I'm BACK!!
Safe, sound, and steady

It's been 1 week (+couples (or maybe tens) of hours) in Jakarta now, the city that has a special intrique with me. It's kind of Love/Hate relationship with it but no matter how much I hate it for its pollutions, traffic jam, criminal records, poverty exhibition (spending 1 day around Jakarta's protocol street is enough for anyone to really see about the poverty here I guess), etc. I still consider it as the city I love the most and the city that I consider as my first and only home.

Ok, before I go longer and longer about how much I love Jakarta, I will go back to the long awaited post about my travels in Europe. I am aware that I have not posted anything about my second trip in France but I think I will bring something that is fresh from the oven, my groundbreaking (at least my shoes' ground, cause it's literally breaking, hehe) 26-cities-in-26-days trip.

I'll do it like a diary, so we'll start with Day 1 in Amsterdam and The Hague (Den Haag) in this blog post!!

DAY 1 - Netherlands - Amsterdam and The Hague
We'll start the story 8 hours before the Day 1. It's really the perfect way to start a long journey!!

I planned to bring all my belongings in a HUGE (it's that huge that you can even put Hugh Grant in it) luggage. My housemate, Gabriel, kindly brought it from my room (the room on the farthest corner at the highest level of a building that is the furthest to the source of food (Restaurants des Etudiants a.k.a. Restaurant Universitaire)!! I perfectly understand that man can't live by bread alone as being said by the bible, but this is a bit too much especially for a man who loves anything as long as it's edible and has a taste that we all use to call Suta) to the bus station which is about 100 metres away from my apartment building door. FYI the luggage was about 35 kg.

I planned to catch a bus at around 6 PM and I already know the exact time when the bus would depart from HEC (my school name) bus station. Just a note, in developed country we have exact timing for bus departure and arrival, so Indonesian people who are reading this should understand that I don't have to be a magician to know when the bus is going. My friend hold the bus while I forgot something and ran back to my room to get it. The funny thing was the bus kept insisting on leaving but my huge luggage is already inside. I didn't know that, but I knew that I have to run as fast as Speedy Gonzalez (fyi, I know some Mexicans, none of them can run as fast as Speedy Gonzalez, I start to feel that the name of that character should be changed to Speedy Bolt. Once you've seen Usain Bolt running, you'll know what I'm talking about) with a bag that is about 16 KG!! I had no option, so I did that and thanks God I catched the bus (literally catch because the bus was about to leave).

To cut the story short, I did manage to leave the luggage at Rudi's house (my friend from my church in Paris) and went to the bus station on time.

I arrived around 1 hour earlier than the schedule and it was 6 AM in the morning in Amsterdam (anyway, I learned that night bus almost always arrive earlier than the schedule). I straight away go to the famous Dam Square, the heart of Amsterdam with my 15 KG bag on my back, haha (not a happy laugh). I saw the Nieuwe Kerk (15th century) which is used for royal coronations and royal weddings.
Other than that, you have Madame Tussaud (the famous wax museum),
Royal Palace (former City Hall, built in 1651, mainly used for diplomatic receptions and to welcome visiting heads of state, not as a royal residence),
and National Monument (erected in 1956 to memorialize the victims of World War II)
Then I continued to Rembrandtplein, which is obviously about Rembrandt, Netherlands' most famous name in painting. You must have seen Rembrandt's The Night Watch before either unconsciously or consciously.
Then I just walked around Amsterdam like a hunchback of Notre Dame (believe me, there is no hunchback at the Notre Dame of Paris, hehe) with that bag to see all these interesting things
A bike that is specially designed for carrying children
I don't exactly know what this is but it has big clocks on all its directions, so let's just call it a clock tower with a chicken on top of it, hehe
Stads schouw burgamsterdam (the "Yes we're open, Are you?" banner, and don't ask me to translate it for you please,hehe)
A floating chinese restaurant, looks like in Hong Kong, haha
This man has a very special boat. Click the picture to see the big version one.
Could somebody tell me what's the name of that musical instrument that he played with rolling the steer??
And guess what, this is what happened when you have too many museums.
You have Museum of Bags and Purses which I think could be the heaven museum for girls
You also have a SexMuseum which I think could be the heaven museum for boys

Not only that, Amsterdam even has Museumplein (Museum Square) where it has
Rijksmuseum (State Museum), the biggest and the richest, it's the one hosting Rembrandt's The Night Watch
Van Gogh Museum, which is self-explanotory
The Concertgebouw, which is consi dered one of the finest concert halls in the world, along with places such as Boston's Symphony Hall and the Musikverein in Vienna.
The Uber famous I amsterdam monument (I don't have any idea of what other word I should call it). I know what you are thinking. Nope, there is not any statue with a face like me standing in the centre of Museumplein. It's me, and it's the end of my Amsterdam trip.


Arghhhh, I know what you're thinking again. YES, I did went to the Red Light District, but NO!!! I didn't take any pictures and I didn't do anything there, just walk passing by the most exhibitionist group of people you can find in one district, hahaha. And trust me the district is small.


After that I straightly went to Amsterdam Centraal (train station, not mall, hehe)
and went to Den Haag where I would stay for the night. My senior in high school, Aryo (of course it's a real name, this is not a criminal story, haha), kindly 'offered' (or rather me asking for help, haha) me his living room for me to stay for 2 nights. I still remembered the 'Ayam Gulai' and 'Tempe cah Sapi' which he cooked for me and his other guests. IT WAS DELICIOUS!! Especially after a while of not seeing Indonesian food, haha.

Since Aryo also has PS3, I played Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 for the first time there, haha. Not bad for someone who hasn't played for almost half a year, I won 4 matches and lost only 1 to Aryo, hehe.

Europe is almost done for me guys!!

There are some changes to my plan before.

First part - 8 cities in 5 days
21-23 May - Netherlands - Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Den Haag, Delft
23-25 May - Belgium - Antwerp, Ghent, Bruges, Brussels

Second part - 10 cities in 14 days
27-31 May - Italy - Rome, Florence, Pisa, Venice
1-2 June - Austria - Salzburg
2-6 June - Germany - Munchen, Wittenburg, Berlin
7-8 June - Austria - Vienna
8-9 June - Czech - Prague

So far, I like Florence, Salzburg, and Berlin the most
I haven't finished Prague though, just arriving this afternoon and now having one of the best and the cheapest hostel in my trip with free internet use, so I am pretty happy now, hahahha

I don't feel like a backpacker in Prague because everything is so cheap that it's close to Singapore's prices (not cheap at all for Indonesian though,hahaha).

The next one week of my trip will be a bit fast and need to be done carefully though because UK is so expensive, hehehe.

Just a preview for my UK trip - 7 cities in 7 days
10-11 June - London (I'll be watching England vs Andorra at the closest part to the field in Wembley Stadium, don't be jealous until I post the picture though, hehe)
12 June - Oxford, Birmingham
12-14 June - Liverpool
14 June - Manchester
15 June - Edinburgh
16 June - Glasgow, Paris

All in all, it will be 26 cities in 26 days including back to Paris on my last day. It's getting a bit tired now but it's worth the effort.

More pictures and stories will be coming after 19 June 2009 when I arrive in Singapore.

Meanwhile, wish me luck for the rest of my journey.

Btw, I want to thank Sharleen and Sarah for hosting me in Vienna and bring me around to all palaces in Vienna also. Thanks very much, but after all I should say that Vienna wouldn't be fun without you two, especially when you two started to tease on each other, hahaha

FYI, Sharleen is my primary school friend. We hadn´t met each other since 9 years ago and only God knows that we met again after 9 years in Vienna instead of Jakarta. Sarah is her witty housemate.

GBU Sharleen, Sarah and all the readers, hehe.