Every weakness, every bleakness will be erased
New flesh for a new world!
Men in white clothes performing the ultimate test
This is the era - this is the time
A new dawn arrives...”
Arch Enemy - Demonic Science
After a restless night sleep in my own bed, checking my clock every 2 hours so not to oversleep, I was up dressed and waiting the taxi for another adventure in, without doubt, my favourite city in the world!! It was my 6th trip to Amsterdam and I have been fortunate enough to have had an easy outgoing trip every time and this was no different, apart from I was flying from Bournemouth instead of Gatwick.
I arrived at Schiphol airport and upon exiting the aircraft was met with small snowflakes and icy bitter winds – it had been cold at home but I felt the difference immediately. I generally don’t mind the cold weather as much as some people I know, so it made for a pleasant welcoming; and it’s an excuse for plenty of the great hot chocolates that are served in the coffeeshops! The time was around 1:00pm local time and I had arranged to meet my friend Tim along with two of his friend’s, who had also booked the hotel, at Centraal Station when their train arrived around 7:00pm – so I had a few hours to kill and I wasn’t to waste a second
After checking my backpack in the luggage locker at Centraal Station, the stepping out of the sliding doors is becoming all too familiar and home coming, rather that tourist visiting (which I know I am), but it certainly feels as though the whole city welcomes you like a long lost friend and shakes you harder by the hand on every visit! The anticipation I have felt in previous visits returned immediately and was to guide me along another few days I plan to treasure for a lifetime. Anyway…my first stop, after admiring the busy street of Damrak ahead as always, was to go around the corner and purchase a small €3,95 metal pipe which could accompany me on my travels (until I leave anyway).
Damrak
Arriving a few hours later than I have in previous visits made me waste no time in walking directly to a coffeeshop and first choice was Central CS. On walking past the entrance and smelling that lovely aroma of smoking herbs I was disappointed to see Central CS almost overfilling with customers; the queue was practically at the doorway. I quickly chose another option and De Kuil (420 café) it was – having been introduced to it on my last visit in September of last year. So it wasn’t long before I had stepped through the strange thin doors of the 420 Café and ordered a coke from the extremely good-looking brunette girl behind the bar, service with a smile as always!
After removing my coat and scarf at a side table I made the exciting walk to the weed counter and was greeted by the older American guy who was currently weighing up (stocking up) the batch of Blueberry weed in a container; about 38g if I remember correctly of some fine looking, sweet smelling buds that made my mouth water just thinking of having that box next to my computer at home!! I resisted the urge to buy this strain just yet as I had plans to set up a three-some date later on with myself, some blueberry and a vapo bag
So I bought a gram of NYC Diesel for €10 as my first purchase this trip – a nice sour smell to the weed was very noticeable and it looked a nice ‘healthy’ green colour. It ground up nice and fluffy which smoked easily causing a nice uplifting head high which I found didn’t take long to turn into a couchy stone…felt like I had smoke two weeds in one go! As always I completely drifted off into my own dimension after having the first bowl of Amsterdam’s finest but did remember listening to a couple of Beatles songs in the background; it was great because although I would describe myself as primarily a heavy metal/rock fan in music, I do have an older-hippier side of music taste to me…The Beatles, and John Lennon in particular, coming top of that list.
Needless to say I really had felt the familiarity of being back in this great city within an hour of arriving. However on trying to capture some of the memories on my camera phone I managed to drain the battery and was left with no phone altogether; hopefully not a major problem so long as my friends I was meeting later remembered to meet outside the VVV tourist centre in front of Centraal Station when they arrived, as the current plan was for them to phone me on arrival. But that was still a good few hours away so I decided on taking a leisurely stroll with no-where in particular to end up, topping up my smoking buzz I was on the roads and taking in the scenery. I walked past the Anne Frank House for the first time in any of my trips and was surprised to see how close it was considering I have never passed it before (and yes they were queuing outside too!). I have always said if I were in Amsterdam for 5 days or more then I would visit the so-called tourist attractions as I would be grateful for a easy day smoking wise – as it is, all my trips have only covered 3 nights at the most so I was still decided on keeping to my favourite reasons for visiting Amsterdam…I guess this would be an excuse to book a longer trip sometime!!
I walked a full circle of a big chunk of the city – planning on leaving out the main area of the RLD until later than night when it’s in full swing and addictive atmosphere! That didn’t rule out a quick detour through the Singel RLD that, as always, has one or two very good looking ladies working the post lunchtime shift. Tempting, more so with the freezing temperatures really kicking in by now, but opted for a hot chocolate in Route 99 instead. I glanced at the menu but nothing stood out, just the more common strains for sale. The shop is nice for a quick drink and smoke break but unless you are playing pool downstairs, I wouldn’t stay here for longer periods.
A nice hot drink later and a few more bowls of NYC Diesel, I was feeling some food so made a trip down Damrak to buy some chips drenched in mayonnaise – ideal for a quick eat, and real tasty too! Being too cold to go for another scenic stroll, I decided on killing some time in Pink Floyd before meeting up with my friends later on – always a favourite stop.
On arriving, I seemed to be the only customer in the shop and as the girls behind the bar were changing the till, I was kindly invited up to the weed counter by the English dealer – not in a pushy way. It didn’t take me long to decide on a €10 bag of Dirty Jack Herer (1.2g) which was also a nice smoke on my last trip. The dealer was also kind enough to show me the remains of one box, which he recommend as having more crystals, or a new box filled of buds and then asked which I wanted – he gave me half and half when I couldn’t (or was too stoned to) decide!! I sat down on the small table after getting a creamy coffee and proceeded to test my new purchase. Wow that Dirty Jack was a strong smoke – almost had one smoke too many and had to double my sugar dosage in my coffee at one point. I was more concerned at falling asleep and missing my friends a while later, knowing I had no other way of contacting them…so another strong coffee later and I decided to walk off my ever increasing buzz (not completely, but enough to regain the concept of time!).
I can’t exactly explain my route on this wander, and I later found out that I must have left my bag of Dirty Jack on the table in the shop as it was not on me, so I guess I was pretty stoned!! Oh well…at least it’s easy to replace a misplaced baggie in this city
Moving on towards Centraal Station, I noticed the time was 6:45pm on the big clock so I waited around the VVV area for my 3 friends, after reclaiming my rucksack from the locker. With the time approaching 7:10pm I felt the chilling winds getting the better of me and moved closer to the entrance of the train station in hope of spotting them leave – plus the wind was blocked from the construction boards to my left. After nearly another 30 minutes passing by I was starting to have a bad feeling of missing them altogether and having no easy contact with them. To make things a little clearer, one of the people I was meeting is my friend Tim whom I have been on 3 trips to Amsterdam before – and the others two were: his friend Gee from university (who I have met on two brief occasions) and his girlfriend, Ines (whom I have never met). The complication was that it was Ines who had booked the hotel, and I didn’t even think to write down the booking name (which happens to be her Spanish family name)……..so I just had bad thoughts of me turning up at the hotel and trying to ask for a room which I didn’t know the name it was booked under!! All this because I was too dumb to fully charge my phone back home…and then forgetting my UK-European plug converter!!
10 more minutes and my only other option was to start looking for a hostel over night, but as I was thinking of the chances I would be spending this trip solo (not that I didn’t have fun when I was on my own last time) I heard a familiar call from a sea of humanity coming in my direction…it was Tim! They had been trying to keep warm inside the VVV building for the last 15-20 minutes and we must have crossed paths somewhere – not to worry as all the 4 of us wanted to do was dump our bags get settled and experience our first night in Amsterdam together. It was the virgin trip for Ines and only the second for Gee.
A short 5-minute walk away (via a weed stop for Tim in Route 99 – he didn’t recommend the AK47 by the way) and we reached the Renaissance Hotel that was to be our sleeping pads for the next 3 nights. Check-in was almost straightforward; we only had one smoking room instead of two, which resulted in us getting upgraded to the club class floor – very cosy! And not bad at all considering the twin room for Tim and myself was only €55 each per night due to the staff discount (thanks to Gee and Ines), I looked at the price list and realised normally for the club class room we were in would cost us €220 each per night!!! I certainly wouldn’t pay that price considering I would stay in that hotel primary for it’s location. Saying that the cleanliness and comfort of the hotel was of very high standard, despite the awful carpet patterns and endless corridors of bricked alleyways – making feel like you are in an arcade version of the Doom game!
Hotel corridor & View of Spuistraat
But the best thing by far of the hotel was location – a nice view of Spuistraat from the window facing our bedroom door…and literally 10 steps from the entrance of the hotel, you could see a glimmering of red neon lights coming from the smaller Singel RLD in the distance. The road was quite too, not having any of the evening crowds disturb your sleep is always a bonus – although I plan on being out until the action ends most night anyway
A quick shower, smoke and charge of my phone (Tim had remembered his plug converter) and I was more than ready for hitting the nighttime streets of Amsterdam. Forgetting that the others had not smoked yet, their first joint in the hotel slowed down their punctuality and we finally left the hotel (extra layer of clothes an all!) around 10pm. First stop – The Coin.
This shop is one of my favourites (now along with De Kuil and another I will come to later) and always a ritual stop off before lapping the RLD canals a couple of times. The shop had a couple of punters inside and it didn’t take long before we were in line at the counter – I bought a gram of Super Pollen at €7,50 which I have had on previous trips…it still had the typical grassy/pollen taste I have come to recognise in good Pollen and was really sticky when heated. Tim bought a bud of Northern Lights Haze which was close to 3.5g and came to just over €20 – a good price in my opinion and was a great smoke for haze fans. The coffee machine in this small shop was out of order and the barmaid/dealer recommended the newly opened Hunter’s Vodka Bar (which has the same owner) just next door, which was fortunate for us as it introduced a new place that served alcohol and allowed for smoking your day’s purchases. A very nice atmosphere here and was a nice alternative to Excalibur or Stones Café (two other bars I visit for a drink) close-by.
The 4 of us had a couple of drinks and enjoyed the time, sharing more than a few smokes together before deciding on setting off. Planning on getting something to smoke for later in the hotel we made a stop at the Old Church coffeeshop and I have to admit it was a first for me, despite walking past every other trip I had taken! I was immediately surprised at the clean, lively café like atmosphere and décor inside which was a complete contrast to the seedy peripherals. I could see this would be another good place to go back to and I would have stayed then having not been so stoned from the Super Pollen and NL Haze from The Coin – but I did pick up a €12 bag of White Widow…which was a lovely fat 1.9g bud that smelt so strong it was mouth watering!
Just a few steps outside the door of Old Church and the force from the gravitational pull escaping from the glowing red alleys were too strong for any normal human being – let alone me!! I walked past the well known SexyLand entrance and immediately remembered the thrill of walking the streets of the RLD, not that I ever really forgot it, it just became so ‘real’ again. I stopped and stared at a couple of very attractive young beauties on my immediate left until I remembered I was acting tour guide for the first night with my friends and proceeded to lead the way through the narrow alleys known for it’s high standard eye candy. A few familiar faces from my previous trip (and possibly the one before) and I began to wonder if they recognised me strolling the streets and would ever give up trying to lure me inside – this thought quickly passed and I was happily back to scouting the ladies for possibilities the following nights.
Moving slowly over to the more lively of the RLD canals we got the usual offer of various other drugs in a few different languages, I would almost miss the funny voices of these guys if they weren’t there now – along with the calls of “Liiiiive Shaaaggging….” from the doorman of Bananen Bar, they all add to the unique atmosphere that lingers in the RLD.
Our plan was a drink in Excalibur but after seeing there was no table space or barely standing space we decided to move on. I noticed again they were still working on the canal, this time to the north of OZA in the RLD; I am looking forward to seeing the whole canal back to it’s finest form in the future – the reflection of neon lights on the water is an amazing sight in itself and one I missed this time. Continuing our lap of the district the temperature was face numbing so a group decision to find a coffeeshop was made…walking up Warmoestraat we came to Baba, a place I had never been inside before. I also happened to notice a couple of sex shops still had Christmas decorations in their window displays – I always considered it to be Christmas every day when I walk in the RLD and no I have proof to back me up
Gee had wanted to come back to Baba since this was his first shop on his only other trip to Amsterdam and I am glad we made the stop too. I always seem to imagine shops to be a lot bigger for some reason and this was no different – I thought there would be more tables and chairs at first and the shop was pretty busy, as it usually looks. As we all ordered a hot drink at the bar, luckily the comfy chairs at the back free-ed up so we ended up with the best seats in the house. Tim went to the weed counter and came back with a test tube containing about 3g of finely ground weed – I think he said they were labelled as Crystal. They weren’t like the Grey Mist Crystals / Gunpowder as the €15 price tag suggests but it did look like a nice buddy-weed that had been through a grinder…didn’t have the best effect though apparently.
Photos in Baba
A few drinks and pictures taking later and we felt the bar staff to be constantly looking in our direction as they wanted us to leave – I must admit this to feeling a little uncomfortable and maybe unnecessary considering we had purchased around 10 drinks, along with the weed, between us within an hour. I don’t dislike this shop at all and still had a good time having a drink and smoke inside, but I just can’t see me returning with a few, much better, other shops so close by.
The time must have been close to 1am and we all we in much need of something filling to eat, having been a relatively heavy smoking day for all of us – considering my later than usual arrival time I felt I was nearly full up in terms of smoking for day 1 already. I knew where to go food wise after my last trip…Wok to Walk, the small Chinese take away shop next to coffeeshop Ben. I am a huge fan of Chinese food and this place serves possibly the nicest I have eaten – maybe helped by the day’s THC consumption! The menu offers you a choice of Rice or Noodles at a price of €5,95 and you can add your choice of extra ingredients (pineapple, mushroom, pork, chicken etc) and sauce at extra prices. I am always happy to get a full meal and drink for under €10 so this place never disappoints, plus you can take it back to the hotel for later if needed.
Wok to Walk
Our first day concluded with a smoke of White Widow from the Old Church in the hotel room, luckily in our bedroom as I seemed to be the first one out cold, thinking of another extremely successful and exciting first day I have experience and no doubt dreaming of what tomorrow holds.
good report there mate - must motivate myself to trying to write about my last 2 trips!!
