Euro Day 6 – Amsterdam

18/042011

I got up nice and early and set out on the hunt for breakfast and coffee. 



Well, it looks like the population of Amsterdam had a good night. Quite the mess. The cleaners were hard at work cleaning the roads and footpaths.



I wandered past the doors of doom. One of the residents opened her door and asked if I wanted a cookie. I declined politely. She said she didn’t like that sort. I smiled and kept walking. I found a nice café where I had scrambled eggs with toast, ham & cheese for breakfast.

After that I walked down past the central railway station and browsed a few of the souvenir shops. I came across the Amsterdam Madame Tossauds. The queue to get in was quite long, so I kept walking. I found a square that appeared to be the movie murderers buskers spot. 



There were a number of ‘Death’s’ and some guy with scissor hands. Quite odd.

Shortly thereafter Doug made contact as they’d had to check out of their rooms. I made my way back so they could put their bags into my room. We walked to Rembrandts house, where Chris and Peter went in for a look around and the rest of us had a coffee/tea whilst we waited. I then managed to convince them we should walk to the Van Gogh museum. On the way we past the Richts museum.



That place had a massive queue to get it. Aaha! We thought, we’ll keep heading to the Van Gogh museum. Oh dear, It also had a scary queue.  So we gave up, found a café/pub and had a bit of a rest/beer/snack. 

Peter and Chris decided to go and see some football stadium somewhere and John wanted to find somewhere to watch another football game that was on. So Doug and I chilled beside a canal and read our books.

Eventually they all returned. They grabbed their bags and headed for the airport. I set off to hunt down a couple of geocaches and get some washing done, YAY clean clothes FTW! . Unfortunately the areas were very busy with people pretty much sitting on the cache locations. A quick dinner and a few dusk shots of a canal (30secs @ F30 with ISO 200), a tripod would have been handy.



Now to prepare/pack for tomorrows drive back into Germany. Hopefully I can find the car.  

Euro Day 5 – Amsterdam

17/042011

Three of us headed of just after 9am to hunt down a canal boat of some sort. We picked the hop on hop off one and jumped on to the next boat. 



We hopped off a bit later and found our way to the Heineken Experience. That was a great interactive tour of sorts. With a tasting at the end of course! 



We hopped back on a boat and got off at the central station where the other two lads were. We then found out that they’d been out to 5am the previous night.

We headed back to the hotel to freshen up, the off to dinner. I had the best steak I’ve had in years. Fanbloodytastic. I might go back tomorrow, if I can find the place again. The boys then said something about a game of soccer they wanted to watch. I left them to it at a pub and went for a pleasant wander around for a couple of hours.


Yes it’s true; Amsterdam’s ladies of the night display their wares behind glass doors/windows. If the curtain is drawn then they’re ‘busy.’ There are a few on some of the main streets, but they are mostly concentrated it two or of three narrow lanes. And yes there are LOTS of cafes where you can sit and have a smoke or a certain green vegetable matter.  Maybe that explains the cycling style!

I didn’t manage to catch up with the lads again that evening. Apparently they had a relatively early night after their soccer team (Manchester City) beat Manchester United. That meant that 3 of out 4 of them were happy. Peter supports Manchester United.  As you can imagine, the others were being extra smug about that. 

Euro day 4 – Amsterdam

16/042011

I got up fairly early and headed down for breakfast. I was tossing up two options. Wait for Chris to surface as he had some experience driving on the wrong side, or just go. Not knowing how late the others stayed out for, and not getting a response to a text message I headed for Haupbahnhof railway station to pick up the car alone. I located the Avis shop front and completed the paperwork. I then discovered that the cars are parked 10 minutes walk away in a back street car park. It amazes me that I show them a licence, give them some money and they chuck me the keys to a Merc and let me go play in the middle of the city, sitting on the wrong side of the car etc.


Now is when it got weird. Sitting in the car, on the wrong side, trying to get the satnav in to English. Otherwise I’d need some quick German practice on left, right and distances etc. The satnav turned out to be the easy bit. I soon had that speaking English to me. I set it to take me back to the hotel. Now for the fun bit. Just driving out of the car park was weird enough, then came the traffic. In a way the traffic was good. At least I had lots of cars to follow while I tried to reverse all the road rules and tried to follow the satnavs directions. After a very tense drive back to the hotel I was relieved to park the car and wait for the rest of them to wake up.   

Eventually Doug appeared (after I rang him) and we piled in and headed off towards the Netherlands.
We hopped onto the A1 Autobahn, which immediately dropped its speed limit to 80km due to road works. The limit went up to 100 or 120km/h between groups of works. There was one 5km long bit of unrestricted autobahn before more road works. Eventually we cleared them all and the autobahn opened up, the traffic lightened a bit and the again the magical sign that says, drive as fast as you like. We zipped along and a reasonable rate of knots. One that according to the government back home would mean instant death. It’s all very sane, keep out of the right lane unless passing or going exceptionally fast. At one stage when I went a little fast a voice was heard from the rear saying ‘found the accelerator at last eh? Smart arse.
We crossed in to the Netherlands where there was no a speed limit sign sighted for over 100km. People seemed to be going a bit slower than in Germany, but many were still cruising along at 130km/h.

Arriving in the outskirts of Amsterdam we were looking for the Park and Ride signs. We saw one, which we followed, but alas there was only one sign. Doug powered up the GPS and found us the closest one. 8 euros for each 24 hour period which included return tram tickets for all four of us. Seems like a bargain. We headed into central Amsterdam were hopped off at the central station where we waited 15 minutes for Pete to show up. He’d just flown in. A 10 minute walk had us at our hotel.  The rooms could be called compact, but a better description would be a shoebox.



The cyclists, OMG. I guess you could call the place bicycle friendly. But I think it would be scarier on a bike that that first drive in Hamburg. They ride with, umm, passion. As in, they pedal, you move. If you don’t they’ll hit you. They fly through intersections. They use the road, the bike lanes and the foot paths. I’d far prefer to driver a left hand drive car over here than cycle 5km in Amsterdam.

We settled into our shoeboxes before heading out for dinner and a quiet night.

Euro Day 3 – Hamburg

15/042011

No hangover!

We were up earlyish and on the train into town. We had breakfast by a canal before exploring the area. 


We headed for the big tower that was visible in the distance.



It looked like a TV tower with a viewing platform. After getting off at the wrong train stop and walking through some dodgy looking warehousing areas we finally found the tower. It was closed. Possibly never opened.  Disappointed, we headed back towards the hotels via dock area to look have a look around. 


To commiserate our failed tower mission we stopped in for a beer. We planned on stopping in for just one before having a shower and heading out again. 

This is the beer you get when the barmaid thinks you’re not keeping up, John.

Quite a number of beers later we thought we’d better get something to eat.



Sometime much later I headed off, needing to have a clear head the next days drive. 

Euro Day 2 – Hamburg

14/042011
I woke up with the worst headache ever! Of course I hadn’t brought any drugs with me. I had breakfast at the hotel then asked for directions to a pharmacy. It turned out to be quite a walk (Look left NOT right before crossing the road. MUST remember this). But I eventually located it, obtained ibuprofen and dosed up. I then set about locating a Vodafone dealer to get myself a local sim card. Unlimited data for 99c a day. Perfect to allow use of internet and maps if required whilst in Germany.
I then headed down towards the dock area to have a look around and grab a webcam geocache with help from Maggie back in Australia. 



I located the Cap San Diego and posed for the required photo, which Maggie grabbed as a screenshot 15000km away. 

There I am, just under the boom


After getting lunch I wandered aimlessly to kill some time. Doug and co were due at about 5:30pm.
Doug and co arrived on time, they were staying at the hotel across the road, or to put it a little more accurately, I was staying at the hotel over the road, by the time I found out where they were staying it was booked out.
They took a few minutes to settle in and then we headed out for a drink and dinner. Other than Doug having issues with a machine and then a barman the night was great. Fantastic chill out.

Euro Day 1 – Transit

12/042011

At last I’m off, it’s been a very long wait. I boarded the flight, headed for Hamburg, just a little bit nervous, but very excited. Fourteen hours later I had a few hours to kill at Dubai airport. Speaking of arriving in Dubai, we taxied for ever and seemed to park in the furthest spot possible. 


No air bridge for us, down the stairs and on the bus for a 10 minute ride to the terminal. I’d promised to get Julie from work some perfume. Dubai seemed like as good as a place as any. I did a couple of loops of the shops to get a feel for the place then dived in. Very well traveled perfume by the time I delivered it! Thankfully they also have free Wi-Fi. On to the second, much shorter leg of the trip to Hamburg. The crew on both flights decided that they were ‘night’ flights. Despite being able to see daylight outside for the bulk of the flight.
I arrived in Hamburg at 2pm on the 12th April. Got through immigration quickly, handy having a Euro passport! He looked at the passport, then at me, said ‘ok’ and I was done. Then waited and waited for my bag to show up. I think it was the second last bag to appear. I jumped in a cab and did a double take. Damn steering wheel is on the wrong side! Now I’d been assured that ‘everyone’ in Germany spoke English. Except my taxi driver. But he still spoke more English than I spoke German. 10 words vs 5. Lucky I’d written down the hotel name and address in German. It was a quick 25 euro trip to the hotel.
After checking in and looking longingly at the bed I decided it was probably better to go for a walk. If I lay down I’d be asleep in seconds. Way too early for that.


I walked a few km loop to get a vague feel for where I was. Turns out I’m just around the corner from the notorious Reeperbahn area. The walk didn’t really help, I think I was too tired to take it in, oh and it was wet and quite cool. I headed back towards the hotel and found a restaurant nearby for dinner. A quick steak and a beer and I was ready for bed. 




















Abandoned in Chiang Mai

16/082010
Day one
So there I was, on the big day that we were supposed to head off to the elephant sanctuary for the night, lying in bed with an evil headache and a sore back and neck.
So off the ladies went without me, with nary a glance over their shoulders, I’m sure I heard the words, ‘so long sucker’ from one of them. I took a forte and a couple of neurofen and went back to bed.
Sometime later, about 11am I think, I emerged from bed to seek out some non-drug relief. I asked the nice lady in the office on my way out, where to get a good massage, she said they were all the same, but to tell them that I wanted back and neck. It was about this time that I noticed my sunglasses were missing, but Maggie’s were sitting on the table. Don’t lose/break them Maggie, they’re real $195 ray bans JJJ

I headed to the place that we’d previously seen people getting a foot massage at. I entered and stated my needs. I was whisked into a curtained off area and given a loose fitting shirt to wear. She then proceeded to use hands, elbows, forearms and I think knees to pummel my neck, shoulders and back. It was an exquisite type of pain and pleasure, with lots of tiger balm rubbed in for good measure. An hour passed in what seemed to be no time at all, damn I should have asked for two hours, or maybe one was for the best. I shall return again tomorrow.
I felt that a bit of a walk was in order after that, just to get moving. So I walked down to Tha Phae Gate to see what the rest of the world was up to. As it turned out they were setting up for the Sunday market. I did a lap of the stalls and found that they were   up further up the road past the gate, and in carparks and inside the walls of a Wat. I sat and watched people feeding the fish in the moat for a bit. A very nice Thai lady approached me and asked if I’d like a massage, wow I thought, two in one day. But I had a feeling that her massage would be quite a bit more expensive, and probably involved a ‘happy ending’, thus I declined her generous offer.
I’d noticed that there was a ‘Mike’s’ burger place on the next corner, that set off the burger craving neurons inside my fragile head. So off I tottered to ‘Mikes’ where I had a very nice cheeseburger  with fries and a coke, it might have even been a Pepsi, it didn’t last long enough for me to tell. Oh and that thing about being careful with salads, well imagine that you’ve just finished your burger with lettuce on it, and you look up, you can see the girls dutifully washing the lettuce, in tap water! We shall see, that we shall…
I noticed that without my two trusty ladies in tow that I got less offers for tuk tuks and more offers for massages, co-incidence?
So now it’s nearly 5pm and I’m trying to decide if I can be bothered heading back to the gate to see how the market has come along.
Well I decided to go foraging for food and check out the market. WOW. It’s huge, not only the area in front of the gate but well beyond. I wandered along Rachadamnoen Rd, (which was now closed to traffic) for what felt like hundreds of metres and the market was still going. Feeling hungry I hung a u-turn and headed back. Every side street and open area was packed with stalls. I managed to locate Maggie’s surprise gift there, which was good. I also loved some of the wall hangings, in particular a dragon one, but alas they didn’t have it in the colours I really like. Next time J The police were doing traffic control at the gate, talk about advanced whistle usage, three of them in one spot.

I had dinner at the same place we got the takeaway from the other night. The beef in oyster sauce was pretty bland, but it filled the tummy. Since the lovely ladies are missing, it seemed obvious that I would try the banana and chocolate pancake. Yum! Off to bed with a forte for good measure.
Day two of my Chiang Mai abandonment
So far, coffee, breakfast, neurofen. The day is looking good. I’m not sure if my back/neck feels better, as the massage was quite firm and the muscles quite tight, which means that they are sore today.  

I has a scooter… I’M ON A SCOOTER… just doesn’t sound right does it?
So I’ve acquired a Yamaha Mio scooter for two days.
Just took it for a wee spin up to Mae Rim (17km) where I proceeded to hunt for the elusive shooting club (it would have been much easier if their web page with the map on it actually work, or if they had a sign up). Up and down I went, then I tried random side roads, struck gold on the 3rd road. I walked in and was directed to the counter where they plonked an assortment of handguns for my entertainment. I selected three, Glock 17 (9mm) S&W .45 and the good ole S&W .38.
So after thoroughly teaching that piece of paper a lesson, I headed back to Chiang Mai.

Chiang Mai central is relatively easy to navigate as the old city has a moat around it, with a one way ring road on each side of said moat. I discovered today that the main road our apartment is off is one way, the other way. I don’t know how I didn’t see this, when I’ve walked up and down that road at least a dozen times in 3 days. Ah well, I did a quick left then a right and found myself heading down the parallel Soi in the correct direction. Now because of these one way roads they have two way joining roads, so what you say? Well to improve traffic flow the vehicular traffic on these streets travels on the wrong side of the road for the length of the road!

Safely back in our apartments now, awaiting the return of the ladies. Time for lunch and a beer me thinks.