I was in the first year of my studies in Southampton therefore it was indeed my first ever vacation; three weeks of Christmas holiday. There were other two big events going on during that time but I decided not to go to any of them because I found them a bit dodgy. Anyway, it was five of us young, immature and brave risk taker boys – Safwan, Hazim, Nazrul, Ikhwan and I. So we decided to go to Amsterdam.
The City
From what I see, Amsterdam is a city which is huge and crowded with cyclist and abandoned cycles – they are everywhere! The city has great Canal network and you can use the water taxi to go to any part of city. It was during December, so I find it very dull, super dull. Not a good time to visit Amsterdam. You could see modern and colonial times buildings everywhere in the city. Unfortunately we couldn’t enjoy the city very much as some parts of the city were sort of under renovation – a huge one.
The Night
I myself, am not the kind of person who always go out at night. So I never had the chance to really explore a city at night. Yes we did go out, just to get some fresh air and experience the place called “Redlight District”.
The Food
Food was good. Especially when the restaurant owner is like your brother and he gave discounts for every food you eat. Know why? Because he believes that our religion is same as him. There are a lots of Indonesian food restaurant which can recognised by ‘Indonesicsh’ word. There, you can find many delicacies which are very similar to what you can find in Malaysia. But hey, we never tried any of the restaurants, why? Because we can only eat the place where:
1) they say they serve halal foods
2) or they put the ‘Halal’ sign in the restaurant
The Accommodation
We stayed in a budget hotel where the room was very comfortable for five of us to stay. But the room was only meant for two. He he. The person at the lobby was very kind as she even allow us to borrow their small tea-pot to make tea. So five persons in a double room – three stooges on the beds, and the other two sleept on floor. Don’t worry; we were kind enough to give them our pillows.
Getting There
We booked our tickets from Flybe.com. We departed from Southampton Parkway Airport and arrived at Schipol Airport several I-don’t-know-how-many-minutes later. Then we took a train to Amsterdam and then a tram to our hotel.
Coming back From There
Duh? Seriously, you have to read this. We actually had to come back to Southampton using different route even though we had booked return flight tickets. Why? It was due to the bad weather and no planes were able to land at Southampton Airport thus flight had to be cancelled and we were stranded at the airport for several hours.
So they refunded us and we had to find another way – land and sea. We took a train next morning to Hook van Holland (if I am not mistaken) which is several miles away from Schipol Airport and then a ferry (boat) to somewhere in England.
Visa Requirement
For Malaysia passport holder, you don’t need a visa.
url: http://www.learn4good.com/travel/groups/group3.htm
“Netherlands Visa & Immigration Procedures for Group D Countries – 28 February 2008 Guide to Immigration Procedures for Students from:Andorra, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Brunei, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, San Marino, Singapore, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
Those are the boys and the plane
From what I see, Amsterdam is a city which is huge and crowded with cyclist and abandoned cycles – they are everywhere! The city has great Canal network and you can use the water taxi to go to any part of city. It was during December, so I find it very dull, super dull. Not a good time to visit Amsterdam. You could see modern and colonial times buildings everywhere in the city. Unfortunately we couldn’t enjoy the city very much as some parts of the city were sort of under renovation – a huge one.
Me, the bicycle and the canal
I myself, am not the kind of person who always go out at night. So I never had the chance to really explore a city at night. Yes we did go out, just to get some fresh air and experience the place called “Redlight District”.
The Food
Food was good. Especially when the restaurant owner is like your brother and he gave discounts for every food you eat. Know why? Because he believes that our religion is same as him. There are a lots of Indonesian food restaurant which can recognised by ‘Indonesicsh’ word. There, you can find many delicacies which are very similar to what you can find in Malaysia. But hey, we never tried any of the restaurants, why? Because we can only eat the place where:
1) they say they serve halal foods
2) or they put the ‘Halal’ sign in the restaurant
You can find this in Malaysia as well
We stayed in a budget hotel where the room was very comfortable for five of us to stay. But the room was only meant for two. He he. The person at the lobby was very kind as she even allow us to borrow their small tea-pot to make tea. So five persons in a double room – three stooges on the beds, and the other two sleept on floor. Don’t worry; we were kind enough to give them our pillows.
Getting There
We booked our tickets from Flybe.com. We departed from Southampton Parkway Airport and arrived at Schipol Airport several I-don’t-know-how-many-minutes later. Then we took a train to Amsterdam and then a tram to our hotel.
Coming back From There
Duh? Seriously, you have to read this. We actually had to come back to Southampton using different route even though we had booked return flight tickets. Why? It was due to the bad weather and no planes were able to land at Southampton Airport thus flight had to be cancelled and we were stranded at the airport for several hours.
So they refunded us and we had to find another way – land and sea. We took a train next morning to Hook van Holland (if I am not mistaken) which is several miles away from Schipol Airport and then a ferry (boat) to somewhere in England.
Visa Requirement
For Malaysia passport holder, you don’t need a visa.
url: http://www.learn4good.com/travel/groups/group3.htm
“Netherlands Visa & Immigration Procedures for Group D Countries – 28 February 2008 Guide to Immigration Procedures for Students from:Andorra, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Brunei, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, San Marino, Singapore, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
Entry visa
- For a stay of up to three months: You don’t need a visa to enter the Netherlands. All you need is a valid passport. You may travel through all Schengen countries freely.”
- For a stay of up to three months: You don’t need a visa to enter the Netherlands. All you need is a valid passport. You may travel through all Schengen countries freely.”
Miscellaneous
For Muslims who need to pray, there are several masjids in the city. Remember I mentioned about the restaurant owner who gave us discounts? He was the one who brought us to one of the masjids in the city to perform Friday Prayer.
No comments:
Post a Comment