to do it. If you hang around the red light district around 5 / 6 pm you often see the girls coming to work with their pimps, who, trying not to be stereotypical here, are mostly middle eastern looking. Now if these girls have pimps and stuff, how is this what they choose to do ? is this what they dreamed of as a kid ? I can go on about this subject for hours. I still dont think it should be legal here, I dont think the red light district should exist at all, but like I mentioned above, it seems to be safer than the girls doing it on the streets and getting into mens cars. Saying this, the red light district is not at all an unsafe place for girls, families anyone. Its actually very safe, theres a lot of CCTV and a lot of police around the area

Another thing I cant get over being legal here is Canabis. Before I came to Holland I thought that it was ONLY legal to smoke in 'coffeeshops' and aparantly that is the law. But you can walk past police here, smoking a massive joint, and they wouldnt bat an eye lid. Coffeeshops are everywhere here. Before I was here I was worried I would not be able to tell a coffee shop apart and a normal coffee shop apart. You definately can. They often stink of weed in the surrounding area and you can just tell by the grungy style of the cafe. Coffeeshops dont serve alchohol, just Hash and Weed and soft drinks.Its really strange to me though how this is allowed. Every other country I have been to there has been no such thing like this. I suppose in Thailand and Cambodia you could access weed easily, but it was 'ilegal and a life sentence' if caught.

Supermarkets are expensive. Im not gonna go into this subject again. IT ANNOYS ME.



Public transport is very expensive. Back home I can pay £3 for an all day ticket, so up to midnight, and i can get on and off 100 times, if thats even possible. Here, you pay 2.80 EURO for a one hour ticket. Thats pricey ! But I soon found out theres a few trams you can ride for free. The old ones that have no one sat in those little booths checking on you. The 16 and 24 seem to be the ones I know of, going towards the pijp. I have never been caught. Also the ride from the airport is 15 minutes, if you get on the oposite end of the train to the inspector, you can walk the length of the train and reach Amsterdam central before they check up on you. Few law breaking tips for ya there !

Dinner time in Dutch families seems to be quite strict that it has to be 6pm. I hated that. Maybe it was just the family I was with ?

Dutch tv is shit, :)

Canels. Of course, how can I forget the Canels ? Amsterdam is one of the most beautiful cities I have been to, and I have been to a lot of cities. The canels are stunning, there lovely just to walk around, day or night and sit and have a drink. Theres loads of cute little bars or cafe in The Jordaan area. But boy can they be annoying sometimes. So on the canels your meant to ride the same way the traffick goes. So say im riding on the left side. On the right side is the cafe I want to go to. I have to keep cycling on the LEFT side untill I find the bridge to cross, cos you know I cant just swim with my bike, then cross, to the RIGHT side, then double back to the cafe I wanted to go to. That can be annoying.

Paying to go to the toilet. I have travelled a lot, and sometimes have had to pay say like 20 cents to go to the toilet at a bus station , 30 cents at waterloo, but I have never had to pay to wee in a club / pub/ bar. In walkabout theres always that annoying lady who takes all the toilet roll out the cubicles and expects you to pay her for the right of toilet roll, but you dont ever have to actually pay to wee at home. I paid for the drink that makes that wee, why the hell should I pay to sit down and get rid of that wee?

The dutch dont really dress up. Dutch girls are quite happy to go to a club in skkiny jeans and trainers. Its just a dutch thing I guess. Even posh restaurants you can get away with joggers on. That really surprises me.

Theres a lot of bakeries here offering great sweet treats. Only tried them once but they are oh so tempting.


LEKKER ! LEKKER ! LEKKER ! Try get a dutch person to not say this word , for an hour, its just impossible


Clogs. I know we all think that in Holland people walk around wearing clogs, they live in windmills and just eat cheese. Well I thought that anyway even if no one else did. Sadly, this is a myth. I would love to see some dutchies just walking round with one of those massive wheels of cheese, wearing clogs and of course living in a widmill. Come on, how cool would that actually be? We all wanna be cool and live in windmills and wear wooden shoes ! I do anyway... Thats my ultimate dream in life.