Amsterdam

I know this is supposed to be a blog about our travel to Vietnam and Cambodia, but we decided to spend the weekend in Amsterdam first. Kind of a warm up trip for the missmarble team and I get to practice using wordpress.

Now we need to find our accommodation. Irish is starting to march with her usual determination and enthusiasm. However After a few miles or two, our shoulders are crying out for feather-weight backpacks.

The one you can see on Irishe’s back must weigh about 10 kg, three too many. We are silently reconsidering travel essentials for our trip to Vietnam. Hopefully Irish will give up on packing her beloved thermal mug to keep her beer cool all day (an unquestionable priority apparently).

The Captain’s cabin…he lived in there about a hundred years ago with his wife and flock of children. How did they all fit and sleep in this confined space boggles the mind. We call our boat Plic Plop because of the steady loud dripping noise coming from outside the cabin.

Drawbacks of sleeping on Plic Plop:

– PLIC PLOP! The noise goes on all night long. 

– The bed! Imagine the top bed of a bunk bed enclosed in a cupboard with a sliding door, and no ladder to access it. Trips to the toilet in the middle of the night become perilous. Plus one sleeper (me) has to straddle over the other sleeper (Irish) and then climb down to sea level using a chair as first base. Actually… I don’t mind the straddling-over-Irish part.

– The cold!  Amsterdam weather conditions are freezing with a nippy wind.  Unfortunately a boat is surrounded by water. So the Captain’s cabin, although small, takes a chilling long time to warm up. And the cupboard-bed feels like a Siberian closet with icy damp sheets. Irish wears a woollen hat and three jumpers, protests and swears, loudly. I sport long thermal underwear with hiking socks, and snore, loudly. Not quite the romantic sexy weekend we had in mind.

Advantages of living on Plic Ploc

Location! Location! Location. Plic Plop is moored in a beautiful suburb, west of and walking distance to the city centre. A great mix of modern and ancient architecture, little paved streets lined with potted plants along the canals, tiny oasis of greenery and even a mini zoo. People smile and are happy to strike up a conversation with Irish who must be one of the best conversation launcher in the world!

Very soon we ferret out the local pub, with an outside square to soak up the sun (and a few beers). Nice vibe with a good mix of people, old and young, gay and straight.

A lot of the offices and even private homes have huge windows with no curtains. Most interiors are beautifully organised, to showroom standards. Ambling along, we witness people working at their desk, cooking in their kitchen, eating with their friends. Even a bedroom covered in white pristine frills is on show for all to gape at. Should I avert my eyes modestly? or is it OK to be nosy? I feel automatically drawn to snooping on people’s private space.