Amazing Amsterdam

Amsterdam is known for things - a beautiful canal city (for the travelers), the city of Ajax Amsterdam (for the football lovers) and the place where hash and prostitution are legal (for most others).

So, when I was going to Amsterdam, I did not know which Amsterdam to expect. 

I was taking the train from Zurich after a full week of work and as with many of my travels, I had only one day to spend in the city. 

The train journey was interesting in itself with an African american singer and his friend for company in my cabin  and an great chatting session I had with 6-7 people from different nationalities sitting on the floor of the cycle compartment in the train.

I got down at the railway station and went to the tourist counter and asked what could be done for a day. He started by saying - "Go out, take a left, there the red light district". Looking at the reluctance on my face he suggested other places like Dam square, the Tussad's museum and because of my admission as a football fan, a tour to the Ajax stadium. 

I decided to go to the Dam square and take it from there. I took a public transport 24 hour pass, that gave me access to all buses and trams and that is the thing I like about European cities, the ease of use of public transport.

The Dam square - the tourist hotspot

The Zurich diaries

I have been lucky that my official travels have taken me around the world. I use such opportunities to spend a couple of extra days at any place going around the city.

One such travel took me to Zurich where I had the weekend to spend.

The first thing I noticed after getting down at the Zurich train station was the shockingly few number of people on the roads - something very different for someone like me coming from India.

There was a chill in the air, something that I had not expected in May. I walked to my hostel, which was less than 500 m from the station.

While having breakfast in the hostel, I asked for some ideas from my fellow hostelers for a day trip around Zurich. After discussing a lot of options like Mt. Titlis, Mt. Rigi and the blackforest, I zeroed in on visiting the Rhine falls - the largest waterfall in Europe - mostly because I like waterfalls and  also because I wanted a short trip.

The Swiss countryside - not the best of cameras though

The best way to get to the falls from Zurich is to take a train from Zurich HB (Hauptbahnhof). Switzerland lives upto its reputation of being one of the most beautiful countries during this journey. Once the train leaves the city limits, you can see 'DDLJ'esque Swiss countryside. One can be lost forever just appreciating the sheer beauty.

An hour later, the countryside is replaced by the sound of the Rhine and you know that the destination is close.

The first post - Bangkok

I was having a chat with my friend, Tauseef and we were recounting some old memories. Most of them were related to trips we had taken together.

I always wanted to get back to blogging and what better to do it about than the experiences of my travels. Over the past couple of years, I feel that I have traveled more than a decent amount - both in India and internationally. So, there is a fair bit that can be shared.

I would start off this hopefully continuous series of posts with my trip to Bangkok.

Whenever anyone talks about a trip to Thailand, the images that come to mind are beaches, markets, massage places etc. However, my trip was very different from these cliched images that Thailand is connected to. That may partially be due to the purpose of my visit - watch Liverpool in action for the first time in my life, but even in my free time it was a different kind of experience.

I had a total of 2.5 days in Bangkok. I landed at the Bangkok airport around noon, took the metro (which became my primary mode of transport for the next 3 days - very convenient for the places I needed to travel to) and reached my hotel around 3 pm. The hotel was located in Nana, near all the shopping places, so there was plenty of window shopping opportunities for the shopping enthusiasts. I, however was not one of them.

On my way to the hotel, I had seen huge malls about 2 kms from Nana. So, decided to take a walk and spend my evening going around the malls and street shops. One very interesting thing was the presence of worship places right outside malls - and not like in India where it generally is a small structure. It was proper huge statues, most probably maintained by the city or the mall itself.

Temples dedicated to Brahma and Ganesha outside malls