skint 166

Following up to sarah

found it next to Scrambles in Snowdonia, what a filing system.

"Bojo" Lange Leidsedwarsstraat Indonesian open 4 pm-2am Sat Sun noon-4am, when we left at 4.30am we tried to get in a club but they didnt want us. Couldnt find much open after 5am except railway station where you can buy hard drugs, sleep in an empty newspaper vending machine or get a train to Schipol airport where there are things open I buttume. There is an all night free ferry to the north of the station, we rode that for a while but it went to quiet suburbs with nothing going on. Nearbye to Lange Leidsedwarsstraat is a department store with a cafe on top, which we were led to believe was like Heals or Harvey Nicks but it was nothing special. I looked through the list of coffee shops for the one that does cakes, but couldnt find it, we went to "De Rokerij" on the same street as Bojo IIRC, which I probably dont. It was problematic for me, being a a life long non cigarette smoker. Quite funny looking at AA guide alongside "Time Out" (well named?) AA has two shocked references to those horrendous coffee shops, just warning Mr and Mrs Bourgoise to stay well clear, "Time Out" does a list, just like bars and restaurants. I note the AA has tulips on the cover, TO has the wavy reflection of a building in a canal! :-) The boat tour we liked was "Rondvaaten" Kooy BV Rokin at the corner of Spui. "The candlelight cruise, wine and cheese". Rokin (canal) is (from station) beyond the red light district. You need to book during the day. Its much much nicer than the boats doing the same tour during the day with groups off of tour buses. There were three bottles of wine on our table for four, the didnt put someone else with us and we polished off the wine and then they offered us more! Only other thing I remember is that the Eurosport cafe seemed to be the first place to open for breakfast, not the faintest idea where it was. Just that they sold Red Bull, which we needed by then. The darkest hour is truly just before dawn. Bought some coriander flavoured green rind Gouda on way back to station, nice. Realised I still had weed in my pocket as we approached the airport! Unless things have changed, almost anything is tolerated in Amsterdam. Reading from Time Out is see you might stumble across discrete gay love in parks like Voodlepark at night (didnt notice any) Pardenstraat is an area of gay prosbreastution best avoided it says because of violence1. On Warmoesstraat you might get a surprise as there are SM bars, but I expect they have doormen to warn off those who just want a lager. 1 we spent all night in the seamier parts of town without seeing any violence.(1999?)

There is of course also a polite side to Amsterdam, museums, tulip bulbs and such like. -- Mike Reid