HAHAhaaaaa absolutely amazing and exciting stuff Mr Russian!!! you are sounding like an local version of Mr Bond...... classic man!!!!... or is it Mr Van??? ;-)
Thanks for sharing!!!! 2008/11/18 Nicolai van der Merwe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Hi Ladies and Gents, > > I have a terrible job. Every now and then I have to go to some or other > Godforsaken place like Abuja or Harare. But then there are also the times > that I have to go to places like Saigon or Amsterdam... Now those are the > ones that makes my job a little more bearable... > > Let me tell you a bit about my last trip - well, I am still busy with it, > so It might be an incomplete ride report, but still! > I had to present a very boring topic on a conference in Amsterdam. > Presenting the topic felt like a burden the size of a R500 soft tail from > Game! BUT having the potential opportunity to do some cycling in the > country where the majority of people uses a bicycle as their main means of > transport, now that is something that lifted the burden and my spirit to new > heights! My colleague that joined me for this part of the trip really got > "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" for me. I could talk of nothing else than going out, > renting a > bicycle and ride around in the Netherlands! > > Well, the damn conference started and took a lot of my time, but eventually > we managed to duck the damn Yanks organising the event and made a split for > it on Friday afternoon. We took a train to Amersfoort, a small town about > 45 minutes per train from Amsterdam. As we exited the station, there she > was!! A rent-a-bike-shop! We coughed up a 100 Euro deposit, an additional > 10 Euro for rent for a day (yeah, things in Europe costs more than a pretty > penny), and off we went! > > We had no idea what this town will be able to offer, except for a small > pamphlet that I managed to get my hands on in Amsterdam. In there it said > that you must at least see the wall around the old town and the very unique > entrance that catered for road as well as water access. So, that as our > mission, we decided to head off to find this entrance. The map did not have > distances mentioned, so we assumed the worse and took off at a nice pace. > Before we broke a sweat, we realised that we are about to leave town... We > turned around, stopped at a coffee shop (dangerous exercise in Holland - you > might get some weed in your rusks...story for another day) and asked > directions. The damn Dutch drew the map with south at the top!! > Dutchmen... (I almost sound like Puke Watson!!) > > Without boring you with the rest of the details, a few highlights. The > town is so small, we rode about 75% around it in about 3 hours. We managed > to find the wall around the city with the very unique entrance. The > bicycles are very primitive and the saddles not built for RSA assess! We > decided that is why people call it Holland... (Jou h*l ook seer?) We saw a > fire brigade filled with red bicycles and one truck! We saw people on > bicycles from ages 3 to 90! We saw a family of 5 on one bicycle - all with > their own seat - not a tandem! I rode in some of the most beautiful country > scenery that exists on planet earth! > > Best of all - everybody have bicycles!!! Everybody loves riding around! I > did not see any overweight people in the Netherlands, except for the > foreigners at the conference. There are no traffic jams! I even stumbled > into the red light district one night - long story - and there was one of > the ladies on her way to work, on a bicycle, wearing nothing that needs some > imagination! > > Riding in Netherlands was a dream come true for me. I wish that every > Afrikaans speaking dude and every cyclist in the word gets a chance to > experience the Netherlands! It is an awesome experience!! > > I am in Saigon now. I've just rented a 125cc scooter. I use it as my > primary means of travel. Yesterday the cops tried to stop me, I still do > not know why! I dodged them and used the other 3000 scooters to cover my > getaway... We'll have to see if they managed to trace it back to me... I > rented it from a very informal rental dude... ;-) This is a story for > another day. I also have some brilliant video clips I took while dodging > the trafic. I'll leave that for another day... > > Where can I upload a few pics and video's for you to see? > > Cheers until another day. > > The Russian in Dutch and Vietnamese territory! > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DarkAndDirty" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/DarkAndDirty?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
