My Digital World

This year I got visists from Singapore. The first one is THL, also known as Tan. I know him via IR photography that I joined since February 2006. Tan was here for working purpose. I am very glad that I could meet him. It was a short meeting, but I am very happy already.

The second visit are the sister of Henry. Her name is Cindy. Cindy, her friends and me were touring around in Europe during the last summer. It was a long trip: 18days. But it was nice.

The third and the last visist is Andy. I also know him via IR photography. He was here for holidaying. His girlfriend joins him as well. Last week, we met up and I bring him to Amsterdam and Belgium.


This is Andy with his girlfriend. This photo is taken in Brugge. We
were totally rip off by that restaurant. There was no service and
the waiter dares to ask us for tip. But we refuse him. Or better said,
I refuse to give him tips.

Days before I met Andy, I was sick. I was very tired and I have weird things in my stomach. I was worried to skip the meeting that we have settled down during the chat before Andy comes here. But thanks to my body, I feel better at the day when Andy comes to Rotterdam to meet me.

Again, I cook Dutch food for people who come from Singapore. I personally think you should try the typical Dutch food when you are in Holland, although it was nothing special. The very remarkable thing is, is that many people like to shoot me while I am cooking. Is there anyone who can shoot me with no knife and cooking stuff in my hand? :p

I am very glad that Nancy and Airin could make it to come to Rotterdam to meet Andy as well. Our first plan was going to clubbing together. But that plan suddenly changed when Andy could not provide us free entree-fees. Besides, the friends of Nancy, prefer to go to other club. So, we finally split up. I feel really sorry for splitting up for my two buddies.

I really do not like clubbing. Maybe because I do not like dancing and the over-booming music. The last clubbing was maybe 8 years ago. Anyway, I go to clubbing because Andy's friend was playing MJ. So, I company him.

After clubbing, Bou and me bring Andy to home. I am very thankful to Bou that he wants to bring us here and there. Because of him, we are able to spot Brugge which is on Sunday's schedule.

The next day, Satureday, I bring Andy and his girlfriend to Amsterdam. First we go to Anne Frank's house. It was interesting, but I really think it is pity that the house is too commercialised. Andy said he feel the pain of the price of the traintickets. Although he gets 40% discount since he travel with me, he still think it is expensive. I agree with him that our public is expensive (not compare to Singapore only, but also to other European countries). But that is the price you have to pay when you are in Holland.

After Anne Frank's house, I bring them to have "Dim Sum" in a very well-known restaurant. I went with Tan to that restaurant too. I think they think the food is just so so. The food here is really very bad compare to Singapore. Be prepared when you travel here. I am pretty sure you will miss the Singapore food after a week holidaying here and get Dutch food only.

Our next stop is the Zaanse Schans. First we meet Andy's friends for collecting the traintickets. Although I only a girl calls Noodle, she didn't show up in Amsterdam because she had a fever. Instead I meet other two girls. It was a very short meeting and after the meeting we went to see windmilss in Zaanse Schans where I also brought Tan there. That time, it was my first time.

Andy didn't shoot many pics, because it was too cold. But the few shots he took, look very good on the screen of his compact camera. I wonder how they look like when he uploads them.

We were very late when we were back to Amsterdam. All the museums and the shops are closed. It was also too cold to hang around outside. So, I bring them to the last spot, which is the Red Light District. The first time I went there was with Cindy and her friends. That time, it was at afternoon. This time, my second time, was at the evening. You can clearly see the red lights and there were more women active. Half of the women are very young! It is a great pity that at their young age to do this kind of job.

Anyway, after seeing those women, we went to have dinner. I bring them to the restaurant where Gaofei brought me there too, since that restaurant was pretty good. After the dinner, Andy went to visit their friends from Singapore who live in Amsterdam, because at night he got another party which is in Haarlem. While I bring them to take the tram (tube), I went back to Rotterdam to clean all the stuff of Friday's gathering in my place. I also want to rest since I was just recovering from my fever.

The next day, Sunday, Bou brings us to Brugge, which is a place in Belgium. None of us has been there and we were told it is a must place to spot when you go to Belgium. It was more than 2hours driving and on our way we saw many nice country-side view. When I have my driving license and car, I definitely will shoot such nice of views.
On our way to Brugge, we wanted to stop for having a short break. We were looking for petrol station, but the weird thing was, was there were no petro stations on the road to Brugge. Before we left for Brugge, I bought some oliebollen (a donut like food which you only can buy during this period). We ate those oliebollen when we arrived in Brugge.
When we arrived in Brugge, we just walked around. We noticed that there was an Ice Sculpture. We had no mood to que and to bring a visit, since we all will be an icemen/icewoman before we hit the entry. We decided to walk to the two big catheral which we saw from our parking place.

On our way, I spot many nice things to shoot. Although I was not active in shooting, I have some pics to share:


Here you have a house with green light. It has a nice ghosty feel :)


Belgium is known for their chocolates. But I do not know which
chocolates are good and which are bad. I also did not give a try
since I am not a chocolate fan. Maybe I should bring Cindy to this
place when she visits me since chocolate is her second favorite
food.


This tower is in front of a parking centre. I photoshop this pic into
an oldish feel.


This is the same tower, but from another perspective. Besides this
tower, one of the churches can be seen.


This is a nice spot. It was extremely dark here. Luckily I could
take this pic. I set my aperture at 5.6 and my shutter speed at 30s.


While we were walking around, it became more and more foggy.


This is one of the churches that we saw from our parking place.


I don't know what this is. I just took a shot.


Another ghosty feel spot.


Just a pic at the beginning of our walk. As you can see, the river
was frozen.


Tata, a groupphoto! :)

I am very glad to see Andy back. Hopefully he and his girlfriend enjoyed the days in Holland. Take care for spotting other European cities and have a safe trip back to Singapore.