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Ok last post on my trip!

What can I say about The Hague except that I really loved and enjoyed it more than Amsterdam (ironic? Why YES) . It’s a very pretty lil city which is also the home of the Dutch government.

Den Haag is the local name for Hague. The weather was cold and the air was sooo fresh and clean – did my lungs some good I reckon.

We stayed at Hilton and it was truly a gorgeous hotel. Helps that it is centrally located near the shopping area

Yes I wore slippers in the cold. My feet hate shoes! And vice versa (I read a comment somewhere that if you see an Asian in a cold climate country wearing slippers – chances are he/she is Malaysian, lol – well spot on buddy!)

But funny story about these babies – the ones I wore  for the trip (and have been with me for the past 2 years) gave way thanks to the cold and rain so I had to buy a new pair. The only son of a bitch shoe I brought along was just BITTING into my feet. Shoes and even slippers are MAD expensive in Netherlands I swear. They cost at least 40 Euros and above (but at least they’re of great quality – according to the hotel receptionist) and no way in hell would I spend that much on something that touches the ground. So I walked into god knows the entire shoe shop in Hague (coz I was too cheap and didn’t want to splurge) only to happily find these babies for a grand total of 9 Euros ONLEH. *pats my cheapo back*.   

Moving on, I love Hague mainly because you get a large area of green space, nicer walking streets and in my opinion, better shopping too. It’s a perfect place for bringing up children. The air is fresh (unlike Amsterdam where you can smell weed sometimes and the BOs of many people), here in Hague you hardly have alot of people in some streets and people are generally quite friendly. Quite a number of Dutch Indians too, we’re everywhere aren’t we?  Because of that, they tend to speak in Dutch first and then English once you tell them you don’t understand a word they’re saying.

The entire city is accessible via their awesome train and bus and even so, it’s just so nice walking here. I did ALOT of walking and for once, didn’t even complain.

Just outside the hotel:

Hague is really the definition of quaint. But I digress as they say the prettiest city in entire Europe is actually in Bruges, Belgium, which hopefully we’ll get to visit one day *crosses fingers* We only got to see Belgium on the way to Paris via train and it looked SOO beautiful. And speaking of Belgium, Belgium chocolates are to die for, says the few boxes that I brought back and have already eaten :D  

Can literally sit on the road without being hit :) Try doing this in KL and see what happens :D

Waiting for the bus that is always on time The public transportation here is just top class and very convinient. Something Malaysia could learn and follow?

My schedule here was a more lax. The husband had to go to work during the day so I lazed around and explored Hague on my own for that 2 days. I did alot of walking and also shopping

Shopping street – walk ahead to find ways to spend $.

Ready. Set. SHOP!

Just quarter of my hauls. Summer sale here is MAD AWESOME! And it’s also serious fun to shop without the pesky husband around. Time just flew by really fast!

The Peace Palace

Shoulda held up the peace sign damnit

What’s he looking at?

Go figure

We did ALOT of shopping in their supermarket. On a dollar to dollar comparison things are dirt cheap. Heck even after converting, it’s VERY affordable. Imagine a BIG box of milk for less than RM2, quality chocolates and biscuits for less than RM4.

Stocked up lots of biscuits, chocolate and snacks to bring home Some of it are still sitting prettily in the fridge.

And here’s the world’s awesome waffel with caramel /chocolate called the Stroopwafel. I’ve read about them online even before going for this trip and it’s most definitely heavenly. They’re so famous you can literally buy em online here.

Believe it or not, I only spent all of 7 days for this entire trip for obvious reasons But I have to say, it’s probably one of the nicest trip this year (ignore me, I say this after EVERY trip), and will definitely hold a special place in my heart since it was an early expensive Birthday gift from the hubby. 

So now it’s going to suck big time NOT receiving any gifts on my actual Birthday. Oh well, can’t get em all!

Amsterdam bitches!!

LOL okay for some reason I’ve ALWAYS wanted to say that

As part of my “Accomplishing the Before 30 List” I’ve mentioned that going to Amsterdam is something I would like to do before I hit the BIG 30. (Please ignore the reason why I wanted to go there for I was young and stupid back then, heh) Honestly back when I blogged about it I really didn’t know how we were gonna get the $ to go since Europe is expensive to visit (unless you’re blessed with alot of moolah, in that case – I hate you) ,  but I just wrote it down anyways *hoping* that one day we might get the chance and what do you know – me magic blog converted my wish into a reality :D  

But yea, I remember once saying to the husband we would try for our first baby if he ever took me to Europe………..we obviously did the opposite – I got knocked up AND then only he got me tickets to Netherlands and claimed it as my ‘early’ 30th Birthday present!!

Since we stayed in Hague, I took a 1 hour train down to Amsterdam alone since the hubby had to go to work. Train tickets are pretty hefty after conversion – it was about 20 Euros so I was bent on making my entire day worth it.

This was my favorite sandwich and I had it 3-4 times in total Must be an Indian thing.

My first impression of Amsterdam as I got off the train was WOAH – this place is seriously over-whelming!! Honestly, this wasn’t what I expected at all but then again when you have coffeeshop and hookers at every corner – it should be packed with hoards of people!

Heh. Old Uncle busted walking out of there.

I did my research well before heading here. I was deciding between a tour by canal, bus or foot and suprisingly the last one won. I came across this Sandemans website where they conduct FREE walking tours. That’s right, why pay 20 Euros when you can just tip em 5-10 Euros when the tour ends (yes they rely on tips!). It was probably one of the BEST tours I’ve been to.

It did feel akward going on a tour (more so a walking one) by myself. While I can shop alone by myself, everything else I hate doing it on my own. But luckily I made friends with this Finnish girl so perhaps one day it will be HELLO Finland

Ignore the stupid umbrella. It was a bloody hot day so even the jacket was of no use. It was an awesome 3 hour walk with her just exchanging stories from our country and of course exploring Amsterdam.

Dam Square

Our half Nigerian half Bulgarian tour guide

And the first stop was the Red Light District! We were specifically told not to take photos of them else they’d come chasing after us with a bottle of urine, lol. Not sure how true this is but since I didn’t bring any spare clothes to change, why bother.

They all stand in their lil cubicles dressed in their sexiest of lingeries. Some were pretty hot (think big boobs, awsome body -the whole works) and of course you get some off ones too. Despite saying that- the sex and coffeeshop industry actually generates billions of Euros. Owning a coffeeshop there now doesn’t sound so bad afterall eh?

See the green cubicle? Free pee station for men.

For 35 Euros, you get to see them doing it LIVE.

And suprise suprise, there is actually a CHURCH in the middle of the red light district. Funny story back then – when men (eg: Navy / Merchants) used to come to Amsterdam, there would be 3 things on their mind, obviously 3 very sinful things like drink, drugs and sex. So obviously the next day they would feel guilty about their indulgence hence will visit the church to confess before heading back. And interestingly enough, these churches even receive ‘advance’ confessions. Interesting times indeed.

One thing you’d notice about Amsterdam and I would say Netherlands , they probably still believe that the world is FLAT. As in you won’t see steps at all anywhere you go. Hence forth, this is the HIGHEST point in Amsterdam. For real.

As usual, no country is complete without Chinatown

This is what they call the New-Amsterdam where they’ve refurbished it time after time. Not really digging the yellow look though. Locals don’t dig it either.

East India House

Just one of the many coffeeshops around each corner – hey, like Starbucks!

That gorgeous building used to be a post office. Well now it’s a SHOPPING MALL!

Another Church right smack in the central area

Back then, when they didn’t have house numbers, people used to identify or find the owner of the home by looking at the plaque. So for instance, if people associate pigs with you, you get a pig plaque outside your home

This is THE famous coffeeshop featured in Ocean’s 11, mmmm, to think Brad Pitt and Georgie Porgie was once sitting in that coffeeshop

Literally the widest bridge walk-way in Amsterdam. Fun fact – see the statue with the word Maltatuli? That’s the dude’s name in Dutch. But apparently in Finnish – it means ‘I came’ and not as in I’ve arrived

And this is literally the smallest/narrowest home in Amsterdam. Someone actually lives there.

Kind tour guide handing out free Gouda cheese. Taste just like cheddar, only better!

Anne Frank’s home – wanted to go in but the entry line was pure massive. That was also the end of the 3 hour tour! Walked sooo much (and did sweat a lil) yet enjoyed every second of it.

Me outside the Famous Bulldog – they have an outlet at every corner. Hey, like Starbucks!

Some random sex shop.

The hubby joined me for dinner in Amsterdam after work and yes that’s actually some pretty good chinese dumpling from a Dutch restaurant.

Last but not least -  a MALAYSIAN restaurant if you ever get sick of tired of cold sandwiches. But don’t think I’d want to pay in Euros for food I can get cheap back home.

And that was the end of my Amsterdam trip. Accomplishing the Before 30 List – OH YEA check.

Awesome early 30th birthday gift – check check.

Now the husband asked where should we go to celebrate my 40th. I shamelessly told him Greece, but not before saying we should totally have an ‘early’ celebration…….like say, next year Maybe, justttt maybeee we’ll try for a second one then.

I said maybe.