When I woke up, It seemed as though I had never fallen asleep, like I had closed my eyes long enough to turn off the brain, but only for a moment, and then it turned back on. The first thing I did was roll to one side for a chance at going back to sleep, it was then I realized how much pain I was in, but from what? This question filled my head as I got out of bed and walked to the kitchen for some tea, where I ran into the Hungarian girl.This is where she told me all about Zane and I’s behavior at the Brew Pub last night. With every word being a small revelation. I decided to take a long hot shower and just sit at the bottom of the enclosure as the water ran, getting out and laying back down right after.It wasn’t long after that we both got up and walked back into the main plaza for something to snack on.We met up with a huge couch surfing group at a bar across town after that and this is where things got hairy. The starting lineup consisted of 4 different local beers in succession, each 1 Liter of course, and all pushed gingerly by the couch surfing host who organizes and manages this weekly group of around 30-50 people. A group we joined and got to know wanted to go to another bar, we were fine with that, so a 10 minute taxi drive later we were there.By the time we got everyone there they wouldn’t let Zane and I in because we didn’t have the correct change for the cover at the door… strange way of telling us to sober up, if that’s what it was. Anyways Zane didn’t like the place after that and went home, I stayed and danced with one of the Czech girls I met. We ended up staying up all night and before I knew it, it was 6 am, and our flight was supposed to leave at 7:20! The Czech girl and I rushed back to the hostel, waving off the person at the front desk telling me that non-guests weren’t allowed in the dorm.I woke up Zane, who had only been sleeping an hour at most, and we rushed out of the dorm as fast we could, shoving clothes in every free spot in our bags. I said goodbye to my dance partner in a blur and we got on the tram. Once at the bus station we had something like 30 minutes before our flight left, I was totally sure we’d miss our flight, totally.. Our bus was late and once on board I validated my ticket in the machine and told Zane to do the same. He checked his pockets half-assedly and shrugged, “can’t find my ticket.” “I just handed it to you, check for it.” “Nah, it will be fine.”Two seconds later the ticket police come and asked for our validated tickets, I give him mine and Zane looks for his with more serious focus and finds it, invalidated. The “officer,” or 40+ year old guy in blue jeans and a blue knitted sweat shirt that was probably gifted to him on his 30th birthday party, tells us to pay him $10, we don’t have the money, but I would refuse out of principle anyway. We tell him we just got on the bus and didn’t know. “You validated, why not him?” he asks. “He’s pretty much asleep I tell him.” Then he gets angry and tells us to pay him $40, to which I try and snatch the ticket out of his hands and go up to the driver to settle it. This really gets him going and he gets on his phone, making gestures and comments to let us believe he was calling the police.“I call police, they will wait for you at the airport” He said with a crazy look in his eye, his partner looking shrewdly at us then back at his associate. We just ignored them. When we got to the airport we got off the bus and went inside the terminal undisturbed, hearing the pair’s curses to us as they went the opposite direction.It was a straight sprint to our check in desk from outside. Of course check in was over almost an hour ago, but we soldiered on regardless. I ran to some official looking desk and asked them about our airline. He told me that the counter was closed, but if the flight was still there we might be able to get on if we went to the right desk, so I found Zane and took us to the place he pointed out. They told us that miraculously the flight was very late in taking off and if we ran the whole way we might make it aboard. We skipped straight to the front of a huge line waiting for another flight on our airline, checked in, and ran to our gate, making it with less than 2 minutes before they closed the door, what a rush!Our flight to Sweden went by without comment, except that neither of us slept. During our 5 hour layover in Stockholm however, we were approached by a young man working for some agency that was suing the airline for not notifying the passengers about the layover though,he told us we might get a few hundred out of the deal, which we thought was cool, so we signed his papers and boarded the plane to Bangkok. I can't believe we made it! Four crazy weeks in Europe, and now 6 weeks in Asia? What will happen next?
Welcome to Amsterdam
For the first leg of my journey to Amsterdam I had to transfer from Stockholm to Oslo and then Oslo to Amsterdam, altogether it was only a few hours and mostly painless. When I arrived I took the train into the city for 5.90 Euros, and then a bus at the central station to what I hoped was the correct area of our hostel.I told the bus driver where I needed to go, Boss en lommerweg its called, and when we passed it I asked if that was my stop, he asked me, “where you want to go?” Wow hostel I replied, and he opened the doors at the next stop and said, “that way, and after some time to the left” while pointing straight at the face of a building, after asking 3 more people for directions I found the place. It’s a 4 story building, probably not designed as a hostel to begin with but converted for such a purpose after the fact.I checked in, paid the 96 Euros that remained over after the online deposit and then had to wait several hours before I could check in. The first person I meet after sitting down in the lobby was a chap from North Whales named Maff, who runs a homeless rehabilitation center there. Before, during and after our conversation he asked if I knew where to Get Marijuana nearby and left me with the impression that smoking it was all that was really on his mind.After searching online for a raw vegan place within walking distance I found the Alchemist Garden, a sweet little place with a wide selection of choices. As much as I would have liked to walk in ready to look through the menu and choose carefully, I had business to attend to in the bathroom, so I ordered 2 random things on the menu, asked where the bathroom was and flew downstairs, passing the owner and his working desk in a flash and quickly landing on the throne.When I came back upstairs my food was already ready, a trademark of Raw food indeed. I had a sandwich made with dehydrated flax seeds and filled with onion, tomato, lettuce, avocado and a light chili sauce. And to finish it off I had a cold African soup. The man behind the counter was originally from Sicily, moved to London in the early 80’s and then in the 90’s moved to Amsterdam where he’s been ever since. I actually really liked him, he was very funny and well informed about a great many things.The owner came up a few moments later and introduced himself, he was very cool as well, and was very interested in speaking with me when I told him I managed an Organic Raw juice and food bar. I suppose that’s how all business is, networking and learning from other companies is pivotal for an infusion of new ideas.When I got back to the hostel it was ok to check in and so I did. The first thing I did when getting into our room was to accidentally cut my head on the lockbox metal flap, I thought it might bleed but wasn’t too worried about it, so I took a shower, and then a nap. When I woke up there were stains on my pillow and a patch of dried blood in my hair, it only bothered me because It was such an easily avoidable injury, and that I looked rather beat up. The jet lag at this point was still causing me a good deal of grief in the energy and healthy look department, a situation I hope to rectify via some newly acquired skill sooner or later.The time came to meet Zane at the airport, and so I left for the main station and bought a 3 day all public transport card for 25 Euros, a great deal if you’re there that long. Zanes flight was an hour late, having to circle the city due to windy conditions. So I found myself a seat and continued to read Tropic of Cancer.Zane came through the gate and we greeted each other with a solid hug and pat on the back, “welcome to Holland,” I said. “good to be here” he replied. I showed him where to buy a three-day transport ticket and then we rode the train and then bus to our hostel. He checked in, put his stuff away and by this time it was already 11:30pm. Zane wanted to see the town, get some water, beer or both, so we took the last bus into the city, walked around for hours, everything was mostly closed, it was a Monday night after all. We did get some water, but no Beer. We also saw the half-naked ladies standing in their red lighted windows beckoning in anyone they chose to spend time with. Some of the more beautiful ladies were quite picky, we saw a few men that had approached the windows be rejected, for being too drunk or not their type, who knows.Finally, I told Zane I was tired and we should really get home. There were supposedly night busses that ran until morning but we couldn’t find them. So, not having any idea how far we really needed to walk, we walked the whole way home. Which was something like 2 hours from 1am to 3pm. This, and It had already been a long day. By the time we got back to the hostel the doors were locked and we stood their dumb founded watching the doors immovable and lifeless. Until they opened as if by magic and we flooded in to the warmth of the temperature controlled building, it was freezing outside after all, literally 32 degrees. We were greeted by the night desk guy who informed us that our keycards would have let us in, to which we shook our collective heads in acceptance and went to bed after splitting the pear and apple I got from my USA to Sweden flight.First impressions of Amsterdam are good in that it’s one of the most unique places I’ve ever been too. But the real test, as always, lies in the many days ahead of us…