Giethoorn & Steenwijk

 4th November 2023, Saturday

I spent one week working remotely from Netherlands and I just woke up around 2 or 3 am to start work. For the whole week, there is no one day that was not raining. It was raining like mad on Wednesday night till the end of Thursday and the wind was so strong. Can even hear the howling sound of the wind the whole day. Only managed to go for a walk on Friday afternoon after my work as the sun did come out in the afternoon. But it still rained afterwards while i was outside.

Today we are heading to Giethoorn to stay over the weekend. It was a 2 to 3 hours train + bus ride from Almere Poort. So we woke up early and ate our breakfast. We walked slowly to Almere Poort train station to catch the 8:17 train. When we went up the platform, I saw the next train is going to Zwolle station instead of making a transfer at Almere Central. So we chose to take the next train to go to Zwolle station, but later we realised we will have to transfer to 2 buses (bus 71 & 70) in order to get to Giethoorn. We finally reached Giethoorn around 10 plus (the whole journey took about 2hrs plus).

Arrival

Since it is still early to check-in, we decided to explore the town and looked for our brunch/lunch around. The town are surrounded with the canal where people can cruise on the guided tour (9.50 euro per hour + free coffee/tea) or rent a boat to cruise on their own. The canal space was just big enough for one boat to pass at a time so the direction is always one-way. The boat rental cost around 25 to 50 euros per pax for an hour, so we didn't go ahead with it. It looked kind of nice too since you don't need a license for driving the boat around. But i think it may be better to come around this period if you want to drive the boat on your own as my friend said it was so much crowded during summer time and you will get stuck in the boat traffic most of the time. The restaurants also have boat rentals service available, so you can rent from any of the restaurants after dine-in.

Residential House

Church

We also tried to google the restaurants available there but found that most of the restaurants open at 12:00 pm instead. We also passed by a ice-cream shop named Venice and there were a lot of people standing outside of the shops. We just took a peek inside and decided to come back later for tea break. There was a small church and a museum available there. The walkways was also small for 2 person to walk side by side (smaller builds). As there was very few boats cruising the canal, we were able to see reflections of the trees, bridges and houses which was very beautiful. We walked till we reached a cafe named Grand Cafe Fanfare. Initially we wanted to go for a restaurant (Restaurant Fratelli) opposite the cafe but it wasn't open for business. So we went to Grand Cafe Fanfare instead. Luckily it wasn't so crowded and we managed to get a table. We waited for some time for the waitress to pass us their menu and they had a QR code which we can scan for the English menu. After flipping through the menu for 5-10 mins, we decided to order a twelve o'clock (a platter with bread, a soup, salad and smoked salmons), hot chocolate and an apple pie. 

Chocolate drink & cake

Breakfast set

The hot chocolate came with hot milk and real milk and dark chocolate chips where you add the chocolate chips into the milk. And you will have the hot chocolate drink..😂...real chocolate drink, not powder. The whipped cream they gave was also very generous, i didn't even use much of the cream for my chocolate drink. The apple pie also came with whipped cream as per request and it was quite tasty. The hot soup that came with the bread platter tasted nice but there was a mild spicy flavour to it. After eating, we left and continued walking around the town. We walked back to the ice cream shop and bought a scoop of Oreo ice cream with cone for 1.95 euro. We also bought a super thick Christmas socks for ourselves.....😊....

Ice-cream

Our Christmas socks

By 3 plus, it started to rain and we decided to walk to our B&B place - Hotel B&B d'Olde Smidse. It was located some distance outside the main town as it was slightly cheaper when we booked. Those located inside the main town were more expensive. Along the way, we also went to explore the supermarket there. When we reached the hotel, we don't see its reception. Instead the reception was inside with the restaurant. The owner came out from the kitchen and greeted us. Apparently he is the chef too...😅.....So he registered us in and wanted us to pay for our stay. My friend asked him didn't he receive our payment through Agoda as it should have been charged to my friend's credit card. So he did a check and while waiting, he gave us a brief introduction on the areas we can go nearby the hotel. He also let us know the breakfast time. He then confirmed our payment was made and brought us to our. room on the upper floor. The room was quite big and cosy. So we dropped our bags and rest in the room, watching tv. 

Hotel Entrance

Room key

Hotel restaurant

Room layout

We decided to go for dinner at the hotel restaurant later around 4:30 pm. We were the only ones there as i guessed it was still too early for dinner. There was still drizzled rain and it was cold. There, we ordered a half chicken with salad and fries, Pepsi and 6 of bitterballen. The chicken was quite dry and seem overcooked. The bitterballen was quite nice (just oily) but we just enjoyed our time during dinner (in fact, i was getting super super sleepy). After dinner, we went back to our room and rested for the day.

Dinner

Side Dishes

5th November 2023, Sunday

I tried to sleep in a little later for today but i still woke up at 6 plus. Then we got ready by 8 am and headed down to the restaurant for breakfast. We were the first ones there and the owner was also preparing the breakfast. He was cooking sausages, eggs and bacons. There were breads and different type of spreads for the breads, There were also cereals and juices. It was a decent variety of choices, not too much. I tried the crossiant, scrambled eggs, sausages and bacons. But the eggs, bacons and sausages were oily and salty. After some time, there was a pair of ladies and a family of 4 joined for breakfast. We just ate our breakfast till 9 plus, then we headed back to the hotel to collect our bags for check-out. It was drizzling when we left the hotel. When we walked out of the hotel, the pair of ladies were at their car, preparing to leave too. So we just waved bye to them when one of the ladies saw us and waved bye at us first. We decided to explore the other side of the main towel so we walked back to the main town. There were lesser people compared to the previous day. Most of the shops were not even opened for business. So we just walked and walked and there was a lot of flies flying around today, And the rain kept coming on and off the whole time. We walked till 11 plus and made our way back to Almere Poort

.

Breakfast

Hotel rooms

Swans

Outskirt waters

Bridge

We reached the bus stop at 12:08 pm and the next bus time was 1:09 pm as we missed the earlier bus. So we just waited at the bus stop the whole time and there was rain too. Finally the bus came and we boarded. It was a 30 mins ride to Steenwijk and we decided we could head down to the town for lunch first before we take the train back to Almere Central. However the restaurants we googled in Steenwijk seems to be opened on late afternoon for dinner. There was one restaurant we found opened currently was Brasserie Zus en Zo. All the shops that we passed along the way are all closed when we were walking to the restaurant. I can also see there were 3 churches in the town. We managed to get a table when we reached the restaurant. 

Street of Steenwijk 

Lunch place

We ordered a hawaiian smoothie, a platter and cheese nachos. The drink was quite good as it consisted of mango, passionfruit, apple and 3 or 4 more fruits. The food was considered salty to my tastebuds, it was not bad though but its very filling. After we finished the meal, we paid and left the restaurant. We walked a while in the town but it was like a ghost town (nothing was opened and no many people outside). We just walked slowly to the train station where we took a train back to Almere Central. By the time we arrived at Almere Central, it was already past 5 pm and the sky got really dark (like 8 plus in Singapore). We went to the asian supermarket nearby and bought some foods (frozen balls & wantons) to cook for the coming week. It started to rain again when we came out from the supermarket. We then walked to the bus stop to catch our bus to go back. I was soooo sleepy and tired and still had to wait for the bus. When the bus came, it was really really dark and it was a long ride back to the house. There was a drunk who got on the bus at some point and was making noise on the bus. He even got into an argument with another guy. I was glad we finally reached home and i can take shower to rest.

Cheese fries

Salad

Lassi

Hotel stayed: Hotel B&B d' Olde Smidse

Photo Album: Click Here

Weesp & Muiderslot Castle

 29th October 2023, Sunday

Today woke up around 7 plus, thinking it was late as per Singapore time. The weather was also nice and sunny. So we decided to head out to have a walk in the forest behind my friend's house. We had our breakfast and headed out for a walk. The wind was blowing strongly and it was cold (temperature was about 13 deg). We strolled through the path, greeting everyone we saw along the way. Some people were jogging, strolling and walking with their dogs. We saw wild mushrooms in the grass, potatoes ready to be harvest in the fields and modern windmills. There was even a super big dog holding a long branch on its mouth and wanted to bring home with it. The owner said the dog was only 18 months old and it was very obedient. We walked till 9 plus and decided to head down to Almere centre to go to a mediterranean eatery named Eethuis Lila. My friend had dined once and found the food nice by far, so she was recommending to have breakfast there.

Great day for a walk!

Breakfast place - Eethuis Lila

So we went and took the bus to head down to Almere Central.  When we reached there, there was no customers yet. However, they only serve breakfast dishes and soups so we can't order others from the lunch and dinner sections. We decided to go with a Harira soup and a big breakfast set to share which included breads, pudding, eggs, Moroccan mint tea. The food was quite nice. After the meal, we walked to the central area where there were a lot of branded shops around. We also went to a asian supermarket to see what asian food are they selling. After that, we decided to head down to Muiderslot Castle in Weesp and have ice cream there. So we walked to the bus stop and took a free bus to Weesp. It was about 30 mins ride to Weesp main station. From there, we went and look for bus 110 to go to the castle. However, it was a 45 mins wait before the bus comes. So we decided to head down to the town and get ourselves some ice cream from Nelis' IJssalon. It was 15 mins walk to the place, most of the shops were closed. When we reached there, we ordered 2 scoops in a cup for 2.5 euro and we took mango and pistachio flavour. Ice cream was quite smooth and not bad, just the mango one was quite sour and pistachio flavour was not strong enough (not as good as the one I had in Florence).  

Breafkast!

Famous ice-cream in Wessp

Reflection of Sint-Laurentius church

Then, we headed back slowly to the bus stop while eating the ice cream. We took some photos along the way back and waited for the bus to come upon reaching the bus stop. A young couple walked up to us asking if they could pay with their credit cards for the bus fares. My friend told them we were not sure and they could ask the driver when the bus comes. Then we had a small talk with them while waiting for the bus. They were from Mexico and Spain, they met each other while working in Finland and they were there for short holidays. And they told us the expenses in Finland was much expensive as compared to Netherlands. After that, we boarded the bus to head to the castle. From the bus stop, we still had to walk a 10 mins distance to the castle gate. We purchased a entry ticket for myself since my friend had free entry to the castle. And so we went to explore the castle and it started to drizzle too.  There were 2 routes - Knight's route and Tower's route to access different rooms in the castle. The castle was used as a water shield to fend off enemies in early years and served as a trading point in the later years. The count Floris V who lived at that time was collecting trade toll for every boat that passed by the castle. There was also a poet who lived in the castle after the Count. There was a torture room and armoury room too. We spent exploring the castle for about 2 hours. Later we went to the garden outside the castle to take a look. There was nothing there, all the flowers and veggies are all dead. Maybe it will be nicer in spring or summer period.

Knights' Armours

Fire place for warmth with the bench able to turn around

Torture Room

We decided to make our way home as the castle was closing at 5:00 pm. But before we left, we walked to the water shelter outside and took a look inside. There was a video on how the dutch had used water to defend their lands in war times but it also scarified its own people in order to have this water defence system. So it become a question of whether water is a foe or friend to them. After that, we headed out to exit the castle. We walked back to the bus stop and took the same bus 101 to the central station. From there, we took the free bus back to Almere Poort. Along the way, we caught sight of the moon rising out and it was so round and big. The sky was getting dark too when we reached back to Almere Poort. We went to supermarket to buy some ingredients for the coming week and bought a wrap and two Netherlands Balls back for dinner, Once done, we made our way back home where we ate our dinner and rested for the day.

Model of castle

Moon of the night

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Start of 2.5 months holidays in Europe

 27th - 28th October 2023, Friday

This is a year plan trip which i had requested my company to let me work remotely from Netherlands for 1.5 months following a 3-weeks AL break. The whole trip will start from 28th Nov 2023 to 7th Jan 2024 and i had planned this with my friend who is currently working in Netherlands. Our plan was to visit her and stay at her place till we go for our long holidays. I had waited for the whole 9 month for it to actually start.  I finally flew to Netherlands on 27th Nov night (23:55 flight). My dad ferried me to the airport and had dinner together before i went to the boarding gate. There was a moment that i feel kind of sad seeing my dad left as this was the first time i ever leave Singapore for so long. I walked around the airport for a while and went to one of the airport lounges (Marhaba) to pass time. The lounges were so crowded and full of people. And it was so hot inside but they do have some snacks and drinks which people can take for free (free-flow).

There was some delay for the plane to take off from Changi Airport, so the plane eventually flew off around 30 mins. So the expected landing time was changed from 7:05 am to 7:40 am (Netherlands time). The plane was full with passengers and mostly were westerners. I was seated beside an elderly couple and i can never get used to sitting on long flights. I watched 3 movies and managed to nap a little throughout the flight and my legs were aching for sitting long hours.  I was glad when we were approaching Schiphol airport, however we got a rough landing. The plane kind of landed and the speed was so fast that we could being being pushed to the front. When the plane was finally parked, the pilot announced that it was a busy day in the airport and there was not enough ground staffs. So we had to wait for about 10 mins for the ground staffs to help open the plane's door for exit. When we finally exit the plane, i saw the plane was parked some distance away from the airport. Hence, we had to take the transfer bus from the plane to the airport. I was just wearing a tee-shirt n jeans when i alighted from the plane and it was soo cold. 

When i finally reached the airport, i took some time to take out my jacket before going to customs clearance. At the customs, i was asked by the official the duration of my stay and the purpose of my stay. However, when i told them it is going to about 2 month of stay, the officer was having some doubts on my purpose though i said it is holidays and visiting my friend. So he questioned how much euros do i have and if i have an invitation from my friend. Once i told them i did not bring any euro in cash, he called another colleague of his to escort me to wait by a room where the other colleague took my passport and disappeared in the room. While i waited outside, i tried to make contact with my friend to let her know of my situation. The officer came out and I showed him my friend's work pass. i also gave him my friend's number so he can call her for clarification. However, he went into the room for some time before coming out and asked me if i can call my friend instead as he wasn't able to get hold of my friend. So i showed him the number again which he recorded in his phone and went in the room. After some time, i got a text from my friend saying she had clarified with the officer. However, i waited for quite a while before the officer came out and notified me that all clarification was cleared. But the officer said that his colleague will still need to do some checks and said it will take a while. The whole time i was waiting there, i was so scared that i will be deny entry or something worse. I waited like almost 10-15 mins before i finally get my passport back with a stamp to enter Netherlands. I was soo glad that i got cleared and able to enter but i think they probably will keep a record in their system to ensure i return to Singapore before the visa ends. 

Well, so i headed to the belt to collect my luggage but when i reached there, the luggage were not even out. So i had to wait again for my luggage to come out and i definitely can't wait to get out of the airport with the drama earlier. My friend was waiting for me outside since and i was soo soo glad to meet her. So we headed back to her house first which was at Alemre Poort. We took train to Weesp and transferred to bus as the train tracks to Alemre Poort was closed. During the ride, i asked her regarding her conversation  with the airport officer earlier. She said she told her she had invited me over for a long stay but there is no letter written since we are friends. And she told him that she already had some friends came over for stay in earlier of the year with no issue. She said none of her friends got questioned by the custom officer in terms of how much money did they bring or how long they are going to stay here except me. When we reached Alemre Poort, we walked to the supermarket to buy some breads and drumsticks to cook our lunch. I was so glad to finally reach her house where i can eat and rest. So my friend cooked the drumsticks and fried her overnight rice with egg. After eating, i unpacked my stuffs and had my shower. Then we watched tv and had nap till 4 plus. After that, we made our way to Alemre Central for the light festival there. When we arrived there, there was a Diwali festival too to celebrate Deepavali here. It was crowded with the Indians at the festival, so we walked around the square first. 

Later, we went up the ticket counter for the light festival (Alluminous Festival) to collect a token and a cute collar pin. The token was for us to get any drinks at the food & drinks stalls in the festival (In the end, we didn't walk till the drink stall which was further in the road). The route for the festival covered a area of 5 km and it was around the lake. It would take 2.5 hours to cover the whole round by walking. As it was not 7 pm yet, we decided to grab some food first. But there were so many people around and we ended up in Burger King instead. We managed to get a table and bought a nuggets meal for sharing. After that, we started our walk in the lights festival and it was also crowded. A lot of people just walked very fast on the route and the light displays were so far away from each other. We only walked to the second point and it wasn't half way of the lake. There was also boat service which would take you from point 1 and point 3 which is on the opposite side of the lake and it cost 5 euro. It was also so cold to walk long outside. But we tried to stay till 8:30 pm which we caught on the fireworks display from the Diwali festival. The fireworks lasted 30 mins and it was a long long time i actually watched fireworks so near (Got tired of videoing the fireworks too...😅).

Route map of Alluminous Festival

Light display in lake

After the fireworks, we took the bus home and the bus was also crowded with people. We reached home around 10 pm and it was so lucky that the rain came after we reached home. Then we washed up and rested for the day. Such a long day for me.

Photo Album: Click here!

Last Day in Bintan (Day 4)

 27th November 2022, Sunday

Today is the last day of my short gateway and have to go back to reality again. Woke up around 6 am and prepared to go for breakfast. Was thinking what to do after breakfast as the checkout time was 11 am. In additional, i still can stay around and use the facilities in the resort until the pick up time to leave the resort. The weather was very gloomy and could see very thick dark clouds up in the sky. I also noticed there was a cocktail session today at 11 am, so i went to the reception to enquiry where can i sign up for it. The staff informed i could enrol for it at the poolside bar at 9 am. So i went to the main restaurant for breakfast first. There was nothing much special today, so i took the same food i ate yesterday. While i was still eating, the rain came and there was strong wind. After eating, there was still about an hour to 9 am. So i went to sit at the bar at the main building and could see the lightings flashing with thunder sounds.

Breakfast

Main Reception

I just sat around until about 9 am and went down to the poolside bar to enrol for the cocktail session later. After that, i just went back to my room to rest (just sat by the windows and watched people doing aerial yoga) till about 10:30 am. After that, i left the room and walked to the reception to do the check-out. After that, i went down to the pool side bar and there were already snacks available which i went ahead and had some. There were 3 small tables setup at the back of the corner and i went over wondering if it was for the cocktail session. Luckily it was and there were another 3 groups with kids joining too. The bartender gave a brief introduction of herself and a short introduction of the tools used by a bartender to mix any cocktails drinks. She had prepared the ingredients for a particular cocktail for us in this session. So the ratio was all the same, only difference was those with kids has no rum given. The white color liquid was personally mixed by the bartender and consisted of coconut as the base. It is for sweeting the drink, so you can add as little or as much as you prefer. The blue liquid was for the colouring and the last liquid is rum. So the bartender guided us through on how to mix the liquids and ice together. I added only 1/3 of the given rum but i had poured all the white liquid into the mixture. After mixing, we can drink our own cocktail. Boy, it was soooo damn sweet and i can't even taste the rum...😅

Cocktail Tools

Finished Product!!

After playing with the cocktail, I stayed on in the pool side bar to have some snacks as the staffs were cooking satays and sausages. There was also fruits available. By then, the aqua gym had already started for today and the people were having water polo games too. At the end of the exercise, some of the sports team staffs also came by and began to dance around the pool. There were also some foreigners being sporty and started to dance while the music played on. I stayed for quite some time there since there wasn't much left to do. 2 of the massage staffs were also giving a 5 mins trial as part of their promotions to get people to sign up for their massage packages. So i went over and was treated a short massage on the shoulders. It was quite shiok...hahaa.....

Satays

Water Polo game

When it was around noon, i went up to the main restaurant for my last lunch there. I just ate a little and i wasn't very hungry. There was still about an hour left before the bus comes, so i walked around the resort again. Later on, i went up to the reception and collected my ferry boarding pass from the staffs there (which was great, don't have to collect from the ferry terminal). The bus came around 2 pm and everyone started to board the bus. While boarding, the resort's staffs were at the entrance bidding goodbye to all the guests leaving.  And we were off to the ferry terminal. There was nothing much there except a few mini shops selling some souvenirs for tourists to buy. I saw there were some people already starting to queue at the gate and it was only like 3:00 pm (Ferry was 4:30 pm)!! But still, i joined in the queue as there was nothing to shop. And slowly, the others started to join the queue and a line was formed quickly. The kid who was throwing temper when he arrived on the first day as me was in front of me. Same thing again, he was being naughty and throwing temper on and off while the parents queued. Think we waited till 4 pm and the gate opened for people to go in. Another queue was formed quickly inside the gate to the ferry too. It was another 15 or 20 mins wait inside before we could board the ferry. After that, it was just ferry back to Singapore which I reached about 6 plus or 7 pm. 

Laksa

Bintan Ferry Terminal

And this marked the end of my Bintan Trip of year 2022.

Bintan, Indonesia Trip (Day 3)

 26th November 2022, Saturday

Woke up around 6 plus and headed out for quick walk before breakfast in the main restaurant. The food was quite the same as yesterday with some different varieties today. After breakfast, i headed to the reception and waited for the power walk (activity by the resort) to start at 8:30 am. So when the time reached, the instructor was already waiting near the entrance. He was Logan, the south korean guy and quite handsome...hehee...Apparently, i was the only one who participated. So we walked out of the resort and the target was to reach the first power station outside the road (which was like 2 km plus away) in 30 mins (back n fro). But my walking speed was so pathetic until the instructor commented that it wasn't even a power walking...😅

Breakfast

But he still followed to my walking speed and i tried to chat with him so that it won't be so boring and quiet. From the chat, i got to know that he just arrived at the resort two weeks before and the club med staffs always get to rotate to different locations every year. So they have to adjust with different culture, people and climate every time they shift between different locations. And the instructor said he is quite enjoying his job as he is doing what he likes in his job. They do have a day off each week but most of them just stay in the resort as the nearest town in Bintan is like 15 to 30 mins away. Anyway we didn't manage to walk till the target destination, so we headed back after half the distance as he could only spend 30 mins for the activity. The instructor did mentioned that there were people who walked faster than him and he could not even have chat with them as we were having. And some people brought fruits along and the monkeys will snatch from them. 

When we reached back to the resort, i thanked him and went for another round of basket ball despite having muscle ache. I played for a good full hour, but while playing there were monkeys walking on the fence and passing the court. I scared the monkeys will take my stuffs, so i headed to the inner court but the condition of the board and net was not not as good as the outer court. I headed back to the outside court after some time when the monkeys were gone. Then my left sandal also opened it mouth...hahaha

After basketball, i went down to the practice golf area and attended the beginner course conducted by the resort. There were two instructors around, Putu and Osman. There were no one around when i reached there. Putu was the one who guided me first and then there were other people coming to join afterwards. It was not easy to learn the golf techniques and to be able to hit the ball correctly. Anyway, i played there for an hour since there is not many people playing and the pits are available. Also, had chat with the instructors while I played After playing, i left and walked slowly back to the poolside bar. The aqua gym has already started and the instructor today was Logan. Everyone seems to have a lot of fun working out in the pool (seems this is one of the popular activity). After that, they had water polo game which looked fun. I ordered a coke and had snacks (chicken wantons) in the bar to cool down first before headed back for shower. After that, i went into the leisure room, there were 2 pool tables and 2 mahjong tables at the back of the room. One of the mahjong tables has an auto shuttle mechanism too. 

Aqua Gym

Snacks

After that, i went back to my room for shower. Luckily the housekeeping came early today and i was able to rest in the sofa until past two. Later, i went to the other restaurant for lunch which i ordered 2 main dishes (a cold fish dish and sotong rice) and a dessert (blue berry cake) today. The fish dish was nice but the toast bread was very hard and mine was missing a lemon slice. The cake was too sweet for me though. After lunch, i headed to the sport centre and played archery again. This time i played from 2 plus all the way to almost 5 pm as there weren't many people playing around 3 plus. So the staff has no problem of me playing longer there. Heard the staff  going to leave the company soon, he was quite a nice guy though.

Cold sea brass dish

Sotong with rice

After that, i went to the bar at the beach to check out the snacks for today. There were a vietnam style pop piahs, beef satays. So i took the pop piahs and went to the poolside bar to eat and watch the world cup match. I stayed a little longer today as i wanted to go to the The Terrance and try their dinner menu. However, when i reached there, reservations was required for dinner as they have limited tables and there were more people for dinner. So i had to go dinner at the main restaurant and there were many people there. The food tonight was not quite nice, though the first clayfish dish i ate was favourable. Anyway i ate my dinner slow since it was the last night in the resort. Tonight's performance was by the kids who joined the kids' club so it was performance for the parents. So i did not went for the performance, instead i just watched the 2nd match of world cup in the bar until it was time to go back to rest. When i was switching the channels in my room, i realised i could also watch the world cup in my room...hahaha...But it seems more fun to watch in the bar with all the football fans around.

Pop piahs

Clayfish dish (Up for grab dish)

Roasted duck & sotongs