Weeks of planning and anticipation are over and it's time to hit Mokum again. Bag good to go. It's that time of year where the weather can do all sorts of shit so I pack a light rain jacket and a couple of light hoodies, plus all the usual bits and bobs. I've even pre-purchased grinder, papers and filters etc this time, unlike usual where I fall into the first headshop I find and spend a small fortune. I'm even more so excited about this trip because it's my first proper solo since I found this wonderful forum. Was lovely bringing the missus along and we'll do it again soon and my bumbling mates were brilliant company but now with the wealth of knowledge this forum has given me I can really get out there and find some gems. There's been some fantastic reviews on the Maroc hash out west and I've never even been to bloody Boerejongens (Slapself). I'll get to all of them this time, including Utopia and DeGraal!
Usually I'll get the earliest flight out of Luton and be in 'Dam as early as possible, but today I have to drop my missus and her sister at Stanstead, then make my way across to Luton for my early afternoon flight. All runs smoothly and I'm in the car park at Luton with plenty of time to kill. I ponder to myself that maybe I could have made the earlier flight but not all is lost as I have a couple of pre-rolls to help me chill for a couple of hours. I've been lucky enough lately to source some very nice Morrocan hashish through some form of social media. There's no names for them as such, only the stamp that comes on the puck. So we have a joint of 'leaf' and one of 'nemo.' The stamps change every time and batches have varied in potency and effects, but the nemo is one of the best to date. Much more oily and sticky than the leaf and noticeably more potent. A real nice nice head high which can turn quite sedative if over indulged on the bong like I achieved on Friday night. I'm tucked away in the bottom corner of the car park so I just kick back with some YouTube for a couple of hours and then prepare myself for the carnage that is Luton Airport security. It's a nice send off from good old Blighty with a torrential pissing downpour that hasn't stopped for over an hour. Out comes the rainjacket and I shamble my way towards the bus stop.
I fly through here regular with work so I'm used to following the conga line for an age, before gathering shoulder to shoulder like meerkats with complete strangers for another half an hour to walk through the scanners. There's always that delay between putting your kit in the trays and going through the scanners, and that small gathering of people it creates always frustrates me for some reason. I stand there often and drift off, imagining the ability to shout at the staff through a traffic cone to get a fucking grip of this situation. I'm fairly baked today though so I don't really care. I care more about having to hold my jeans up because my belt's in the tray. Everything goes smooth from here on, including a 40 minute flight time announced by the pilot! Quickest one for me to date. Landed in beautiful Dutch sunshine and before I know it I'm walking out at Centraal station in a freaking heatwave. The only time that rainjacket got used for 5 days was walking from the car to departures at Luton! I've got black jeans on and my legs feel like they are cooking, I also tell myself I'm a prat for not bringing shorts.
Straight to Voyagers to check in and grab a first smoke. Grabbed the usual lemon bubble and got a nice 2g single bud. Also grabbed the shoreline which smelt really nice and fruity and had a little bit of the Atlas to add a bit more punch to the first joint. I grind the shoreline up and instantly notice the difference to the example o had from Greenplace in June. This one doesn't have that skunky dankness in there at all, it's just all fruit and sherbet sweet. Was really impressed with how good it smelled and tasted. What was only meant to be a quick blunt turned into an hour chatting to a lad from Huddersfield who lives out in Amsterdam now. A few joints and Loozas later and I think I better head upstairs and drop my kit off, because I've got a fair few cs' I want to visit before the day is done.
Voyagers Hotel, first impressions
Coupled with the fact that I'm a lot higher than I expected to be at this point. I know the single rooms are right at the top so off I go. It is indeed a calve burner, but the sheer excitement of coming back down them and getting out there fuels the climb. I get to the top, I can hear some lads in one of the rooms having a laugh, if they'd happen to open the door now they're going to see a stoned mess who's hanging out of his arse from the intense cardio workout he's just put in. I can't remember my room number, I look at the key fob and there's no number on there either! I have a moment and decide to just try the doors and nothing seems to happen. Another what to do moment and sod it, back down the stairs, into the Coffeeshop and back up again. By the time I got to the top the second time I was holding my hold-all out in front of me like a scene from the fucking Lion King, waiting for this pain to end. The room is basic as expected but it's clean, the bed seems comfy and the view from the awesomely huge opening window is worth the climb alone. Such a good location and price here, and you come out the door and turn left (if you've successfully abseiled down the stairs without dying) and you're in a Coffeeshop.
Rucksack packed with essentials I'm off, bound for Greenplace for a buy and fly of the cheesecake, then onwards to Bagheera for a purchase and a smoke. It's pretty much empty, unlike Voyagers and Greenplace and I grab a seat after having a bit of the Caboose dry sieve. The cheesecake is no longer a piece of hash, more so a goo that is stuck inside a bag so I decide it's not worth the hassle now and proceed to roll a combo of lemon bubble and caboose. I also have a few flavour hits of the caboose on the bubbler I've picked up from a headshop on the way down Geldersekade and kick back for a bit trying to cool down. Friendly Budtender with beard got chatting as he was doing rounds and got talking about the Caboose. Had a few hits of my blunt and told me to come back to try the ice version as it's what he smokes and he highly rates it. It's definitely a different flavour to Morrocan hash, a little more spicy and a nice new flavour to try. I have a couple of hits of Atlas in the bubbler as I'm craving that Morrocan taste and need to get out there and find more examples. Only problem about getting out there and finding more examples is it's hard to do so when you're battered from a combination of hash and flower, and walking out of the Coffeeshop is like getting off a plane in Basra. Where the shitting hell did this weather come from?!? I shamble back up to the Albert Hein near Greenplace and grab a big bottle of orange juice and chill canal side for a bit in the shade, finish off the shoreline and pre roll the last of the caboose for the journey to easy times.
Easy times is quite a cool place and first visit here for me. It's quite mobbed though and my original intention of staying for a smoke turned into a b&f. I grab a couple of grams of the 24k hash I seen CC had recommended from their trip and vow to return another day. The menu is definitely impressive and the hash smells super good out of the bag. I tuck it into my stash and hit the road destined for TweedeKamer and original Dampkring. I didn't get to Voyagers till around 4pm so time is dwindling on this long day already. I need a few more bits for my stash and some food and I can chill for the night and rest for the long day planned Sunday.
TweedeKamer is a quick b&f for 5g of KingHassan and round the corner to Dampkring for an orange juice and a smoke. Here I have a bit of Niqa and some Tbisla. I got the bubbler out and had a little tasting session with the new hashes I had acquired. I'd really been looking forward to the Niqa. My go to had always been the sensabille and I must say the effects were quite similar. A really nice activating cerebral high. Is a bit easier to handle than the sensabille and a bit harder and darker. Scratching off the surface with my nail was nice to see that beautiful caramel blond shine through and the taste I also found to be quite similar to sensabille aswell. A really nice piece of hash! They have such a vast menu that I'd love to sit in there for a good session and try them all but there's too many cs' and not enough time.
I'm really starting to feel the effect of being up since 0330, and all of the goodness I've been smoking since Voyagers was adding to that. I decided to head back across Muntplein and up back towards the hotel, stopping at AH for cakes, drinks etc and then a big box of noodles and some ribs from Tokoman. The Tbisla joint I rolled in Dampkring is pouring off beautiful Moroccan smokey goodness as I make the final walk back up Geldersekade. Before I went in for the climb I decided as my bud stash was pretty much gone that I'd pop into Voyagers for another gram of the shoreline and took a gram of the NotoriousOG to try.
That feeling when you overeat isn't nice is it? We've all been there and go there sometimes. This was my day for it. Huge box of noodles wasn't enough, so a couple of cakes and a full bar of chocolate (Milka/Dime bar combo). Oh look what's this a carton of chocomel. Open the haribos etc. I suffered for a bit, then recovered and had a lovely bubbler session. Was seriously just super happy to be sat at that window watching the world go by with all these flavours. I wanted a good go on the 24k hash so made a blunt with some notorious OG as a little filler and plodded downstairs to have it canal side. Took me a while to smoke as I sat there texting the missus and by the time I was finished I was literally finished! Bouncing off the walls going up the stairs and don't even remember my head hitting the pillow. A nice start to the five days
