FRIDAY APRIL 25th 3.5 hour flight delay on the way...Damn that delay sucked big time. But I'm here now and managed to meet up with Tak, Milehigh, Birdy, Holly, etc. Got wasted, got cellphone, went shopping at AH, checked into apartment, etc.... Not bad for less than 2 hours huh? Milehigh took care of the intial stoning with a cocktail joint of LA Confidential, Hindu Kush Haze and some Venus. That salad was smooth and easied me into my trip nicely. Cheers for that. After we settled in we walked down to damstraat rent a bike and picked up some crappy fiets that swiftly delivered us to Bluebird Coffeeshop. Scored 1.5g of Lemon Haze and 1.2g of Blue Cheese for 12.50e each. Neither dissappointed. We did some riding around for fun and then hit up the leidseplein area. Actually went into the Bulldog for a change because Birdman wanted to use the internet terminals there. Didn't buy anything but had a drink at the bar and got to listen to a really good Prince song that both I and the hot bartender chick were diggin. Went to Grey Area and, per the instruction of a friend, I tried to drop a name to get a discount. John said he would discount the 12.50e per gram golden soles price to 9e for me but when all is said and done I dont think I got golden soles. Looked more like some lighter nepal I've gotten before and was priced like nepal. Oh well.. Grey Area's menu looked pretty typical if not boring. Grey Haze, Grey Diesel, Yellow Cab, etc. Hit up Amnesia for a drink and to blaze one of Birdman's pre-rolls on the outside terrace seat. Enjoying watching the people go by on the canal boats. Started getting cold so we headed back to the apartment to dress warmer but its 9pm and I think we will probably just stay in for the night and get a good amount of sleep. Should help us beat the jet lag. SATURDAY APRIL 26th Day Two is going swimmingly (Dodgeball) Birdman and I went to The Doors Singel but to get a good outdoor seat by the north end of the Singel Canal. It was closed so we decided that since the Bulldog was right next to it and had nicer tables, we'd just buy a drink there and sit at the tables. Mingled with these 2 kids from Scotland who looked about 18 and 14 but both went into the coffeeshop and proudly came out with some smoke. We met up with Tak and Holly at the Noordermarkt where they have a wonderful stand of gemstones. Their are only about 2-3 stands that sell such items and it was easy to tell that Taks items were of a higher quality and selected with more care. The Noordermarkt was lots of fun and offered many things. I saw everything from clothing to fresh made crepes! We met up with dannymac and his mrs and Last Hamlet...then headed towards Amnesia. I picked up some wonderful Pink Kush after asking the budtender what item on the menu "tasted best". Buckeye guy from Hipforums walked into Amnesia and recognized me from the Hipforums cruise last year. I was completely wasted and not paying attention when he walked past me...hardly recognized him. Glad he recognized me though because he's a cool dude. Last Hamlet smoked us up with a giant doobie at Amnesia then this great hash he got from a local. Cheers for that man I appreciate the nice gear! Channels Party at Canvas and Pregame at Katsu were a blast! A five o clock meetup at Katsu and the Channels party at Canvas turned out atleast the following people: koopa birdman sir ian of tokesville mile high emerald goddess sly crayon anne planning a trip itsamagical life tuttiflutes nellie last hamlet dannymac and mrs bigbird dragonsomething and friend mopperm1 ispica blueberry bas Bear (and Jane) and atleast 10 others I can't recall at this very wasted moment. At Katsu I purchased 4.2g of silverpearl x haze for 40e and 0.9g of cheese for 10e. The cheese was very good but LastHamlets sample from Mellow Yellow looked MUCH better (bigger buds by far). At Canvas we ate, drank, smoked and were merry. The space was very nice for a party as the top floor had a wonderful view of the city and a very nice bar. The downstairs area had a live rock band in one space, some art installations in another, and a smoking lounge with techno dj / lights / lounge seats, etc. Emerald Goddess (MH's girl) made her iceolator cookies which are incredible and MH hooked me up with some nice iceolator that was a smooth and potent smoke to be remembered. A brisk bike ride up the rokin / damrak / haarlemerstraat took us home and I've been sipping on some Palm and Fraziskaner Weissbier in the comforts of my place. SUNDAY APRIL 27th ok I'm so drunk that I have tried to blog the next trip report 3 times and it keeps getting messed up so I'm going to post cliff notes and fill the story in later.... 1. Trade in damstraat rent a bikes for 3 speed handle brake bik es from Fredericks. At first I was reading the "speed indicator" wrong and followed Birdman and LastHamlet from Fredericks to Mike O's houseboat down south of Rembrandtsplein entirely in 3rd gear!!!! Wow that was a work out. Fortunately I soon figured out how to work the gears and now its even smoother sailing than ever! 2. ..... 3. Travel to Het Ballontje via bike with Birdman and Lasthamlet where we had burgers, fries, and a milkshake from this standard snack place and then headed to Het Ballontje for some smoke. Lasthamlet and I both chose the "Ice" from het Ballontje for 8e per gram which was the strongest smoke they offered. It has minimal taste / personality but it has a nice high that seems like an indica dominant mix. 4. Lasthamlet leaves and Birdman and I go to the Leidseplein where we get drawn into a street performance. The performer is a British man with only the right side of his head shaved bald. He really gets the crowd into the performance through audience participation, humor, and random vulgarity! 5. After the show we walk into Mopperm1 from hipforums and decide to head towards Coffeeshop Dolphins for a smoke. Mopperm1 purchases White Dolphin and Royal Dolphin Hash upon my recommendatioin and we get wasted in the window seat. I must say that the red head with the "tattoo sleeve" who works here is really doing it for me.... 6. After then Birdman and I go back to the apartment to prepare for an 8pm meetup at Cafe Gollem (one of the best beer bars in Amsterdam) with Anne and others from Channels. Birdman and I enter and I see Sir Ian of Tokesville upstairs with Sly Crayon. I'm not sure if the two had planned to be here because of the "meetup" or because of their own volition but its good to see them both. We make standard obligatory chit chat and then after ordering my Rochfort 8, we decide to share a 12e per bottle Westvleteren 12 from Belgium. This is about the most desired beer on the planet and split btw three glasses it was a formidable brew shared amnognst wonderful people. 7. Soon other arrived including: Planning A Trip w/ 2 friends, Lasthamlet, Anne w/ boyfriend, etc. We had a wonderful time drinking, talking, and being merry. I ordered beers such as Rochefort 8, Westvleteren 12, Pannepot, Orval, Bruges Triple, etc. Wow having access to all these great beers makes me realize that a trip to Antwerp isn't worth it just for the beer..... Channelites gradually leave one by one until its just Anne w/ boyfriend and myself. We kept ordering rounds as we had pleasant conversation after conversation. Come about 12:30am we call it a night (after a 7:30pm arrival) and now I'm typing to you at 1:45am as Birdman has been downstairs asleep for nearly 2 hours. I'm smoking a blunt of Ice by myself and eating a Strookoeken which is a stroop waffel but made with a nilla wafer like cookie instead of fried waffle pieces. Mmmm.... Time to finish my blunt and get to bed as we are driving to Antwerp tomorrow. I will have to be up in the next 6 hours and and seriously buzzed as I smoke my 1.5g blunt by myself. MONDAY APRIL 28th Wow its after 3am on Monday evening (Tuesday morning) and I just got back from our all day road trip. I'm drunk and tired so bullet points will dictate this trip format until the full story is elaborated upon... 1. Got up this morning and was completely sluggish due a fantastic night at Cafe Gollem. 2. Got a message from Yogi Bear saying is flight was delayed and he wouldn't be able to make the Belgium trip. 3. Forgot my passport and keys at the apartment so had to double back for them (only 2 minutes from home so no biggie) 4. Birdman and I met up with Dannymac and the Mrs. at a car rental spot down on Overtoom. Birdman being the badass he is refuses to bring maps and refuses to rent a GPS system so off we go into the great unknown. 5. We drove past the keukenhoff gardens, stopped in Leiden for a smoke and a walk around (soon finding out that the coffeeshops don't open until 4pm in this city Sad 6. Next we drove to Den Haag for lunch, a smoke, and a walk around. Lunch was at an excellent cafe restaurant that was right on the "entrance corner" of a hallway of shopping stores that opened up right to the street. So for example you would walk down the street and look over and see this long street that has high glass ceilings over it. As you enter you start feeling like you are in a shopping mall. We decided to sit at the outdoor terrace seats so we got to eat a nice meal while seeing people walk by outside and seeing people walk past us in the shopping "hall"..... I enjoyed some spinach ravioli in a cream sauce. Milehigh called us as we pulled into the city and recommended Coffeeshop Kramer which turned out to be a cool choice. They have a small buy and fly counter on one side and a door leading to a full bar that is smoker friendly on the other side! The menu choices vary from 6,50e per gram (grapefruit) all the way up to 12e per gram (diesel) and they had lots of unique varieties that were a step up from most of Amsterdams weed. I got this strain with some ridiculous name....something like super fluffy white hairy weed for 8e per gram and although it was a bit fresh it was a winner. 7. After Den Haag we went to Antwerp and spent about 5 hours here. We saw the main squares, the fountain, the main church, etc. We had dinner at Zeppo's on the main square which was packed with locals. The waiter was very nice and accomodating, carrying the menu from outside to our table all the way in the back of the inside area so that we could have english translations of the menu choices. I had a fresh turkey and melted cheddar sandwich, as did Dannymac. Mrs. Dannymac had a Flemish Beef Stew and Birdman had something I don't recall....perhaps a Chicken stew? After dinner we headed to the Kulminator and had: 1987 Hoegaarden Grand Cru 2000 Tsjeejes 1996 Still Nacht 1999 Rodenbach Grand Cru 1997 Chimay Grand Reserve TUESDAY APRIL 29th Its Queens Night and Birdman and I just came back to the apartment to get an early start for tomorrows fun. We had a meet up at Amnesia today that included atleast: Birdman Me Oracle / Girlfriend Tak / Mrs Milehigh / Girlfriend Budulike4 / Friend and a few others... We spent over 2 hours at the shop, half of the time inside and half outside. I got some really nice amnesia haze for 13e a gram and more of that Pink Kush because its one of the nicest smokes I've found so far. A local friend shared some Santa Maria with me that was a real enjoyable bud. It seemed like it was well loved when produced and that the love transferred right to the smoker! I also picked up 1.0g of King Hassan hash from Amnesia that I haven't smoked yet. Oh and a brief follow up: The golden soles from Grey Area is actually really good so cheers to John! We then went to the Hipforums last waterhole and met up with: mopperm1 ispica blueberry yogibear me birdman dannymac / mrs buckeyeguy etc. Finally Chris Birdman and I went to the Dolphin for a nightcap.
WEDNESDAY APRIL 30th Koninginnedag 2008 was a festive experience indeed. The city wasn't as swelled population wise as in years past. Probably because the forecast was iffy at best and its a Wednesday this year. Either way, those who did show up came to party! Birdman and I did lots of walking today and had a great time wandering. We started out around Noordermarkt and after watching a group of kids play stairway to heaven we headed down all the way to vondelpark where we walked through its entirety. On the way though I found a cool coffeeshop called Coffeeshop 137 (or 136). It was on Brouwersgracht at some side street. I think it might be where Sturgis used to be but I could be wrong. This place is now a streamlining clean coffeeshop with a locals menu and locals prices. I got a wonderful gram of nepal hash for 8e and a sick gram of stella blue for 11e. I told the Dutch budtender how much I liked his shop and he seemed displeased by this. Guess he was worried I'd post about the shop online and advertise to a bunch of fellow tourists. Smart guy! Back to Vondelpark....They have security gates lining the walkways for queens day and it really takes away from the atmosphere of the park. Helicopters circled by a few times....is it the Queen? We hung out at the main stage area at Museumplein for awhile...making pit stops at the Dommelsch Beer stand and the pissour. Saw a Dutch Pop Band called "Leaf" perform at this stage. Then we swung by Mellow Yellow and picked up some Pot of Gold for 13e per gram (there most expensive). Found it to be very strong and not dissappointing on the flavor department either. I wish they had east coast trainwreck in stock but it was out. Birdman and I sat outside at the benches they have smoking a blunt when Planning a Trip walks up with his friend from England. They were heading back to the apartment because the girls husband was ill. We saw lots of fun spectacles throughout the day....an old man dressed in a purple womans gown offering pictures with him for money, a family walking their old pet dog and holding a sign saying "Pet our 1950's Polar Bear for 0,50e, etc. Went to Taks houseboat and hung out with him, Holly, Birdy, Bear, Planning a Trip, Sly Crayon, and about 5-10 others. We watched boat after boat go by and even saw a couple of locals climb out of the canal and up onto Taks houseboat soaking wet! Birdman found ducks that would eat bananas too. The juliper beers went down easy and much smoking was done. Next we walked with Dannymac and the Mrs. through the Nieuwemarkt and all the way down to Nieuwe Kiezergracht to see Mopperm1, Ispica, and Blueberry. When we arrived we also say Milehigh / girlfriend, Lctricity and Stolenmagic (Finally!), Yogibear, and many others. Mopperm1 put out a wonderful spread of veggies from Albert Cuypmarkt, sausages, cheeses, chips, etc for everybody and again the smoking was constant. Milehigh's girl had some iceolator cookies that she was selling and I ate 2. Some of the better weed edibles I've had. We then walked back to the apartment, stopping for some waffles dipped in orange frosting along the way. Man my feet are hurting! THURSDAY MAY 1st I'm gonna call this day exhausted Thursday because I'm out of gas. Woke up this morning and got a call from a local friend I wanted to meet with. Went over to Coffeeshop 137 which is actually NOT where Sturgis is. Coffeeshopo 137 is on Brouwersgracht near Prinsengracht. It used to be a terrible shop but it has been recently remodeled. I'm loving the Nepal hash for 8e per gram. After hanging with my friend, Birdman and I decided to ride our bikes to the Ferry area behind Central Station. Here you will find about 3 ferries actually. We rode up onto the free ferry that took us straight across and biked to Landsmeer and back. This may be a ride in the park for Birdman but it took every ounce of energy out of me. It was atleast a 6km round trip which was a major effort for me after the amount of walking we did yesterday (Queensday). The ride to Landsmeer gave a very rural rolling landscape full of long roads, bridges, canals, livestock, etc. I'm amazed that "this type of Netherlands" is merely moments outside of Amsterdam. While in Landsmeer we stopped into a local pub that had a half of a dozen middle aged dutch guys drinking beers in it. Birdman asked me to go inside alone at first and find out if they serve food. I did and the Dutch lady who was tending bar told me they served food. So I went back out to get Birdman and we both entered the place. Dutch songs were blasting on the stereo, two gambling slot machines were being used in the corner, and it really felt like an authentic dutch pub. They only charged us 3,65e for 1 coke and 1 beer plus a glass of water! Birdman wasn't feeling welcome enough in this environment to trust any food they might serve us so we also stopped at a snack store in Landsmeer and had burgers / fries / shakes. I have to admit that the snack place was pretty good. The chocolate shake I got was lekker! Oh and at one point of this bike ride it started to HAIL!!!!! Nothing like bicycling in the cold with hail falling on you but sweating at the same time....left me with the chills the rest of the night Sad After the bike ride we went to Amnesia and saw Oracle, Blueberry, Lctricity, and a few other heads. I bought a gram of Chocolope for 13e per gram which is very pricey but it is a solid smoke. Pure sativa with a good flavor. Just got back to the apartment now to rest up a bit before the meetup at Katsu tonight at 7:30pm. Cheers continued... I wound up skipping out on Katsu and running some errands in the neighborhood instead. After the long bike ride I had today I was exhausted. It was either bike all the way down to Katsu for a smoke out and all the way back, or stick close to home and take it easy. My thought was that by taking it easy tonight I will have more energy for Friday and Saturday! Instead I first took a stroll to Albert Heijn for some groceries and stroopwaffel to take home. Then I tried to make an ATM withdrawl from the Rabobank on the corner of the Prinsengracht / Haarlemmerstraat but it was out of order. Took a stroll east on Haarlemmerstraat and stopped into Barneys for awhile. Purchased 3g of blue cheese for 37e. The high is very strong and enjoyable but the flavor was just ok. Not too happy with the price either. Stopped down at Amnesia for a smoke and a stroll about the area then headed back home to rest. FRIDAY MAY 2nd This Friday started off with a stroll along Haarlemmerstraat where Birdy and I hit up the ATM machine, visited AH, visited Etos, bought some souveniers etc. We wound up at old church around 1pm where we met Blueberry and her friend Chris. Old Church was the terrible coffeeshop that it always was. They served Birdman a 4e coffee that was mediocre at best. Blueberry's bike key broke off inside the lock. We toured the area for awhile then headed back to the apartment. Later in the day we rode to jamin candy and then to the post office on singel canal. After this we rode to Vondelpark and took a few laps around the park before deciding to sit down in the grass and get high while enjoying everything around us. Two hours later we headed to Lctricity's wonderful apartment for a nice get together including: lctricity stolenmagic milehigh birdman emerald goddess sly crayon tak / mrs anne mopperm1 ispica blueberry yogibear etc. Rolled a 7g spliff of a local Diesel and Santa Maria grown by a friend and Blue Cheese from Barneys. Also got some OG Bubba Kush from that friend that I'm trying right now and its really nice. Minty Kushy taste with strong potency. After the get together, Birdman and I ate at a Dim Sum restaurant on Zeedijk that was just down from Thai Bird. I had Kipfilet w/ Bami noodles and fried dumplings with a sprite for 15e including tip! After dinner we walked through the RLD for a good 45 minutes before heading back to the apartment for some rest. SATURDAY MAY 3rd Its about 2:30am and I just wrapped up my last night in the city. We started off going to a Marijuana Support Rally in Dam Square with Milehigh and EmeraldGoddess. Many good natured people arrived and we smoked lots of joints in the square. Verdamper Vaporizer on a cart w/ car battery. Birdman sat at the top of the monument with a bull horn going "Step right up for some free marijuana people... you right there look like you can use a hit.... come on up and get your free verdamper vaporizer hit and support the movement! We followed with beers on the terrace at the Ij brewery. Meeting up with my local friend and going to coffeeshop Happy People which had terrible music and cheap prices. Lots of bike riding everywhere. Stepped in front of a person on a bike accidentally. Met up with Birdy, Lctricity, and Yogi at Dolphins....Lots of walking around the RLD. Been smoking lots of OG Bubba Kush and really love it. SUNDAY MAY 4th Its Sunday night and I'm finally home and settled.....borderline about to crash. Flight left on time and was predicted to arrive in the states 30 minutes earlier than the scheduled time of 3:30pm. This early arrival time held up and I was first off the plane waiting at the baggage carousel for my 2 checked in bags. Well 45 minutes later I only have 1 bag, my smaller of the two. The baggage claim guy asks me what I'm looking for and I tell him that my second bag never came off the plane. He explains that all the bags from my flight are already off and that what I've been looking at for the last 10 minutes is the bags from a new flight that just arrived. So immediately I'm thinking... I've never had an airline lose my luggage before.... I have no idea what the protocol is here.... The guy goes on to explain that there is a good chance that the bag wasn't even on my plane. After speaking to a few other airline employees they confirm that most likely the missing bag simply was never loaded onto the plane I was in. That plane probably didn't have enough cargo space so they will ship my other bag tomorrow. Apparently this is common for airlines to do. I'm sure most of you probably already know about this but it was a rude awakening to me. That bag has 2 jackets, 3 pairs of jeans, 2 pairs of shoes, 3 hoodies, various other amounts of clothing plus about 30e worth of stroopwaffles and other candies / chocolates from AH. It also has 22e worth of cheeses and 1 empty sealed "mega-doob" in it! When I was speaking to baggage services and they asked me to describe one item in the packages contents all I could think about was the mega doob! After laughing to myself a few times I proceed to tell her about the cheese!
Koopa. That was great! The next bext thing to being there. Thanks for taking the time to record your thoughts.
What a great recap of your time in A'dam! I was there from 4/25-5/3 and had a blast! I was looking for you Hip Forum folks, but didn't see you. Well, actually, I probably did see you, since we were so near each other so very often! Rent a bike place? Right by my apartment. On Nes, just off Dam Square. Then you were at the Saturday Noordmarket - I was there too. Shopping, buying cheese, bread, pasta, mushrooms and olives (which we cooked in our place for dinner that night). Queens Night - Queens Day - I was all over the places where you were. I was watching for you all on a canal boat, but must have miss you. Been to Amsterdam 6 times in the past 7 years, usually for Q day, but also for New Years, and once for the Cannibus Cup. I need to join your gang here....appearently I'm all the places you are anyway, would love to have some more new friends in A'dam! Sounds like a fantastic time. I stayed in an apartment of Greenhouse Effect, which was just fine for this trip. Next time, I'm hunting you people down and sharing a smoke with you! Glad you all had a good time. How far away is QDay '09? Tawnzie
Hi Koopa, Im one of the chicks you met at the channels do on the Saturday night. Remember me, the one you asked about Faulty Towers. I have just become a member of this site so can keep in touch if you like from merry old England. Just read this years Amsterdam experience you documented. Boy your just like me for the detail. It was totally different from what mine will be as I like to shop and shop and shop. I guess we all have our thing! It was good to meet you and look forward to communicating with you some more and hopefully meeting again next year. My friend Tootifruit and I will be staying in the old dutch house again near the Wag, she says we are going to have a party so will let you know the dates etc. Did you say you were married, I think you did, have you got kids? I did speak to a lot of people that night including Nellie so it all gets a bit hazy. Speak later.
Hi Koopa, its me again. Do you know what Nellie's handle is on this site cos I said I would contact her but didnt realise at the time what the crack was. And cant seem to find her.
Hi Koopa, It was great seeing you again, as usual. Nice trip summary, funny how much more profound everything sounds when it happens in Amsterdam. Here's mine trip summary: Day 1: Arrive in Amsterdam Day 12: Leave Amsterdam
Hi there Koopa, good we sorted things out to keep in touch. I have been reading some of the hits on this forum. It appears you americans really know how to party. So, so glad, its my favourite word right now. Yes I am definately going back to Amsterdam next year. Would love to cover Queens day but not sure if Tuttiflutes can make those dates due to her heavy schedule. And I will be going to Venice at some point for my silver wedding anniversary with him in doors (the husband, bless him). But as you know anything can happen and people change their plans all the time. If we can swing it, Tuttiflutes wants a party so I will definately keep you informed. The pics by one particular forum member really tell the history of you guys, (the pigs), so I know what the crack is now. It would be good to get more Brits mingling with you yanks so I will have to see what I can do to facilitate this. Do you like gardening at all as Im doing the world renound Chelsea flower show tomorrow in London. My camera's already packed unlike my trip to Amsterdam, (cos I forgot it) so I might just show you some pics, when my probationary period is over, that is. I havent been a probationer for a long time, it sucks. Im trying Baz for Nellie's details. I dont give up easily Regards B
