netherlands day 3 nite n day 4 - amsterdam

after the keukenhof visit in the day, we were walking ard amsterdam and the nitelife is really interesting..

amsterdam by nite, a famous "red light city"..

funfair in Dam Square, in preparation for "Queen's Day" the following week..

reverse bungee - for oni 8 euros (16SGD)..

city monument opposite the Dam Square (in some postcards tat i saw, they photoshop dis statue into a d**k shape lah.. haha..)

table tennis actions @ Shelter City Youth Hostel.. its hilarious the way ken plays it.. so ah-tiong, so kiam-pa lah! haha..

so, after spending a relaxing day @ zaanse schans unwinding with the windmills..

and strolling @ rotterdam catching up with frens in a laid back fashion..

topping it off with admiring the flowers @ keukenhof, snacking off stroop-waffles, chips, cookies and ji-dan-gao! haha..

so wat best way but to continue this well-paced lifestyle, and enjoy a smooth canal cruise down the numerous canals in amsterdam?!?! =)

along the canal..

we took our own sweet time exploring amsterdam while making our way to the boarding point for the canal cruise.. along the way, we went into a flower market where ALOT ALOT ALOT of flowers were on sale.. we bought a can of tulip (buds) as present for xiaoli, to fulfil her dream of growing some flowers in her dtu room! haha..

the 1hr cruise was pretty informative, bringing us from one canal to the other, providing short descriptions of interesting facts along the way..

we eventually entered the largest canal outside amsterdam and saw the grand view of amsterdam riverside..

afterwhich, we alighted and proceeded to a open market at the south-western corner of amsterdam.. its actually a flea market, but provides a pretty different taste to tat of main amsterdam streets - in tat there r alot less pple (tourist), with pple juz taking their time, slowly walking thru the lanes of (wat i would call) pasa-malam..

along the way, we came to realise SOMETHING abt jl when he takes pics..

we decided to copy and tadaa..

is it obvious?! haha.. yeshh, its the "protect my crown jewels" pose.. haha..

tat pretty much ended our day, cos we had to buy STROOPWAFFLES and VLA back to denmark!! haha.. thanks to ken n jl who combed all 4 "albert heijn" (supermarket) in amsterdam so tat we could buy 53 packs of stroopwaffles back.. we wanted to buy 80 packs in total, BUT its pretty sold out by mon.. haha..

albert heijn..

the fact tat we dun trust the airport crew in DUMPING our bags ard during loading n unloading of cargo for check-in luggages meant tat we had to hand-carry all of the 53 packs of stroopwaffles and 6 1L-packs of VLA lah.. haha..

i carried 22 in a hand-carry luggage while yl brought the rest back in a cloth tote bag.. its REALLY HEAVY LAH.. haha..

imagine each is 315g, 53 packs = 16.7kg lah!! haha.. plus the 6 packs of VLA, tats 26kg of foodstuff lah.. and not forgetting the chinese food and spices we bought from the china shop in amsterdam.. haha.. either we r so deprived of good food in denmark, or things r really cheap in amsterdam..

considering the fact tat there is RARELY chinese foodstuff in denmark, and the things r so so pricey, i tot it was wise tat we stocked up thru dis trip.. haha..

with tat,

i amsterdam

netherlands day 3 - keukenhof

highlight of the day for today is KEUKENHOF - a tulip garden oni open in mid march til mid may every year.. it will display tonnes n tonnes of flowers alongside with the national pride of netherlands, tulips..

huiyian n amelia checked into the same hostel as us in amsterdam and we proceeded to keukenhof from there..

we took a 20mins train ride from amsterdam city to schiphol airport, and queue for 30mins to board the bus tat takes us to keukenhof lah.. the bus ride was supposed to be 35mins, but due to traffic jam (as there r MANY PPLE going to keukenhof on sunday), the bus ride took like 1hr lah!!

arriving at 12ish pm instead of the intended 10ish, we wasted no time in entering and immersing ourselves in the flowery atmosphere!!

sights at the entrance already took our breathe away..




we had to QUEUE to take dis shot lor..





its getting colourful..

.. and u know tat spring is here..

.. absolutely..



.. gorgeous flowers..



.. of cos, flowers r beautiful, oni bcos pple appreciates them!

deeper into the garden..

time-check, 3pm.. b4 we could explore the OTHER HALF of keukenhof, huiyian n amelia actually gotta truncate their tour to go to Zaanse Schans cos they hav limited time in amsterdam.. so we proceeded with walking to the other half of keukenhof, in search of windmill n beanbags.. haha..



we moved on to climbing trees..


as well as going up the keukenhof windmill.. the windmill is pretty much not working cos if the winds were strong here, the tulips would hav been all blown away lah!! haha..


there was even a choir performance put up.. dun see them auntie uncle lidat.. they damn enthusiastic and passionate abt singing lah.. the atmosphere was SO rite.. coupled with spontaneous crowd and the sunny weather, i tot the day was juz perfect!


den, we found the BEANBAGS!! haha.. having tat accomplished as well, yanli went off to meet up with jess n gang in eindhoven..


there were at least 50 huge beanbags littered ard dis park of keukenhof and ALOT OF PPLE (like us) were juz lazing there, suntanning!! haha.. after a while, bordom caught us and we decided to do something REALLY SPASTIC.. hehe..



wee~~ haha.. yap, we were diving into the beanbags and taking photos lahz.. haha.. den after sometime, ALL THE LITTLE KIDS in the area were doing the same too!! haha..


and kendrick was pretty much their temporary "official photographer".. haha.. the younger one is actually quite adorable.. haha..

den we ventured out of keukenhof to the surrounding tulip farm! yes, the nursery so big, i can't help but to say its like a tulip FARM lah.. haha..

me camera batt went flat at the farm lah.. saddening rite?! heng kendrick's camera was working perfectly fine!



den i went on to construct emo-lomo pics, and got ken to be my photographer.. hehe..





of cos i reciprocated with magnificent shots! haha.. or at least i tot so.. hee..

spring = happy = jump!



if anything is wrong, its the model, not the photographer! whahaha. bleah..

time-check, 6pm!! haha.. yes, i nv expect 3 guys to see flowers for 6hours lah.. including myself!! haha.. wellz, tat pretty much conclude the day @ keukenhof..

the nite was pretty much spent on bringing the girls ard seeing the red light district of amsterdam, as well as dinner at dis screw-up-chef kebab cafe.. HATE the way they discriminate chinese.. hmph!