Did ya get any where near the TPB Belgium Embassy on your visit? I have a pretty good friend I could have hooked you up with. Loved the pictures.
Fishy
I like Belguim. But we went to Denmark instead.
On a serious (?) note, Amsterdam may appear fucked up, but it is a pretty good place to hang out. On a previous trip, I hung out at one of greasiest bars in town (it had a security buzzer on the front door and was full of stoned, gun-packing Africans playing dominoes) - one of the best nights out ever!
The Red Light district isn't nearly as bad as Bangkok's (I seem to have visited most of the world's greasiest areas!) It's a more honest way of dealing with prostitution and sex. There are as many curious tourists (even families with kids) wandering around as well as dirty old men and drunken stag parties. The sex shops are actually a lot of fun to look around, there's all sorts of things you wouldn't know quite what to do with! The local council are trying to get rid of the parlours and coffee shops - the Dutch have been 'window shopping' and smoking dope for over 500 years so why stop now?
Compared to booze-fuelled central London, Amsterdam was pretty laid back, reasonably safe to walk around at night and the (better) coffee shops were chilled, beautifully decorated and nice places to hang out, even if you don't smoke (the coffee was really good!) I never saw any trouble or fighting. Although one guy who must have been hitting the Purple Haze a bit hard passed out flat on his face when he tried to leave, boy was he embarrassed when he came round! The only idiot in town was me, after an evening sampling 11.3% Trappist ale...
That a Dutch person can walk into a smart and modern store like Sensi Seeds, peruse the range of specialty seeds and take them home to grow them seemed rather respectable. No hanging around dark alleys buying crappy mall dope and being offered all kinds of terrible shit like cocaine. No wonder the Dutch don't seem all that bothered about smoking the stuff, it's not seen as a big deal...
