PPG & Damsel's Summer Trip 2010

[puffpuffgive]

Sunday 27th June

We travelled British Airways this time from Heathrow, instead of Easyjet from Gatwick. Experience pretty much the same, except they served a breakfast roll & tea on the 45min flight. Popped out of Centraal station at about 09:15 and headed for The Green Place, remembering it doesn’t open ‘til 10. So it’s into Hunters and 1g of Kushadelic 12e for me and 1g of Bubblegum for the lady. Kushadelic is pleasant but unremarkable, not getting any ‘kushy’ tastes off it, more like a haze. Bubblegum is a standard example of the mass-produced strains in ‘dam, bit harsh of the throat. (Damsel: Personally loved the Bubblegum, AND the breakfast roll on the plane, yum! Also was shocked to find Amsterdam had been vomited on by the Orange football monster since my last visit…)

After admiring the luminous yellow fish in here we get back on track. There’s a huge and awesome market at Nieuwmarkt today so we roll around that for a while, there’s lots of really cool stuff there for fair prices. Like handmade books/jewellry, 2ndhand books, art etc. I also got the tasty fruited roll with cheese from Albert Heijn’s sandwich section that I enjoy. Then it’s into the Green Place.

This has been my fave shop for a while now. I pick up 0.5g of Purple Kush(14e/g), Candy Kush (14?e/g), Trainwreck (10e/g) and HIA (9e/g). I\ve said it before and I’ll say it again- PK is amazing. Rich, deep flavour with violet notes, totally unique, excellent strong effect. This really is the perfect strain for me. Candy Kush is also very strong and tastes like candy floss (cotton candy). The Trainwreck is a great strain- fruity and delicious, I found this to be a great daytime & walking around strain, not as punishing as the name suggests but great fun. HIA is a nice clean standard Moroccan- very pleasant. We sit in the front window and blaze away happily. I can smell the blueberry cheese anytime someone asks to look at it, it absolutely reeks and I can tell it’s gonna be too heavy for me, just put me down. (Damsel: I cheekily smoked puffpuffgive’s tasty purchases at the Green Place and didn’t buy any myself as we were supposed to be trying to hold back on the 1st day *cough, cough* although someone didn’t quite manage that… Also, Green Place is a great place to watch the beauties of Amsterdam cycle past! )

After this, We aim South and walk down the Vijzelstraat. I’ve walked up and down this road countless times but never been to Coffeeshop Little, a basement shop on the left hand side as you walk down. Did I mention the weather? It’s incredibly hot and sunny, the green place was really hot and we’re looking for somewhere to cool off. Well the shady recesses of Little look just right so we settle down and the lady gets 1g of Morning Breeze 7e/g which turns out to be a nice, light, fruity daytime smoke. We drank reasonably priced drinks and ate the Nacho Cheese Bugels we bought down the road, I smoked some HIA hash. Thumbs up for coffeeshop Little, it’s nice & friendly. (Damsel: Agreed Coffee shop Little was sweet, also loved Morning Breeze super tasty! Nice relaxing atmosphere and tasty wafers/biscuits came with the 1Euro40cent Tea. Nice. Warning:: Any girl walking past Coffee shop Little in a short skirt, the low windows afford customers a sneaky peek...)

We walked to the Vondelpark, on the way there I spotted a girl eating a Cola Calippo. (For those not already ‘in the know’, a Calippo is a frozen ice treat in a paper ‘tube’ packet that you kind of squeeze up) I’d never seen a Cola one before so I popped into the nearest joint advertising ‘Ola’ and got one. It was gross. But not to worry, there are further ice cream revelations later in this story. We sat in the Vondelpark and smoked and chatted until it was 2pm and time to check in at out hotel. Would usually stay at the cheap & cheerful hotel/hostel Groenendael on Nieuwendijk, but the awesome Damsel had managed to find a cheap last minute deal provided we stayed at the Apple Inn just on the easterly side of the Vondelpark. It’s an OK hotel, our room was fine, quite large, clean, basic, en suite shower & toilet but we weren’t gonna be spending much time there anyway. We dumped our bags and headed out again.

I’d told my girl about The Burger Bar but never been there myself. She was very interested as was I so we trekked back up to Oudebrugsteeg, it wasn’t til later I discovered there was one considerably closer! THIS PLACE IS AMAZING. Best burger I’ve ever had, better than Gourmet Burger Kitchen in London. 200g Black Angus for me with bacon cheese & lettuce- heavenly  (Damsel: The Burger bar actually has a website: www.burger-bar.nl for those interested, I had goats cheese and mushrooms and it was the best burger ever!)

It’s gotta be the 420 next as it’s so close, but it’s also super-hot in there. I took a look at the Neville’s Haze but no half grams allowed so I passed and just enjoyed the company of the continually comatose cat. We move on El Guapo on Nieuw Niuewstraat but it’s busy with football-watchers so I decide to check out a place I haven’t been to yet, Bagheera. It’s quite a nice, simple place with a decent menu but what really wanted to try- cheesy butter- was out of stock. I pop into Basjoe and take a peek at the Terminator, but it’s horrendously expensive and looks really hard to smoke. It’s at this point I start thinking about Bushdoctor. I get half a gram of Bas Special which is tight, hard nugs stinkin’ of something kushy. It’s a complete knockout and slows time down about 600% as if you were the chilled-out budtender James.

After grabbing a delicious and creamy FEBO strawberry shake (small) for 2e and Damsel got a Burger King which I helped her eat. Then we headed for Thorbeckplein and I got half a gram of Grandaddy Kush melt hash from Bushdoctor for 27.50e. You can read more about this here and there’s a pic on the second page https://www.coffeeshopdirect.com/forum/viewt ... =grandaddy I said I wasn’t gonna treat myself this trip as money was a bit tight, but the half gram lasted me 3 days 
The staff here are rude though and annoyed when she asked how much the space cakes were and he gave her this really sickly, shitty smile and smarmed “7 euro”. She bought it anyway as it had white chocolate and yummy non pareils (hundreds&thousands) on it- but according to the ingredients, only 0.1g of weed in it. (Damsel: Cake was tasty, but worth more like 2Euro then 7 so definite rip off and as for the smarmy guy… what an epic douche-bag…)

It was now about six pm and still stiflingly hot everywhere so it was over to Little, escaping into the (marginally) cooler basement shop for cups of tea and a major smoke-out. After a couple of hours some annoying gangsta-style music came on, we were both knackered after getting up at 03:30 so retired to the hotel room. It was non-smoking, so we popped outside for a last smoke of the evening.. I cracked into my ice hash and was out like a light.

[puffpuffgive]

Monday 28th June, 2010

We both slept like the proverbial logs and awoke feeling woolheaded but also strangely refreshed. I walked to the local Albert Heijn for milk and water whilst Damsel showered. We decided to hit up De Graal first as it had been recommended on the forums and was a short walk from our hotel. I can happily report that THIS PLACE IS AWESOME! Cosy and friendly, yet reasonably large inside with 3 levels, looks kind of like a living room with lots of mismatched furniture, chess sets, books, bric a brac and ornaments from around the world. A very nice vibe here.

The friendly tender showed me some nice looking hashes, They were out of the White Gold he recommended as first maroc, but picked up 0.5g of Amnesia Haze and 0.5g Caramello whilst Damsel opted for 0.5g Goldrup. The Amnesia was an excellent example of it’s kind, and I haven’t had better caramello in Dam, so all smiles this morning! The Goldrup was excellent too. But the Amnesia had us both licking our lips- I used to be a big fan of this strain but ‘got bored’ of it after trip 5 or so and have only now gone back to it. Awesome, big fruity flavour, strong trippy high, too strong for the morning really but we enjoyed the ride all the same. Caramello had that characteristic greasy/queasy high and sweet taste. I showed the budtender ACD and the review thread on De Graal, he was very interested and bookmarked it! (Damsel: De Graal is my new favourite coffee shop. The cat “Red” is super cute and cuddly and when a Dutch guy came to borrow tobacco and we grinned at the no tobacco signs hidden around the room he simply said “Ohhh, No. That’s bullsh*t. That’s just for the Law.” This is the quote of the trip:))

Damsel was feeling a bit delicate still and wanted something bland to eat, so I got her a cup of tea and some of the biscuits they had in a jar behind the counter for 5c each or something. They turned out to be plain oaty bio biscuits, kind of like rich tea- perfect! We could’ve stayed in here all day and I think we did stay ‘til about midday, but I dragged us out to get exploring. We grabbed a Maoz and a black cherry yoghurt drink and Damsel got an acorn-shaped tea strainer from the market, then we set to perambulating the Herengracht. My re-encounter with Amnesia Haze reminded me that I hadn’t been in Amnesia since it’s makeover a couple of years back and that they always had quality gear.

I wasn’t to be disappointed. The helpful budtender took a break from directing obvious first-timers around town to show me pretty much everything on the menu. It all looked good. I got 0.5g of Top Dog (e/g?) (a nice, old-school fresh indica) and 0.5g of XXX hash 30e/g(?). This black hash looked perfectly pure as he kneaded it and broke apart the huge lump in front of me. We sat and sampled, and both proved to be awesome, especially the XXX hash. Beautiful clear clean PURE hash taste, some of the best black I’ve ever had. Strongly reminiscent of Afghan Ice which came from The Doors last year. Damsel got a Berry & crushed ice sorbet drink which tasted good but leaves one with a LOT of seeds in the teeth. (Damsel: The Amnesia sorbet drink (4Euros) was gorgeous and helped wash down the Moaz falafel we had shared for lunch, which was super tasty and cheap! Card Game: puffpuffgive 1-5 Damsel ha ha…)

I had a hankering for more of that Trainwreck (it’s addictive!) so it was over to Green Place for a gram which came as one fat poppin’ nug. Awesome smoke. It was too hot to stay in there for long though so we loaded up on chocolate and cakes at an awesome bakery/patisserie place on Vijzelstraat and headed for a shady spot in the Vondelpark. We got some Koggertjes, which are these very thin crispy and slightly chewy caramel biscuits that we had with our hot drinks in coffeeshops- highly recommended. It was at this point, sun still sweltering down, that I decided I needed another ice lolly, and not a horrible cola calippo. I picked a ‘Festini’ out of a fridge, it was only 70c and looked fruity and cold. ‘Peren’, it said on the side. My Dutch wasn’t quite good enough to realize this was pear before I tasted it. These things are opaque white with tiny black dots. They are basically frozen pear juice and they are DELICIOUS. They retain the texture and perfect flavour of pear with perhaps some added sugar or sweetener. They are completely awesome- like frozen pear loozas. These were the non-weed revelation of the trip. If you get need to cool down in Dam this summer, they sell these everywhere where there’s an ‘Ola’ ice cream sign, and cost between 60c and 1.40e depending on how much of a tourist you look. From this point onwards, I usually had a Festini stuck in my mouth whenever in direct sunlight.

Sitting in the Vondel and doobin’ away by the water, it’s just after Holland have won a match and people are running through the park in great processions, whooping and hollering. This guy dressed head to toe in orange and riding an orange painted bike comes caroming into the clearing and takes a piss against a nearby tree. We glare at him but he’s unconcerned. Afterwards he comes to talk to us, and he’s a typical vondelpark nutjob. Endlessly repeating himself, trying to tell us about how he loves people and is a hippy and he hates the police, and keeps on repeating “You know Liverpool? You know Liverpool? You know Liverpool?” and peppering his speech with “You don’t believe me? You don’t believe me? You know Liverpool?” I spark a small skin of the granddaddy melt hash and this Dam local, complete with large bag of hash and weed dangling from his waist, pricks up his nose. His eyes bug out. “That’s some very good hash you have there,” he says in a rare moment of lucidity. I pass the little smoke and he takes a couple of polite tokes before passing it back, declaring it to be too strong for him. Eventually we managed to get rid of him and he must have gone to bother someone else, as I hear “You don’t believe me..” drifting across the breeze.

We check out Resteraunt Dosa on the other side of the park but it’s pretty expensive. There’s a chain of resteraunts in London called Chennai Dosa http://www.chennaidosa.com/ which are awesome, was hoping to sample the ‘Dam version but we were on a bit of a budget so got pancakes from somewhere else instead. Next it was over to Popeye’s, I got half a gram of Pink Kush which smelt fruity & subtly tempting in the tub.. My half gram turned out to be one awesome little fat nug. Unfortunately the smoke was not up to scratch, weak taste and effect, not worth 15e/g and was glad I hadn’t bought the whole gram. I have found Pink Kush to be very variable. Also got half a gram of Alladin’s Chocolate 15e/g, some of the finest maroc in Dam in my opinion. I need to find something just like this for 10euros or less- that is my mission for my next trip  Sweet, tasty, strong, pine-mint cooling hit to the sinuses, everything I could want out of a hash. Recommended. Damsel got a gram of White Shark for 10e which was a nice white-widowy smoke, quite smooth & strong.

Notes get a little hazy around here- I believe we went to Abraxas II and shared a gram of Hawaiian Haze (13e/g??) which was up to scratch, much like amnesia haze with a more ‘tropical’ taste and possibly not quite as trippy. We sat out front, it was shady there, and chatted to some tourists. Out walking again, we passed Goa with it’s tempting canalside seating and rested our butts for an hour with some tea. I got MASHED on granddaddy melt hash. After this we headed back hotelwards but it was only 9 or 10 or something so we sat in the awesome De Graal until closing. I got 0.5g Malana hash- LOVELY. Warm, comforting, pervading high & lovely taste. Damsel got 0.5g of tasty Amnesia. We toked happily, played monopoly cards ( http://www.play.com/Toys/Toys/4-/890274 ... oard+Games ) and generally soaked up the chill ambience until it was time for bed. (Damsel: The White Shark was yum, but the Amnesia is better, also interesting bells can be heard from local church when sitting outside Goa on the hour…)

[puffpuffgive]

Tuesday 29th June

Started off today with an AWESOME Trainwreck wake & bake in the Vondelpark, as we sat by the water and watched the fishes eat the flies, a herd of ducks came over to share out breakfast of nacho cheese bugels and cherries. Then who should fly over and land right next to us than a huge heron. The parrots were chirping in the trees, the weather was excellent and even my hay fever had abated temporarily. Perfection, and a good reason to stay in a hotel near the Park! (Damsel: Agreed!)

I dropped Damsel off at De Graal whilst I made a flying visit to nearby Club Media for 1g Hindu Kush 9euro. On the way back I found this incredible bakery- it’s on albert cuypstraat just a couple of doors up from De Graal. It’s a Simon Meijsson but they have a huge sparkling kitchen in back that you can see, and a heavenly selection of cakes, meringues, breads & croissants. Had had a cheese croissant for 1.25e –PERFECT. This place is expensive but rivals any of the posh London bakeries I’ve stopped at. It’s great to see them making the meringues too.

Back to De Graal Damsel was sitting happily and had bought another gram of Amnesia. I told the budtender at De Graal I’d just been to see one of his competitors and he deadpanned “We have no competitors.” I’d been after Hindu Kush on my last visit (and possibly the one before that) and they’d been out of stock, so I quickly fired up a doob. IT’S GREAT! I’ve had Afghan Kush from Canada before and this was very similar. Unique taste, hard to describe, almost ‘soapy’ but in an entirely pleasant way. Strong excellent high. A new favourite for me, will be buying this again.

After another very pleasant couple hours at de graal we move on, sad that we’ll probably stick to the more central areas of town to be ready for our journey home at 7pm and won’t be back here for some time. I fancy a new coffeeshop so we walk over to Crush. It’s a downstairs internet café/coffeeshop. I get a gram of King Hassan 10e which is okay, not my favourite type of hash but it seems so popular with locals so I keep trying it- to me, this always has the slightest note of UK soapbar to the taste. Damsel picks up a gram of ‘Limon’ Haze which seems pleasant, lemony smell & spicy taste. (Damsel: Limon Haze good, but the décor in Crush is too sports bar and not enough soul.)

Then it’s over to Sanementeerung, the weird African bric-a-brac/coffeeshop. It’s deserted apart from the woman that runs the place and some guy, picking through beads and baubles. We get tea & stink the place out with fine sensi. There is a cat asleep in the window and a distinctly bizarre, carnival atmosphere to the place. I always have to come here. Damsel loves it too and I buy her a little pin from the shirt with hundreds of pins all for 1euro on it. (Damsel: I do love this place, was my favourite until we discovered De Graal, but I still love it, so many bargains for 1 Euro!)

Green Place next for a final 0.5g of Purple Kush, probably my fave strain in Dam for almost two years running, and then over to 420 for a final smokeout. We chatted to various people in there, willing the clock to slow down, but it was seven soon enough and we headed for the station. An awesome trip, much needed, and managed not to break the bank too hard.

A couple of scraps of hash and a nuglet of purple kush made it back in my hand luggage but no pics, sorry. Hope this report gives a few people some pointers on where to head outside of centrum!

Kushdown (in order of preference):

Purple Kush 14e/g
Hindu Kush 9e/g
Candy Kush 14e/g
Kushadelic 12e/g
Pink Kush 15e/g

[Paco]

Thanks for sharing your great trip report.
Looks like de Graal is the place to be right now

[pengaldinho]

Nice reporting. I agree the Purple Kush from Greenplace has been top notch 2/3 of my last trips (was pissed when it wasnt there the most recent). There are so many hidden gems in De Pijp. Got to get to De Graal next time, Papillion is my favourite so far.

[Iko]

Thanks guys for the GREAT report, very "He Said - She Said "- " 500 Days Of Summer " vibe, really like it.

[RollUp]

good shit! i really enjoyed the descrption of each high! it made it all the more real.

i also agree with IKO, the his and hers opinions worked out well. i will have to remember that when it comes time to write up.

[Embraman]

Great report PPG,thanks for the effort,De Graal definetely gonna get a visit soon,sounds really good(i love to sit stoned and clap the house cats).
Liked to see your ladies coments too but my wifes would be "Went to another coffeeshop,bored me talking about weed,they all smell the same to me,can't understand why he gets so excited,yawn,i need a drink and to look at shoes and spend money on housey crap before he starts drooling" .
Sounds like you had a great trip,thanks for the good info,another few added to the next list .Peace,Embraman

[Damsel]

Te He!

It definitely helps when in Amsterdam to have a partner as enthusiastic about coffee shops and smoking as you are! Thanks for all the nice comments from everyone too!

[Rufus]

Wow, detailed report!! Excellent, thanks...also good to see that other people are under pressure in coffeeshops from their partners:
"I'm bored, we've been here an hour already, it's too dark...Jesus Christ look at the state of your eyes" My hubby has therefore been dumped for my next trip

[colinzeal]

nice report, sounds like fun was had!

[ftcarer]

Outstanding write -up mate

[Trad]

Good report PPG & Damsel....nice to have the two gender aspects of the same trip. Great descriptions of the many strains you two managed to burn.
Thanks for taking the time and effort to share with us.