Far beyond the black horizon
Beyond the things you know
Everybody got a destination
Everybody got a place to go”
Sisters of Mercy – Train
My fifth trip to Amsterdam was also my first solo, and I would be lying if I said I was completely nerve free before I left my house for the drive up to the airport. It didn’t take long before the butterflies had vanished and I was full of anticipation for my forthcoming trip to my favourite destination.
Another problem-free flight was more than welcome and before I knew it I was buying my train ticket for the short journey into the city. It was a good feeling also when I helped out a couple of obviously lost English guys into getting the right train (and direction), just to think that was me only a few years ago
I unloaded my rucksack and coat into a luggage locker (noticing more security than before – good thing I guess) and head on out the door and took a minute to fully appreciate that I had arrived back so soon (although never soon enough). Taking a picture down Damrak just as I did the previous trip.I took a right before heading down Damrak, purely as I have gone straight down my last 4 trips, and walked as far as Rasta Baby before turning back round through the shopping street. Stocking up as usual with a nice small metal pipe along with a cheap glass pipe (ideally for the hash) in a souvenir shop near Hemp Works – can’t remember the name but I went there last time, again with friendly service and at a reasonable price.
I headed over towards Central for my first smoke of the trip, passing a short detour pass Damrak’s construction work and I was in sight (and smell) of the first coffeeshop of the day. The shop had a couple of punters sitting at the window so I purchased a 2.5g bag of Shiva and coke I took a pew by a table in front of the door. The smell of the bag was very strong and reminded me of what good weed should smell like; it also fluffed up real nice in my grinder which was handy for the pipe. Two nice bowls were all I could handle at first so I drank up and decided for a walk in the sun fully enjoying my first buzz of the trip.
I had know where real set to go as I had a couple of hours spare before my arranged 12:00pm meet with fellow forum member zunkii and his friend. So I stopped by the canal just left of the Central coffeeshop for a quick map check and headed south down towards the Nieuwmarkt and kept heading south, I soon realised I was walking past the university campus which seemed to have a higher girls to boy ratio as they were leaving the buildings – all in all a pretty good way to start the day I thought. Not to put a downer on a fine moment but I was pretty soon wishing I had taken the weather report more seriously as it would certainly class that scorching heat as shorts and t-shirt weather (not jeans and sweater which is what I was currently wearing).
I was wandering around with no sense of destination before ending up in Rembrantplein and deciding to head back more centrally. I stopped off for some more much needed cold drinks and then slowly walked up the Singel canal. There were even a couple of lovely looking ladies working the windows this early, at around 11am, in the smaller district. I decided to head onto The Coin which is where zunkii and I had had arranged to meet. I stopped for a small look in Conscious Dreams that had a real nice vibe to the shop, although I was strictly browsing in here – probably where I would go if I wanted shroomies again.
Making it back in the Coin brought back good memories, as this is where I usually like to start an evening out. I had a long glance at the newly upgraded menu and went for a gram of the Coin Haze at about €9 along with a pear looza drink. The weed itself was a nice high but tasted of pure haze and not the fruity buddy flavour I prefer to smoke, I’m not saying it wasn’t good weed but I would choose another next time. I hadn’t seen the young barmaid/dealer before but although she wasn’t the chattiest of girls, did sound confident in her knowledge of weed. It wasn’t long before zunkii and his friend came in and I knew from his description in previous e-mails together immediately whom they were. After brief introductions and more drinks from the bar we sat in the seats at the front of the shop to talk Amsterdam and share stories of previous trips. It was great to quickly realise that they were the kind of guys I would choose to go to a place like Amsterdam with anyway and I knew I was in for a good day ahead.
We decided to go to Abraxas, a shop I always wanted to see but never got round to it. It wasn’t long before we arrived at the small alley that contained Abraxas and was greeted by the doorman. This was the only shop in all my visits where I was asked for ID before entering – not a problem though and the guy was far more friendly than your average English bouncer on a nightclub door! The shop itself had a nice open décor to it, helped with its glass flooring on the upper levels and seemed fairly busy when we arrived. zunkii bought the three of us a hash milkshake which tasted as good as it looked, I glanced at the menu but still had some bags from Central on The Coin to finish so stuck with the milkshake. We managed to get the table which was next the open bay-like window by the stairs on the next floor up – there were comfier seats (although not free art the time) in the shop but we had a good view of the people walking by outside and the weather was so hot an open window was ideal. A nice shop I would definitely visit again, even if it were just for another milkshake!
Next up was the Dutch Flowers shop. I was aware of the bad reviews from this shop has had in the past but equally aware of the good reviews about the view. When we arrived the outside table were taken (not surprising because of the scorching sun) but luckily we just saw someone leaving the big table in the open front window so we quickly pulled up a chair. The barmaid/dealer was friendly enough in serving us 3 beers as well as some strong black hash for zunkii and his friend. The table at the front was the perfect location to christen the glass pipe with the newly purchased hash. After the pipe had passed round us all a few times we found ourselves happily staring out into one of the nicest views in Amsterdam, grateful to be in the shade watching many people pass by and I was more thankful to be in Amsterdam than ever before. Either that hash was one of the strongest I have ever smoked in my life or the milkshakes from Abraxas were kicking in – my guess it was both!
Whilst in the street we mad a pick up at Tweede Kamer. It was delivery time when we got there and it looked as though the guy delivering drink had brought too much as there were several crates stacked up almost filling the standing area of the shop. After the staff had ordered the guy to take the drinks back the female dealer was real helpful and very polite considering the confusion elsewhere in the shop - great service in my eyes, although I would have been prepared to wait. I can’t remember what any of us purchased but I went on the ladies recommendation for the most popular weed at the time and certainly wasn’t disappointed.
The plan was then to head up to De Kuil (another shop I had never been to), walking with a big buzz straight up the Singel canal we reached the Grey Area road zunkii curiously walked over to see if it was open – neither of us expected it to as they are normally closed on Mondays. To our surprise the shop was open and almost full of happy customers, so zunkii bought a bag of goodies that were not disappointing if I remember correctly (although the name still evades me). I didn’t buy anything this time as past experiences have proven I spend around €50 every time I enter this shop and didn’t want to over do it on the first day. A short trip through the smaller RLD and we arrived at the doors of Anyday, I am still surprised at some of the lovely ladies on show around 2-3pm on the Spuistraat road. Another fly and buy shop though as zunkii bought a gram of Sneek weed which I think was another good tasting and nice high weed, which we took along to the next stop which would be De Kuil.
I found De Kuil to have a much better atmosphere during the day as it was far quieter and less pub-like, which is what I have always thought of the place in passing by on previous trips. The bar staff are real friendly and the old, slightly chunky dealer was, although not very talkative, a friendly and polite guy. I bought 2g of Blueberry that the dealer picked a large bud and broke bit of until I had a complete 2g bud – the best service I saw all trip!! zunkii also bought some Blueberry and asked the dealer to use some for a few bags on the volcano to go along with the Nevilles Haze which he had bought earlier. We took our beers, bud and vapo bag down to the pool table and had a few games (just to note this was also the best condition pool table I saw in Amsterdam yet). I have had a vaporiser before but never a volcano so was looking forward to breaking the ice - zunkii passed me the bag and off I went WOW I could see the attraction immediately, the smoothest of smokes was inhaled and the taste was lovely and fruity. Maybe it tasted too good as I guess I didn’t realise how much I had taken in overall and the combination of beer and the strongest weed of this trip (Nevilles Haze) was enough to put me far beyond cloud 9…to be honest it was border line whitey territory but no so much that I didn’t enjoy a few games of pool – but I was happy when the other two said they were to head back to their hotel for a rest before enjoying the rest of the night as I was very much ready for a couple of hours kip myself.
Before going separate ways we chose to eat something and found a great take away. Just down the road, next to coffeeshop Ben, is a small Chinese food shop where they cook in front of you and serve it in a take away box, I’m sure it’s called the ‘Wok to Walk’ but having misplaced my notes I cannot be 100% – it’s was a reasonable price (€6-7 depending on what you want with it) for the size and it certainly tasted as good a Chinese take away as I ever had in my life. I knew were I would be coming to eat the next few days.
We all arranged to meet up in Stones Café at around 8:30pm (it must have been about 5pm at this time) before seeing what the night had to offer. zunkii and his friend went back to their hotel which was close to Betty Boops coffeeshop and I made the short trip up to the station to collect my bag before checking in back at the Greenhouse Effect hotel. This was my second stay at this hotel so kind of knew what to expect, the staff we still as friendly as ever and the steps to the rooms seemed even steeper this time around!! I had booked a single room this time compared to a twin when I came with a friend a few months prior. The room was pretty small but was perfect for myself as it was just a very convenient place to sleep with some privacy if needed. As all the rooms are themed in the hotel, this was know as the ‘Outer Space Room’ and would have been quite something if I was only 10 years old, but the decoration almost went unnoticed I have to say. The view wasn’t much either (unless you like roof tiles!) compared to last time when I could see almost the length of Warmoesstraat. I did have a companion for a few days sitting outside, the cat seriously seemed to be attracted to the smell of weed, as he would always turn up after I blew a cloud out the widow. I barley managed to put my wallet and passport in the safe before crashing out for a few hours.
My alarm went of about 8pm and I dragged myself out of bed with a typical bong headache which didn’t clear even after a quick shower. However nothing would have stopped me enjoying my first night out this trip so I got dressed and armed myself with smoking accessories and money. About a minute walk down the road and I was at Stones Café (the location of my hotel was already paying off
) I walked in, ordered a coke and saw zunkii out the back sitting on one of the outside tables – his friend was still asleep. I could easily have still been in bed but determined not to miss out on any time so soon into my trip. It wasn’t too long before I was feeling almost fresh as a daisy again as I remember this as being one of the most relaxing times of the whole trip. Zunkii phoned his friend who said he would come along in about half an hour so we sat out the back in the nice cool breeze having a smoke watching the sunset and the RLD come alive for the night in a seemingly action packed area of the district. I was already thinking this day could hardly get any better. It wasn’t long before zunkii's friend turned up for a quick drink and we were off on a lap (or two) of the RLD – admittedly I was looking forward to this as much as any of my other trips, and with new friends made it seemingly more exciting. The area around the Sexyland area was very busy and were more attractive ladies than last time I could remember – the so called ‘covered area’ was busy with ladies too but the overpowering mix of humidity and perfume could explain the lack of customers this night. We finally made it up to Excalibur as I wanted to show zunkii my other favourite hang out (other being The Coin), as he had never been here before. I recognised the barman from a previous visit and he was seemed exactly the same, so we ordered a couple of drinks before going upstairs to the pool room. This was the first time I had sat up here so spent ages gazing out of the window to the beautiful canal (and women) below. We stayed for a smoke and few games of pool (on not a great table) before heading out again, via the ladies in the Sexyland area of course!!
Hunger was kicking in again by now so we walked up the top of Damrak and over the road to the Maoz falafel stall (the one you pass on the way down from the station). Obviously I had seen this stall on every other of my trips but this was the first time in stopping – and it was long overdue as it was a perfect inexpensive meal for a hunger fix and more than worth the few € we paid for it. The time must have been around midnight by now so we decided to spend the remaining hour of most shops being open having a few games of pool in De Kuil – minus the vapo bags this time
At closing time we parted ways arranging to meet at midday the following day; I made a last route round the RLD, tempted but too exhausted from an awesome day to contemplate any action so eventually crawled up the stairs and into bed before falling asleep to some Dutch TV – it has to be done doesn’t it!!!
