Anything for the Nadj… in Amsterdam

Sunday was day one of my three country European tour. First up was a trip to see H.R.H in Amsterdam. A beautiful spring day. I had been anticipating freezing temperatures and gale force winds. But no, we were able to amble around in the sunshine. On that note it was so nice to amble in none sauna like temperatures. Wonderful.

There were canals… and a hat-in-canal rescue involving a long bike lock which happened to be to hand.

There were diamond factories. I do love a good diamond… and squinting into photos.

There was a cheese shop… which disappointingly did not do free samples, but smelled divine.

There was a Reggae queen and glove art.

 

There was more sunshine squinting and lots of mint tea and mini foods served on tapestry trays on a tiny terrace right next to the canal.

 

The day ended at 20.19, with an official salute as my overpriced train pulled away in daylight would you believe. None of this tropical-climate-its-dark-at-6pm-everyday business. My seasonal body clock was highly confused as it felt like summer - strange because it was much colder than Myanmar. Thanks Old Gal for a fabulous day-o. See you in mars x o x o x

PS – what is going on with the weird moustached man in the top right hand corner of the photo below? Is it a picture on a wall somewhere? A reflection of someone on the train? or what. All very mysterious!

John-the-cat

Meet our new house guest: John-the-cat. He is very small, and has come to stay whilst his “parents” go trekking.

He enjoys playing with loo rolls, scrunched up pieces of paper and a traditional Myanmar cane ball.

 

He is also a stereotypical only child. Gets his claws and teeth out when he is not getting enough attention (that cat can bite). His other hobby, as you can see, is rolling in money. Possibly slightly controversial letting the cat play with 1,000 kyats… but he found it in my bag and I found it rather amusing. (1,000ky = approx. £0.70).

 

I should also say that he INSISTS on climbing all over the dining table and no matter how many times I throw him off he gets back on. As I am not a long term parent there is only so much getting grumpy I can be bothered with.

Right now butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth… he is curled in a small ball next to the keyboard. Purring as I type!

Mad dogs

Had a small adventure on the lake today. It was supposed to be a short trip… but turns out the lake has a quite a curvy profile… so it ended up being a lot longer than anticipated. Only mad dogs and English men go out in the mid-day sun. That was certainly us!

City Mart randomness

City Mart is our local super market. On the whole, aside from the pervasive whiff of durian, it is a nice place. It’s not Waitrose, and they don’t sell lots of things it might be nice if they did (nice chocolate, chorizo, haribos… those daily essentials)… and of the stuff they do sell you can’t really count on them having everything you want in stock… except perhaps durian… right now there is no cream, no gin, no rolled oats, no cous cous, and no nice cheese. As you can imagine it is hard to know quite what to prepare to eat with these sorts of limitations. On the plus side they do have concessions on the ground floor which put Waitrose to shame. These include a spa (handy for getting a pedicure pre-shopping trip) and a luxury ice-cream booth. mmm yum.

Attached are a couple of photos which made me wonder…

1. What is “essence of chicken”? Why would you want to give someone a large gift basket of the stuff?

2. What does the sign say? Why is “urine seat” in English? What is a urine seat?

3. What was the queen of England doing in City Mart?

 

I mentioned cheese shortages. One thing there is never a shortage of is sliced plastic cheese, and that global cheese icon – Laughing Cow. Yumo.

Not City Mart, but random all the same. Strange M&S concession… and whiskey and a single can of Fosters.