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Amsterdam best known for three things - sex, drugs and canals!
After one of our longest days of driving we rolled into the Botel. Whats a Botel? Its a Hotel on a ship thats permanently moored in the harbour. While we were all skeptical about staying on a boat it actually was a fantastic option. Amsterdam at night is an absolute dive, filled with vomit, piles of takeaway and stoned tourists. Amsterdam during the day is clean - Venice for Gen Y.
After arriving late we quickly headed into Amsterdam to orientate ourselves with the main sites. Catching the cross river ferry back into Amsterdam we headed to Dam Square and then onwards to the infamous red light district.
The Sex show was booked in for 8.30, after a quick dinner we were taken through fat and skinny lanes in the red light district. Red = girls, Blue = lady boys. I really struggled to make a decision about the sex show, in one hand I view the industry as really degrading to women, on the other this is how they support themselves and their families - times are still really tough in Eastern Europe - unemployment is high and there are lots of people begging in the streets. Out of my comfort zone and with my original goal of this trip to experience 'local' I headed into the sex show. There are really only five words that can describe the show - candle, texta, tape, banana, sex. Quite a few of our group were dragged up on stage - cheers goes to Steve, James, Danika, Amy, Kaine and Sam for putting yourselves up there!
A couple of drinks were needed after the show to digest a few of the acts! Our free day started with a cycle tour of Amsterdam on a Sunday morning - the streets were empty and clean.... Post the cycle we walked down to Anne Franks house before heading back along the canals to the Heineken Museum to tour the original 1890's factory and sample the much raved about extra cold tap heineken! It takes so much better in Amsterdam than Australia - its minus the preservatives and served at minus 2 degrees :) The museum is so much more than I expected - at one point your in a simulator being brewed!
Post Heineken we went in search of Stroopwaffles and Dutch Donuts. Dutch Donuts filled with apple super easy to find - fresh stroopwaffles were extremely hard to find so we went with packaged and warmed them up over coffee. What is stroopwaffle?? Its super thin waffles stuck together with a thin layer of caramel... Delish.
To end our last full day on tour we all headed out for Chinese over the canal before boarded a canal boat for a couple of hours cruising and drinks - the perfect way to celebrate and say goodbye to a great bunch of guys!!
So what do you do in Amsterdam after you've eaten and had many drinks?? You hit the bars (not Koffee Shops) for shots and dancing before you stagger to find hot chips and mayo and fall into bed!!
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