Amsterdam city trip guide

Amsterdam is a great place to visit if you’re in Europe. I like to do my trip reports very late. It brings back sweet memories and I’m sure I will visit the city again cos I’m not done with it yet.

If you travel by plane, Schiphol airport will be the first sight you’ll see when you land. Schiphol has been voted the best airport in the world several times. Seriously, our KLIA beats the shit outta this airport sizewise but it’s clean and tidy. You can either take a taxi or fast train to Centraal Station. I took the fast train which is obviously fast and super smooth.

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What bong do you want?

Me and my mate went to a foodcourt to have Curry Fish Head. Because there were many stalls, we called up a friend to identify the stall owners name. We found 2 stalls with the same name. One was operated by 2 Indonesian woman and the other was empty. These are Chinese style curry fish head stalls.

I wasn’t too happy with the fact that the owner left the stall under the hands of his 2 Indonesian maids. It’s a sign of crappy quality food.

We then saw Bong Cafe and decided it’s best to get a drink from them and which stall is owned ED by Ah Chun (owner). The girl from Bong Cafe was busy SMSing while my friend franticly waved his hand for attention. After about 1 minute of waving, someone saw us and started shouting at the SMSing girl.

She came for orders and we asked the ever important question. “Hey … which one is Ah Chun’s stall?”

“Both stalls are his. Same owner” she replied.

I made a mistake not asking her if the curry was superb. My friend went ahead and ordered from the 2 Indonesian maids.

Bong Cafe

As we waited for our curry, I can’t help thinking how the owner named his shop BONG. Was he having 19 cones on his bong when he was cracking his head for a name? Or did it just hit him … BONG! Ok I’ll name it BONG. Nevermind.

The sight of the curry did not impress me. It looked watery and tastes like curry soup. Very diluted and totally failed the high standards of our tastebuds . I often argue with Andrew, 95% of Chinese style curry are plain crap.

For top notch South Indian type curries, head to Tajjudin Hussein in Little India. The curry is so good you can drink it like soup non stop. Hrrm … I need to head there today for my fix.

Want some shrooms with monkeys?

Red Shroom
This was taken while I was hiking up Penang Hill some weeks back. As you get nearer to the top, you will see more interesting plants like the monkey’s pitcher and wild ferns.

Monkeys
Be careful of monkey packs when going up. They can be friendly one minute and turn nasty another. If they do get aggressive, DO NOT run. Stand your ground, raise up your hands and show your teeth. Hell … beat your chest even. Show them who’s boss :)

Another pot funeral

Last night, I drove another friend to the south western part of Penang. It took us about 45 minutes of slow driving through hilly terrain.

Another funeral … and boy the place sure is faaarrr. The usual routine. Pay respects to the deceased. Then pay the “summon” and write down my name on the condolences book.

This time around, things were a bit more open. On our table were the usual drinking water, peanuts, fried mee, bong, sweets with red string tied to them and of course pot.

It went a few rounds and I couldn’t help but notice a lady that couldn’t stop looking at us. More people arrived and many more got lost. The venue was pretty hard to find.

After about 1 hour, I got up and signaled my friend to leave. We waved a few hands and made off. The drive back was surprisingly fast.

What is the weirdest funeral you’ve been to? I’ve heard of one which the dead woke up and scared the shit outta everyone, lived another 5 years and really died after that.

Another funeral

A good friend’s mother passed away and we helped out a bit with the procession. The hearse got loaded up and we followed closely.

Traffic police in action
This is one of the traffic police who provided us with a clear path as the hearse went for a little detour.

I was driving my car while my friend Daniel had his butt out of the window and happily snapping shots. My only worry was he’d fall off my car. The cops were cool though.

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Pot Funeral

One of my friend’s father passed away 2 days ago and I went to his funeral last night. Now this is a Chinese style funeral lasting for 5 days.

It’s customary for relatives and friends to offer their last respects during these days. There are variations of 3, 5, 7 days funerals, depending on the time needed.

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