the adventure of prince kenneth...: April 2009

based on the title, i think most of you guys know where i've explored! yes... kenneth tan conquered netherlands aka holland. to be honest, i wasn't that in love with the country at first. why? first, i cant read dutch (road signs, public transport timetables, menu.... almost everything is in dutch), second, the public transport system is quite complicated (they have trains, buses, trams and metro), third, i have to take a number and wait for more than half an hour in the tourist information centre and lastly, they have buses, cars, trams and loads of bicycle on the roads, which means we gotta be extremely careful when crossing the road. i was pretty stress out on my day one in netherlands. however, after 5 days in the land of tulips and windmills, i totally love this country and would love to go back there again.

both deric and i kicked off our holland exploration at the world renowned sin city, amsterdam. the best part of our stay in amsterdam was the luxury hotel we stayed. 5 stars hotel for the price of a backpacker hostel. thanks to lee chin yang for introducing hotwire to me. it wasnt that cheap at first but they made a mistake with my booking and offered me 58 us$ per night. the hotel is amazing! love everything about it!

nh krasnapolsky hotel

the room is damn big!

the toilet/ bath room

the tv greets me!

my first stop in the city of canals was royal palace and dam square. both the palace and square are just outside the hotel we stayed. the palace is really nice but it isnt open to public. so, visitors can only admire it from the outside. the square isnt something to scream about. i've seen better looking and cleaner square.

a trip to amsterdam wont be completed without a visit to museumplein, home to rijksmuseum and van gogh museum and also some other not so important museums (in my dictionary). anyway, both rikjsmuseum and van gogh museums are filled up with many great paintings. for me, i prefer van gogh museum. the museum is the home to most of the masterpieces by the great artist, vincent van gogh. from there, i gotta know mr van gogh better. his life was kinda tragic. he died young and was a regular at the asylum before he died. the saddest part is he didnt get to know that he has changed the world of art and became someone very important in the history of modern art before he died. some of his works are really inspiring. i almost burst into tears. im serious! if i have the chance, i dont mind visiting the museum again.

museumplein

after wandered around museumplein, we headed back to the city centre and stopped at the house of another famous figure of amsterdam, anne frank. a little jewish girl who struggled during german occupation of the netherlands in the second world war and she died in the concentration camp. i got quite emotional. why such sad story has to happen to a sweet little girl like anne? just opposite the house of anne frank is jordaan, a lovely district. the district has so many beautiful canals, lanes and houses and surely a lovely place for an evening walk.

anne frank house

jordaan

after a quick dinner, we rushed to the sexmuseum to experience the cheeky side of amsterdam. the museum made me blush. i love to talk about sex but the museum is a bit to much! boobs and penises are everywhere! guess what? in late 19th century, people started taking dirty pictures and the japanese already into sm back then. not far from the sexmuseum is the renowned red light district. i was stunned! girls displayed themselves with just undergarment. some of those girls are really pretty, model material. the funny thing is that area has more tourists than horny men! wondering how those girls survive!

sexmuseum

a big one!

red light district

we started day two with a 45 minutes bus ride to beemster, a polder. about 400 years ago, beemster was a big lake. it was reclaimed and have been used for farming ever since. after a hectic day in the city the day before, a morning walk at the country side was so welcoming. it is actually quite amazing how they reclaimed the land. they transformed a lake into a useful land and it happened 400 years ago. no wonder that place is one of unesco world heritage sites.

beemster

after spending several hours at beemster, we went back to amsterdam and walked around the eastern part of the city and passed by the scheepvaartmuseum, nieuwmarkt and chinatown. i was quite surprised! the chinatown over there is actually more interesting than the chinatown in london. there is a big guang yin temple at the amsterdam chinatown. from chinatown, we walked back to dam square and boarded a tram to heineken brewery. i only knew that heineken is from netherlands when i got there. i love going to brewery! the smell of roasting barley is so nice. it isnt cheap to visit the brewery, 15 euro per entry with 2 glasses of heineken.

heineken brewery

after leaving the heineken building, we went to the flower market. i was quite disappointed! they dont really sell flowers over there. they mostly sell seeds and bulbs. the market should be renamed to bulb market. when walking at the market, i was more interested at the shops selling weird things than those so called flower stalls. weird things? amsterdam is a funny place and the only place in the world where weed is legal. with full of curiosity, i bought a weed lollipop and was prepared to get high that night. i finished the lollipop while watching csi! no feeling of high or excited! wasted my 1 euro!

day three was suppose to be a very interesting day of my trip. the kuekenhof garden day! somehow, i wasnt that excited. maybe because i have seen tulip field before. before reaching leiden for the bus to keukenhof, i stopped at haarlem. the town isnt as beautiful as described in books and travel journals. it is just a typical european town big churches and square! the only different the town from other european towns is the windmill near the town

haarlem

keukenhof is a very beautiful garden but it didnt blow me away. after wondered in the garden for a few hours and clicked enough pictures, we rented bicycles and cycled around the area outside the garden. to be honest, i prefer the sceneries outside the garden than inside the garden. outside the garden, i saw countless row of tulips in various colours. riding a bike and passing by such a colourful landscape was a very amazing experience. i did feel like i was making a romantic flick. sadly, no camera, no director and no lead actress, just deric chia cycling behind me.

after enough of tulips, we used the extra spring daylight to explore leiden. leiden is a typical dutch city, which means you will see windmills and canals inside the city. after tired of leiden, i continues my journey to next stop, the hague. we reached the hague quite late but i was still very excited as i knew i gonna meet my ex-colleague there. we agreed to meet up at the hague and travel together, after he finished his training at paris. i was so glad to see him again. i am really close to my ex-colleagues. even im not with technip now, i still email them regularly.

leiden

we started exploring the hague at binnenhof, the heart of the city. binnenhof has been the centre of dutch politics since 1446. in the centre of binnenhof is the ridderzaal, a gothic dining hall. after done admiring the beauty of binnenhof, we walked around the old quarter of the city and ended up at vredespaleis (peace palace), the united nations' international court of justice. the building is so beautiful and it is the most photographed landmarks of the hague.

binnenhof

peace palace

from the peace palace, we took a tram to delft. i really like delft. the town is so charming. it is still a typical dutch town but it has a better looking square and more old buildings within the square. one funny thing i noticed in netherlands is that all cities and towns have a nieuwe kerk (new church) and an oude kerk (old church). the tower of the nieuwe kerk at delft can be climbed with just euro 3. we climbed and proved one thing to ourselves! we are all afraid of height. after climbed the tower and walked around the charming town, we carried our backpack and headed to rotterdam.

delft

rotterdam is so different from other cities in netherlands. the city was bombed flat during the second world war which is why the city is filled up with modern buildings. the city is so futuristic and buildings are in various size, shape and design! we kicked off our rotterdam exploration at boompjeskade and walked all the way to euromast. we were quite amazed with the city! the city is so modern and not so european at all. we ended our rotterdam tour at an indonesian restaurant. we all felt like the restaurant conned us! guess what? they weighed the amount of rice and dishes with the plate. the more you take, the more you gonna pay! i have never came across such system before. the restaurant got a funny name too! it is called toko papaya!

rotterdam

euromast, rotterdam

on day five, we started off at kinderdijk. the place is so beautiful but getting there from rotterdam city isnt easy. we took a tram to rotterdam central station and from the station, we took a train to rotterdam lombardijen station. at lombardijen station, we waited 45 minutes for the bus to kinderdijk. the bus ride itself took another 30 minutes. in total, we used more than two hours to get to kinderdijk but the journey was very worthy! seeing more than 10 windmills within your eyes span is just incredible. we spent 2.50 euro each for hiring a bike. the 2.50 euro was so well spent. kinderdijk isnt big but it isnt small either but for sure walking the entire area will cause us some major legs pain.

cycling around kinderdijk

kinderdijk

after done snapping photos at kinderdijk, we headed back to rotterdam for the train to amsterdam. after 5 amazing days in netherlands, i did wish i can stay longer and explore more. anyway, would definately go there again.

for more pictures, click netherlands