We must have been the first customers through the doors, but that was not important; what was important, was the two volcanos standing proud. Josh still had some white shark left, so he just bought a coffee and was allowed to vape his own stuff, and I bought a gram of Diesel. The budtender showed us how to use the volcanos, and then let us fill the bags. I had two bags of diesel, followed by a diesel joint and a number of chocomels. Josh at this point, had to leave for the airport, so after saying goodbye, and getting his business card so I could add him on facebook, I decided to leave 420.
I was absolutely trashed. So wasted infact, that I cannot remember what came after that, so to avoid confusion, I'll jump straight to going to Haarlem. After leaving the station, I walked into WW Sativa and bought another prerolled joint and coffee, which was very good, and met two German students who were living in Haarlem IIRC, and two Russians on holiday. Lovely chaps. I had to have my way down a perfectly straight road pointed out to me a few times, but I found Grote Markt, in full market swing. According to the hotel staff, I walked around the square a total of 6 times, each time passing my hotel, in search of my hotel, and each time looking progressively more and more confused which amused the hotel staff to no end.
I hiked the three flights of Dutch Suicide Stairs, got to my room, cleaned myself up, changed my clothes and headed out again. I decided to visit all three Willie Wortel's that day, so I made my way (slowly) to the Indica store, opposite De Adriaan.
On arrival, I was met by a lively store, entirely local but nobody was even interested in the fact that I was a tourist, which was nice. The lady on the bar was very nice, and recommended to me a Pre-rolled White Widow joint, which was very good, though not as strong as the White Widow joints I make back home in the UK. Later, another member of staff turned up, and served me a coke, he was also a lovely guy, and gave me a few tips and some advice. When I said I was touring the Willie Wortels in Haarlem, he scurried off into a closet and got me a High in Holland leaflet (which I kept and brought home), he drew the route to Sinsemilla store out for me which was very good of him. This shop features as one of my favourite three.
I walked over to WW Sinsemilla, which was surprisingly empty given that it was about 4pm at this time, I bought a gram of Lavender Haze, which absolutely sublime. The smell, taste and high were absolutely spot on. The staff here seemed a little disinterested, and the shop looked like it had seen better days since they moved into that space, but the German train seats were comfortable, and the outdoor terrace nice and warm. The only drinks available are through 2 machines on the raised section. Avoid the hot drinks, they were vile and a waste of money. Given that the photos I had seen photos of their crew building a nice looking drinks bar on their website, this came as a disappointment. It was getting late, and I needed some sleep and food at this point, so I left.
I ate a kebab and chips, and went to bed, at the late time of 8:30 PM. At this point, I discovered that in my stoned state, I packed the US plug socket adapter instead of the EU one, thus, I had no phone and no camera. The only pics I managed to take was one of the ship funnel, and a blurry one of the volcano at 420. Gutted.
The next day, I awoke at 5AM fresh as a daisy; my body thinking it was 6AM and time to get up for college, I decided to have a little walk around Haarlem to get myself acquainted to it whilst it was still quiet, and before the hotel served breakfast.
After breakfast, I decided it was still a little early to head into Amsterdam, so I grabbed the last of my diesel, and asked a market worker about a decent coffeeshop to visit, and on her advice, I visited High Times - our relationship was just beginning. I got my first taste of Shiva there, and used their computer to use the ACD map to plan my route
I arrived in Amsterdam at about 10AM having totally forgotten about the map I looked at, and decided just to walk until I found something interesting. Somehow, I wound up in the Jordaan area, which was peaceful and quaint, and then Haarlemmer straat. My first shop of the day in Amsterdam was the Greenhouse Lounge.
This shop was OK with a cool inbuilt fishtank. The budtender was nice, but the two women on the other bar were not so nice, however, the gram of Green Crack more than made up for it. I can see why it is a renowned medical strain, the body high was so pleasant and intense. One joint left me feeling extremely happy, so I decided to try it with a bong. The ladies at the drinks bar also deal with the bongs, and it was like my request to rent one was a massive chore. I couldn't even get it lit, so I handed it back and reclaimed my E10. I was getting bored of the bad vibes so I left, still high from the GC. Walking down Haarlemmer Straat, I popped into Popeye's, I bought a Hot Chocomel with a mountain of cream for E3.50 and made another joint of the Green crack with their permission. This is a good shop, not as flashy or as hippyish as others, but the staff were great, and the chocomel was like having an orgasm in my mouth. I used one of their laptops to reload the ACD map, and learned that the Piccasso was also on the same street, so that was my next shop.
The dude running this place looked fucking menacing. But after buying a coffee and chatting, he turned out to be a nice guy and I have a lot of respect for him, and his cool shop, as well as the excellent coffee he makes. He allowed me to smoke my own gear, so I finished my Diesel and drank my coffee. It was empty in the shop, the only other person in the upstairs section was another dude who looked like he was gonna pull a whitey, I have him my spare sugar cubes and left him to it.
I was feeling hungry, and not in the mood for fast food, so I went into AH, and bought myself a little packed lunch before sitting by one of the canals to eat lunch and allow myself to come down a bit from the mornings smoke. It worked, and I was ready to do something educational, so I headed over to the Cannabis College.
I loved this place, for the fact that it was laid back, educational and they allow you to smoke or vape with their own vaporisers. It is well worth the E2.50 to see their garden, especially as the ticket is valid for a few weeks, although small, it is comprehensive, with a large inventory of books and leaflets to read.
The rest of the day passed without any excitement, I never smoked anything that stood out. I visited the Corrie Ten Boom museum, and had dinner.
The next day, I decided to spend the majority of it in Haarlem so as normal, I kicked off the day in High Times with another Shiva joint before heading to the big department store in search of a UK to EU socket converter, but it was closed so I continued up the road to WW Sinsemilla and bought a hash joint, this time the staff were even less disinterested so I decided to smoke it elsewhere, which happened to be Easy Going. This place was OK, nothing to make it stand out though, and I had to ask the lady at the bar to put the telly on because the silence was actually starting to hurt. I wish I hadn't because Beyonce was on MTV and that hurt much more. I tried a weed joint from there that was OK. The hash joint I bought earlier at the Sinsemilla was very good as well, such a shame I felt unwelcome at WW though. The department store opened, and they didn't have the socket I needed so I headed back towards High Times, stopping off at Maximillian to buy an Isolator joint. This was a big hitter, and left me in a world all of my own.
Back at high times, and with another Shiva joint, my stoned world was shattered by a police raid. They took my details, and sent them over the radio which made me somewhat paranoid, though I had done nothing wrong and the police were friendly enough. I was also convinced that one of the younger male officers was checking me out, strange, I know. I decided to head to another part of the city, so I walked down to WW Sativa, passing the Empire which also had officers outside it. As I approached Sativa, I saw yet more police officers. I then decided to head to Birdies, but got lost after walking through the small underpass next to Centraal station and finding a park type place with benches, I felt I needed to calm down, so I sat there and smoked a few cigarettes and had a bottle of coke. On walking back, the officers were gone, and it was like nothing happened. Freaky. By this point, I was starting to get a little bored of Haarlem, and was considering going back to Amsterdam for the night.
After much stoned consideration, I boarded an empty train to Amsterdam centraal, and walked around again, this time finding a coffeeshop that I still haven't figured out the name of, but it was decked out with fake palm trees and there was a youngish mixed raced guy behind the counter. I'm giving these details because I hope someone else knows the place - I really wanna go back there in august! The white widow joint done the trick, and I got chatting to some Iraqi guys who were nice and very stoned. After walking around, I came across Soft Temple. This place was cool, I loved sitting upstairs looking out the window at a busy, albeit rainy red light district evening with a weak hash joint. If I had my phone charged, I am convinced that listening to Shpongle's Nothing Lasts But Nothing Is Lost would have taken me to outerspace at this point. The atmosphere here was amazing, the mix of warm colours, arabic decorations and lamps was like being in Morocco. Perfect for that album.
I wanted to look at the ACD map again, so I walked up towards Centraal station and popped into Siberie (I think) for an AK47 joint, that I smoked next door at the Rokerij 2 whilst using their internet terminal. Then the munchies hit, so remembering what I read, I went in search of Burger Bar, but ended up at Wok to Walk, where I discovered a hole in my pocket had taken the E50 note, my tips, and lighter on the walk there. I was pissed off, and felt embarraced because I knew I was genuine, but the staff there looked and laughed at me as if I was another homeless junkie. I walked out close to tears. I managed to get more money from my bank account, but I was fuming so I headed back to Haarlem hoping to find some food when I got there. It was dead. Not even the Macdonalds was open, not the BK at the station. Which was good, because I walked back to the hotel saying nothing but extreme profanities about the evening and the wankers at Wok to Walk. I went to bed with any buzz totally killed.
Next day, I packed my bags and headed down to the breakfast for the last time. After stopping at High Times for the last time, I began the sad walk back to Centraal station, stopping of course, at WW Sativa. The guy there remembered me, and welcomed me as if I were a local, which took the edge off the night before, I bought a sativa joint and smoked it on the comfy train seats at the back, by the pool table with a coffee, before heading back to Amsterdam for the last time. I decided to go in search for a coffeeshop internet cafe I saw on my first day, to no avail, so I killed the time at the Vondelpark with a generic hash joint before heading to Amstel bus station.
My next trip is planned for this august, I hope I have learned from my mistakes, and now I know where to go, I look forward to returning.
Thanks for reading
