Valentine's in the Land of Windmill

So, it's barely one week since we've reached Great Britain and before I know it, I was on Eurostar train with boyfriend to The Netherlands. Before Netherlands, we had a stop-over in Bruxelles, Belgium.

I'll skip the Belgium part for the next post. Let's focus on The Land of Windmill first.

First stop-Amsterdam!

Welcome to Amsterdam

Yes, it's the land where you get all naughty and bad. Well, that's what everyone thought. but the truth is, weed is actually illegal in Amsterdam too. Not totally though. You can have up to 5gm of weed with you and still be okay. Anyway, the shops around Amsterdam are not allowed to advertise that they are selling weed. So, how do you get it? Space cakes/joints/magic mushrooms. A tour guide advised: eat at your own risk and in moderation. Make sure there is someone you could trust to take care of you if anything goes wrong. But the wrong is actually quite funny according to tour guide, you will go all weeping and shouting and howling. Hahaha. The cure for over dosage-sweet stuff like cakes and orange juice. The Amsterdam is also famous for it's red light district. Over here, prostitution is legalized, since 2000. Prostitutes need to pay tax too. And they really are working very hard, standing in "aquariums" in 8 hour blocks. But if anyone really wants it, 15 minutes for 50 euros. No pictures on red light district as tourists are forbidden to take photos of the girls.

Next stop, museums! Europe is all about museums, cathedrals and churches. So, we went to this Zaandam-Schan Museum, situated outskirt of Amsterdam. We reached there a little bit too late to go in. But we were allowed to roam around the........WINDMILLS.

Windmills

Never in my life I see so many windmills. Some of the windmills are shops, houses for the locals and also tourist attraction, making wooden clogs and fermenting their famous Dutch cheese. We also made our way into the Sex Museum of Amsterdam. Well, I guess no excessive explanation needs to be done here.

After two days in Amsterdam, we headed over to Den Haag, stopping over Delft (University Town) to visit some of boyfriend's friends. Since we reached on a Sunday, the town is very very quiet. And not forgetting cold!

The town of Delft

After a couple of hours and lunch, we headed back to Den Haag, which is also pretty quiet for a Sunday.

The train station in Den Haag HS

But the next morning, the Valentine's morning, we went to explore the Den Haag town, on foot (to save money for transport). So we went to more palaces, gardens and museums to look at their magnificent architectures and sculptures. How I hope that Malaysia/Singapore has buildings like these. It'll make life so much more interesting.

So, that's about it in the Netherlands. I would really hope to return back to see their Tulip Garden in spring. Depends on my budget later. Anyway, there are not a lot of special food in the Netherlands except their Dutch Cheese.

Gouda

The cheese is really awesome, for me. Very milky and fragrant and has a tinge of bitter after taste. There's free cheese-tasting in some shops, like this Reypenaer shop in Amsterdam.

Cheese my love

We stumbled across this Dutch restaurant called Tomaz from Tripadvisor. They serve really really good food. Boyfriend and I had a main and dessert (we couldn't finish two mains) for 20 euros. We ordered Mash-of-the-day (Some minced meat served with mashed potatoes with bacon bits) and a triple-dutch dessert (I've forgotten what they were). After the meal,we were stuffed to our throat. Really, their servings are huge for us.

The traditional Dutch mash and their triple Dutch Dessert

For the few days in Netherlands, we stayed in a boat hostel (Boat Hostel Anna-Maria 2) for Amsterdam and Stayokay Hostel for Den Haag.

Boat Hostel Santa Maria II (top) and Stayokay Den Haag (Bottom)

One thing I like about these hostels are they served hearty breakfast. You have all types of breads and spreads (nutella, peanut butter, jams), cereal (not cornflakes) with milk, tea/coffee/juices, cheese and hams. These breakfast easily cost 5 euros per person outside. And there's no limit to how much you can eat. But of course, I cannot be a cheapo to just eat and eat and eat or even "take-away" haha. But just enjoy and eat in moderation. It's worth the room tariffs you paid for.

Hearty breakfast from the hostel

As a conclusion, Netherlands is really cold and gloomy. LOL. Well it's because we went during the wrong season. But, I really enjoyed myself, immersing in the town of windmills and canals, with buildings as wacky as this.

They have wacky buildings as the land in Amsterdam was mud last time and as the land sinks over time, the building moves too. So in Amsterdam or even in Delft, buildings are always leaning back and forth, left and right. Interesting!

Watch out for my Belgium post next. Still missing the cheese taste.

For more photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=293721&id=626001543

Les Miserables-First Theatre Ever

17th Feb 2011. Today, we all had an impromptu idea--to watch theatre in London and get in touch with our artistic side. Since it was a weekday, and they offer student tickets at 27.50 pounds. So along I went with boyfriend and three other exchange students to London, Queen's theatre for my first every musical theatre.

I always wanted to watch theatre, but none of my friends actually share the same interest with me. And of  course tickets are darn expensive. But since we are in London, it is just a must-do thing to watch some theatre.

We chose Les Miserables as according to some friends, this is quite a brilliant production. Boyfriend and I rushed out after class, just in time to get the last 2 student tickets. But of course, different seats, me at the stall and he together with the other guys at the dress. I was really surprised that it was full house despite it was a Thursday, weekday night. And people who were present really appreciate this kind of art, giving applauses scene after scene. But of course, the cast and crew were really good, be it singing or acting.

Les Miserables is at its 25th year this year. The story takes place in France starting from 1815. It's a play full of high and low emotions and of course a lot of singing and dancing. Like reccomended, this is really a brilliant production. Furthermore, Gareth Gates was one of the leading actor. *giggles*

I really love performing arts. Watching this theatre brings the same excitement and emotion as when I was watching a Grade A dance competition. You have the cheeky, the love and the seriousness. Behind all the gracefulness, there is a power that cannot be explained, outreaching all the audience. After watching a whole 2.5 hours, all I can say is just a simple "WOW"!

Really looking forward to watch another production again.

"Do you hear the people sing, singing the song of angry men, it is the music of the people, who will not be slaves again"

First week

It's almost one week since I reached UK. The UK is such a lovely country with friendly and helpful people.

We reached on 4th Feb 2011 in Stansted Airport from KL and then it's a almost 2 hours train and tube ride to the school. University of Surrey, this is my host school in UK. It is situated 40 minutes, south-west away from London. Just like NTU in Singapore is about 1 hour away City Hall/Orchard etc. It's a small school, with Engineering being it's largest faculty. Walking one end to another takes about 10 minutes, unlike NTU which requires 15 minutes by bus! Haha. But walking in such cold weather is not very pleasureable for me since I am not a cold type of person. The weather here is sort of cloudy all the time, with execption of one or two sunny days. Which makes me extremely happy when the sun comes out. But even then, the temperature is still below 10 degrees C which I sometimes can shiver even with winter jacket.

Over here, I'm staying in the school's accommodation, flat style. The flat mates are all friendly and playful bunch. They do what normal teenagers do. Okay suddenly I feel damn old, coz they are all just merely 18/19 years old. The flat has a kitchen, so we've been cooking quite a lot, to save money. Pork chop, curry, "ma po" tofu and a lot more to come. Too lazy to take pictures.

The first Saturday, a few of us went to the West Minster Abbey to visit Big Ben, the Abbey and also some churches. Not forgetting, the oh-so-wonderful Buckingham Palace. This is where the Royal Wedding of Prince William will be held on 29th April 2011. We even reached in time to see the Changing Guards. Too bad, our location was not very good, so we could only see one part of the procession.

I think I should end here. Loads of words and no pictures will just bored everyone out. Keep a look out for pictures and posts on my UK/ Europe trip. As for now, back to literature readings.