I've had a very nice time in this city, but it's time to move onto Berlin. Since my train leaves early tomorrow (10am) I'm going to try to make this short (fat chance).

Buddhists and Red Lights

Yesterday morning I headed out in search of the Guan Yin Shrine, a Buddhist temple erected in the downtown core around 2000. I was prepared this time: this time, I had a map... it only helped a little. The big problem with Amsterdam is that the roads aren't straight. You turn left, then left again, and you've gone in a circle, and the laneways are so narrow that they're easy to miss. I'd been wandering for about an hour when I found myself in an alley with half-naked women behind glass banging on the door to get my attention... I'd ended up in the Red Light district.

Obviously, I'd intended to visit the area (it'd be a shame not to) but it's one thing to go there expecting it, it's another to be propositioned by a chick in a bikini on your way to a Buddhist temple. I kept on walking and found the temple: it was on the edge of the district -- would have been nice to know that before I left :-)

There wasn't much to the place though as much of it appears to be undergoing maintenance. A few bits of art were encased in glass, there was incense, a donation box, and a place for prayer. A very pretty, peaceful place, right in the middle of crazy downtown.

Red Lights and Nieuwmarkt

With the temple visited, the next item on my list was the Sex Museum. In the heart of the Red Light District, the sex museum doesn't so much chronicle the act of sex throughout history, but is rather a collection of sex art along with a sex history lesson. It was fascinating. From the John Lennon originals on the first floor, to the really creepy Snow White and Tarzan cartoons on the 3rd floor, to the female Mannequin urinating on the ceiling in bondage gear, to the graphic pictures of why you should use a condom, it was the best €5 I've ever spent.

New Room

As we'd discussed on the phone when I booked the place, the hotel had to move me to another room for the final two days of my stay. What I didn't know was (a) the view from this spot wasn't nearly as pretty, (b) the bathroom was private, but was in the hall, and (c) the internet connection was unavailable in this spot. All of this, coupled with the stark realisation that I still did not have a place to stay in Berlin (or anywhere else for that matter), made for a stressful evening. I collected my laptop stuff and headed downstairs to the garden where I could surf and get some bookings and... make a phone call from my laptop.

Fed up with the lack of ability to test my stuff with Vbuzzer, (why can't they at least have a test number before they ask me for money?), I threw $20CAD at Skype which I knew I could get to work with some tweaking. Then, when I had it all going, I placed a couple calls and realised how nice it was to hear friendly (English-speaking) voices again. It's only 4days in and I'm already homesick.

My Last Day in Amsterdam

I started today off with some "business". I sat down and plotted out where I should stay for the remainder of my trip and made some scary realisations (more on that later), then went back down to the garden to book some more time in Berlin. I now have a place to sleep in Berlin from the 16th to the 17th at the Radisson, and from the 18th to the 21st at a hotel I found online which I hope doesn't suck. Then I hopped the tram (light rail, streetcar) to the main train station where I chatted up some American professors while in line for train ticket reservations. For €9, I now have a seat from Amsterdam to Berlin with a transfer in some German city I don't care to look up at the moment :-)

After leaving the station, I headed West, looking for something less touristy. There's no sense in wandering through a city if all you see is the same stuff on everyone's postcards. Jordaan is a pretty area, formerly working-class, but it's been gentrified for the rich folk now. I found a cool smoke shop where I bought a cannabis lollipop and some cannabis tea, then found my way to a local grocery store for lunch.

One thing I had to do while I was here though was rent a bike and go for a ride. For €5, you can rent a "Yellow Bike" and ride for 2hours, and for €10, you can have it all day. I chose the former and went for a quick ride around town. The bike was a rickety old thing, but in pretty good shape (like most of the bikes around Amsterdam), but had a few quirks like no gears to change, and a backpedal break. It took me a while to get used to it while I rolled up and down laneways and alleys. Lots of fun I tell you, every city should look like this one.

When I returned the bike I asked the rental guy why so many bikes around town were "not expensive" was the terminology I used. I'll paraphrase his response from memory: "Bike theft is really common here. Mostly the junks. They steal from the students, then sell the bike for €10. You can almost always find a junk selling €10 bikes... this is why everyone rides these shitty bikes.". I assumed he meant "junkie" but since I didn't ask for clarification, I guess I'll never know. Needless to say, that while the city is made for bikes, 99% of them are rickety old things.

The last big deal of the day was a touristy boat tour. They have these long, slow motor boats here that wind through the canals of the city with a quad-lingual recorded voice telling you what you're looking at. I got some OK pictures and enjoyed the trip. It's kinda neat to see the city from beneath the sidewalk.

I headed back to my hotel and stopped at McDonald's for "dinner". I thought it might be neat to visit McDonald's in every country I visit, but the food was so bad, I couldn't finish it. What's worse, I lost my credit card while I was there (tucked it into what I thought was my money belt, turned out to be my actual belt, and it fell on the ground). I recovered it after about 5minutes of panicking (it was on the ground outside the restaurant) but it was pretty scary. I mean, I can it in as stolen and live off my debit card, but I only have the one credit card here. Very bad.

Anyway, I thought I'd close out this post with two lists. I might just use these lists for all my big posts... we'll see.

Things I've Learned

• There's no General Mills here, but there is Kellogs.
• Special K has a chocolate flavour
• According to one woman I spoke to, while there are no recycling bins in the city, all the city garbage is sorted in a plant in the suburbs and then recycled. I find this hard to believe since extracting glass from that process can't be easy, but without any additional information I just don't know.
• When taking a shower in the hallway bathroom, remember to bring a towel before taking off your clothes and getting wet.
• Ordering food is downright scary when you don't understand a word of what's on the menu.
• The Dutch can't cook American foods very well. Stay away from hamburgers, and the ketchup here is nasty.
• The longer you travel in a non-English country, the fewer signs you read and/or ads you notice. It's both relaxing and disturbing.
• Getting drinking water is a bitch. Restaurants don't serve tap water for free and a small bottle is likely to run you €2. The best plan is always to hit a grocery store and buy a 2L bottle.
• The default language here is English. That is to say, people open conversations with strangers with English even though that may not be their first language. The assumption is that if you don't know Dutch, you probably know English.

Things I've Seen

• Women riding bicycles in high heels
• The world's largest bicycle parkade. Right next to the train station.
• Half-naked women banging on glass doors to get my attention.

Next Steps

I'm off to Berlin tomorrow and thanks to some last-minute mad-booking, I have a place to sleep there for at least six days. After that the new, new, new route I have in mind is: Prague » Salzburg » Geneva » Florence » Venice » Rome » Seoul. I had to redirect to Salzburg despite it not being covered by my Eurail ticket because staying in Munich would be impossible at that time due to Oktoberfest (sigh). I'm only in Salzburg for 3 days though, and then I'm back on the original track.

The bookings I've made over the past couple days have made me suddenly realise how long this trip is going to be. It's only day 4 and I'm already exhausted. I miss English and more importantly, food that I'm not afraid of. I miss my friends, my family, my country... and it's only day 4. By the time I get to Korea I will well be beyond frazzled.

For now though, I must book rooms in Prague. I also have to check with a train station ticketing person to see if my routing is realistic. You never know, I might have more re-routing to do. I'll keep you posted.