I spent the bright part of the day traveling from Milan to Amsterdam. Firstly, I had to take a shuttle bus to Milan Orio al Serio which is actually an airport located at Bergamo. Then, I took a flight to Eindhoven, before I switched to a direct shuttle from Eindhoven to Amsterdam. In the end I took about 7 hours to reach Amsterdam but it was the cheapest option according to my research a few months ago.
The hostel I stayed in is called The Shelter City Christian Hostel. I reserved a 16-bed room so the setback was that the chances of people snoring were higher. The lockers were not situated in the room, but instead they were placed outside the rooms in the general corridor. No plug in the rooms as well. Imagine the hassle caused by all these.
The hostel itself was located in the famous Amsterdam’s Red Light District. So the first thing I did when I headed out of the hostel today was actually to walk around the neighbourhood. The Red Light District refers to the area full of prostitutes who occupy a little aquarium like cabin, decked with red lights. The prostitutes themselves were scantily-clad. Most wore as little as just lingeries. The sex workers range from young to old, black or white, slim to fat and sexy to turn-off. I guess when it came to paid sex, most desperate men will not really care about this. I ventured the whole district. In the main streets, it was still pretty alright walking around without any awkwardness. When it came to the really narrow alleys, I actually came to about less than 2 m from the sex workers. The narrow alleys were mostly occupied by young hot girls, probably about my age or slightly older.
The hostel I stayed in is called The Shelter City Christian Hostel. I reserved a 16-bed room so the setback was that the chances of people snoring were higher. The lockers were not situated in the room, but instead they were placed outside the rooms in the general corridor. No plug in the rooms as well. Imagine the hassle caused by all these.
The hostel itself was located in the famous Amsterdam’s Red Light District. So the first thing I did when I headed out of the hostel today was actually to walk around the neighbourhood. The Red Light District refers to the area full of prostitutes who occupy a little aquarium like cabin, decked with red lights. The prostitutes themselves were scantily-clad. Most wore as little as just lingeries. The sex workers range from young to old, black or white, slim to fat and sexy to turn-off. I guess when it came to paid sex, most desperate men will not really care about this. I ventured the whole district. In the main streets, it was still pretty alright walking around without any awkwardness. When it came to the really narrow alleys, I actually came to about less than 2 m from the sex workers. The narrow alleys were mostly occupied by young hot girls, probably about my age or slightly older.
L-R: Red Light District; Niewmarkt
In the district, I could also find many sex shops selling a wide array of blue films openly and people did not seem to care about this as they non-chalantly walked in and out of the shops. They also had many video cabines to rent out for people to watch pornographic films. Also, there were many blacks hanging around in the neighbourhood. At first, I was suspecting that maybe there were just targeting people to pickpocket, but later on I learnt that they were trying to sell cocaine to passers-by. I myself was approached several times by different men.
This experience was a real eye-opener for me. I really pity these women and it was saddening to know the extent to which people go to earn easy money.
This experience was a real eye-opener for me. I really pity these women and it was saddening to know the extent to which people go to earn easy money.
L-R: random Xmas decoration; FEBO (a kind of vending machine for snacks but behind the glass shelves is a kitchen with the chefs preparing the food)
Dinner was spent in a Chinese restaurant at Zeeduk. This stretch of road was flourishing with many types of Asian cuisine. In fact, this was the widest array of Asian food I have seen in Europe thus far. The best thing was that the chefs were locals so the food was more authentic! I ordered a hot & sour seafood soup and a Peking roasted duck rice for 12 euros. My first proper Asian meal in nearly 5 months and it could not get better than this. As a side note, Amsterdam has all kinds of cuisines from all over the world. As I walked around more after dinner, I discovered many Argentinian, Spanish, Indonesian, Malaysian, Japanese, Brazilian restaurants.
yummy
top (L-R): clogs of Holland, pretty house models; bottom (L-R): porno poker cards, cigar papers (at first i thought they were chewing gums!)
After visiting some souvenir shops, I settled in early as I would be off early tomorrow morning.
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