Amsterdam, Netherlands

 There are two ways to see Amsterdam, one is by cycling

 Although they have bike ways, you can bike everywhere. Biking is difficult though. You have to be aware of the pedestrians, trams and the deadly motorbikes. Oh btw, in Holland, they use foot brakes instead of the usual hand brakes. I learn to use foot brakes. I almost had few biking collisions throughout the 3 hour bike tour.

This is the bicycle parking.  It's massive I tell you.  This was only taken from the outside.

and the other one by boat

 We can't choose so we ended up doing both.  You'll see a different place when you travel by boat.  This is quite popular and finding a tour isn't difficult.  Boat tours are available from across the Amsterdam Train station.

Yup, they actually sell this on the street.  Only in Amsterdam!

That's my sister eating Haring(Herring in English). It is one of Holland's famous food. You have to eat it raw with oninons. It is surprisingly sweet. My sister who isn't as adventurous as me finished her and some of mine. 

I love the roofs!!!

Did you notice the hooks? In Netherlands, they have a very narrow and stiff stairs so they use pulley to bring the furnitures up. That explains the big windows as well.

In Amsterdam, you'll see loads of tilted houses. On the boat ride, we were told that they had 8,000 houses to preserve. It is expensive to maintain old houses but the government shoulders the maintenance. I love the Amsterdam fascades, I love the fact that they are of the same colour and height.

The city got so much surprises, from fantastic fascade to hot blue eyed blonde girls in their bikes to sex shops and coffee shops. I didn't go to the coffeeshops btw. Who would dare to go if you are with your mum? I don't wanna be homeless.  On that day, I also learn how much influence Indonesians got from Dutch. Words like Tante, Om and Tas are dutch. I also saw few Indonesian Restaurants.