Hello Fellow Traveler …. If You Ever Visit (Insert Home Place) Come Stay at My Place - Tillburg

It seamed like a long time ago since I was in Florence the beginning of my trip and the wonderful friends I made at the hostel. Here I was waiting at Tillburg train station nervous and waiting for “Tweety Pie” to come pick me up. It was so casual back then offering people you don’t know the famous words ….

“If you ever drop by my place come stay with me”

I now understand what a privilege it is to receive that offer especially from a stranger and throughout my travels I have made less and less of such offer to others regardless of how well we laugh over a bottle of wine. 

Tweety pie barely knew me I realized and I barely knew her …. My brief encounter with her was like only a few hours in the dorm at night for two days having idle chatter of which place best to visit and here I was waiting to be pick up to go back to her place and crash a night before heading on to Belgium.

It did cross my mind that I could had entirely skipped Tilburg and come up with some excuse of not dropping by but I decided to keep my promise to a stranger that I would drop by once I was nearby.

Tillburg University 

She look just the same cheerful and always smiling as she ring her bicycle bell waving at me. I just grinned … immediately greeting was in mandarin and I had to pause a while tuning my head to reply back. 

First stop was the market … good thing my back pack was compact and light … so we went shopping for food. Tweety pie said it would be my dinner and kept asking what I wanted to eat. Anything was fine I answered …

Walking around the market I couldn’t help staring at all the stuff around. Somehow the apple didin look like it was back home and everything was slightly different. Some of it I never even seen before. 

I actually started visiting markets or local supermarket more often on my travels later on just to see what I could find.

“Have you eaten this fruit before?? ”

Tweety pie decided to buy the weird fruit just so I could try it …. If I didn’t like it she could always eat it she said.

Food checked …. Back to the house where she shared with a few other university housemates made out of entirely fully international or great mix of people. 

I was relieved for a while for I was not sure how I would have reacted if the whole house were to be Chinese speaking. Names were too short to remember but in general there was a black adopted brothers who grew up in dutch …. A lesbian couple … a few more girly girls, some wise ass guy and Tweaty Pie friend from china who came to visit her from another block.

Weird Fruit - Definitely not Peach

Soon it was time to cook for dinner and surprisingly I was cooking …. “HUH ???” Tweety could barely cook and I was rummaging through her kitchen looking for ingredients and making up stuff to cook as I go. 

Tweety and friend had big droopy eyes looking at me cooking asian food … My guess was they had only ever seen people cook spaghetti in Holland. Dinner was fun … with some over seasoned soup due too much salt accidentally spilled into the bowl.

Her housemate left us alone by 8 pm with all of them heading to Rotterdam for a nightclub. I was invited after a thought but turned it down as I could see Tweety was not the party type. 

So it was just me Tweety and her chinese girlfriend post dinner. I had to try the mystical fruit that I had never seen before … taste like peach … texture like apple … interesting …

By 10 pm it was time to crash the couch … my first crash in a stranger / new friends house …

Architecture in Rotterdam ….

Building in Rotterdam are weird …. If Picasso was an architect I think this was where most of his client would be. Weird crazy funk house and building everywhere in Rotterdam.

I tot it was kinda cool and also I couldn’t help wondering if I was to be the engineer building this shit … how would I do it ?

Unfortunately that was all I could find in Rotterdam …. Walk around and admire modern architectural building …. Hence the short photo blog

A Familiar face after a long time ….. Rotterdam

Anticipation filled me after a long time for this was the first stop where I would meet an old Raffles Hall (University Hostel) buddy who was at Rotterdam studying for a master degree. 

I had not met a soul from my past life for nearly three months and this was going to be a first time. Everyone else I interacted never knew my past … and of course you choose what to reveal … or make up …

“Bang” was a junior of mine of the same discipline … Civil Engineering and a fellow sportsman of the local sports back home ‘Sepak Takraw’. 

I was excited but at the same time nervous for its been a really long time since I met someone whom I could not erase off my facebook and know they will never find me again …

CATCH UP …. DRINKS at a PUB Nightclub

Wifi & Internet surely saved my phone bill and we figured out a date and place to meet up.

“We’ll go for drinks at a pub”, Bang said …
“Meet you at Asian Night at 1145 pm”, Bang said ….

I was still puffing as much weed as I could consume knowing time was running short and I would have to part with it in the near future at the Belgium border. 

Came time for the meet up I was outside this mystical PUB …. That looked like a Nightclub …. The queue was crazily long and for being in Europe … there was lots of Asians around …

Me & Bang Outside the Nightclub in Rotterdam 

For a moment I thought I was really high … or maybe its just different definition of Pubs in Rotterdam. Bang arrived in a old fashion Netherlands style bicycle and for a moment it was back to ole self just like back home. 

Later I found out I was tricked into going to a Nightclub which was a special event called Asian Night where all the Asians in the city goes for clubbing … feel closer to home kinda feel. Bah … Should’ve known from the name itself …

I was happy as long as I had by drugs and alcohol, but my friend seam to be on the prowl …. I gave him the raised eyebrow … like 

“what the hell have you been up too” …. 

Unfortunately I got the same look back from him as well since I been traveling crazily … then again I still get them till this day …. Side effect from traveling the world … people look at you slightly differently …

Happy and Merry getting drunk after a long long time …. I rarely got drunk during my travels …. Was overly cautious since I was alone ….. But the weed speed up things …. And when the party died down it was back home to the hostel for me. Bang gave me a ride on the antique bicycle …. He told me it was illegal to pillion on a bicycle in Holland but WTH …

Don’t mix two vices …. At the same time …. Its just trouble

Old habits die hard …. And with all the casinos at every corner of Amsterdam it was almost impossible not to go in and have a look. Nice old parlor type where everything was automated …. 

Either slots of electronic roulette. Part of me thought it was an arcade center for the adults since they only accepts coins. You take your notes and bills and go to the cashier and change them for coins in a big tub.

When you win you get coins too … It really was like an arcade … a dangerous one …

I tried avoiding going in as long as I could …. Passed by like a dozen casino the first day and never stepped in. Planned my route to visit Rembrandt House, scout the famous red light district … and even tried going to comedy club for a night.

Chicago Boom Comedy Club - Amsterdam 

Chicago Boom … it was called and for 15 euro I was lined up for a evening stand up comedy show. Partially high just to ensure the jokes would be funny but after a while I realized it was unfounded. 

These guys are good …. Best part was they even tried something along the “Who’s Line is it Anyway” freestyle and it was hilarious …

Temptations & Seductions

I knew my poison by now after visiting so many gambling joint in all the city.

Clink , Clink …. I was popping coins into the machines trying my luck or rather just trying out how well I would fair gambling while high. 

I lost count how many casino I had visited while I was in Amsterdam not counting how often I visited them. I did know however the damage …. After counting how much I draw and how much money was missing from my light wallet.

1000 euro … SHIT ….

I started comforting myself that it was alright …

“Just draw some money and go win it all back “, my devilish mind playing tricks …..

I decided then NO gambling while intoxicated …. But damn it wasn’t as fun thou …. So I decided to avoid casino and just stick to the weed joints since I knew once I leave Holland for that matter I will most probably never touch it again ….

IT’S A DEATH SENTENCE IN SOME COUNTRY ….

But one vice always leads to another like a brother of sin …strip bar .... another story for another time ...

I Love AMSTERDAM

I Amsterdam

Of all the charm Amsterdam can offer the only thing people usually remembers are the vices. I mean look at the inner city itself with all the beautifully laid cannels, top class museums, historic places such as Anne frank house and all the nicely old buildings leaning on each other … I for one was also guilty of not paying attention to them.

Vices …. Where you have 5 deadly sins … Gluttony , sloth , greed , lust , envy …. I saw it all in Amsterdam and it was legal …. Heck if its legal how can it be a sin !!

This was a city like no other …. Still since internet is so open and I don’t want to get shut down or reveal too much of my deep dark secrets … I will have to carefully select what to tell I guess

First Joint in Amsterdam

Weed & Munchies

Buying legal weed …. Where back home in Malaysia or Singapore it would be a death sentence …. Hence I was smoking away everyday. 

Problem is thou I was not experience with these drugs nor was I with any fellow travelers. I was really alone in Amsterdam for the whole week I was there. I could barely remember talking to another person there.

The first stop was the weird awkwardness where I had no idea how to buy weed. There was like a list … or a menu for you to choose and I had no idea what to do.

Beautiful Canals in Amsterdam 

“Hi, how do I buy weed?’ ….. I got a glare from the shopkeeper …. Probably thinking bloody tourists …

“Erm … I don’t know how to roll a joint, can you help ?”…… another glare … he took back my weed and handed me a pre rolled joint instead …. 5 euros ….

Sat down …. Smell the joint …. It smelt to me like a weird spicy sting, pungent yet it gave the impression it would be delicious … smoking delicious … it was a weird moment

It soon became my routine everyday to buy a joint in the morning smoke … head for a kebab brunch … get more weed …. Stroll around Amsterdam randomly …. And somehow always pass by the red light district … more weed … more weed …. More kebabs … more weeds … more kebabs ….

Space Muffin & Van Gogh

With me experimenting the limits of my own body I was curious enough to buy a space muffin …. A smaller version of space cake plus … I was alone hence could not consume a whole cake.

The problem was the amount that I had to consume …. I was afraid of how it might hit me and was a little worried at that point …. Instructions says … eat half if its your first time and consume the rest after two hours ….

Space Muffin cooked with 0.5 (something ... I think its grams of cannabis)

It was in a sealed wrapper but as soon as I opened it the smell was so strong I was afraid I would smoke out the hostel. Strong it was the smell and so inviting yet the first bite of the muffin made me wanted to puke. 

It was surprisingly difficult to eat for it tasted so bad like rotten food yet it smelled so delicious … and tasted so yucky … I managed to force down 1/3 of the muffin and decided to wrapped up the rest … waited two hours and I could feel the effects starting to seep in. 

Consuming was apparently much more intense than smoking it. It hits me slowly but boy did it last for hours. Everything was much sharper … colors more vibrant, smell mingle with others, simple things were funny …. I was much more lazy as well …. And the munchies never ends ….

I was at the hostel the whole time staying in experimenting my first consumption of cannabis. Partly I was afraid as well as I was alone. So 1/3 was the magic piece and slept early that night only to wake up next morning nearly noon.

Van Gogh Museum 

This time it was time to bring it outside …. I took another 1/3 of the space muffin and planned my route to the Van Gogh museum. Slow walk … grab some kebabs … and just in time 2 hours later I was standing dopey in front of the ticket counter of Van Gogh museum buying a ticket smiling.

Van Gogh painting were beautiful …. ….