chapter 6 : amsterdam.

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to begin with, i wanna wish a glorious national day and a forgiving ramadhan for all the indonesians out there. i have been meeting more and more indonesians in the past few weeks and it is just pleasant to converse in a language that comes as most natural to me. and that’s not even including the amazing food i have been stuffing stomach with, familiar tastes touching the tip of my tongue just brings back numerous sweet memories of the past.

it has been quite a while ago, the time i was actually in amsterdam. but my memory is still as clear as i was just there yesterday, or should i say, as clear as it could be considering the circumstances. let’s just agree that we all have a pre-conceived idea on amsterdam, and all of them are just true, considering i woke up in the night-train as it was reaching amsterdam to an announcement saying “welcome to amsterdam! beware of pickpockets” and that one of the recommended tags that came up after i wrote the title was “red-light district”.

amsterdam is a real beauty in its own way by mixing both orderliness and disorderliness, not just a balance between the two, but the both of them existing harmoniously together. you can’t help but admire the shape of the city with its extensive canal, structured network of streets and simple purpose-built houses. and you will also then admire how cars and swarms of cyclers can navigate through the narrow roads, the “openness” of its most famous district, and the omnipresent scent of burnt cannabis.

first thing first, as soon as i stepped out of the train, one thing struck my mind. i am not in a german speaking area anymore, they are speaking dutch here, i am helpless, i can’t communicate with anybody or understand anything, or at least i should not be. but it was not the f-ing case. i could understand perfectly almost all the signs around the train station. well, on one hand, german and dutch came from the same family of germanic languages, and that explains how i could make sense of the grammar and understand many words. but, on the other hand, i was actually seeing many indonesian words on those signs. it should not have been that surprising knowing that the dutch was in indonesia for three-and-a-half century, of course they would leave some mark in the language. but it is always something else, rationalising  in a matter of retrospect, than actually seeing evidences provided bluntly in front of your face. i was really fixated at finding linkages between the languages the whole time i was there.

one of the first thing we visited there was the sex museum, self-proclaimed the biggest in the world, but i somehow believed them. it was really a bargain at 4 euros, looking at how much interesting stuffs they have to show, ranging from funny to disgusting. i am not gonna spoil it for those people who are planning to go there, but you should visit no matter how disgusting you find sexual activities are.

another thing that i visited, was the heineken experience. not that i would not know theoretically how to brew a beer, but it was worth it to know the history of the most celebrated commercial beer in the world (i still think those who say heineken is the best beer in the world are mostly mindless trend-followers who have not tried a wide enough variety of beers) and also it was the first time i saw a factory-sized brewery with its monstrous processing machines. the have also got very modern and interesting installations for the tourists though, really enjoyed following their program. at the end, i got myself a heineken bottle to add to my collection, with my name printed on the front logo.

now let’s dive to the red-light district. when you think that it only opens its doors when the night has fallen, you would be hugely mistaken my friend. they almost seem to run around the clock. only that its atmosphere gets heightened when darkness starts to hover above it and the water of the canals reflects the colourful neon lights that barely light up the area, which creates a perfect stage for our minds to go loose and imagine all the misdeeds that one can do in this place, when one falls for the seducing lure of temptation. but then again,  i was again surprised when i walk through this intimidating street, many of these women who are presenting themselves on these glass cubicles seem to be busy typing on their phones and some are even in conversations with it, only every so often looking up and giving the timid guys walking by a wink that sends them shivers. i then try to rationalise, as i so often do. and the best explanation i got was that they were actually double tasking. while showing what they have got going on in those cubicles, they are also doing erotic call and message services. i mean, there are not many better sweet talkers than these women here in the whole of the netherlands. a really good business model i must say.

did i get stoned? yes. i guess i should stop being too open and saying these stuffs, people are getting to know too much of my bad deeds, and i may actually regret writing this in the future. but i don’t care (yet). in my defense, it might be my last chance to actually do it in amsterdam, since they are trying to usher in a law that bans recreational drugs tourism, so better hurry yourself. for my experience, it was enlightening. we went to this coffeehouse which was highly rated by the staff at my hostel, with one aim in mind, getting a space cake. we arrived, went to the counter, ordered a space cake each, and ate them whole. unlike the cannabis that one smokes, it takes longer until the digested marijuana takes effect, roughly about an hour. so we decided to move out of the cramped coffeehouse and head to the vondelpark, which was an hour walk. so we walked there, awake and sober just like normal people. then we arrived, sat on the green dry grass, then it came. for me the experience is as if an autopilot switch in my brain just got turned on or there was a blockage somewhere in my neck that stops the impulses from reaching my body parts, for as soon as i arrived at the park, i started lying down on the grass, continuously rubbing it with both of my hands and even kissing them, it was as if i fell in love with the grass on the park. despite all that though, i was still conscious of what i do, what is happening all around me, pictures and sounds are coming in crystal clear, but i just lost control of my body for the whole 6 hours i was there. well, i said it was enlightening, i’ll tell you why, it is a thing that you may only do once in your life, it is a scary experience, but i felt as if i have pushed my body closer to the limit, and i felt stronger and braver afterwards. as in, if something bad happens and i am again in this situation, i would know what to expect and do. just one advice, don’t underestimate the effects of a space cake during the digesting time and say things like “nah, it’s bogus. it’s fake, nothing happens”, cause you’ll bloody hell end up the worst and someone like me would need to struggle to get you home.

cheers.

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