Den Haag






I made a trip to Den Haag. I did it the typical dutch way... packing my sandwiches and my milk in my bicycle bag. Oh I have a bicycle bag!!!! YAY!!!! And cycled there. Morning was cold, the winds were strong and it started to rain... I am cycling in the rain!!! I was looking for shelter... there was none. The road just lead straight ahead. I cycled faster and faster... hoping to find a shelter. There wasn't any at all! Then, i passed by this field. There was a little boy playing football by himself in the rain. He kicked the ball into the net, he fetches it, and he kicked it into the net again. Everytime he kicked the ball in, you could see the excitement on his face. He can't be bothered about the rain. He is just lost in his own world.



I went to a Strip shop!!! Well, i don't have to strip there. It just sells comic strips. What a weird name for a shop... but it certainly graps your attention.




Want to buy a car? Don't have enough money? Well, buy a quarter first.




Me and my faithful bicycle. Without it, i would never be able to make my way here (yes i could... but i will need to spend some money). I cycled over 50km today. Den Haag wasn't as beautiful as Leiden. Everything looks so modernize. You see tall buildings evrywhere. I was told that Den Haag is the third most expensive city in the Netherlands. Not exactly true.... If you shop around a little, open your eyes bigger, you will find that there are alot of cheap stuff in Den Haag. Most of them are very much cheaper than the things in Leiden. You just need to search for it. At least, there are some €1 and €2 shops. But toilets are expensive. Depends on where you go, toilets could cost you €0.50. There are no free toilets around. Even Mc Donald's toilet will cost you €0.20. 

HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY!!!!





Birthday alone was kind of pathetic...especially it is my 21st bithday, my official step into the adult society. My key to do everything I want without asking or telling. There is no birthday party, no birthday cake, no fantastic dinner... nobody. Well, fortunately, i have my bicycle. Heaven is nice to me today. He gave me the sun! It has been raining for the past few days and at last!!! I can get to enjoy the nice weather. I treated myself with a bicycle tour. I toured out of the city, enjoy the sceneries, admire the worries-free children playing... I love my bicycle. It gives me access to all these beauties of life. The other day, i bought this sheep skin cover for the bicycle seat. I love it alot. It makes my butt feels so good. It greatly reduces the sore that i should be getting from all the bike tours.




Look at this.. Isn't the view beautiful? These are boat houses. They are like our appartments but they are official known as boats. People are actually living inside. There are television, refrigerator, washing machine, toilets, taps, sinks, internet connection etc inside. How wonderful it is. Out of the town centre, there isn't much stuff. Nice view, bad place for shopping. Unless you have a bicycle, it is not very easy to actually go to these places.



I certainly learned that i should enjoy life as much as i can. Be happy and do everything i want. Never regret a single day. As long as i am capable of doing, i should do without hesitating. Life is short. There are too many things to do. Too many places to visit. When i am old and near death, i want to be able to tell myself that i had done all the wonderful stuff in life that everyone dream of but only few live them.
I passed by this cemetry and was reminded of two of my uncles who recently passed away. One in july and the other in august. Both of them lost their battle to cancer. In fact the one who passed away in august had the same birthday as me. He died 2 weeks short of his birthday. He worked really hard to support his 5 children. He never really get to enjoy life. Now should be the time for him to do that, for him to retire and really enjoy what he deserved. But cancer had made all these impossible. He had a good fight but still he lost. At least he will never need to suffer the pain of cancer anymore.


 

BEWARE!!! DUCKS CROSSING!!!







Well, it was quite funny to see this sign. What can ducks do? If you look further down, you will be able to see that the ducks are really blocking my way. For a moment, I was thinking if i should cycle through them (hopefully they know how to give way) or cycle on the grass. Well, they shit all over the place and stink up the whole area. Their feathers are everywhere. And yes, they know that they have the right to stay there. They just won't move away for you to pass. I wonder who is going to clean up their mess.



 

Heineken, Grolsch, Leffe... Oh my, the night was great. I met some neighbours and we went out for some drinks... I will have to say that the night entertainment of Leiden isn't as good as Singapore's. There wasn't any bands, or singers... People just crowd around the bar counter drinking. But alcohol is much cheaper here than in Singapore. In fact beer is cheaper than coca cola. I met quite alot of people today. Mainly international students coming to Leiden for the University. Well, I think that the tube in my bicycle front tyre is leaking.. My tyre gets flat in a matter of 2 hours. But I manage to borrow a portable bicycle pump! Oh thank God. I had to pump the tyre every moment I move off. That pump just save me from pushing my bicycle back home. Well, it actually extremely tiring to cycle a bicycle with a flat tire. And especially when you are high from the alcohol... I wonder if there is a law in the Netherlands about drink-cycling... I have to check that out. 

Peace



Another windmill... I was cycling to the more country side part of Leiden. No, in fact i have cycled out of Leiden... I took nearly 2 hours to get here. The peacefulness of this area just makes me want to stay here longer... I left at around 6.30pm. I have to get back before the sunset. I am glad the sun sets pretty late at this time of the year.




Cows!! This cow is the creator of all my cheese and milk, and sometimes steak. Cheese, milk and steak here are really cheap. I pay € 0.29 for a liter of milk! €0.35 for a liter of yogurt. Cheese that would cost about S$5 in Singapore is only €1.50 here. Well, there are all kinds of chesse here... and i found a new cheese! I love this cheese. It is an old cheese and it is called Assumburger. It is rather creamy although it looks rock hard. It has these salt crystals that will melt in your mouth, or rather explode in your mouth. The taste will linger in your mouth for a long time. Yeah! It is a good cheese.




Is this a goose? Well, it is very strange looking to me. Actually, I don't really know how a goose looks like. But it is definitely not a duck. There are so many ducks by the river down my appartments. They don't look like this at all.

 

Me and my shitty bicycle





Finally!!! I got myself a bicycle!!! A shitty bicycle for €60!!!! Well, i don't really care if it is shitty or not. As long as it can bring me from point A to point B, it's a good bike. Well, I think i need more air in the tyres... But i am happy with it. And guess what... my bicycle is MADE IN HOLLAND!!!! How cool is that! Well, at least it is not a china product. I can cycle with ease without fearing that my bicycle will fall apart as i cycle. In Holland, you really have to lock your bike, the bicycles will get stolen. If you lock your wheels, the frame will be stolen. If you lock your frame, the wheels will be stolen. It's really so bad. You will need at least 2 locks, and you really need to attach the bicycle to something. A lamp post, some bicycle stands etc. Well, I wrote my name on my bicycle the first moment i step into my appartment. Let's hope nobody will steal my bicycle. No way i am parking it in the bicycle stand downstairs.. I am keeping it in the appartment.




I took my bicycle out for a ride... Weeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!! It's so fun!!!!!! Well, i toured the town a little with it. I don't think i can ever do that if i have walked instead of cycle. Well, my ass hurts now... It's so sore...




Well, another windmill, I have no idea what kind of windmill this is... If i ever find out, I will tell you more about it. 

Busy!!!!


Well, have been busy looking for a bicycle, busy getting myself registered with the town hall and other official stuff... I AM OFFICIALLY A RESIDENT OF THIS TOWN NOW!!! YAY!!!!! I hope i will have a bicycle by the end of the day. I saw a spoilt second-hand bicycle yesterday, this was the cheapest; €50!!! I thought it was still very expensive but this is the cheapest i can get here. The seat is gone, the paddle is broken, the chain is broken, the lights are not working, the handle bar isn't there, frame is a little dented., it is so rusty... oh well, the guy at the bicycle shop said he would fix it and everything will be €60. Well, a new shitty looking grandfather bicycle in holland will cost you €130. A slightly better looking one will be at least €400. That is how expensive bicycles is in holland. For those who don't know the rate, S$2 is about €1. So everything here is double the price! Let's hope the bicycle is fixed by today... 

Little Pink Building...





Look at the little pink building right in between... It's such a cute little thing.
This is a cigarette vending machine. You will find this all over the country. I never tried it though. Singapore is always discouraging it's people to smoke. Cigarettes there just get more and more expensive. Well in the Netherlands, i see "cigarettes available" signs everywhere.



Oh!! Don't lock me up... i really didn't do it.... Well, this is actually the international office. I went there, hoping to get a free decent map. Well, I got a small pathetic map that I have to search forever for a street. These are its' rooms. Some meeting rooms, i guess. It's so cool that they design it to look like a prison cell. In fact, they named the room "cell 1" "cell 2" etc...

I use Pipi toilet paper... what about you? Anyway, Pipi is one of the cheapest toilet paper with decent quality.
I went down to the town center again... looking for a bicycle... Oh my god! Look at this bicycle parking!!!! It's insane! I have never seen so many bicycles in my life!. The photo probably capture just 10% of the total number of bicycles. I am serious. This parking is big.

English tea with bastard sugar




It's raining and raining and raining... whole day long!!! I am stucked in my room with a hot cup of english tea with some bastard sugar. By the way, how did they know that this packet of sugar is a bastard??? Anyway, i was hoping fot the pathetic rain to stop. It finally stopped!!! after 7 hours. Well, at least it stopped. Went for a stroll after the rain... oh the wind almost blew me off! I thought today would be a nice weather for flying a kite (or rather flying my pathetic plastic bag), well, the rope snapped and my kite disappeared into the wind. It's pretty cold today. Bad weather... Let's hope tomorrow's will be good. 

HERE'S TO YOUR BUTT


Ooch! My butt hurts... Is your butt hurting too? No worries! We have Vichy! I don't know how effective they are but they are definitely worth a try.

In Netherlands, almost everybody owns a bicycle. In fact, there are more bicycles than the people. The streets are so polluted with bicycles. Well, at least bicycles do not emit harmful gases. As a pedestrian, it is extremely important to look at where you are going, and NEVER WONDER OFF INTO THE BICYCLE PATHS. You may not realise that you are actually walking along the bicycle paths. This is because many of the bicycle paths really look like a pedestrian walkway. I am thinking of getting a bicycle here... but i don't really know where to park my bike. Look at the bicycle stand.. It's completely filled.

Went down to the market place this afternoon. Oh my! i love the fries! It's simply delicious! Well, i had intended to save some money by making sandwiches for lunch... but the fries are irresistable! I need to buy them. It's only €1.50 for a really large portion.

I love this violin... It's beautiful! Well Chris, this is for you!

DAMN TUNNEL


Where is the damn tunnel? the damn tunnel.... or is it the damtunnel???

Oops, i guess it is the damtunnel.

I was exploring Leiden a little. Well, Leiden is beautiful... i would still prefer Utrecht. Utrecht stole my heart.

This is the Rijn. Saw that green house thingy that looks like a factory? The one with the sign "wijnwinkel"? It is actually a wine shopping center. How cool is that.

This is a typical Dutch road. Everybody is sharing it,... the trains, the cyclist, the pedestrains, the cars... and sometimes the ships and boats too. (well, not for this road) The road would open up and the ships and boats would pass.

I love pancakes! Oh my, today's lunch was a pancake, a really big and delicious cheese, ham and mushrooms pancake.

After the pancake, i went to the supermarket wanting to get a drink. I love yogurt drinks.. Yes! i am going to buy a yogurt drink. I took this 1 L bottle of yogurt drink. It is going to cost me €1.12 Oh!!! i saw another one! it's €0.89!!!! Obviously i grab the €0.89 bottle. I opened it and it turned out to be jogurt, just yogurt, thick yogurt. Oh my!!! Anyway, i drank down that liter of yogurt.

SUNSET








Standing by my balcony, watching the sun as it sets. WOW!!! It looks like a big and bright orange ball (really orange, very orange) slowly getting sucked into the houses opposite me. The view is simply breath-taking. I tried to take photos of it... it just don't work. The photos are not able to portray the beauty of the sun. Look at these photos...aren't they beautiful? The actual sunset is suppose to be 1000 times better. The camera just can't filter out the light.

UTRECHT
The storm-ravaged Cathedral was built in the 14th century. This is Netherlands tallest cathedral. Utrecht is a real beauty, a city lost in time.

This is me by the Kloostergang.

This is Lombok. The De Ster sawmill is a working monument, where wood is still sawed when the wind allows. I went down to the Nederlands Muntmuseum (Dutch Coin Museum). It looks like it is under some renovation.

I am here.