The One Tainted by Red Lights

Last night, I went to the Red Light District in Amsterdam. It was certainly an experience I will never forget.

Initially I thought that the Red Light District was only one street, but it was like another city. The place was huge! It walked around for  2 hours and we stilll didn't cover the whole thing. But it was bascially the same things over and over again. Sex shops, bars, peep shows, and small rooms lit with neon red lights and glass doors where the "girls" (some I weren't certain that they were actually female) pose infront of. Sometimes they would tap on the glass doors to catch your attention. One even opened her door to say "come one baby, don't be shy"
=OOOOOOO!

Sorry but no photos, cause I didn't want to expose my baby, plus it isn't allowed.

The funny thing was, in the middle of the red light district, between the sex shops and the girls' rooms, there was a kebab shop.

LOL!


But today I actually saw pass through the stereotypical image of Amsterdam- I mean every time I mention I'm in Amsterdam to people, the first thing they ask me is if I'm smoking pot or have I been to the Red Light District yet.

But Amsterdam is so much more than that- so much more!

My friend, Thi explained to me why prostitution and marijuana is legal is the Netherlands- their theory is that even if you make the those things illegal, there will still be people that will smoke marijuana and prostitutes. But if they make those things legal, at least they can control the quality and quantity of the marijuana and protect the girls/guys (apparently there's a blue like district- for men) by making sure they aren't being forced into the job (by pimps or something) and they are willing participants.

When you think about it, that theory actually makes sense. & its not like everyone smokes pot in Amsterdam, the children are taught about the consequences at a young age.

Today I went exploring Amsterdam with Tee. =D She's an awesome tour guide.

Amsterdam, well actually the whole of Netherlands is covered with water canals.

So with it they have floating houses, floating restaurants, canal boats, swans and ducks.

But the first thing you'll notice in Netherlands is the bikes. People here all ride bikes. There are more bikes then people!

There's bike paths, bike lights and bike round-abouts! Its so awesome! =D People here in all weathers, even in the snow!

The people here are also very tall. Apparently they have the tallest height average in the world! I feel like a midget here. So I've decided to eat all the dutch food to see how much I'll grow within this week. Here are some of the food I ate:

•  Erwtensoep

Erwtensoep is pea soup. Its very thick and full of vegetables and meat. At first when I saw it I thought gross, but its actually very nice. It also warms up your body very well. =D

•  Hema's sausage

Hema is a fast food chain, and they sell the most juiciest sausage I've ever had.

At Central Station, there's a wall of snacks. Its so cool.

& there I got myself a Kroket and a Kaassouffle

• Kroket 

• Kaassouffle

• Patat

Patat is Dutch chips, which is so good! There's this shop Mannekenpis, and its logo is a boy chucking a piss. The story behind that is that a long time ago, a boy save the day buy pissing to extinguish fire. I was like ... how much piss did he have to be able to put out the flames?

But OMG, they had so many kinds of different sauces! It took me forever to choose!

In the Netherland, they celebrate Sinterklaas who is basically exactly like Santa, but real. LOL! & instead on reindeers, he has horses, instead of the sleigh, he comes by boat, instead of elves, he has little black slaves and instead of flying, he jumps.

So instead of candy cane, the Dutch eat kruid noten, which I found very addictive.

• Kruid noten 

• Haring

Haring is basically raw fish that had been soaked in salty water for 3 days. It tasted funny. Its an experience I'll only be having once in a life time, and once is more than enough.

• Stroopwafels

Stroopwafels is basically caramel in between two thin waffle biscuits. Its so yum! Especially when you get it freshly made- nice and hot.


I've eaten so much here! I swear I've probably grown horizontally and remain vertically challenge.

But the food was awesome!



So jealous much, Cynthia?