[Munich] Beer Capital

Couchsurfing in Munich
So Couchsurfing has saved me tons of money so far. Being able to stay at Brian’s and and John’s house in Kenya was through Couchsurfing. For those who don’t know how the system works…please look it up. It’s basically a backpacker’s community that connects backpackers. Sometimes you find someone who can host you a “couch” so you don’t have to stay at a hotel, or other times you can just meet up for “coffee” and get a nice frank orientation to their city. “Couch” and “coffee”, these two are the main concepts. Before visiting Munich, I posted a request for “coffee”. I do this under two circumstances. Either 1. I need help understanding the city, or 2. I’ll be bored so I need someone to keep me company. For Munich it was both of these reasons. I’m interested in the city but it’s too big, I have limited time, I don’t like tours, and I want to drink coffee. Couchsurfing solves all of these. So I met up with two couchsurfers, Claudia and Kampan.

The City
Though I did get a brief tour by the couchsurfers, I also joined a free tour. This is also a great system. Basically there’s a group of English speaking tour guides throughout Europe who gives out free tours every single day. Their aim is to provide an environment where people can easily join and learn about the country without having to pay for expensive private tours. So those who wish to participate just needs to go to the meeting spot at join the tour, which takes place couple times a day. Brilliant. Unfortunately I only found out about this system in Munich at the hostel I stayed at..so I missed my opportunity to participate in Amsterdam and Berlin. But then I had a general idea of what I wanted to see in those two cities, but in Munich, I was clueless.

The tour is a 3-hour walking tour, so we’re able to see the city while hearing interesting information about the city. The tour guide, Marcin, was great. Tours can be awesome because guides can input some interesting facts or episodes that we wouldn’t have access to if we came by ourselves.

Palace. The place where the tour started and the 2nd most overrated attraction in Europe (based on real data. 1st is the clock tower in Prague).

The English Garden. A massive garden/park a bit off from the center of Munich. It said on Lonely Planet that Europeans like to get naked like always and enjoy the sun during summer. Inside the garden are number of “beer gardens”, and local Bulvarians would come out anytime from morning to night and enjoy beer, sausages, and pretzels.

Just one of the many places included in the tour. This golden strip on the street was dedicated to all victims of Hitler’s aggressive dictatorship in the early days, even before the Holocaust. Munich is actually the city where the Nazi party was created and where the Holocaust was triggered. This is also the alley where Hitler was shot at 12 times, but managed to live thanks to his bodyguard who sacrificed himself by jumped on him. If any of those 12 bullets hit Hitler, every history textbook today would tell a different story..

Marcin. Our tour guide. An English man. Funny guy…I respect tour guides, how in the world do they manage to store so much information..

Carnival
Alright, truth be told: I am over 2 weeks behind. Terrible, absolutely terrible blogger I am. Good thing this blog will terminate as I reach back home simultaneously. During this trip, I take notes of titles of events as it occurs so that it will be easier to recall and write when actually deciding to sit down and update this blog. So I always intended to write about the “carnival”, but it’s been a while so I remember what happened, but what was going though my mind..
Anyhow, back to Munich. It’s not difficult to describe the city: beer. Everything evolves around this yellow, cheap, evil, disgusting, toxic beverage. By everything, literally, everything. The economy, the social life, the politics. People of Munich, or “Bulgarians” as locals prefer to be called, will find any reason to crowd together in one of their famous beer gardens and consume gallons of beer. Yes, like this

Claudia and Kampan told me that if I really want to see everyday Bulgarians, I should go to a carnival that was being held that weekend. It’s a two day carnival held only twice a year, and it’s concept is to bring together various cultures, food, and music within Germany, and of course, to drink beer.

4

Yehhh African food

There were different tents, each with its own distinct atmosphere. We stayed in the Middle Eastern tent. Pretty much felt like I was back in Turkey.

The carnival was pretty cool, especially because Germany is the most multicultural country in the EU, also probably the most in the world right after the US and Canada. It was also interesting not just for the food and attractions, but to be able to see how Bulgarians with different backgrounds socialize and interact with each other. It was so multinational that it reminded me of Los Angeles.. except in LA excessive drinking and seashaw (aka hookah, aka water pipe) is rather frowned upon in society compared to Europe. People here were very open-minded and friendly. I mean, who would dance with random grandmas on the street..?

[Berlin] The other half

Location: Same as above..Lima Airport

Last post was about..serious stuff. Well at every place there's the serious, carefully planned out half, and then there's the random-but-equally-valuable half. This post will be the latter.

Train Station

The Friedrichstrasse Station is one of the main train stations in Berlin, located conveniently in middle of the city. The station is massive with variety of cafes and restaurants inside and in its surroundings, all which are filled with tourists and businessmen. Because of these features, walking in the station one would assume that the infrastructure is rather new. That is, until he or she sees the statue above.

That's exactly what happened to me. At first I thought it was just another random statue of a children. Couldn’t be more wrong. This statue represents such a significant part of the holocaust history. Turns out that this is the station that first sent out Jewish children outside of Germany to prevent being sent to concentration camps. This statue was dedicated to not only those children who were separated from their parents, but also to those family members who were left behind and, often did not survive.

Park
Similar to the time in Cyprus, there was also a place in Berlin that I’ve seen on TV prior to this trip. And again it was a park. Unlike the time in Cyprus however, it was quite difficult looking for this one..because it’s not on the guide book nor did I remember the name of the park. All I remembered was that it was a tiny park in middle of a residential area..and it had a tipped over chair. Yes, I walked around Berlin for 2 hours to look for a tipped over chair. But hey, I found it.

Alright, from here, it gets completely random
Cool seats
Cool seats in the restaurant. Imagine sitting in those chairs alone and then asking someone to take a picture of you. ..ouch

Berlin Muji

I’ve been to the Muji in New York, but I didn’t know of Mujis in any other place. So I’m guessing theres also ones in London and Paris? Well I walked in just to see if workers and customers were Japanese. Turns out, not really.

Stuff
Sushi and STUFF? …it’s gotta be better. I’ve noticed in a lot of countries that to foreigners, Japanese food means solely sushi. I thought it was bad when Americans would randomly yell “Sushi Tempura Teriyaki!” or “Caaaaaalifornia Roll and Spam Musubi is so goooood”…but I guess I should appreciate what they know. Even in Germany, where you see Japanese restaurants here and there, people only know of sushi…and this photo proves that perfectly.

Concluding Berlin

I think I need to visit Berlin again. There's just so much history in this city, it's simply amazing. The city has struggled in the past and have managed to cope with it's own sour experience. East and West. Past and Present. As represented by the statue above, "Balance" has always been the key to this city.

and now, to "the Beer Capital of the world"

[Germany] hahaha

yeh I wish it was funny. I’m officially 2 countries behind. Two major ones.. I'm currently at a Starbucks in Lima Airport, desperately trying to recall what happened in Germany and France..

Berlin
Ah, looking back, this place was amazing. This can be said about most of Europe, but the scale is just absurd. From buildings to sculptures, and of course, the food. Its no wonder that Germans towers over every other race on this planet. The only country that can equalize the German scale physically is the US, but unfortunately there is a difference between the two. Yes, if the Germans are vertically enormous, the Americans are equally so, except horizontally. What’s the national obesity rate now? Over half wasn’t it? Why does that happen.. Say, if Germans and Americans consume similar portions of food everyday, and considering Germans are the heaviest beer drinkers only following Checs and the Irish, why are Germans more physically fit? Of course there isn’t a single solution, but here’s an obvious one: transportation.

Well known as an oil-hungry nation, it’s not surprising then that the main method of transportation in the US is the car. It doesn’t matter in the US if you’re 300 lbs or 75, as long as you can put your foot on the right pedal and drive normally. All it takes is stepping out of your garage, getting into your car, drive to your destination, and there you go, mission accomplished. The most calories burnt during this process might be the constant reach for fries in the In-n-Out bag. So basically I’m just criticizing the American custom of being excessively reliant on car transportation. If Americans are going to eat as much as they do, they have to do so the German way. It’s simple: eat, move, eat, move.

Germans, like other European and Asian countries, bike everywhere. Except unlike the Chinese and the Japanese “bikers” with massive boxes in front, their bikes are cool looking, and fast. While Japanese bikers must use those annoying bells to move people out of the way, Germans decided to design bike lanes throughout the entire city. Coming from Japan where I can walk faster than half of them bikers on the street, every biker in Germany looked like a professional, if not retired cyclist. Looked legit.

The reason why I brought up the bicycle lane is because it demonstrates one of the characteristics of Germany that I learned to respect. Germans know how to deal with their issues. Stuck on a problem? Ask the Germans. Same goes for Japan except Japanese are book smart and knows how to play with technology, whereas Germans are capable of thinking outside the box and quick in identifying solutions. I’m not quite sure how to word it. Japanese are better at detailed exams like SAT2 subject tests, whereas Germans might be better at SAT1 which contains broader knowledge and short answers. For example, did anyone know that Germany has parking spaces for dogs outside of pharmacies (the only store that doesn’t allow dogs inside)? That's not technology, nor is it in textbooks. It’s just the German way.

Bikers are everywhere

German bikers

Japanese bikers. It's obvious who would win


Simple is the best
It’s a famous saying, though I’m not quite sure where it comes from. I hear it often in Japan, though Japan’s inventions these days are anything but simple. Purikura boxes bigger than my room, or real life “significant other” (sex) dolls. Are they really necessary to mankind...really. So again, what I like about Germany is that they know how to keep stuff simple, and good. I like simple. Audi is simple. I like Audi. So yeh, I just wanted to announce being a fan of Audi. In the states I was able to keep it rather to myself since it’s not the most popular car on the street (which is what I liked about it), but in Germany, the home of Audi Motors, its hard enough to walk a block without seeing one. The more I see it the more I like it. Sometimes I can’t help but to take a photo on it with my iphone, pretending to be talking to someone on the line. I just want to store it in my album, separate from the travel one. It’s the Japanese side of me that comes out strong for once.

See, now, if I had the privilege to choose any car off the street and buy it, this one would be a strong candidate. It doesn’t have to be red in particular, but it’s a classic.

Same for this one.

Back in High School
I should of listened to the teacher more. Whatever he or she (I don’t even remember my history teacher) said in my World History class would of really come in handy while walking around Berlin. But then Berlin has so much history remaining in the city, learning it about it all would take more than a school year in high school..for me at least. The entire city is an open-air museum. Key historical events one after another..from milestone to milestone. Taking a tour would have been nice, if only I knew about the free tour offered (which I later find out about). I did attempt to see everything on foot with no guidance like always, but with scale as big as Berlin’s, both in geographical and contextual term, I probably saw only half of what this city has to offer..

But I was fascinated by what I saw. No doubt. I probably didn’t get to see everything, but I also had unexpected discoveries.

The Berlin Wall. When I first saw this I couldn’t move my feet and arms. Just froze. No joke, that’s how much power lies with this wall today. Again, I wasn’t on a tour so I was walking along random streets and allies, when I realized that I was walking along the Berlin Wall. Majority of the wall is gone today, so the remaining parts are scattered throughout the city and it’s quite difficult to spot it out since there’s no sign saying “Hello, this is the Berlin Wall”. Some parts better preserved are turned into open-air museums.

Took me about 2 hours to read through all the panels. Some I read it twice because I couldn’t help doubting what I saw. The museum shown in this photo is particularly significant because along this wall, on the other side of the panels, once stood key buildings of Eastern Berlin; including Gestapo’s office, SS headquarter, the execution building, and the hospital for the ill (which for the most part functioned as an execution place). On panels were photos and descriptions of what happened during the holocaust, from the establishment of the Nazi Party (ex Social Democrat Party), to the fall of Berlin Wall. It was all here. No twist, no bias, no bending of perception. Photos don’t tell complete stories, but it was enough to goose bumps after goose bumps down my spine.

Checkpoint Charlie
This is where politicians and military men crossed over to the other side of Berlin. Berlin at the time was divided into regions amongst the allies and the communist east. France, Britain, and the US controlled the West, and the Soviet influenced East Germany occupied the East. Checkpoint Charlie is the main location for government personnel and other figures with authority who had the right to cross over to the territory occupied by another nation, mainly for meeting and negotiation purposes. There was a time when ordinary people were able to cross over to work or for vocational purpose, but risk was inherent, and East Berlin slowly started to confiscate that right. Eventually as the glassy relationship between the Allies and Soviets started to crack, the tension at this checkpoint also flared up. At it’s worse time a boy from Eastern Berlin attempted to flee to the West and was shot by an Eastern border officer. Because of this and the fact that the Allies failed to react to the shooting swiftly, there was an uprise in Western Berlin. Today there’s a memorial by the checkpoint for all those people who lost their life at this place. Along with souveniers of course…

Where the checkpoint to enter the US territory used to be.

The Jewish Memorial
I also went to the Jewish Museum and the New Synagogue. I find the history of the Jewish people very interesting..and disturbing. It’s disturbing because the issue still goes on today in the Israel-Palestine conflict. People sympathize the Jewish population after what happened in WW2. What happened in WW2? 6 million Jews were wiped off the face of earth. That’s 2/3 of the entire Jewish population in Europe. They were also deprived of their territorial right and forced to become diaspora. Well, that’s an issue not yet solved, is it. Yet we tend to forget that it’s a related issue, and think that “those Jews are always getting themselves in trouble”. No. With economical and political competence that they’ve built up from scratch after the holocaust, they’re finally able to fight for what’s been lost a long time ago. So I think the Jewish Museum and the Synagogue, both funded and ran by the Jewish community, are few of the most respectful place to be. It’s one of those places where if bunch of tourists my age were running about and throwing up fobby peace signs like no other, I’d be more disappointed than irritated because people of my generation can’t even TRY to appreciated what’s left of…what’s no longer available.

The Jewish Museum

The inside of the Jewish Museum. Its design is simple and contains no color besides black and white. It’s so that viewers see nothing but the truth.

The entrance to the Holocaust tower. It’s a entrance to a triangular room with a tall ceiling. Many Holocaust victims comes here..for different reasons. Imagine how many Jewish survivors today had to leave their family during the Holocaust. The room is for those who feel guilty, even though they shouldn’t, for various reason to come and cope with such mental burden and trauma. Inside is nothing but concrete way and a small hole at the very top to allow sunlight to enter.

The Synagogue

Visitors now go to the Jewish Museum and the Memorial to learn about Jewish lives back in the day. But for the Jewish population in Germany at the time, this synagogue is probably the most sacred place. A lot of what was originally there was destroyed during the war, but still there are valuable displays such as the original torah

oh man I can't do Berlin in one post. Coffee break.

[Netherlands] What is luck..

At the time of writing (June 26th) I am in a particularly significant city. For a while (more like couple months), I had an ambition to live here because my idealistic career would require me to. This place is the reason I made a (small) step into politics and law. The reason I snuck into the International Law class for an entire year while suffering to keep up with Financial & Managerial Accounting courses. The reason why I follow CNN and the BBC as much as I follow The Economist. Not a name you'd hear on a daily bases, but a core ingredient in maintaining social order and obtaining world peace:

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) of the United Nations
(The Hague, Netherlands)

16 Judges who reside here are probably the most influential on the planet. Now, there are those who criticize the ICJ (who are usually the same ones to criticize the UN), and to those people this place means nothing more than, well, whatever is equivalent to zero. But there are as many of those who praise The Hague for the achievements they have brought to the society. Establishment such as “Law of Sea” is its figurehead and is often applauded, frequently used to settle territorial disputes (South China sea, Sea of Japan, and…I forgot the name of the European sea that Netherlands and Britian fought over) and also disputes regarding other rights, such as Japan’s right to whaling, which was strongly frowned upon by Oceania nations. All these cases, where A STATE BRINGS A CASE AGAINST ANOTHER STATE, are brought to and settled at this location. 192 (I think) members of the United Nations made an oath to respect decisions of the ICJ, and to cooperate in the process of prosecuting and arresting process of those who are labeled as International War Criminals.

Why do we need the Hague? Let me give a simple example. But this requires using at least two countries. I’ll take the US and Japan as samples because I’m a citizen of both and no one can accuse me (also helps because violent relationship between the two nations are the least likely on earth, thus lacking too much in reality) as being racist. Canada may have to take part, we’ll see. Say a Japanese national enters the US soil, murders a Virginian farmer, accused of first degree man slaughter and sentenced to life, but then flees to Japan before being arrested. By national law, the US government, nor the FBI, the SS, or the CIA, has the right to enter Japanese territory and bring the suspect to a US court. They are technically required to ask the Japanese police/government to hold custody of him, and then send him to an US court. Now, the problem with this is 1. Japan can refuse, and 2. Takes too much time. I think the time factor is a bigger issue, since the justice system in the US already lacks in swiftness, which essentially deteriorates the effect of punishment (the purpose of punishment is to deter future crimes, which is the most effective when punishment is done immediately), and causes excessive mental burden to the family of victims. Either way, it becomes evident, then, that respecting national law and achieving global governance is incompatible. The Hague, through the ICJ, was established to comply with this matter.

First, it does so by establishing global standards. These rules overlook any national law. So whether a nation follows common or civil law, whether a nation is a democratic or socialistic, whether the law is based on the Quran or the Tora, they all fall under the ICJ jurisdiction and must abide with decisions made at The Hague. Of course, such duty only applies to members of the ICJ, including most nations who possess membership with the UN. Some nations, however, are members of the ICJ but not of the UN.

Oh, forgot to include Canada in the example..
Say, JAL (a corrupted Japanese airline company) sends a flight from Tokyo to Toronto with a connection at Los Angeles. Those on the plane are mostly Canadians, and some Japanese. On the way to the LAX, however, an armed terrorist group threatens the pilot and takes over control. Once the plane lands at LAX, the terrorist threatens to kill all hostages (passengers) unless the LAX airport or the US government pays 500 billion dollars to them within 30 minutes. But here is the issue. It’s a Japanese Airline company and hostages are Canadians. The US, technically, should have no interest (besides an moral one) in paying the massive bill. It’s also a key to note that at this point, neither the Canadian government nor the Japanese government has the right to send their troops (though such thing does not exist in Japan.. but that’s US’s fault as well for rewriting the Japanese constitution alkmfas;lkmfasl;kmdas;ldkjnas) to US soil without the US government giving them consent, a legal permission. In this case, however, the limited time leaves the Japanese and Canadian government powerless and reliant on the US.
But in the end, the US decides to not intervene. After all, they saw no benefit in paying 500 billion or sending in their troops. Canada and Japan is furious, but what can they do when there is no place to settle these types of “international”, across-board issues?
So this is where the ICJ comes in handy. Now there is a “place”, with set “rules”, and internationally recognized authorities, personals, or “judges”, to settle these disputes. Critics can go on listing flaws of the ICJ, but I think it’s a great establishment. Like the UN in general, the ICJ is a place to discuss and reach common-ground, and the ultimate objective is not acting as a world police (as many critics would point out). I can go on about accomplishments of the ICJ (recent example is the arrest of Mel , which was only possible because the ICJ raised awareness and reached out to member nations for cooperation), but the main point is that, with nations with different styles and beliefs, it is helpful to have a single place where all considerations and perspectives can be brought together.

Okay
What was supposed to be a nice and sweet introduction to the ICJ turned out to be a big chunk of …skinny elephants. Whatevs. Anyways, so at least I got one thing straight: I like the idea of ICJ, and I am happy to be at The Hague. Alright.

So that’s why I came to West Europe. Yeh I wanted to see the Berlin Wall and the National Jewish Museum. Of course. But those come behind my motive to come to Netherland, and particularly The Hague. It took me a while to find the building. Partly due to it’s geographical feature (it’s not in Amsterdam, and it’s not even in the main streets of the Hague, which is the city name), and also because I carried around my (3 months worth of) life around with me. I don’t remember half the things in there…I just know that I regret buying a pair of shoes in Egypt (its probably thin as a waffle by now. Waffles…yumm). From Amsterdam, give and take, it took around..6 hours to get to the ICJ. Not that it wasn’t worth it, because it was. Anything is worth it. In fact I’m glad it took me a long time because longer it takes to find it, the longer I am excited for. Longer time being excited, the higher the hope. Higher the hope, higher the expectation. Finally, higher the expectation, harder the fall….

The fall
It was all under control. When I arrived at the ICJ it was a Sunday, meaning that the court was closed. It’s cool, I’ll just wait until tomorrow, and then I can join the guided tour in the morning. Good thing I planned to stay in the Hague for two nights. I had control. I had the Hague inside my palms, and was rolling it around and playing with it until Monday morning. I even slept at a park across the street, thinking that nothing terrible can happen right next to the court that can bring any country to court (and the famous Peace Palace was on the other side). So the sun rose, and I made sure to be the first one in line when the gate opened at 10am. I told the guard that I made an appointment the day before, and I deserve to enter (not really, I was just talking like a normal tourist).
UNTIL…damn. I still can’t believe this happened. The guard tells me “We’re sorry, but the court is closed this week. The next tour is on July 11th”. WHAT? It’s bad enough that I can’t enter today after waiting for over 20 hours and sleeping at a park, but then my only option is to come back to Europe, to Netherlands, to the ICJ on my 21st birthday? No, no, no…c’mon now.

It was no use arguing. If it wasn’t the ICJ then I would of retaliated a little, but this time I was just simply devastated and speechless. Probably looked like a kid who wasn’t tall enough to go on a roller coaster. I understand his feelings now, poor kid..

I went to a nearby café and ordered coffee to calm down. To accept the reality. Then decided to check the news while I have access to the internet. That’s when I saw this news..

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Libya: ICC issues arrest warrant for Muammar Gaddafi

Col Gaddafi is accused of personally ordering attacks on civilians
The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi.

The court had accused him of crimes against humanity and of ordering attacks on civilians after an uprising against him began in mid-February.

The Hague-based court also issued warrants for two of Col Gaddafi's top aides - his son Saif al-Islam and intelligence chief Abdullah al-Sanussi.

Thousands of people are believed to have been killed in the conflict.

The warrants had been requested by chief ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo in May, who said the three men bore responsibility for "widespread and systematic attacks" on civilians.

Mr Moreno-Ocampo said the court had evidence that Col Gaddafi had "personally ordered attacks on unarmed Libyan civilians and was behind the arrest and torture of his political opponents.

The Libyan authorities have previously said they do not recognise the court and were not concerned by the threat of a warrant.


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Yeh, that's TODAY.
At the ICJ.
I was THERE.

When the security guard told me that “the court is closed due to a special event”, this is what he meant. Obviously they can’t have tourists wandering around the building when the court is making a public announcement of an arrest warrant. So wow, I’m not sure whether to feel lucky or unlucky. I didn’t get to see inside the Hague, which was my initial aim, but I was probably the closest one to the ICJ (besides workers and guards) when they officially announced Colonel Gaddafi as an international war criminal.

Well, I’ll keep telling myself that. In the end, looking back, I did want to go inside The Hague. I can read about it, and look it up on youtube, but it just wont be the same. Especially because I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to visit The Hague again. But damn, I was there when they publicized the warrant.. But look at the bright side, if I really wanted to I can still go to the ICJ in the future (assuming it’s still there). But there’s only one Gaddafi to put on the “wanted” list, and I was there when it happened.

[Netherlands] Fun..

Location: Cafe in The Hague

Fun
...is the simplest way to describe Amsterdam in one word. The city will make it impossible for anyone to go and not have an enjoyable time, well, unless you're a lonely backpacker. From a glance of the people walking around, it was obvious what these people came to Amsterdam for: Pot. Tourists in Amsterdam can be catagorized into two distinct groups. Guys and couples. Guys come for pot, brownies, alcohol, and girls. Couples, well, they still got magical brownies and alcohol.

The city is spectacular. I personally think it levels, if not surpasses, Rome or Paris in terms of enjoyable tourism destination. With the Van Gogh Museum and Anne Frank's house, its got the historical attraction. Add to that gabajillion "coffee shops" that sells pot by ounces, which provides a variety of selection from brownies, cookies, tea, to coffee, all for an identical purpose. If that's not enough, tourists will enter the Red Light District after midnight, conveniently located next to the funky and mellow coffeeshop zone.

Well Amsterdam was interesting just because it was "The Amsterdam" that high school Americans so often talk about. As immature as it is, I admit on having a stereotypical image of Amsterdam, mainly based on news and movies ("Eurotrip"). I mean I'll be offended if someone assumes that all Japanese are hentais. But the Dutch, those in Amsterdam particulary, not only meet the

stereotype but they easily outstrip it. If I told locals what I expected to see before coming, they'd probably tell me, "you thought we only smoke that much?". Literally, just walking down the main strip made me wonder if it's what it feels like to be high (because I have never been). The word 'sketchy' doesn't qualify as a description of these coffeeshops because, well, no one is trying to hide it. The funkier the appearance and more straight-forward the shop name, the more customers (or smokers) will flow in.

Good Morning
I like to think that I have always been a morning person. I'd sleep looking forward to the morning coffee (and toothbrushing). But this trip has allowed me to step up the "morning-person" ladder. I'm considering whether to write "waking up early" as a hobby on my job resume...that'll catch interviewers attention for sure. "Why?", they ask of course. "Because I enjoy observing the city wake up. It's like being an audience to a movie (but for free). The sunrise is the

opening scene and sunset is the closing. Simple. Each city has their main characters. In some cities they may be working businessmen, who must commute everyday to fight competing companies, or in other cities farmers who cooperate with their family to keep their farming business running." Half the time there will be an awkward silent in the interviewing room, but that's alright. Having 'interesting' hobby is a positive factor..or at least that's what someone told me.

Amsterdam waking up

Munchies
Intoxination is often partnered by munchies. With so many bars and coffeeshops, the "munchie" industry may be as big as "combini" in Japan. Except the quality of food that hits the top of the "munchies" list tanks when compared to the combini quality. Experienced smokers and drinkers can judge for themselves, the "ultimate munchies"..in Amsterdam

King of Munchies. Most popular out of the bunch. Often sold from stands or carts, these are something like fries with bunch of mayonaise..

Amsterdam in conclusion
If you want to have fun, come to Amsterdam. Come with your friends. Come for excitement. Come while you're young. Come to forget about everything bad in life (literally).
At the same time, it is somewhat of a waste, that people only come for the pot. There are stunning sights here and there, but they don't get the attention they deserve. They are overshadowed by funky cafes and red light windows, and too often where they don't make the guide book. For example, unless a stoner is greatly interested in Anne Frank's life during the Holocaust, he probably wouldn't find himself going there (unless he's stoned at the time and gets there accidently). Even products displayed at souvenir shops all have to do with pot or sex, as if they know exactly what's on tourists' mind. I would of liked to see something of Anne Frank or Van Gogh for a change.

And NO THIS IS NOT A SEX SHOP, this is at a normal souvenir shops, just one of 300 others in the city.

But I did find some cool things

Nice