My Europe Trip on the Shoestring: Hello Amsterdam (Part 1)

We arrived at Hoek Van Holland in the morning about 7.45 am. The weather was cold in fact, i assumed that it was one of the coldest morning since my arrival a few days before. Hoek Van Holland means corner of Holland  is the port where we arrived via  Stenaline Hollandica.

We walked to the train station nearby. One would not miss the station as it is very easy to locate with the signage pointing to the station. While waiting for our train, we  bought our breakfast at the station's sundry shop. There were a lot of people, i guess all of them were going to work as they seemed like they were rushing to go somewhere. They even walked fast!

Waiting for our train

The train arrived on time and it was double Decker. This was my 1st time sitting in a double decker train, seriau pulak rasa. Anyway, i didn't sit upstairs, it made me dizzy and felt like puking. So, we sat downstairs. The train was cozy and fast. Actually, we thought the train went to Rotterdam as we wanted to go to Madurodam and visit The Hague at the same time. Unfortunately, we had taken the wrong train and it took us straight to Amsterdam City Centre. Kite org nampak aja laluan yg menuju ke Den Haag Centra Station tu and we just looked at each other blankly...nasibla...melepas la kali nih... The next stop was quite far and we didn't bother to go down. Decided to just let it go, may be some other times! Actually, despite of how many stops we made, we didn't have to pay as it is in the 'rail and sail' package..Murah kan..? tiket train ni kalau one way ke Amsterdam mau jugak makan 15-20 euro (x pasti plak).

Good Morning, Amsterdam! Bikes and Ams are inseparable...

This is where we stopped. Near Centraal Station.

So, from the train station, we hopped on the tram. Before coming, i'd made research on how to reach the hotel as the hotel is not at Damrak. I booked The Amsterdam Hotel online through booking.com. Not bad, good hotel, yg penting murah... Masa i p ni, belum ada easyhotel, kalu x, sure dok easyhotel punyer. So, we took tram no. 1 to Overtoom and stopped there. We walked for about 5mins and we reached the hotel. It was a small individually owned hotel. Even though it was just 11am, but our room was already available, so we checked in straight away. There was a computer at the reception, so i took the chance to Fbing for a while.

The neighbourhood near our hotel

After settling down, ate our breakfast while enjoying the scenery from our room, we went down to explore the place. So, we walked towards Leidseplien (berbelit lidah nak nyebut). From, Leidseplin, we took the tram back to Damrak. Leidseplin is a busy square with tram intersections and street performer perform day and night. Since i went in June, so the days were long, even after 10, i could still see the glimpse of the sun behind the blurry moon. Kat sini jugaklah ada banyak restoran dan penduduk2 Amsterdam nih (not sure whether the locals or tourists) memang suka lepak kat cafe2 waktu petang sambil minum2. I've never seen such a big crowd cramping at a  small place drinking beer. They don' t really talk, they stare (not at people), mcm berfikirla..and drink... Oh ya, from our hotel to Leidseplin is about 10m walk. Here are some photos taken during our walk.

Madame Tussaud under renovation plak....

Sampai Damrak, kami tangkap2 gambar lagik and went into shops...Not big shops but the small small ones at the roadside... perot pulak dah rasa lapar. So, carik kedai makan... Quite a number of muslim food here but the price..masyallah...x yah cakaplah.. but, beware of indonesian restaurants, some restaurants sell pork... So, we dined at a greek restaurant. As usual, mine was fine but my hubby.. disastrous! I think he has problems with food selection... Itula, yg mahal x selalunya sedap...As usual, he chose the most expensive one...

It looked fine but very bad taste esp the oily rice...

Th street of Damrak. Kat sini ada banyak TA for daily trips, kalau sapa2
nak guna khidmat mereka..

Tunggu giliran nak naik cruise.

The hustle n bustle of Amsterdam

Lps makan, we decided to take the cruise and tour around Amsterdam. Sebelum naik tu ada photographer snap gambar..u can buy the photos when u have completed the cruise circle. But they don't force u... tp kami belik, pasal cantik pulak gambar tu.. Boleh bargain2 harga pulak tu...

Here are some photos taken from the cruise ride.

Masa ni hujan rintik2

One of the canals 

Museum apa ntah..lupa dah..Purse muzium kot

Boat House

Another  Boat House

Spotted a Chinese Restaurant

K, i think these are more than enough to make u fall in love with Amsterdam..If i want to put all the photos, then it will take ages to get uploaded.

After the cruise, we walked to the HRC....Bought t-shirts and a new sweater. Since it was nearly summer, so i just brought a light windbreaker...sekalik tu...x tahan sejok...amik kau... So, had to buy a new thicker sweater... memang sejuk..x tahan!

HRC Amsterdam

 We went back to the hotel in the evening. At night we went out to see how the city looked like..Memang happening...Ada pertunjukan api...For no valid reasons, i can't find the photos i took that night..Ntah mana peginya...

Click here for Part 2