I played tour guide a few times for clients from the US. Somehow we always end up going from coffeeshop to coffeeshop. Suited up that is. That's what I like most about Amsterdam and the coffeeshops, soooo many different people with red eyes.So if I ever come to the 'Dam I want Sativied as my guide.
As for renting, honestly I have no idea. Probably differs a lot where (how close to CS for example) you get it and for how long and how many bikes. Probably worth doing a little research an find a reasonable priced one.
I just noticed this: "After renting your bike, follow any instructions the vendor might give you, and lock-up the bike in authorized locations only." Which shows again how often bikes get stolen. Not sure if they all have that rule and how many of those authorized locations there are.
As for buying a bike, used once go for as little as 50 euros (no idea if that's true in Amsterdam though), usually 100-250 or more for a used 'city bike' (includes anything not fancy). New bikes go for $200 to thousands depending on the brand and whether you want electric. A good city bike like a Gazelle or Batavus start at $700 new, those will last for decades. Hybrids (lighter than city bikes, usually 7 or more gears) start a couple of hundred bucks higher.
The "beach cruiser" rates differ a lot:
http://www.beach-cruiser.nl/beachcruiser-heren-men/beachcruiser-1-black-satin-men-electra $400
http://www.beach-cruiser.nl/beachcruiser-heren-men/beach-cruiser-heren/felt-cruiser-marpat-3sp $1300
Yes, electric bikes: http://www.gazelle.nl/collectie/elektrische-fietsen usually around $2000
And yeah, I know my bikes
Edit: www.iamsterdam.com Looks very useful for tourists, English option at top if it doesn't default to English.
So if I ever come to the 'Dam I want Sativied as my guide.
Hey Sativied if your in Amsterdam between July 1st and July 8th make sure you let me know first few joints are on me .I played tour guide a few times for clients from the US. Somehow we always end up going from coffeeshop to coffeeshop. Suited up that is. That's what I like most about Amsterdam and the coffeeshops, soooo many different people with red eyes.
I like to just sit and watch people, like groups from Spain, France, Canada, the US, or a Scandinavian country I don't understand/recognize. They come into coffeeshops all energetic, talking a lot, and then start rolling, smoking, asking for the bong (most shops have one or more bongs you can use), or pass balloons filled with vape. After a while the music seems to get louder, the voices softer. Some withdraw from conversations and start staring themselves. Sometimes making contact with someone from another group, at another table, from another country, with just as red eyes. Usually takes a few seconds before they realize they are staring at each other, and then look at each other with a smile that says "enjoy it bro". And that is when you know you're in Amsterdam.
Well, technically, legally even, when you are on a bike you are a 'traffic participant' and all the general traffic rules apply. Since there's no 100% reliable way to test whether you are high 'and' how high you are, you can't get fined here for being high in traffic (exceptions of stoners sleeping half behind the wheel of their car etc of course). I wouldn't ride a bike with a joint in my hand/mouth (in case some cop is bored), but that's about it.Is there any weird rules of riding bikes while high?
You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Sativied again.Well, technically, legally even, when you are on a bike you are a 'traffic participant' and all the general traffic rules apply. Since there's no 100% reliable way to test whether you are high 'and' how high you are, you can't get fined here for being high in traffic (exceptions of stoners sleeping half behind the wheel of their car etc of course). I wouldn't ride a bike with a joint in my hand/mouth (in case some cop is bored), but that's about it.
One thing to keep in mind is turning on the lights on the bike. Riding in the dark without lights is a 50 euro fine. I rarely actually notice cops in A'dam except for the ones in cars though. They're there, but not sure what their purpose is In the red light district for example you will see a couple of cops walking and then 50 yards or so farther some guy will go 'pssst, pssst' (which means "want to buy coke, X, speed, mdma crystals"?)
I just check some prices and an example: 12 euro per day, excluding a 3 euro bike insurance. Surely some give a discount for a week. 50 bucks seems doable. If you buy a 50 bucks bike it would be one without lights and you will have to fix the chain every 2 miles
Speaking of bikes, since a few years there are bike cabs, kinda like a 'tuk tuk'. They are operated by 'krakers' (long story short: there was a law that allowed people to steal houses if they were unused/unoccupied, basically crack the house open, hence 'krakers'). Lazy criminals, they will try to rip you off (like $15 to go from the Dam to another square).
And since I'm at it, another trend since a few years are Chinese massage salons. You'll see, there are seemingly as many as there are coffeeshops. Some offer 'extra services', which is 'not' legal.
Another note on coffeeshops. Starting July-something (might be July 1st actually), several coffeeshops in and around the red light district are closed. Permanently (were too many and too close to each other). They are going to sell 1 pre-rolled joint to force a lawsuit. Point is: it'll probably be very busy in the other coffeeshops.
Unfortunately I won't be able to go to A'dam that week. Didn't realize you were going an entire week either. As much fun as A'dam is, if you are here for a week I'm going to recommend a few other things that aren't 'in' A'dam itself, will list a few suggestions in another post later today.
I'll definitely be doing some high biking But even when im high i never look it or act the part can still act sociably and coherent so it shouldn't be a problem.Well, technically, legally even, when you are on a bike you are a 'traffic participant' and all the general traffic rules apply. Since there's no 100% reliable way to test whether you are high 'and' how high you are, you can't get fined here for being high in traffic (exceptions of stoners sleeping half behind the wheel of their car etc of course). I wouldn't ride a bike with a joint in my hand/mouth (in case some cop is bored), but that's about it.
One thing to keep in mind is turning on the lights on the bike. Riding in the dark without lights is a 50 euro fine. I rarely actually notice cops in A'dam except for the ones in cars though. They're there, but not sure what their purpose is In the red light district for example you will see a couple of cops walking and then 50 yards or so farther some guy will go 'pssst, pssst' (which means "want to buy coke, X, speed, mdma crystals"?)
I just check some prices and an example: 12 euro per day, excluding a 3 euro bike insurance. Surely some give a discount for a week. 50 bucks seems doable. If you buy a 50 bucks bike it would be one without lights and you will have to fix the chain every 2 miles
Speaking of bikes, since a few years there are bike cabs, kinda like a 'tuk tuk'. They are operated by 'krakers' (long story short: there was a law that allowed people to steal houses if they were unused/unoccupied, basically crack the house open, hence 'krakers'). Lazy criminals, they will try to rip you off (like $15 to go from the Dam to another square).
And since I'm at it, another trend since a few years are Chinese massage salons. You'll see, there are seemingly as many as there are coffeeshops. Some offer 'extra services', which is 'not' legal.
Another note on coffeeshops. Starting July-something (might be July 1st actually), several coffeeshops in and around the red light district are closed. Permanently (were too many and too close to each other). They are going to sell 1 pre-rolled joint to force a lawsuit. Point is: it'll probably be very busy in the other coffeeshops.
Unfortunately I won't be able to go to A'dam that week. Didn't realize you were going an entire week either. As much fun as A'dam is, if you are here for a week I'm going to recommend a few other things that aren't 'in' A'dam itself, will list a few suggestions in another post later today.
Modern bikes here have led lights so it doesn't create resistance so if you are missing the dynamo (that lil turn wheel) on a bike here, look for a buttonlittl turn wheel on the tire,
I've been all over Thailand because not only the tuk tuks, but also private bus drivers, trains and even Boeings are cheap there A good reason not to take one in A'dam, don't let it spoil the good memories you have of real tuk tuks. (they 'will' be annoying even to non-customers because they go over the RL district 'ring ring' 'ring ring' 'ring ring' )Haha i remember tuk tuks from thailand/indonesia, very cool way to get around but over there it was dirt cheap since the entires country/s live in poverty.
A'dam had to close a bunch of coffeeshops, especially around the RL district. The owners aren't accepting it, but instead of just opening their shops to everyone, they are going to sell 1 joint, more a symbolic act, defying the mayor basically, to force a lawsuit (so a judge can have his/her say about it). It won't affect you though, they will be either open or closed. Still over a hundred other coffeeshops to pick"They are going to sell 1 pre-rolled joint to force a lawsuit". I'm kinda confused what you mean by this? could you please elaborate a little on it.
Good choice I frequently smoke pollen, which is usually Dutch hash, roughly double the THC of weed. Moroccan hash is very common here, which usually has high CBD and lower THC. But lots of import hash in general, I highly recommend the Himalayan Trance (or sumthin', forgot the name as soon as I walked outside) at Kadinsky. (I posted about it in a post about my last trip in A'dam, few months ago, here in TnT).will mostly be sticking to hash so if i buy some top grade hashes I'll probably be good for a while,
You'll find quite a few seeds shops open till late in the evening near the RL district and Damstraat. RQS, GHS, Sensi for example. I usually refer to them as tourist seeds, souvenirs (which doesn't mean they don't have any good strains but I don't recommend them either). In the Haarlemmerstreet (the one with Barney's and Picasso and a 2nd Dampkring) is also a Rokerij (couple of them in A'dam, old shops, never been there, probably should be on the list) and next to it is a seedshop with huge selection. I just started growing some DNA genetics strains (close to the Dam square, in an alley half way back to CS), and just finished some Barney Farm Liberty Haze. Non of these are recommendations though. Point is, you'll have plenty of choiceI am also going to try to get a bunch of seed there
Coming up next.Looking forward to the new suggestions.
You're most welcome, enjoy the trip and have a safe one!Thank again for everything bratha.
WHOA!! Sticky this shit somewhere we can find it again LOL! This is golden.Some suggestions for outside Amsterdam, in no particular order:....snip......
Some suggestions for outside Amsterdam, in no particular order:
- Batavia Stad - 'Fashion outlet', dozens of small shops with ridiculous cheap clothing. Brands only. Nike, O'Neill, Oxbow, Adidas, Replay, Levi's, etc, etc. www.bataviastad.nl By itself not a trip, but it's in Lelystad (30 min train ride from A'dam), which is the capital of the province Flevoland, the youngest province, entirely man made. It's also the most flat area of the Netherlands and fitting for a train ride. Lots of modern windmills (power turbines). http://www.nationalgeographic.nl/fotografie/foto/flevoland-landschap Next to Batavia Stad lies a full-size replica of the Batavia (ship). Lelystad has 1 coffeeshop (ok-ed over a decade ago, opened 2 years ago...). Never been in that shop, educated-guessing that it's more like a local pub ( typical for coffeeshops in smaller towns, i.e. same people all day everyday and not like in A'dam).
- Haarlem, like A'dam, but smaller, many canals have been 'closed', as in turned into streets), and in Beverwijk, close to it, the black market and eastern market. "Black market" because it used to be tax free (maybe still is, dunno). Still cheap (leather jackets from Turkey is a classic product there).
- Utrecht (like 20-25 min train from A'dam) - my second favorite city. Smaller center with one main canal, lots of restaurants, including ones with decent food for reasonable rates (google images search for 'utrecht gracht restaurant') Huge old church higher than everything else. http://zoom.nl/foto/1379441/architectuur/utrecht-nr-14--de-dom-nr-5-.html (note the blue sign with P from parking, about 6 buildings next to it is the best coffeeshop in Utrecht, called Andersom (on the corner to the alley leading to that huge church ) If you were to go outside of Amsterdam for one day, I suggest going an evening to Utrecht. Possible after Batavia Stad or something else in the afternoon. Utrecht is pretty much 'the' train hub for the Netherlands so can easily be combined with others.
In all cities there's "koopavond" (buy-evening literally) once a week, and then all regular shops/stores are open till 21:00 instead of the usually 18:00. In Amsterdam and Utrecht it's both on the same day, Thursday. Since in Amsterdam there's always something open till noon or later, Thursday evening might be a good day for Utrecht. If you pick another city it might be worth checking when they have 'koopavond' (usually Thursday or Friday), just more people then.
- I personally don't care much for visiting Rotterdam (the original center was destroyed by German bombings, so more modern buildings there) and The Hague, but they are both fairly close to Amsterdam. Scheveningen is close to The Hague and is the main beach spot on that coast. Probably won't be beach weather, but the dunes itself seem to be a popular sight. Zandvoort would be another good place to visit the sea/dunes (close to Haarlem and Beverwijk).
Some of the typical tourist destinations:
- Keukenhof, not sure how it looks with the current summer weather, but people from all over the world travel to NL just for the Keukenhof. It's like a huge park with flowers. Again, google images search gives a good impression. I did enjoy walking through it, baked that is
- Alkmaar (search in Google images... 'the' traditional cheese market, I assume kept alive for tourists). Just above Amsterdam. Alkmaar is a classic city by itself, made up of 4 or 5 smaller towns.
- Kinderdijkje, some of the oldest and original windmills used to drain* NL, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinderdijk
*Since that 'always' comes up, being below sea level that is:
Much of the Netherlands would be underwater if not for the nation’s 10,000-plus miles of dikes, dams and other structures. Major flooding was an accepted part of life in the Netherlands until 1953, when a deluge of cold seawater destroyed infrastructure and killed 1,800 people. After that tragic event, the Netherlands got serious about natural disasters, embarking on a 50-year, $14.7-billion flood-control project.
The Netherlands flood-resistant infrastructure is built to withstand a 10,000-year flood, a flood so large and powerful it could only happen once in 10,000 years. By way of contrast, the levees built in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina are designed to withstand a 100-year storm.
Oh two more suggestions for in Amsterdam:
- If you are going to watch a movie, I highly recommend Tuschinski: http://www.pathe.nl/bioscoop/tuschinski (from 1921) Imo it's worth going even if you seen or don't like the movie
- Every Wednesday afternoon there is a free classical concert in the Concertgebouw (Concert building from 1881)