Scribbles Abroad

Kahi and I were on the plane headed to Portugal enjoying our personal movie players.  While I was watching some cheesy romantic comedy, Kahi was jamming to a concert of The Arctic Monkeys.  We were jonesing to see a show and thought it would be sick if they were playing in Europe because maybe we could get a cheap flight to wherever they were playing.

Kahi searched online to see where they were playing next and to our amazement they were scheduled to play in a couple weeks at the Heineken Music Hall in AMSTERDAM!  No further convincing needed.  We bought our tickets and were on our way.

Hostels and backpackers in Amsterdam ran around 20 Euro or $30 per night, so we opted to couch-surf.  Kahi must have sent out over 50 different requests but most of them came back with a negative response.  Luckily a nice girl named Mirna offered us her couch to crash on for a few days.

I wasn’t sure what to expect of Amsterdam.  All I really knew about the place was that marijuana is legal and that there were more bikes than people in the city.  Kahi and I were both really excited to check out the city and to sample their glorified greens.

Check out this awesome parking garage for bikes

Just one of the many alleyways to wander down while cruising around the city

It’s the van from our Portugal road trip!  But not really.

Amsterdam’s awesome recycling system and how they empty the bins.

Amsterdam itself if a really cool city.  The country of Holland is mostly below sea level and they have created a network of canals to keep the city above water.  Kahi and I spent our time exploring the city on foot for the first day but its kind of a must to rent a bike and ride it around the city, so thats exactly what we did.

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Canals!

No comment necessary…

It was much easier to navigate the city on foot.  On bike it seemed like every 10 minutes we were pulling over to look at the map.  Riding a bike in Amsterdam isn’t like going out for a nice leisurely bike ride.  It’s intense.  You need to be quick and decisive, no time for hesitation or you may crash.  I prefer to walk.  The city isn’t that big and biking was rather stressful.

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Us getting lost 😦  booo!

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The coffee shop experience was interesting.  They hand you a menu listing all their goods and how much it cost.  You can order pre rolled with or without tobacco or just a gram or two of the greens.    I was expecting something more like a candy store with jars filled with different strains nicely displayed behind a glass counter.  Not quite what I was expecting but still pretty cool.

One of the many local coffee shops

Kahi and I having a good time in one of the coffee shops

After paying a short visit to a coffee shop we went for a stroll around town.  We were weaving up and down the small alleyways and when all of a sudden I looked up and saw boobs.  I assumed the little red lights above the doorways and the boobs meant we were in the red light district.  Girls of all shapes and sizes from every fantasy you could imagine sat in display cases waiting for their next customer.  It was crazy!

The Dutch have a holiday tradition where this old guy with a white beard named Sinterklaas dressed in red and white arrives on a boat.  He passes out candy and pepernoten (a yummy cookie similar to gingerbread) to all the good boys and girls.  He is accompanied by these guys named the black petes who are his helpers.  Sounds a heck of a lot similar to our Santa Clause and his elves don’t you think?  Anyway he arrived while we were in the area and it was interesting to see the buzz that he created.  Especially for the kiddies.

Sinterklaas with one of his black petes.  Why black you may ask.  Well, it’s a bit of a controversy but its tradition.

The night of the concert we met up with our boy Roy, our neighbor in J-Bay. The venue the Heineken Music Hall claims to have the best sound system in Europe so we were really looking forward to the show.  It was a sold out concert and the place was packed.  The music was unreal and the show itself was unforgettable.  I can’t wait till they come to Hawaii so we can watch them again.

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Roy and I before the concert

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Kahi, Roy and I getting pumped for the show

10,000 people, great music, and lots of beer!

The Arctic Monkeys, these guys rock!

Roy, Kahi and I

The aftermath

Shaka braddah!

One night we met up with our buddy Rainbow that we met in the Philippines at Cloud 9.  He took us to this little bar and it just so happens that they were having a 70’s party that night.  Our couch surfing host also met us at the bar.  We were having a good time have a few drinks, talking story and munching on the free snack plate they gave us.  One of the employees of the bar was this big guy dressed up in a fro, a bad aloha shirt, and a fur coat.  He was dancing around and was definitely the life of the party.  He brought out a brownie cut into four pieces and we each had a slice.  It was really good.   Kahi and I assumed it was a “special” brownie and it was.  All of a sudden our couch surfing host got up, said she had to make a phone call and left.  She never came back.  When we arrived back at the house we realized she had no idea it was a “special” brownie and she though that someone had slipped something in her drink.  Not a good situation.  We tried to explain that it was a “special” brownie but she wasn’t fully convinced.  Anyway she felt fine in the morning and everything was okay.

The “special” brownie…

If you were in Amsterdam and this guy gave you a delicious brownie, would you be suspicious?

The next day we were off to Belgium to check out Roy’s home town, drink lots of beer and eat tons of chocolate.  Roy took us to his family’s business which was a frying house.  These are everywhere in Belgium.  It’s like a fast food restaurant where you can get Belgium fries (not french fries) plus anything else you can imagine fried.  We ordered fries smothered in something like beef stew.  It was really good but very heavy.  Not something you can eat everyday but it was a nice treat.

That night Roy took us out to drink some Belgium beers.  These beers are no joke at an average 10% alcohol, just two or three of these is all you need.  Roy brought along one of his drinking buddies who was at least six inches taller and 50 lb. heavier than Kahi.  In other words this guy could drink.  We went to a restaurant where they had over 500 different beers on their menu.  Kahi had sampled around 4 of Belgium’s best when Roy’s buddy began challenging him one more, one more, one more.  Kahi finally said no more, but the next round had already been ordered.   When the beers were poured they looked at each other square in the eye and chugging their beers.  Even after he stopped Kahi kept chugging and after that he was allboss.  He began going cross-eyed and it was time to go home.  Needless to say he passed out with a trash can next to the bed.  He never needed it but just in case.

The next day was the day of Sinterklaas’s arrival.  There’s a three-hour show about the whole thing on TV.  When he was a kid, Roy would record the whole show then watch it over and over for about a month.  We watched the show during breakfast and while Kahi recovered from his hangover.

Later that day we caught a train to Utrecht, where Kahi’s mother’s nanny now lives.  Diny and her husband Leo live in the country side just outside of Utrech.  They treated us to a delicious home cooked meal while we talked story.

Diny, Kahi and I eating a delicious home cooked meal.  One of Diny and Leo’s many cats.

Not only does Diny love to drink wine.  She love to make it too!  Diny , Kahi, Leo and I in her mini winery.

Our time with Diny and Leo was too short and we would have liked to spend more time with them.  On our way to the airport they gave us a little tour of Holland.  They showed us the man-made island that the Dutch created, some of the windmills, and a few of the cool building.

Our time in Holland was short but rewarding.  We not only got to check out Amsterdam, but we got to go to a super sick Arctic Monkey’s concert, visit Roy in Belgium, and meet up with family friends.  It was really nice to visit Amsterdam but we were glad that we got to see more of the country.