Amsterdam Chapter 1 (Duivendrecht to Dam Square)
7th June 2015, We were on the bus from Brussels Nord to Amsterdam (Station Duivendrecht) via Eurolines. The bus have temperature reading to let you know how cold or hot (not Katy Perry) is it outside.
When we board it, it was 24'c. The bus then stopped for a while at Antwerpen to drop some passengers. Antwerp seems nice from the bus, but we had no chance to walk around, hihihi. At that time the temperature was 20'c . So the bus moved on the highway and it passed by some farms, residential areas, and I started seeing lots and lots of windmills. I knew at that time we were entering Nederland borders. TIPS: Eurolines buses provides connection to most European cities and it is one of the cheap and scenic way to explore Eurpe!
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| the windmills, along the wayyy.. |
There were various type of people in that bus, some muslims women, maybe moroccans or algerians.. some old people as well. When we were entering the border of Nederland, the temperature reading was 18'c . I felt asleep for a while and woke up when the bus stopped at another station, I was already in Nederland! Oranje!!
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Then the bus moved again, and i saw the temperature reading is 11'c ! i was like..i thought this supposed to be summerr??. I was wearing sandals at that time, great. We then arrived at Duivendrecht station around 9.30PM and yea the sun was still there. TIPS: Most major buses stops at Duivendrecht, they have train connections to cities in Nederland from here.
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| Duivendrecht station |
The moment i stepped down from that bus, these cold breeze started blowing, my dear god! it was soo cold.. for me obviously cos im skinny bones!. But even Sarah was like 'what is this cold place?!' Without wasting any seconds, I opened my bagpack and find me shoes!. TIPS: wear shoes! no sandals pls, Its not tropical!
Next step is to buy ticket to take the train from Duivendrecht to Amsterdam Central, but what we didn't know, the counter already closed at that time. TIPS: SNCB Train goes to Amsterdam Central from Duivendrecht.
Sarah asked someone at the station and she said, we need to buy the tix from the machine at the entrance. Duivendrecht is actually quite a big station. we walked back down and we saw 2 guys buying their tickets, hence, look and learn. I was too cold to even speak at this time, my legs were shivering. So all the talking to strangers for direction was done my Super Sarah. hiks
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| the tix machine |
The train from the other side came quite fast and we were like 'are we in the right lane now..'. But the screen clearly stated Amsterdam Central, but no train passed by. There was this cute boy walking passing us. Sarah stopped him and asked him whether the platform is right. He said we are in the right platform and the train will come anytime soon. 'are u on holiday?' he continued, and we said 'yeah' :). I guess he is still in school, lol such a cougar.. haip!!
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| the train station |
The train came finally and we hop into it. Within 5 minutes or so we arrived at Amsterdam Central! We're in Amsterdam!! ..andd it was so freakin cold, it was 8'c that night!. Although i was excited to reach the city. what I want at that time was to find our hostel and eat, i fuckin' need to eat something good cos i was hungry and cold. TIPS: Amsterdam central can connect you with trams, trains to various cities and the airport.
We started walking towards Dam Square as our hostel is near it. It is not that far, so we don't have to take the trams.
You will find lots of Trams here btw, ill tell u stories bout it in my next entry :D . So, as we walking, I noticed that most shops here still open at 10PM, which is great, unlike Paris, hiks. Suddenly I heard this familiar language from afar and it was Malay!..hahahaha..someone speakin in Malay!, hihihi. I missed that language i guess at tha time. It was that guy who starred in Muhsin speakin, if u know, he was there with his friend, i saw em walking, hmm what a small world.
As we walked with our bagpack, we saw and Indian restaurant, yasss!, 'we need rice!, we need to eat'. U have no idea how happy i was to see that restaurant. But I wanted to check in first. I used the map provided by the hostel and we arrived right in front of the Central Hostel Amsterdam after we passed the Dam Square. TIPS: Dam Square is the central area of the city, most of Amsterdam attraction is around the square. If you found Dam Square, you will know where to walk to next.
We got inside, my oh my the stairs is so steep! like seriously steep!. The 'lobby' is at the 2nd floor. The receptionist guy with a very serious face, took our booking confirmation, gave our keys and told us the rules..no smoking, no drugs, bla bla bla..
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| this is the stairs, please continue.. |
We got into our room, on floor 3rd, yep more steep stairs. Sarah take the top bunk. There are 5 bunk beds in there, the room we booked is for 10 people, and all the beds were occupied. Altho, I didnt saw any of our roommates at first, I know that there were girls and guys based on the stuff on their beds, yea we were very nosy..hiks. TIPS: Central Hostel is cheap yes, but you can actually find other hostels with better environment, most of the people who stayed here are party people.
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| this is the room, i took this pic from google btw, cos i didnt take any inside the room |
We freshened up, changed to thicker jackets cos the weather was killing us, and off to the Indian restaurant, cos i need rice!. We walked passed by Dam square again, so many people walking around pointlessly like they have nowhere to go..so yeah, hahaha.
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| ready to go out! |
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| Damrak im here! |
We got into the restaurant, Gandhi restaurant the name. It's actually inside a building so we gotta go through some doors and narrow walkways. It was warmerrrr..happy feelings, lol.
Saw lots asian inside the restaurant, well we just add the number. The owner came to us and gave us the menu and asked where are we from, I said Malaysia. He was like 'oh Samyvellu always come here' and we was like, lol he is the famous person in malaysia is it? kikiki
He also said most malaysian embassies people and students eat there to, as we need rice and spice, that make sense. hihi. I ordered chicken briyani and Sarah lamb briyani. extra spicy, cos i was craving for spicy. TIPS: Below pic is the signboard of the restaurant, i is located around 200M walk from Dam Square towards Amsterdam Central. price range is between 5 - 30 Euros per dish.
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| this is also a pic i take from google, cos i was so hungry to even take a pic |
The portion was actually quite alot, we should jus order 1 and share. But it was such satisfaction to eat the briyani! it was good too. Guess the price? converted to ringgit is 50ringgit for one briyani..mmhmm..yep yep.. 50rgt. But cos I really needed the hot rice, so what the hell.
After dinner, we take a walk around Dam Square. It was kinda good to just hangout here and do nothing there, idk why. Lots of foreign people tho, u rarely see dutch. This place is not like Paris, it is alive all night. TIPS! always watch the road, cos the trams use the road. They have bicycle lane as well, watch out for that too...lotsss of bicycles, the city is known for it!
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| me and Sarah, i actually was watching the trams so that it didnt hit us |
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| De Bijenkorf! |
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| Dam Square <3 |
I changed and made myself comfy on my bunk bed, Sarah actually talked to em, i did too, but not so much. 4 of em, girls are British, can't remember their names. very young i think early 20's. When we said we are Malaysian, they were like 'aaah okay' . there was this cynical 'oh that part of asia' feeling i can feel flowed...meh. One of em actually been here in KL for transit, thats all.
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| Sarah took this pic of em Brit girls |
So yeah we went to bed, tiring day!. I think after 2 hours or so i heard the other roomates , the guys, came back. But i was so tired and didn't really care as i needed my beauty sleep. Tomorrow we are going to the Windmill village, Zaanse Schans!, wait for my next entry!! Zzzz..
Click HERE for our journey: Chapter 2
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