EuroSpring 2011 - Amsterdam

 Assalaaamu'alaikum..

Picking up from where I left off in my previous post, I blogged a little about London and the amazing cruise experience sailing across the North Sea in the awesome StenaLine ferry, kan? So jom kite sambung cerita pasal the Europe trip lagi.

At around 5++ am, kitorang dah bangun for subuh prayers, mandi and siap2 balik. Nak turun breakfast, tak tau ape yg ade. Lagipon kitorang takde beli the additional breakfast. Nasib baik my mom dah bekalkan sambal goreng ikan bilis for the journey. The Tesco white bread that we bought in London, kitorang makan cicah dgn sambal tu. Ahhhh, bile dah jauh di perantauan ni, memang heaven sekali bile dapat Malaysian food, especially my mom's famous sambal goreng. (Walaupon rasa perut pedih2 sbb pagi2 buta dah makan pedas2.)

View from the cabin window as we were approaching Holland

Sambal goreng ikan bilis Mama for breakfast. Hebat!!!

Around 7.45 am, terdengar announcement suruh sume orang ready untuk disembark sebab ferry dah nak sampai ke destinasi, the Hoek van Holland port. Actually, kitorang masih rasa tak puas dok atas kapal tu sbb kejap sgt, lagipon that was our first time naek kapal camtu and overnight lagi. Tapi takpe lah. Maybe next time. The adventure must continue. So kitorang pon turun la.

Dah nampak windmills ni, maknanye dah kat Holland la. (Actually UK  pon ade je pakai bende ni gak as alternative energy source. Hehehe)

Learnt a few Dutch words that meant "Thanks.. See you again!"

Turun je, tengok2 ramai gile orang ye!! Sume beratur utk Customs clearance nk masuk Holland. Weird!! Last night takde pon ramai manusia camni mase boarding. And the best part was, yang buat ramai2 tu were this huge group of Indians. Ramai kak temah oiiiii!!!! I thought ni mesti ade shooting filem Hindustan kat mane2 ni. Tu yang auntie2 uncle2 pon ade tu. Extras utk watak orang kampong kot. (Kelas tak kelas la kan, orang kampung cite Hindustan dok kat Amsterdam!! Bole lawan??).. Hahaha tatau la dorang buat ape kat situ ramai2. Same cam kitorang la agaknye kan, jenjalan. 

Ada story masa nk clear Customs tu. We were waiting for our turns behind the Customs Officer's desk. Kat depan kitorang, yg tgh clearing Customs tu were 2 mat salehs (from the US kot, or OZ, tak hengat dah). They were chatting about the latest news, Osama's death the night before. Obviously they were happy for his demise, based on the laughter. Then came our turn to clear Customs, the very same officer looked at us, sternly. His happy tones just disappeared in a whiff. He asked the usual questions: why did we come to Holland? For how long did we intend to stay? He asked to see our confirmed return flight itinerary back to KL. Well, I understand the rationale of asking those questions. But his partial attitude just reminded me of the 2 kodoks putih (I mentioned in my last post) and the Islamophobia in Europe. It could probably be just my own feelings, perhaps I was too sensitive. But I did feel the different treatments. Hurrrrmmmmm.... 

Anyways, we cleared him fine and I tried to rid the deep thought and feeling about his attitude. Lantak la dia. Janji aku tak bawak bom! Untuk menenangkan hati yang terluka (eceh!!), mari kita amek gambau bebanyak..

Dapat gambar penuh kapal ni. Kalau real life, konfem tak muat kamera

Tunggu train di sini

Train dah sampai. To Rotterdam

Yours truly & Cik Shawn

Front page news that day - Osama was dead! And they were rejoicing..

Sampai Rotterdam, we went to the Ticketing Office to get our Eurail passes activated. Eurail pass tu kene activate dulu, baru boleh guna. Once dah activated, dah boleh pakai la, and dah kira 1st day la pass tu being used. Basically, bila kita activate pass tu, the Ticketing Officer tu akan cross-check passport dgn nama kat Eurail pass tu. Die sendiri akan tuliskan nama kita kat Eurail pass tu kalau kite tak tulis lagi. Hehehe...

Senang je nak guna pass tu. Just naik train/bus yang berkenaan untuk ke destinasi. Bila the train officer/bus conductor datang check, just show the Eurail pass and passport. Make sure nama dah tulis kat pass tu. One thing I learned, just act casual and confident. Don't have to be too cautious and nervous. Also, tak payah la dok tersengih je. Bottom line is, don't act fishy....

From Rotterdam, we took the InterCity (IC) train to Amsterdam. Naik first class tau (haha.. jakun... walaopon takde beza sgt 1st & 2nd class die)..It's just a couple of train stops je before we reached Amsterdam Centraal. Bila sampai Amsterdam Centraal, sejuknye laaaaa, ya Allah... Angin kuat gile ye...Tapi, nak tak nak, kene la jugak keluar nk pegi carik hostel.

Pencarian Hostel

Sambil menyeret beg masing2 menyusuri bandar Amsterdam ke Jordaan area untuk check-in hostel, kitorang agak teruja melihat keunikan bandar itu. Famous for the many canals, memang banyak la canals sampai kitorang jadi confused (dan agak stressed, at first). Kat sini, banyak juga boats yang diubah menjadi boathouses. The boathouses tu mostly disewakan sebahgai accommodation for tourists, dan secara tak langsung juga menjadi tarikan pelancong di Amsterdam. Below pictures for some scenes around the city centre.

The famous Amsterdam canal houses

The river in spring

Jalan sampai tersesat2, finally, jumpa jugak Shelter Jordan yang dicari di Bloemstraat. Actually Shelter Jordan ni sebenarnya a Christian hostel. Kalau dalam map, it is 4 main canals away to the west from the Amsterdam Centraal. Since it's a Christian hostel, memang ada kelas Bible on Saturday night, and diorang ada invite, tp takde la nak pegi kan. The hostel was chosen disebabkan ianya murah, and kitorang pon singgah Amsterdam sehari je, so tak kisah la. Tumpang tido je pon. See pics of the hostel kat bawah..

Penerokaan Amsterdam

Dah check in, keluar jenjalan plak lepas tu. Takde jalan jauh2 pon. Some of the tourist spots in Amsterdam...

Pencarian Rezeki

Pastu lapar, carik makan pulak. Kebetulan tgh berada kt tengah2 town kat area Nieuwendijk (this is a street full of souvenir shops, for both straight and crooked minds), and ternampak satu kedai yang ada tanda Halal. Nama kedai tu Me & Me (hrrmmmm... sounds selfish kan? hihi..). Jenguk kat dalam, tengok uncle kat kaunter makanan tu looked like an Arabian. So kitorang pon masuk dengan memberi salam. "Assalamu'alaikum.". "Wa'alaikumussalam warahmatullah", dia jawab dengan senyuman yang manis kat kitorang. Hehe.. So, yakin kedai ni boleh makan. Walaupon takde jual nasi (sbb dah start lapau nasi), kitorang order je la doner kebab. Takpe lah, janji hilang lapar, dan yang paling penting, halaalan tayyiban..

Ni la doner kebab shawarma (or something like that) yang diorder. Turkish cuisine katanye. Boleh je makan, cam lebih kurang kebab kite jugak, but kurang berkuah sos la. (Kalau kat sini, beli kebab kat pasar malam tu, pemurah sangat sosnya. Sekali gigit je kebab tu, berjejes2 sos jatuh kan?) In fact, after makan, bila check balik, memang kedai ni ada dalam list zabihah.com kat sini.

Pencarian Masjid

Dah abis makan, tokleh nak balik lagi sbb belum solat. So tanye kat uncle Turkish tu kat mane ade nearest mosque (uncle tu sebut "mos-ki". Hurmm, whatever la). Then die bagi direction ke Rosengracht, katenye ada mosque kat situ.

Selepas membayar makanan dan bid farewell to uncle Turkish, kitorang pon jalan la carik mosque yg dikatakan tu. Jalan2 straight from Nieuwendijk sampai la ke Rosengracht. Kat area Rosengracht tu, tgk buildings die ada banyak kesan vandalism, contengan2 yang tak difahami di dinding2 dan pintu2 bangunan. Agak menyeramkan, cam downtown area. Tetap jalan gak mencari masjid. Tapi masih tak nampak2 kelibat masjid tu. Pening2. Ada la dlm 2-3 kali pegi balik kat street tu tp tak jumpe jugak. Last2, kitorang masuk satu kedai bakery Turkish ni (Muslim punye la sbb yg jual tu was a Turkish lady) nak bertanyakan masjid. Rupa2nya, masjid tu sebelah kedai tu je. Nama masjid tu Fatih Canil Mosque, juga ada dalam zabihah.com.

Agak menyedihkan sebenarnye. Entrance to the mosque hanyalah sebuah pintu buruk yang bila2 masa je orang boleh tersilap mengingatkan itu adalah pintu bangunan yang ditinggalkan. Keadaan luar bangunan tu pon nampak macam bangunan tinggal, dengan tak ada tanda2 seperti sebuah masjid langsung. That Turkish lady tolong bukakan pintu untuk masuk dan seorang lelaki Turki lain kat dalam tu tolong tunjukkan tempat ke arah women's praying area kat belah belakang.

Memandangkan Cik Shawn & Cik Yda both pakai tudung, memang takde masalah la utk diorang. But for me, the guy politely asked me to wait outside. Hurmm, I was wearing my black legging under a denim skirt, with a leather jacket. I understand that, in Amsterdam where Muslim community is just a minority (what more with a mosque that looked almost non-existent), a free-haired lady dressed like me would always be categorised as non-Muslims. I didn't blame him, for I was ignorant too to go to a mosque dressed like that (in Msia, most girls would easily get away with it, as many scarved girls wear tight-fitting dresses too). Nasib baek both my friends told him that I'm a Muslim too. Mula2 dia macam tak percaya tapi my friends yg helped to convince him. Alhamdulillah dapat juga masuk solat.

A valuable lesson learnt that evening : In other parts of the world where Muslims strive to live as Muslims (where Islam is not widely accepted with open hands, without raising eyebrows), wearing and acting like non-Muslims are not appreciated. When people say, "Just be yourself"; I believe they mean, "Just be a Muslim".

Lepas solat, sempat jugak amek gambar interior masjid tu sikit. Walaupun kat luar nampak macam an abandoned building, tapi kat dalam masjid tu memang cantik sekali. Very high arched ceiling, chandeliers, with Turkish designs and deco.... Masya-Allah....

Some interesting things about Amsterdam..

Bikes are everywhere. They are more popular than motorbikes and cars. The people here ride their bikes to work everyday. The sight was just so amazing. Ladies in killer high heels, guys in coats and blazers, moms with their babies in baskets; all ride the bikes. 

The EuroPEEans/Amsterdammers are a PEEing lot. There are quite a number of the open public urinals, such as the picture below, around Amsterdam. And I swear they're f**king stinky. Just remember not to stick your nose out near this blue thing. As always, curiosity kills the urinals sniffer.

Adult stores are abundant here in Amsterdam. They legalise the 'meat' industry here, making anything relevant to it, legal, too. Sex stores, sex theatres, pot smoking shops/cafe, the Red Light District, the Sex Museum, sume legal and open to anybody. Seriously anybody. These are the only 2 photos of the many adult shops that I could capture. Rasa segan nak amek gambar banyak2. Terasa macam pervert.

Yang last sekali ni, memang interesting kan? He's the receptionist at the Shelter when we checked-in, Johann. Very fluent English, quite polite and always smiling. Bagus budak ni....

P/S : Kalau nak beli the usual kind of souvenirs (magnets, keychains, t-shirts, ceramic clogs, or anything Dutch), boleh pegi cari kat area Nieuwendijk tu, dekat je dengan Amsterdam Centraal. The very lively street, adorned with cheap hostels, adult stores, weed stores, with some restaurants tucked in between. Happy searching, happy shopping...