DAY 1
I walked out of Centraal to be greeted by a sunny, spring morning in my favourite city. After a starry-eyed stumble down Damrak, I decided to hop on a tram to De Pijp to find my apartment. I found it on a picturesque residential street - kids playing football in the road, an elderly couple walking their dog, a couple of local bars and shops, and of course my first glimpse of a coffeeshop. I got myself settled in, stocked up on food and headed out.
Ocean - Since this was literally a couple of doors down from me, I thought I'd give it a try despite not really knowing anything about it. I was the only person in there and when I got in, I was immediately greeted with a shitty attitude. The young male budtender looked up from his phone+ and sighed out the words "Can I help you?". I looked at the something-or-other haze and it smelt of nothing and looked very poorly trimmed. I decided I wanted more from my first coffeeshop stop so I left without a purchase.
Katsu - I wasn't put off by Ocean because I was in too much of a good mood to care. It was warm and sunny, I was in my favourite place, everybody who walked past me was smiling and after walking through Sarphatipark I found myself at Katsu. The front room had a few locals sitting around talking amongst themselves and having a smoke. I was greeted by the slightly older female BT with a smile and a menu. I first looked at the sogouda ice (0.4g/€10) but there wasn't much smell to it and I'm never particularly excited by the look of prebagged hash. I had a look at the mango haze and immediately took 0.7g for €10 based on the aroma. Really full on fruity pineapple smell going on and very healthy looking nugs. I sat down and rolled it into one joint. Unfortunately the downstairs bit is closed for renovations so no verdampers and it did get slightly cramped when groups came in but it seemed like people were just buying and flying. The mango really had a beautiful taste to it (very representative of the smell), burnt with entirely white/grey and a light sativa-y head high that made the tip of my tongue very numb. Not blisteringly strong but just what I wanted for my first smoke.
I left and made my way through Albert Cuypmarkt to get to Vondlepark. As I was walking through the market, the high started to intensify and give me that weird forgetful and slightly confused high that I'm normally not a fan of but, once again, I was so happy to be there that nothing could kill my buzz. Once I had walked through half of Vondlepark with my head in the clouds, I reached my next destination.
Kashmir Lounge - I walked into the coffeeshop counter part and bought half a gram of diesel for €5.50. I honestly don't remember much about the coffeeshop because I went straight across the road to the lounge. I'm a big fan of the vibe in here. Very relaxed, very comfortable seating and (as my stoned notes tell me) very good music. Think they were playing some old soul classics
. I got a drink and rolled up my bud of diesel. Don't remember much about the look or the effect but I do remember buying it because of its hefty fuel smell that came across very well in taste too. This is definitely the most distinctive diesel I've ever smelt and it really lives up to its namesake. Once I had recharged my body and mind, I thanked the helpful bartender and emerged from the gloom back out into the afternoon sun.Dampkring - After a blissed-out walk up through Centrum, I arrived at Spui and subsequently Dampkring. I came here for sensibille but they were out. The bearded BT told me to come back in half an hour so I left and had a wander. There was an art and book market on the square so I had a browse and got myself a ridiculous painting of a Medieval Dutch man striking a pose as if to shout "READY OR NOT, HERE I COME!!" with a story in Dutch on the back (which I should probably translate at some point). I walked past the Dampkring Gallery but to be honest the art looked pretty terrible (for my taste) so I didn't go in. Having walked all the way up to Oude Kerk, I turned back to head for some rifman hash... When I walked in the door, the BT who initially served me whipped out the tub as soon as he saw me and ushered me to the front of the queue. It looked as perfect as ever so I got myself 2g of sensibille for €30. One of those grams made it home with me. This stuff is very soft and quite sweet but still retains the earthy smell of outdoor plants. Effects-wise it's a river in paradise, just as advertised.
After smoking a bit of that, having a chat with that same BT and receiving a free drink at his request (really top notch service here this time round), I headed out for some dinner. I found Norling Tibetan restaurant near Spui. Tasteful interior, great service, nice atmosphere and most importantly, fantastic food. I had a stab in the dark and got some kind of creamy/potato-y/spicey rice dish. It was bloody brilliant. Not too extortionate in price for that area either so I'd highly recommend it if you're looking for some slightly left field Oriental food.
Utopia - My next stop was a TnT at my favourite coffeeshop. Despite having been active on the forum for a while, I'd never actually got round to doing any of the ACD meets so I figured this had to be the best opportunity since I didn't have any friends that I was guiding (or dragging) around. I had been walking all day so I opted for a full-body indica to finish off the job I had started
. James recommended the kandydential and silver LA. Both looked great but genetics-wise I much prefer silver bubble to kandy kush so I opted for a gram of the latter for €13. It didn't really have much of an LA smell or look to it and definitely had the silver present in taste but as I'd discover, that LA really comes across strong in effect. I sat down and introduced myself to Lemming, J, Gapie, Danny211204, a couple others whose names slipped by me and of course Ingi (who I see every trip but never formally introduce myself). I had a lovely time chatting with her, Lem and J while being constantly bombarded with an onslaught of crazy joints from Gapie's table. Don't know what was in them but I know Ingi contributed a fair bit of iso's and I know there was some shatter in there somewhere. I tried to give back as much as I took but my silver LA was gone pretty quickly!! Nice sesh but it was suddenly dark which meant it was time for me to venture out and see the other side of the city. We agreed on a plan to meet in Birdy in Haarlem at 4:20 the next day.I'm not entirely sure where I walked that night but I know I was wandering about for around 2 hours before reaching De Pijp and my apartment. I sat down to relax and smoke some leftover hash but I realised that I can sit at home smoking hash in London, Malawi or anywhere in the world so I hopped up and got myself round the corner to...
De Graal - Quite possibly my favourite CS experience of the trip. Entered the dealer's booth to be greeted enthusiastic by the friendly gentleman serving. Really diverse and large menu at the moment. I asked to see the kashmir and super cream. No SC but was shown the cream. Looked like a standard nice blonde moroc but for €12 not really something was interested in at that moment. Kashmir however looked fantastic so I bought 1.33g for €20. Usually I'm not a massive fan of black hash but I was going for a late-night indica leaning hash and this stuff just looked perfectly dark and soft with a spicey twist on that oily black smell. I went and sat in a dangerously comfy armchair downstairs. A couple of others were down there quietly playing chess and enjoying their Friday night smoke. It was just so nice and relaxed. I smoked a big joint with a mint tea accompaniment and just slumped into my chair. Not much of a strong taste with this stuff but it will creep up on you and completely rock you. Not one I'd pick for the daytime, but an excellent choice for nights - put my faith back into black hash. The budtender was kind enough to sell me another 0.33g for €5 so I could roll another for the road and send the remaining gram back home. I thanked him for his help and headed back out.
I strolled down scenic canalsides, smoking my last joint and wondering what tomorrow had in store. The creeps hanging around outside the local red lights weren't giving me the best of looks but the kashmir was doing its magic so I breezed past and back to the flat. I sunk into my bed and hit the lights. Great first day. TBC...
) so there were other influences there but I tended to stick to mine as much as possible to get a proper feel for them. After an hour or so, the BT came over and placed a gentle hand on our shoulders to tell us the jelly had arrived. Without so much as a word between us, we hopped up and got what we came for. I rolled all my PSB, half my jelly and Trashcan's remaining mystery haze from Ibiza in one superspliff. The taste were mainly lost on each other but good god did that thing pack a punch... Halfway down the joint, the crew decided it was time to split. FT, eldest and myself planned to meet at Anyday that evening.
... So he gave me my money back and gave me an EARring instead. So I cycled on through the Dam Square carnival madness and up to Homegrown Fantasy. I parked my bike outside, looked in the window and saw it was rammed inside so skipped over the road.
so best of luck in the future to all involved.
