One of the main place and attractions that you have to go to in Amsterdam would be the Heineken Experience. It is one of the most hype, vibrant and ongoing places in town. It is actually a fancy name for a museum and brewery of the famous Heineken Beer. It is a really popular one in town. I mean, from anywhere in the world, you would have probably tasted a Heineken Beer before anyway! P.s A fresh one here tasted so good anyway! The Heineken Experience is located roughly about a 10mins walk out from Dam Square. It is located near the Albert Cuyp Market. You can get the tickets onsite but I will definitely recommend you to get in online since it will be cheaper and in the summer months, I am sure there would be crowds. I got the ticket for 16 Euros, once you enter the building you will immediately get a different vibes.
Monthly Archives: November 2017
Chapter Wanderlust: Amsterdam Central Bed and Breakfast
After a super long bus ride from Brussels I am finally in Amsterdam, it is a little bucketlist checked. I will not say that Amsterdam is high up on my list but everyone have been like Amsterdam this Amsterdam than. Oh yea you definitely have to go see Amsterdam! Now I can finally check this place out for myself. To share a little on the journey. It was my very first time taking the intereurope bus this time around. I went with Flixbus! It is one of the most famous companies in Europe. Pricing on its affordable, convenient and trustworthy ride. It connects many cities around europe. Comparing to trains sometimes it may be alot cheaper. It is actually only a 2 hours ride to Amsterdam from Brussels, after a sad goodbye with Chloe, off i go. First, it was a replacement bus, so no wifi! Yes Flixbus offers wifi onboard. Then the lucky me got a customs check, just by luck and random, where we were delayed about 30mins since the police came up and check one by one! I will share more on bus journeys in Europe in a separately post shortly! To cut things short, the whole journey took more than 3 hours, with the traffic and everything. After a couple mins train ride into the Amsterdam Central Station off I go in look for the Bed and Breakfast!
Chapter Wanderlust: Brussels
Can be said as the very first city of my stay since Cologne was just something that I had pass by. Brussels turns out to be a city that I love a lot and I never regret my decision to spend 7 long days there, I had the best company and the most chill time that I had over there! Chloe, Mussels, Beer, Fries that is mostly how my 6 days were spent in Brussels. After all there are more than enough beer for every hour of your life you are there. Come to think of it. I really like this beer that is triple the normal alcohol content. Sidewise. Let me share a little on the places that I went in Brussels. Some of them was places that I wanted to go myself and also the places that my host recommended me.
Chapter Wanderlust: La Maison des Crepes Brussels
This is probably a little funny! Dennison this guy is going to share about a crepes place when he is in Brussels. Isn’t Crepes a french thing. In Belgium, due to the close proximity to France and influences, especially Brussels, you can definitely find a lot of french influenced food. Crepes is definitely one of it! If you didn’t know, French and Flemish is the two main languages in Belgium! In Brussels it is definitely the french part! Cut the story short, this place is actually recommended to me by my host Chloe! Now you know that it is good! Especially when it comes from the local. The place is right in town, just a five mins walk from Grand Place.
Chapter Wanderlust: Marche Du Midi – Zuidmarkt
This will be a super short and concise post actually. If you had known me personally or have met me on my travels before, you will know that I really like visiting markets, be it supermarkets or the local ones that the people goes to for their everyday needs, I love it! Even during my free time when I am waiting for a friend or just walking about on my own, I love to walk around the supermarkets in Singapore too! I kinda avoid the local markets in Singapore as they are really smelly and dirty. The ones overseas are different, especially in Europe as well as Japan. It just look so clean and gourmet. The thing that I really like about this is the ability to see different stuffs, the new and the ones that you have never seen before. Even the vegetables, the tomatoes or the carrot are different that the ones you have at home. Here the carrots comes with the greens, the broccoli and cauliflower comes with the leaf. Tomatoes alone will keep you busy for a while. It is really an eye opener for me as well! See all the stuffs that I do not have back in Singapore. This time I would like to share on my visit to the Zuidmarkt in Brussels. According to some googling, it came up to my “to go” list when I saw that it is actually the largest market in the whole of Belgium.
Chapter Wanderlust: Ghent
As per my last post. I mentioned that I was travelling to Ghent for a day trip with my host from Couchsurfing. We arrived in Ghent after an hour of train ride. We just bought the ticket on the day itself at the train station. On the weekends you can actually buy a one way ticket and the return journey would be free anytime on the weekend. You can just check the schedule and take any train you like. Although there isn’t really any fuss, I would advise that you actually check the schedule and see which train to take since some are faster than the others. Our ticket cost 10.20 Euro per person on Second Class. Hop on to the seats and off to dreamland we go, the both of us!
Chapter Wanderlust: Brasserie De Jacob Ghent
On the weekend, where I was based in Brussels, I took a day trip to Ghent. I was really glad to cover another city of mine. Step by step, what was even better was the company that I had! My host very delightfully join me on this day trip! It was really so fun. No matter how great the experience might be to travel alone and be independent. It is always nice to have a company, a partner and definitely a photographer to travel together. Before I come and share my thoughts on Ghent, which I will cover in the next post of mine which I promise that it will come very very soon! Today I would like to share on the meal that we had in Ghent. After about an hour of train ride here we are in Ghent! The first impression was it being so different from Brussels. It look the similar but you can definitely feel that the vibes are different. To cut things short, we took a tram into the city centre and after a hour or so of walking around, photos and trying to find out the local market. Somehow we realise that the market wasn’t open on the day that we were there. Feeling the hunger in us, especially Chloe who can really eat a lot. We finally settle at this restaurant called Brasserie De Jacob! It is located in one of the squares, anywhere Ghent is pretty walkable.
Chapter Wanderlust: Noordzee, Best Seafood Place in Brussels
Hey peeps, I am here today to share on one of the best meals that I had this trip of mine. I was with my host, Chloe and she brought me to this seafood stall near the area of Saint Catherine. It is really one of the best meal that I had in Brussels. Of course I had to thank her for bringing me here, it is kind of one of the little hidden spot. Definitely, I had not seen it online anywhere while researching my places to go to in Brussels. Which is why I have decided to share it with you peeps. It is one of the place that you definitely have to go to for seafood in Brussels. If you think that Brussels is only all about mussels for seafood, Nordzee is the place that you have to come!
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Chapter Wanderlust: Atomium Experience
After Cologne, I am finally in Brussels, the city where I will be spending the night. The very first night of my Chapter Wanderlust trip. It is a mixed feeling, while I am excited, this can also be said as the first solo trip of my life. I will surely share more on my thoughts at a later post when I am almost at the end of my trip anyway. I am also doing my very first CouchSurfing experience! This is gonna be a brand new experience and adventure for me. After finding a host and talking to her, I am really glad to be meeting her and seeing how this “type of travelling” would be fun to me. I will share all these in another post of mine very soon. Now back to the point. I am here to write about my experience in visiting the Atomium. For those who do not have any idea what is this about, the Atomium is actually one of the must visit attraction in Brussels. It is a building or sculpture that was originally build for the 1958 Brussels World Fair. It is built for the expo and now currently it is a museum.
Chapter Wanderlust: Cologne
Straight right after the flight, I am on the way to Cologne. My final destination for the day was actually Brussels, but since I am passing by Koln by train, why not, which is why Cologne become the first city that I am going to visit in Chapter Wanderlust. Yes, some of you guys might be confused with Koln or Cologne, they are actually the same! Koln is actually the word for it in German, which is why if you are actually in Cologne, you will find either spelling used throughout. One very good example is the main train station, where they use Koln frequently. So yea, don’t misunderstand that you are at the wrong station. They actually are pronounce and sounds the same! Fresh of my flight from Singapore, I barely made it for my train due to the delay of the flight in Singapore! But thanks to some awesome Singapore Airlines Crew I made it! After roughly around 2 hours in the train, I was greeted by this magical sight!
