Van Gogh Museum & World Press Photo Exhibition

Another star attraction in Amsterdam would have to be the Van Gogh Museum. Do pace yourself though. We completed all the exhibits in less than 80 mins minute, but paid a price with the non-stop viewing resulting in "Museum-backaches".

Well, back to the paintings. The following self-potrait is definetly my favourite, as it applies the pointilism technique brilliantly to highlight the soulfulness of the eyes.

After a good 20 mins rest to soothe our backs, we proceeded to the World Press Photo Exhibition at Oude Kerk. My favourites inlcude the series on the authoritarian ex-Turkmenistan President, which created a Stalin-like regime, Muslim devotees praying on the precarious ruins of an earthquake-ravaged mosque, and the post-match potraits of football players. But the pictures that stunned me the most are the ones of a leopard seal tearing its prey apart. Do check out the pictures at www.worldpress.org

Windmills!

A travel the Netherlands could not be complete without a visit to actual functioning windmills. And for that, we decided to take another trip out of Amsterdam to Zaanse Schans.

It was quite an eye-opener seeing the interiors of one, understanding on how the windpower is harnessed not only for crushing and grinding but also for pounding.

Zaanse Schans i supposed to have a whole lot of other touristy stuff like the cheese tranport races and people in traditional costumes walking around. But all these would only start days later when summer begins and the tides of tourist flock there. Only cheese-making demo was avail then.


During the train trip there, you could spot modern ones, in the form of wind turbines!

Sex in Amsterdam

Two of the well-known attractions in Amsterdam are related to sex: The red-light district and the Sex Museum.

It is interesting to note from the Lonely Planet write-up that prostitution was legalised and regulated in the Netherlands as early at the 19th century by Napolean, in a bid to contain the spread of STDs then. The most famous means of promotion would of course be the window prostitution, or commonly known as "fish-tank", where the pros promote their assets behind full-length glass doors.

Two observations:
1. There are lots of watchers but i have spotted no "buyers". Wonder if it is indeed a profitable business, with windows rental rangin from 60 to 150 Euros a day, or if they are heavily subsidised by the Dutch Tourism Board.
2. There are no male "sellers". Wonder if any pro-feminist activists have kicked up a big fuss about that before. =P

Well, naturally, no photos to show for this "attraction". Anyway, photo-snapping of the win-pros are prohibited.

As for the Sex Museum, it's pretty much overhyped, especially in this age where the theme is rampant on the mass media. Perhaps, the remotely interesting part is on the historical porno materials and sex tools.

Kuekenhof Gardens

Kuekenhof is reputed to be the world's largest gardens and a real sight during the tulip bloom season. Look how BEAAA-utiful it is!

ok, actually, this picture was taken from a poster at the souvenir shop. We went there on the last day (20th May) and was forewarned that most of the tulips have wilted. nevetheless, for those with an appreciation for flora and an area to relax, Kuekenhoff makes a good stop. The following are the actual pictures that i have taken

Open-Air Lifestyle in Amsterdam

Went to the Noordermarkt, an open-air market, in the residential Jordaan area on a Sat morning. It was really bustling with activity. Goods of almost everykind are sold, and at low prices too. A sampling as follows: Polo-Ralph shirts sold at 10 Euros (prob imitation), ladies shoes at 10 Euros too and towels at 1 Euro only.

The activity also extends to the cafes circumferencing Noordermarkt, with customers packing them to the hilt.

Kids are not left out either, with a kids playground and performer in the midst.

In contrast, could hardly see any mulit-storey shopping centres in Amsterdam and the only one that i found was quite muted in activity.

The penchant for open-air living extends to busses too with open-top busses. Cool!

Water-front Living in Amsterdam

There are lot of canals in Amsterdam, and many residents enjoy water-front living, with their houses and boats lining along its famous canals. That is me standing one of its more beatutiful tree-lined canals.

Some even take it further by making boats their houses, complete with house number, mail-box and electricity supply.

Nation of Bicycles

As many of us know, the Dutch people love to bike around. So common are them that i believe that the title of "Nation of Bicycles" should really go to them rather than China.

Best evidence is in the following picture.






Have seen a lot of mulit-storey carparks, but a multi-storey bicycle park? Defintely a first for me.

And looking at the extreme measures some people take to secure their bikes, bike theft seems to be quite a common problem.

Finally, a word of advice for those who like to bike around Amsterdam, their left-hand drive and criss-crossing of tram-lines, bus-lanes and bike paths could prove to be tricky. Be warned!

Dutch Height & Udders

, From the moment, i touched down at Schipol, queueing at the customs, i had felt it... The Dutch are really a tall people! In fact, it is not just the young people but the older generation too. According to an article that i read some time back, it puts the average height of Dutch males to be 1.83m, making them the tallest in the world. In fact, my feel about it was so acute that it immediately cured my slouch problem, as i had to correct my posture to be just of average height among the Dutch.

On our first evening in Amsterdam, SK and I were chilling out (pun intended =P, it was about 13 degree celsius then) in Vondelpark. As we engaged in the voyeuristic activity of people watching, we once again marvelled at the height of the Dutch. Being the good Science stream students that we are, we then put forth theories/hypothesis on the reasons for the "outstanding" Dutch people.

One of the bold theories i had put forth is that the effect of the terrain of the nation on the height of its people. As known to many, the Netherlands is one of the nations with the lowest terrain, with many parts below sea-level. This contrasts with Nepal, the Himalayan Nation, whose people are much less "outstanding". However, i was hard-pressed to give a reasonable answer as why that is so.

And then, during a day trip outside the Dutch capital, we believe that we hit the Jackpot. The cows that we saw appear really well-fed, and their udders were huge! If the typical milk cow has a BMI of 20X, my guestimate would put the Dutch cow at the obese range of around 30X. If any nation would like to make its people "stand-out", just drink Dutch milk!

Mini (Mis)Adventure in Amsterdam

I was with some excitement when i touched down at Schipol at 6.40a.m. partly, as this would be the longest trip that i ever taken. i would be travelling with SK for this trip, a long-time friend that i have not met in 2 years. Also, this trip features many of the european places that i would very much like to visit. Last but not least, the last 2 days, we are going to fulfil one of our personal dreams, which is watching Roland Garros live!



Schipol, despite supposedly being one of the best and most efficient airports in Europe, disappointed me though. I queued at the customs for 20 mins and waited at the luggage belt for 30 mins. Upon clearing the customs, the lady at the airport info counter looked as if i owed her 5k and pointed vaguely when i asked for the tourist info counter, which was hidden in one of the shop alleys of the airport.



It was about 8.15a.m. when i finally cleared with the airport stuff and took the first of my busses to my accoms. Upon arriving at the Amstelveen bus interchange to change another bus to my accoms also in Amstelveen (a suburb at the outskirts of Amsterdam) i was struck by how quiet the bus interchange was! During my 10 minute wait for my bus, there was nobody else in the interchange, save for an odd cyclist who wheezed through the interchange. The interchange was as large AMK bus interchange and looks new and modern, complete with giant electronic schedule screens, size of those at airports.

Being an ever pragmatic Singaporean, i thought to myself, " What a waste of money!!" But then again, the desertness could just be that it's a weekend morning thing.



After hopping on my bus, i cheerily requested the roly and kind-looking lady bus driver to inform me at the Graaf Florisaan bus station, which is a short walk to the accoms. As i admired the beautiful suburb scenary through the bus window, i also checked from time to time the name of the bus stations as the bus station. I also noticed that degree of urbanisation increased as we went along and thought that the bus must be nearing the accoms. Then i saw the following sight -








Shit!! must have missed the bus station! i quickly re-positived myself, treated it as a good city orientation cum sight-seeing bus ride and took it all the way to Amsterdam central. I congratulated myself too for the excellent foresight of copying also the directions from Amsterdam central to the accoms.



Unflustered, i took the return bus. This time again i requested for the bus-driver to inform me, but took the extra precautions of taking the seat just behind the passenger's entrance area (to be within the driver's view, of course!) and memorising the names of the few bus-stops before the one i was due to get off.



When i got off the bus at 9.50a.m., i followed the copied directions excitedly, eager to having get to the accoms finally. After following the directions for 2 right turns, i found that i did not see what i was supposed to, and thus it was wrong directions!

After directions from a gentleman, i finally reached the accoms at 10.10a.m. A good 3.5 hrs after i touched down!