Highlights of Holland and Belgium

Sorry for the long period of inactivity, have been busy, but lazy to update most of the time. Now I shall blog my trip to Holland and Belgium with Kenneth, Junyi, Vin-soon and Catherine while I still have the momentum to.

Amsterdam

Capital of the Netherlands. Dirty, dodgy, nasty, messy - all the bad things you can think of. They have Coffee Shops - which sells drugs by the way, Cannabis College, Marijuana plant shops, sex shops, live prostitute displays at the Red Light District - the Geylang of Singapore, or Soho of London. Why is it that prostitution and Chinatown are always side by side?! Same goes for London and KL. So the name 红灯区originates here in Amsterdam, although only the ones in Amsterdams really have red lights.

Red Light District - this shop is not open yet

Chinatown and Coffee Shops

Pee deflectors - set up at "attractive corners to the drunkards for peeing at night" to prevent them from dirtying the town. They get the pee all over them instead.

Toilet aka Pee Station - for drunkards who need to pee. It just a plastic structure with no water or any drainage system, mind you.

Well I wasnt brave enough to try the muffin (with marijuana!) sold the the Coffee Shops, but according to Junyi he had a really bad headache the next day after eating it. He was supposed to get HIGH but didnt happen. LOL

We rented bikes and cycle to see Amsterdam - passing by a Windmill, a Jewish ghetto, the Heineken beer factory, many canals and also the big words "I AMSTERDAM". Nice experience!

Rotterdam

My favourite city so far out of all that I have visited (together with Paris)! Clean, neat, modern and the total opposite of Amsterdam. Take a look and you'll know why.

Erasmusbrug

Train system - even better than Singapore's!

As the busiest trading port in the world, it has such rapid development over the years! Reminds me of Singapore. Woohoo I was so looking forward to home back then!

Euromast - tallest tower in the Netherlands. Rotating around so we got to see breathtaking views of the entire city of Rotterdam. Beatiful buildings, bridges, rivers and greeneries. Ah I just love cities which are neat and systematic. Observed the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen from 10.02pm to 10.06pm Local Time.

The Hague

Financial Capital of the Netherlands. Mostly high rise buildings with Ministry of so and so everywhere throughout the city. The Malaysian Embassy there is like a rich man's bungalow. Not bad!

Malaysian Embassy of the Netherlands

There is also the International Court of Justice, where the case of some island dispute between Malaysia and Singapore was resolved (Haiz Singapore so small no land, Malaysia still so greedy want to rebut for what. Not like Malaysia develop all her land properly also LOL. But finally the island goes to Singapore lah, haha). When we were there, they were also an ongoing Iranian protest.

International Court of Justice



Scheveningen Pier - a windy beach facing the North Sea. It was freezing cold!

Brussels

Capital of Belgium - Main highlight is CHOCOLATES! Wah the colourful display and the smell attracts us into visiting shop after shop. Can sample some more before deciding whether to buy or not. So tempting lah in the end bought loads as souvenirs for family and friends.

Amazing and unforgetable trip - and I earned a nickname "178" from Catherine, who refuses to acknowledge me as being taller than 180cm, which eventually evolved to "itchy butt" =_=