No Naked Girls, Please

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Me: Uhm, are you sure you don’t want to see other girls… naked?

Him: No

Me: Are you sure?

Him: Yeah, of course! And…. why are we even discussing it? I thought it’s obvious already.

I was kind of taken aback by my husband’s response.Was that the “real truth”? Or the kind of truth that a husband thinks his wife would want to hear. Well, he’s definitely not gay. Or is he? Probably the question should be whether he wants to see other DUDE naked? Ha ha… Nah, KIDDING. Before my husband read this blog and gets mad – I can confirm that he’s 100% manly man. But seriously – he’s not interested in other girls? Either he really has the heart of a devoted angel, or he’s lying.

Either way, I respected his perspective and strike Red District out of my itinerary. I wasn’t planning on watching live sex shows, getting a lap dance or anything like that – initially I was just thinking of… passing by the neighborhood. Just to see what the place looks like out of curiosity. But the Mr said no, so it’s a no.

However, being in Amsterdam, avoiding Red District is proven to be a challenge though. The night before – when we went out with our college friend F and his partner – they originally wanted to take us to the Red District after dinner. When I requested other alternatives – they got puzzled and ended up taking us via these dark alleys that doesn’t seem to have any particular interesting points. The F whispered to me – “Well, the Red District is actually on the other side already – so we’re just trying to walk around it.”

But Amsterdam city center is rather small. So on the second day – we kinda stumble upon it. We were just walking from Museumsplein until Centraal station – and there it is. Many of the windows are empty though – perhaps it was too early (it was around 2 pm or so). We often hold hands when walking side by side – but this time it feels like he’s dragging me to just quickly get out of there ha ha… I still get a glimpse of some of the girls though. The girls behind the windows are not naked apparently, they are still in their underwear. Somehow the hair style and make up makes most of them look alike. They would knock their glass when a man passed by. And when they get ignored, some of them looks… bothered… There’s this one girl in the corner window, not many people walk by, so she just stand there against the window and somehow she looks kinda sad and empty inside. Maybe it’s just my imagination.

Finally away from the Red District – we roam around and get the feel of Amsterdam. The row houses looks very similar between neighborhoods – I’m not sure anymore where are we right now. Even in Jordaan where the guidebook said it’s prettier than other area; to me they look pretty similar. But still it’s a good opportunity to take pictures especially with tulips blooming here and there. We did manage to find the narrow house that’s in the guide book. Basically the width is just as wide as your arms spread.

My personal favorite would be the Singel flower market area. So many stalls selling fresh flowers, tulip bulbs, and even cannabis seeds! Seriously. That’s how liberal the Netherlands is. I’m so itchy to plant my own tulip garden but living in Singapore, there’s no way it can survive. Maybe if I grown them inside my fridge?

My friend already reminded me to go to Rijksmuseum as they just recently opened after 10 years renovation but the queue turned me off. Besides, we will roam Paris museums as we’ll have Museum Pass there. So we just ended up taking picture in front of the IAMsterdam sign. Apparently they have it both here and in front of the airport. But exploring Amsterdam it's definitely easier with GVB card.

My ambitious itinerary actually indicates we should then go to Haarlem or even as far as Den Haag. But the cloudy sky and the cumulative exhaustion from the past days just invite us more just to go back to the hotel and…. entertain ourselves. I must say, I’m VERY entertained ha ha… We ended the night with delicious eats that we bought in the big supermarket downtown. Due to our dietary restrictions – we were so happy to find things we can eat – even if it’s as simple as fake meat (made from tofu) and cooked jasmine rice.

There are some cities that make you fall in love and wish you can live there for years. And then there are cities that as nice as it were, you’re only interested to visit them once in your lifetime. Amsterdam is the latter for me.

To see more of my pictures – click HERE

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Photos

Narrow House
Only as wide as your arms spread

Classic Amsterdam
Canals + houses + bike

Classic Amsterdam
Tulips + Canals + Houses

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Lovely photo
Your have captured the essence. Very nice.