I completed another pilgrimage over the weekend, that of the trip Amsterdam. Going to a Coffee Shop in Amsterdam and smoking a big reefer has been something very high up on list to do ever since I was a young stoner back in Wodonga.
I did have all these wonderful plans to be a perfect tourist while I was there. To do things like take lots of photos of me smoking big-arse joints and send this email from an Internet Cafe while actually smoking a joint. In the end however, I just did as I always intended to do - got too stoned to be able to actually be able to make them happen. Instead I write to you now from London, with just a whole lotta vagueish memories of my weekend in Amsterdam.
It definitely proved to be everything I had ever built it up to be, plus more. My main goal was always just to go there and smoke pot legally but I also managed to find a city that was genuinely worth spending some time in.
The thing I managed to keep harping on about the most while I was there was the whole bike concept that the Dutch have got going there. I’ve never seen so many bikes in my life. The city centre was such a better place to be there any other city I’ve seen just because there was no constant cacophony of traffic, car horns and screeching tires. I was the way a city should be. I’ve always been a big bike fan and I’ve finally found somewhere that shows the benefits of everybody just cruising around on a treadly rather then trying to cram thousands of cars into a small place.
I could go on about the usual tourist things I did, like coffee shops, museums, red light districts and sex shows, but I won’t bother. Go there and see it for yourself, its worth the trip.
The only thing I’ll mention was my last hour in town. I had to leave two friends at a restaurant to say goodbye in private, so I thought that a trip to a Coffee Shop to smoke one last joint was the best way to kill some time.
One tourist shot I did get was of the place I happened to be right next door to, called ‘Coffee Shop Ben’. Strangely enough I just had to do the honors in there : )
Given that I was about to leave the country I decided to roll all of what pot I had left into one last joint, which proved to be one of the largest I’ve ever rolled, without any exaggeration required. I love to tell you that I smoked every last toke of it, but I can only say I had a fair crack at it instead. Still, by the time my friends came to get me they found a gibbering mess that could hardly spit out the words “I’m as stoned as a motherfucker. Please, I need your help to get me out of this country ‘cos I’m too stoned to even remember which country I call home right now”.
Thankfully, I had the odd favour or two in hand, so two hours later and a somewhat spaced out and paranoid journey through Amsterdam and International Customs later, I found myself escorted to a seat on a UK bound plane, wishing that I had been straight enough to think about buying some hash cake from the Coffee Shop to consume just before we got on the plane to make the trip home somewhat more entertaining : )
I’ll just have to remebemer it for next time.
Its about time I let you all know that I’m still alive and kicking.
Overall, I’ve been quite because I haven’t had much to say. I’ve just been living the wonders of 9-5ing it and trying not to let extra-curricula drinking habits stop my bank balance from accumulating. I have been struggling with the mild depression from falling back into a working rut again. Regardless of which country I’m in, I’m still just starring at a screen all day. Unfortunately this an inevitability in life. It just becomes so much harder in the English winter where you only get to see some of the small amount of daylight there is if your lucky enough to have an office with a window. Being in a crowded, polluted city like London doesn’t help either. Unfortunately, it’s going to get worse before it gets better. I can only run round the world from winter for so long. I have had a good run of late, two summers in a row and all.
Anyway, I taking solace in my burgeoning travel plans which makes all the difference.
I only just recently returned from Germany and the wonders of Oktoberfest (hence the email title, its specifically referring to my last weekend, although could be extended in some ways to the amount of Fosters I’ve consumed over here. Yes, that’s right Aussies. I’m drinking Fosters regularly because its the best of the cheap beers here. All Aussies in London come to grips with it eventually).
At the Oktoberfest I can honestly say that I have never consumed so much beer in a weekend in my life…nor do I ever intend to again…nor would I be able to. Regardless of what impression I give, I’m not the biggest drinker in the world (particularly by Aussie standards), but last weekend it didn’t matter as I just got wrapped up in the spirit of the event.
The Oktoberfest is definitely one of the wonders of this world and deserves every reputation it is known for. I’ve never seen so many drunk people in the one place at the one time (and this is only counting 1 of the 12 beer halls). This wouldn’t usually be appealing in itself, but the thing I can’t describe is the atmosphere…I’ve never seen so many drunk people in the one place at the one time without a single fight breaking out.
Everyone there was just there to have a good time, meet people, drink as much beer as they could physically handle and sing a whole lotta songs. I met, cheered, and drank with people of just about every European nationality I can think of (….with the exception of Germans. Credit goes to the Germans, they throw a huge party just for everybody else in the world but don’t bother to turn up themselves, either that or they’re just smart enough to have their own parties elsewhere. Probably the latter I guess).
Overall, its one hell of a good party. I highly recommend it to anybody who happens to be in that part of the world at the right time of year. Just the spectacle of the event is worth going along for, but while you’re there you might as well stop in for a stein or two.
It’s taken me about a week to recover from the three days of drunken debauchery. Being homeless when I got back didn’t help, but that happens once in a while (my lease ran out while I was away).
Now I’ve got a place sorted and I’m putting my head down for the next month until I head off for my next journey to Egypt in November for four weeks. I’m going there to do the tourist thing (Pyramids, Cairo, etc) for a 10 days, before I stop in Dehab on the Red Sea and learn how to dive in what I’m told are some of the best diving locations in the world. I look forward to making you all jealous about that.