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I wonder at the magic of weed as Mary stares at the walls, any substance which can shut my wife up for ten minutes is worthy of serious medicinal appraisal.

I usually don't read these trip reports, but this one is brilliant. It brings back the memories of my first trips to Amsterdam.

Great report mate

i am so enjoying it ... evrey second of it you are right the second rokerij the one near the centraal station is one of the best in my believe it has got great music choices usually and the tenders are quite friendly

Thanks for all the comments, I'll post up day three and the rest in the near future--years ago I used to be a Scout Leader and am quite handy with a map, the ACD map freaks me out because it doesnt have a north pointer on it anywhere --neither does it have a scale--so at first as we wandered around Amsterdam I hadnt a clue in which direction . N, S e etc I was walking in which kind of annoyed me as even in a strange city I can usually negotiate my way around with a sense of direction, but I soon found out any such plans were futile in Amsterdam, every street follows a canal which radiate from the cetruum like a spiders web meaning your direction is constantly changing-----after a while I was lost most of the time but found I didnt give a damn---its only now when I'm home I realise I wandered all over the place without any real idea where I was at the time --- In a strange way I liked this feeling of being lost.

Bilbo Baggins wrote:... I can usually negotiate my way around with a sense of direction, but I soon found out any such plans were futile in Amsterdam, every street follows a canal which radiate from the cetruum like a spiders web meaning your direction is constantly changing-----after a while I was lost most of the time but found I didnt give a damn---its only now when I'm home I realise I wandered all over the place without any real idea where I was at the time --- In a strange way I liked this feeling of being lost.

Welcome to Amsterdam!

Nowadays, the only firm plans I ever make are;

#1 Get to the airport on time.
#2 Find BurgerBar. Eat.
#3 Get to the airport on time.

I admit, last trip i was a bit frustrated by how lost we got on the first day.
Was august and hot as hell, we were badly jetlagged, we walked for 3.5 hours trying to find Basjoes and never did.
Got bikes the second day, and that made all the difference, we were still lost but it did not matter.
By the 3rd day or so we atleast figured out the core of the city and realised NEVER to try and find things by road names, we just used canals.

We awake on the third day ( wed ) to find it raining quite heavily and decide to visit the Van Gogh museum, which I find a bit frustrating as I would say that 70% of the paintings seem to be of fruit trees in orchards, anyway it was a good day in which I gave my brain a rest and never smoked an weed before 4pm when we went to BASJOES

When we went in we saw a bunch of guys with an ACD map in front of them, this was Twitch and his mate, and Ben, both from here--I went up to the weed counter and spoke a bit to James who I knew from his pics on this site--he turned out in the couple of minutes I spoke to him to be the coolest budtender of the trip--no contest--he has such an infectious friendliness backed up by his Jamaican/ Caribbean accent---I buy a gram of Bas Special and a gram of Himalaya hash and a couple of freshly squeezed orange juices and settle down and have a relaxed smoking session with the guys---Twitch is rolling a joint of cheese which quite frankly would flatten a horse---he dumps endless grinder loads into this pure joint which he constructs in a leisurly fashion , taking his time--I get passed a few puffs of different weeds by the assembled company which I try out as I make and smoke a joint each of Bas Special and one also of Himalaya hash

This turns out to be a happy accident as the Bas Special and Himalaya compliment each other perfectly--First the bas special which was a nice smoke without being particularly tasty--the effect however is really nice---if you were to make a weed with scored 8 out of 10 on all levels it would be the Bas Special--this stuff gets you stoned but keeps you in control--the best weed of the trip when it comes to wandering around stoned out of your box but still in control


The Himalaya hash from Basjoe took me back to the late seventies and the black hash we had then only this was twice as good---relly old school '' Black Flavour '' lovely floating dreamy effect which mixed with the racier Bas Special seemed to just hit all the right buttons

We sit there smoking away the lot of us--not too much conversation but we were all stoned out of our dome and everybody is happy--after an hour or so we all go our different ways--thanks guys, enjoyed the company

While we were in Basjoes Mary asks James if he knows where the cafe Aldo Jazz club is, I read about this place from someone on this site and I fancy a night out at this place---James goes on a bit about where it is and says its down next to Bourbon Street--sorted-----we leave Basjoes and hunt around for Bourbon Street even looking for it on a street map ---no Bourbon street to be found anywhere---only later on outr last day do we find out that Bourbon Street is a night club somewhere---och well we'll check it out next time

I get a fantastic Sicilian style pizza from a Italian restaurant down next to rookies in which I discover I love anchovies--fantastic--we have a few drinks in the hard rock cafe which is slightly more expensive that usual but worth it because the music is great and I'm wrecked--later I decide to go into Dolphins coffeeshop, as Mary likes the look of the decor which is coral reef themed---its not really my scene but in I go and buy a gram of WHITE DOLPHIN , as soon as we sit down the budtender tells us no tobacco only pure---We are both gobsmacked by this as the obvious irony hits home---we can smoke weed but not tobacco---anyway I leave with my purchase without any hard feelings--its the policy of the shop and the budtender was very polite the way he told us-----the white dolphin turns out to be pretty good actually---some kind of haze I'd wager

Instead we head into the bulldog coffeeshop on the Leiden splein where I dont buy any weed but sit with a couple of coffeees and rolling this white dolphin--I'm saving the Bas Special and Himalaya hash----I dont really like the Bulldog but it is a well postioned coffeeshop to sit and watch a lot going on all around us-----around 10pm we wander around a bit more--the rain isnt bothering us one bit--being from Scotland we know rain well--and this is nice warm drizzly rain--not too unpleasant---we decide to head back to the hotel and we smoke and drink and mess around till we fall asleep-----another great day--I feel so relaxed and chilled with all this by now

Great writing!

About Dolphins: Since the new rules, Dolphins has been pure only upstairs and tobacco downstairs. However, when I was there earlier this year, they were apparently having some serious problems with the wooden floor downstairs. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a major repair job going on down there.

I sure hope the comfy couches of the tobacco area will be back.

I'm loving this trip report. It sounds like you and the missus had a wonderful trip. Thanks for taking the time and effort to share your adventures with us.