Amsterdam Trip

Finally, after 5 months of slogging for my company, I got to go overseas on official business. Not exactly official business, since I didn't do any business - I just met a few people, sat down with them and learnt a bit of stuff from them.

But its good anyway, the trip. I had a cab booked from my place to Heathrow airport, paid for of course. I was also booked in business class, though the actual flight time is only about 40mins. And for the first time in a quarter century, enjoyed the airline lounge.

It was weird going into the lounge because it was my first time. I looked for somewhere quiet and sat down and took out my magazine to read. Then my eyes explored a bit and I noticed a counter of tea/coffee/soft drinks/beer/alcohol unattended. Thinking that nothing is free, I assumed the worst and observed for a while. After sufficient circumstantial evidence has been gathered, I concluded that it IS free and helped myself to the tea... and then to the potato chips. haha, and basked in the glory of business class... while reading my magazine.

At Amsterdam, I took a cab to the hotel. The cab cost 35 euros, but heck, i'll claim from my company. When I saw my room, hee, another smile across my face =)



The trip was just for three days, unfortunately. While at the office, I am practically imprisoned, since the visitor pass, which I could only get once a day and in the presence of my host/supervisor there, works like a return ticket -> in and out. ONCE. so breakfast and lunches I had it at the office.

But dinner... heh heh heh...

Dinner can be anything within a budget of 30quid. heh heh heh.

remember the steak I told you about a few entries ago, and told you how I wished I could dine there again?

On the first night, I was hungry and miserable. It was late, and cold, and dark. I thought it was 9pm, which is already quite late, but actually it was 10pm - since Netherlands is 1 hr ahead. I stepped into the first restaurant I found (an italian one), but the waiter told me clinically, "we're closed". I crossed the road, walked down a little further, and came across a chinese restaurant. NAH.

And then, as fate would have it, just next to the chinese restaurant, stood GAUCHO GRILL. my god, i never expected that they had franchises even in holland! it had to be fate. I stepped in and ordered the smallest (225g) medium ribeye steak. mmm hmm..

The second night I wanted something different. searched around online for nice restaurants when the person next to me suggested "Palma", an italian restaurant. sounds good, i'd love pasta. and she said something about "chillis" and spicy and stuff like that. *GROWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWL*

Wasn't so lucky this time. When I got there they were packed and the waitress told me, a little more politely than the waiter at the other restaurant yesterday, "we're full. you'd have to wait half an hour at least".

So I walked down further the road and got into another nice restaurant/bar with a very rustic feel. and I had veal with tuna cream sauce for starters and salmon tagliette for my main. satisfying dude..

The third night, need I think? GAUCHO again, what else. This time I ordered the medium (300g) fillet steak (Bife de Lomo). And asparagus with aioli as sides. *wolf-whistle* the steak was awesome man! sublime... it was thick, juicy, tender and oh-so-D-E-LI-CIOUS. (when I got the bill I realised they gave me a 400g steak instead. hahaha, no wonder why I enjoyed it so much. ah well, company pays for it anyway)


(pardon the picture, I was too much of a hurry to enjoy my steak. I had already eaten like a quarter of it before I realised I should share my joy with you. It's dark and I didn't turn on the flash hence the dark picture. Notice the juice floating around the steak. It all flowed out from the steak man.. )

Tonight, since I had a plane to catch, I had dinner at the airport. Looked around for a nice place to eat, but half of the "eateries" where little stalls that sells sandwiches and orange juice. I decided to get ramen at the noodle shop (very imaginatively called "noodle shop"). it was 14 euros but i only had like 20g of pork. sigh... i'm missing my steak already...

The flight back was atrocious. I had to queue for a long time at the check-in, even though it was supposedly "business class". I guess everyone's business class bah. The queue to board the plane was even longer. I thought since the queue was so long, i'll just sit down and wait till the queue got shorter.. and once past the security checks into the boarding area, there was another queue to scan the boarding pass and actually board the plane. so i sat down again and read my book. i think it was about 45 mins later since i arrived at the gate when the air stewardess called to me and asked if I was boarding the plane.

I got up and walked to her and she said "Mr Wong?"

I then knew I was probably the last person to board, so I panicked a little.

And once she scanned my boarding pass and all was fine and dandy and I was walking up to the bridge, I saw that the bridge, all 150m worth of it, was full of people packed like sardines.

took another 15 minutes before i finally boarded the plane.

and guess what, the plane was so full the cabin compartments were also overflowing. there weren't any space left and i had to sit with my trolley tucked under the seat in front of me. damn, business class? i don't see any difference.

The flights also had no music no tv no games no extras no nothing. well, newspapers and a snack.

the flight back ruined my evening. thankfully the cab from the airport, a nice leather-interior mercedes and a polite old gentlemanly cab driver cheered me up a little.

and i realised my room is still more comfortable than the hotel room.