I chose Amsterdam as my destination for the low-priced winter offer by KLM airlines. The flight from Middle East was 6 1/2 hours to Amsterdam aided by favorably 2-hour time lag between the two places. I reached Amsterdam early in the morning. The airport is very user-friendly and even a moron can find his way around things here.
Outside the airport I waited at a place marked for buses and taxis for the arriving passengers. The train station was sort of joined to the airport and it seemed to be the cheapest option (3 Euro) to travel from the airport to the Amsterdam City Central locality about 20 km’s away. But with the 3 hand baggage and the freezing cold I did not venture to walk into the train station. I waited and looked for cheaper transport to my hotel, Radissons, in Amsterdam downtown. I spotted a uniformed man and asked for help. He showed me a bus, which was part of transport network operating between hotels and the airport. I just threw myself in and away from biting cold. The trip my hotel cost me 10.5 Euro whereas taxi hire would have cost around 40 Euro.
I just slept in the hotel and gained some energy. Got up and waited at hotel lobby. I saw the same type of bus, which had brought me over there. I got in and headed out. I got off at the airport and not knowing anything else, went over to the attached train station. I cud see on the indicator train leaving for Belgium (Brussels) at 11.40. I wasted no time, just took a return ticket for 36 Euro and boarded the train.
The journey to Belgium was uneventful, even though the scenery outside was typically European with lush green meadows, tiled houses with cap-like roofs and woods consisting of thin tall trees. There were warnings on the train for the presence of pickpockets on the train. We passed Rotterdam (official capital of Netherlands) and Antwerp. Antwerp station was beautiful very similar to a thoroughly washed and cleaned and sparsely occupied Mumbai VT station.
I got off at Brussels-Noord (North?) station and loafed around a bit. But the place was too crowded. Along the train tracks I saw a red light area with scantily dressed females soliciting business from their rooms. After some time I ate something at an Arabic eating joint and caught a train back to Amsterdam. Too tired I headed back to hotel.
Next day it was drizzling. I went to Amsterdam Central and took a boat tour on the canals around the city. Cost 10 Euro but it was not to be missed. Afternoon, I found my way to the famous red light district. This was mainly on two sides of a canal and on the crossroads around. There were semi-naked ladies (black, white and colored) displaying their assets from the glass windows of their work place. There were lots of junkies around trying to approach you or draw your attention. You cud hear shouting and moaning of drug high people. I visited Banana Bar (where you can have unlimited drinks for one hour at a price of 40 Euro ogling at women who are 90% percent nude sitting 2 feet away from a you. For 50 Euro, you can ask for performance from them where the girls would let you do some intimate things on their body), Theatre Casa Rossa which had many erotic dances and some live sex performance. I visited a peep show theatre also where you cud peep at models (girls) stripping for timeslots of 2 Euro each. Once in every hour they had live sex peep show also. I roamed around till late night. The place was crowded till late night with men, girls and boys pacing up and down the narrow alleyways.
Next day I went to the central part of the city around 11 a.m. in the morning but all Holland excursion buses had left at 10 a.m. and Amsterdam city excursions were available at 2.30 in the afternoon. I was not interested in the city tour, so decided to visit nearby small towns Volendam and Haarlem suggested by a Dutch man. Bus no. 110 off at the extreme corner from the white colored tourist information bureau opposite the train station was plying to Volendam. The fare was around 6 or 7 Euro and the journey took about a 45 minutes, It passes through very picturesque landscape and countryside and the town itself looks like postcard picture. I went to Haarlem, which was still smaller, a town 20 minutes from Amsterdam. That was beautiful too.
In between my sojourn in Netherlands, I spent considerable time looking for Indian food, which was elusive. Ultimately I did manage to eat at 2 of them, Gandhi restaurant around mid-way on the main avenue connecting central station and Tussaud museum and another Vijaya restaurant diagonally off the central station about 2 furlongs from the tourist info bureau. Food was good though expensive (around 15 Euro each).