Amsterdam Part I on Film

Hi Film Friends! I borrowed this from Melanie of Project 3635, a literal film friend of mine. She has a YouTube channel filled with interesting film related videos. Go check it out! Also, let’s make this trend! #HiFilmFriends

Anyway, I’ve been delaying this for a long time but I’ve finally come around it and started compiling my photos into a blogpost kind of format. I’m relatively new to this so let me know what I can improve on! Let’s start this!

Around late September of 2017, I decided to travel Europe for a month as a sort of celebration on the completion of my two years of National Service. It would also help me delay the inevitable decisions I have to make as a free adult. It was the first time I would be travelling for such an extended period of time alone. The only other time was 5 days in St. Petersburg after the SPF band brought us to Moscow.

On this trip I visited 8 cities: Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Venice, Florence, Rome, Paris and London. I decided to document the places I visited and the people I have met entirely on film. This trip really set the standard on how I would pack for future trips. I brought a 35L backpack, 30 rolls of film and my Contax T2. I was ready. I boarded the plane all excited for the month ahead.

However, things always have a way of screwing up when you least expect them to. Upon touching down in London Heathrow, I received news that my flight to Amsterdam was cancelled. We did however end up getting free food and a replacement flight.

8 hours later, I was officially ready to start my month long adventure! While I was in Amsterdam, my NS squad mate, Joseph offered to put me up in his place. I did not get to hang out much with him as he was flying the very same night to Glasgow to spend his birthday weekend with his girlfriend. Thanks for putting me up mate!

For the duration of my stay in Amsterdam, I stayed in the quiet student neighbourhood of Diemen.

Diemen Station where I had to take the Metro to town everyday.

On the first day in Amsterdam, I decided to take the Metro into town and just walk around to some of the sights I had saved on Google Maps. That’s how I usually travel. I find some interesting places to visit: neighbourhoods, museums, galleries, interesting architecture and food places. Especially food places. Then I will explore around the vicinity of the locations.

Somehow, I really wanted to visit a beer brewery that was housed in an actual windmill. It didn’t appear that far from Amsterdam Centraal Station, so I decided to walk there. Turns out it was quite a walk but I did not regret it because I saw a lot of interesting things along the way. Like boat houses and interesting stores. I even witnessed a drawbridge in action.

There were so many canals in Amsterdam and they all had boats in them.

Dreary and wet, just like Amsterdam’s weather.

After some walking, I finally arrived at the brewery called Brouwerij ‘t IJ. It was a cool location. The windmill was not spinning when I arrived. I wonder if it ever does. It was a little early to have beer but what the heck! I was in Europe and I had walked all the way to the brewery, it would be such a waste if I didn’t at least get 1 beer. I had 2.

Fascinated at all the tiny cars. I just found it funny that the Dutch are supposed to be the tallest peoples in the world yet they’re driving the smallest cars.

Photos up till now were shot on the Contax T2 with Kodak Colorplus 200. Developed and scanned by Photocity Lab in Bangkok, Thailand.

After knocking down those beers, I decided to walk a bit more along the river towards the botanical gardens of Amsterdam. Then, the aroma of street foods caught me! It was so aromatic I literally followed the smell like those old school Looney Toons cartoons. It brought me to a market called Dappermarkt. How lucky was I to stumble onto a whole market? Obviously I had to explore. That’s what I like about solo travel, you could make detours like this whenever you feel like it.

My first taste of Dutch food, Poffertjes. Man those small fluffy pancakes of goodness were the bomb! I can still remember the taste and texture of them.

It started drizzling but I was well prepared. I had waterproof boots on and a parka from Uniqlo. Nothing was stopping me from adventure! Arriving in Hortus Botanicus provided a much needed respite from the rain though. Anyway, as you will see in future posts, I really enjoy visiting gardens and parks. It’s there that you’ll really see how locals live and enjoy themselves. The Hortus was really well maintained and I was really impressed with the outdoor gardens, greenhouses and butterfly collection. It is also one of the oldest botanical gardens in Europe.

Cacti are one of my favourite types of plants.

Butterfly that just emerged from its cocoon. I watched as its wings started to dry out and harden.

Always an amazing time in the botanical gardens.

After the visit to the gardens, I slowly made my way back into the city center to take the Metro back home. Of course I made lots of detours but eventually found my way to Amsterdam Centraal Station. As per usual, I took lots of photos along the way.

It’s crazy how proficient the Dutch are on their bikes. I mean, 1 bike is all it takes to transport a family of 4!

It’s not that the photo isn’t straight. I really tried my best, but the slanted buildings around Amsterdam really triggered my minor OCD.

Photos up till now were shot on the Contax T2 with Agfa Vista 400. Developed and scanned by Photocity Lab in Bangkok, Thailand.

This brings me to the end of the first post. Hope you guys have enjoyed reading it. Do let me know how I can improve on it! I will be trying to post once per week and posts will usually consist of 2 rolls of film as anymore beyond that, I feel that it gets too long and draggy. So there will be some awkward ends to some of the blogposts but it will work out. Thank you for taking time to read this and till the next blogpost, keep shooting film friends!