荷兰／The Netherlands （Part 2）

＊布鲁塞尔／Brussels
看在我难得到西欧，他们正好有空，Tu的爸爸建议开车带我到浪漫之都巴黎去，顺道在比利时首都布鲁塞尔逗留几个小时。于是到荷兰才两天，我和Tu与她的父母就往法国去。
Tu’s dad happened to be on leave when I was in Netherlands, so he suggested driving us to Paris for a visit, stopping by Brussels along the way. Hence, after only two days in Amsterdam, Tu and I hopped into her parents’ car and off we went to Paris.

还真不知道荷兰那么小，距离比利时和法国那么近。才开两个半小时的车，我们就已经离开荷兰了，没多久就到了布鲁塞尔。因为他们在法国有亲戚，经常开往这一条路，因此Tu的爸爸知道哪里是游客该去的地方。最先带我去看的是矗立在皇家公园内这个著名的原子能塔。原先以为这个外貌新潮塔应该是新建的，怎么知道已经有半个世纪的历史了，是在1958年比利时为了研究原子能发展和纪念布鲁塞尔国际原子能展览而健的。
I didn’t realise how small Netherlands was. Within two and a half hours, we were already across the borders, into Belgium itself. After a short drive, we arrived in Brussels. This is not the first time Tu’s dad has acted as a tour guide; he often brings relatives down this way. As such, he knew where to go and what sights to show me. First up was a visit to Heysel Park, where we got to see the interesting Atomium. At first sight, I thought this must be built not too long ago. But reading the signs around the park, I realised that this monument was built way back in 1958, for the then Brussels World Fair. It is 102m tall and has nine steel spheres connected so that the whole forms the shape of a unit cell of an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times!皇家公园是为了1958年的世界博览会而特地建造的，因此除了原子能塔，还有其他有趣的东西。像是这个黄色建筑，我们研究了很久，才发现原来整栋建筑是用啤酒箱筑成的，现在是个小小博物馆。
In actual fact, the whole Heysel Park was created for Expo ’58. So not only can you see the Atomium, you can also find other interesting structures like this yellow building. It took us quite a while to figure out that this mini museum is actually fully made out of beer crates.之后到布鲁塞尔市中心去。布鲁塞尔古镇有非常多的老建筑，而且大多都很庞大，与荷兰的不相上下。站在古镇广场中心望着这些老建筑，除了说“哇”之外，就无法再说什么了。
We next head into Brussels city centre. Walking into the heart of Brussels Old Town, the sight of so many huge old buildings rendered me speechless.
然后我们就开始“寻找布鲁塞尔市标行动”，即小于连（或是撒尿小童像、尿尿小童）。找了老半天，一直找不到，最后决定跟随其中一把伞（带团的导游手中都会持一把伞，然后一直高举着伞，团友们只要认伞跟着走就行了）。嘿，结果真的就这样被我们找到了。看到这个铜像的时候，还真有点失望。原以为会有多大，怎么知道原来只是个小不点。才半米高的小铜像怎么会是比利时最赚钱的“工具”呢？实在令人费解。小于连的由来有很多说法，其中一个就是有个小孩半夜起来尿鸟，看到另均等房子伸出一条燃烧中的引信，小孩找不到水源扑灭，灵机一动撒尿救火，救了受困的人。夸张啦，不过却是游客爱听的故事。一堆人在那里拼命拍照，旁边有人兜售各种各样的小于连画，布鲁塞尔的所有纪念品店也一定会有贩卖与这个小不点有关的纪念品和明信片。
We then embark on our mission to find the “landmark” of Brussels, i.e. the Manneken Pis (Dutch for Little Piss Man). We were wandering around without any success, when we decide that we should just follow one of the umbrellas (all the tour guides here seem to love using umbrellas as markers. They will raise the umbrellas in their hands up high and those in their tour group just have to keep a lookout for the umbrellas and they won’t get lost.). True to our expectation, this umbrella that we followed “brought” us to the Manneken Pis within three minutes. I must say, I was quite disappointed when I finally caught a glimpse of the Manneken Pis. I mean, come on! How can this tiny little statue, half meter tall, of a boy pissing, be the icon of Belgium? I see nothing special about this little pissing man. There are many legends regarding the Manneken Pis. One of which is that, a little boy got up in the middle of the night to use the loo, but saw some sparks. Not being able to locate water to put out the fire, the little boy decided to piss on the fire and thus saved the whole city. It’s too much of an exaggeration but is exactly what tourists love. Thus this place is perpectually surrounded by tourists and you can constantly hear the cameras clicking, while touts try hard to sell paintings of all sorts of the Manneken Pis in the background. Of course, this also means that you can find Manneken Pis of all shapes and sizes in the souvenir shops all around Belgium. 比利时最出名的两样零食是松饼和薯条，不用说啦，我当然都尝试了，味道真的是一级棒哦！不过忙着吃，忘了拍照，哈……
Belgium has great snacks like the Netherlands too. The two snacks which should not be missed by any visitor are the waffles and French fries. Needless to say, I tried both at the first chance I had. I must say, they were the best waffles and French fries I ever had. But I was too busy eating, and forgot to take a picture of the food. Ha… …

荷兰／The Netherlands (Part 1)

原本只计划游东欧就好，而不到欧洲其他地方去，因为西欧国家的消费实在是太高了。可是去年在游寮国时认识的荷兰朋友Siu Kee和Tu知道我已经到了波兰和捷克后，说：“你都已经那么靠近我们了，怎么可以不来探望我们呢？！你不必担心消费的问题，吃、喝、住全包在我们身上，反正我们那次去新加坡，你那么热情招待我们！”他们都这么说了，我又怎么好意思推辞呢？结果只好临时买张火车票到阿姆斯特丹去（还真贵！要135欧元！）。可是最后非常庆幸有接受他们的邀请，因为在荷兰度过非常愉快的一个半星期，还有机会到巴黎和布鲁塞尔去，另外还可以与另外两位朋友碰面。
When I first decided on doing this trip, I did not include Western Europe in my itinerary as it is too costly. But Siu Kee and Tu from Netherlands, whom I met last year in Laos were aghast to learn that I was not dropping by to visit them even though I was in Poland and Czech Republic. As Tu said in her email, “You are so close to us and you are not visiting us? It won’t cost you anything since you are going to stay with us and we will feed you! We have to return you the favour for the hospitality you showed us when we were in Singapore earlier this year.” How can one bear to say no to such an invitation? As such, I bought a train ticket at the last minute (Gosh! 135 Euros! So expensive! ) and set off for Amsterdam. In the end, I was so glad I went to visit them after all. Not only did I get to see them and meet up with two other friends, I get to visit Paris and Brussels too!

＊阿姆斯特丹／Amsterdam
最后一次看到熟悉的脸孔已经是两个月前的事情了，所以一下火车就看到Tu真的是开心得不得了。她非常贴心，知道我为了省钱已经很久没有吃好料了，所以我到阿姆斯特丹后，她就第一时间带我去吃。不用我多说，看我吃草莓塔的那副德行，你就可以猜到我看到这里有这么多零食吃有多开心啦！
It’s been two months since I last saw a familiar face, so I could help smiling when I saw Tu’s face in the crowd as the train pulled into the station. Tu is such a sweet girl. She knew that I hadn’t had good food for a while, since I was scrimping, so the moment I arrived, she brought me out for food. One look at my face on seeing the strawberry tart, you can guess how starved of goodies I was. 之前到过的东欧国家大多都没有什么路边小吃，有的也只是比萨或面包之类的东西，当然看不到类似老曾记的小吃店啦。荷兰毕竟是西欧国家，当然不同啦。除了咖啡坐内的糕点让我垂涎三尺外，还有像这个到处可见的Febo小吃店。这里的食物都是炸的（我的最爱！！），摆放在小小的“抽屉”里，只要投入硬币，就可以打开“抽屉”，取出你想要吃的小吃。
Eastern European countries are not big on snacking. Even if you do see snack stalls along the streets, 99% of the time, they just sell fast food like burgers or pizzas. No Old Chang Kee or what. But it’s different in Netherlands of course. Other than the pastries in cafes and bakeries, snack bars like Febo also kept me drooling all day. Febo offer a range of deep fried snacks (my favourite!), which is placed in shelf with little drawers. All you have to do is to slot in the right amount of coins, you will then be able to open the drawers and take out whichever snack you want. 吃足了就在阿姆斯特丹市中心内到处逛逛，从旧市政府庭到花市到商店，到处都是人，这可真是个朝气蓬勃的城市！
After fixing the snacking urge, we took a walk around the city center. From the old city hall to the flower market to the shops, there are just so many people everywhere. Amsterdam is definitely a lively place! 之前Tu和她的父母到新加坡时，我给他们来个特别夜游，带他们到我们的红灯区去参观。阿姆斯特丹以它的红灯区为名，Tu当然要回敬我。我们等Siu Kee下班后，就在他的带领下参观了阿姆斯特丹的红灯区。看着那些只穿着内衣内库和六寸高的高跟鞋，前凸后翘的妓女在一个一个的透明门后等待顾客，对我来说真的是大开眼界。不过因为怕被人打，所以就没有拍照了。=p
When Tu and her parents visited Singapore earlier this year, I took them on a special night tour after a chilli crab dinner, i.e. a tour of our red light district. Tu was looking forward to returning this “favour” since Amsterdam is most famous for their red light district. We waited for Siu Kee to knock off from work, then went to check out sexily dressed (read: almost see through underwear and six inch high heels shoes only) prostitutes of all shapes and height, standing behind see through boxes cast in pink lights. It was really an eye opener for me. I did so want to take pictures of them. But I was afraid that some muscleman will appear to snatch away my camera the moment I raised it, so I gave up the idea. 隔天Tu的父母就载着我们到阿姆斯特丹附近的景点去看看。到荷兰怎么可以不去看风车呢？所以最先去的是一个小小的观光景点赞斯安斯村。这个拥有“荷兰风车博物馆”之称的小村子坐落在北荷兰省赞代克附近，那里不只有不少的古式风车，还有一个小村子，供游客参观。
The next day, Tu’s parents took me on a tour to sights in the surrounding region. No visit to Netherlands is ever complete without seeing a windmill, so first stop was Zaanse Schans. This little tourist village near Zaandijk, has a collection of well-preserved historic windmills and houses. 这是荷兰著名的超市连锁店Albert Hein的第一家店面。里面已经改成一个小小的博物馆，让人可以了解Albert Hein如何开始和发展。
This ordinary looking house is in actual fact the first shop ever set up by supermarket chain, Albert Hein. It is now a mini museum where visitors can get to see how the first Albert Hein store looked like and how this tiny shop evolved into the supermarket giant it is today.之后到芝士工厂去参观。在这里不但可以了解芝士的制作过程，还可以品尝和买到各种各样的芝士。
There is a cheese factory here, where you not only can get to know the cheese making process, but can also get to sample and buy cheese of all shapes, sizes and tastes. 荷兰另一个“招牌”就是木鞋，而这里就正好有个木鞋工厂。里面除了展示各式各样的木鞋之外，还有专人示范制作木鞋的整个过程。
Other than windmills, the other trademark of the Netherlands is wooden clogs. Here in Zaanse Schans you can also find a clog factory. Other than displaying clogs from the old days and selling clogs of all kinds, you can sit down and watch a live demonstration on the making of clogs. 参观完这里后，Tu的父母就带我们到福伦丹去。这个靠海的小镇人口仅有2万2000余人，主要行业为捕鱼和旅游业。既然是以捕鱼为主要行业，这里的海鲜当然比任何地方还要新鲜啦，所以第一任务就是品尝荷兰最出名的平民料理之一——鲱鱼。这个鲱鱼是可以生吃的，先用盐巴腌鱼，再撒一点生洋葱在上面，然后捉住鱼尾巴，仰头把鱼放在嘴内，这才是真正的荷兰人吃鲱鱼方法。来到荷兰，没有这样吃鲱鱼，就等于你没有来过荷兰。其实我到阿姆斯特丹后，第一个吃的就是这个鲱鱼，可是那个鲱鱼怎么比得过福伦丹的新鲜呢？
Next we headed to Volendam, a small town along the coast, with about only 22, 000 inhabitants. Being right by the sea, it is of no surprise that fishing and tourism is the main industry here. Of course, this means that the seafood here is fresher than what you get elsewhere, so the first thing we did was to try the local delicacy, i.e. the herring. Herring has always played a major role in historical and economic development in the Netherlands since the 14th century. Thus it makes sense that the Dutch has a special way of eating the herring. The fish is first washed in salt solution. Then you sprinkle some raw onions on it, hold the herring by its tail, throw back your head and swallow the fish whole and raw! It is said that, if you do not eat herring this way, it is as if you have never been to the Netherlands. Actually, the first food I had when I arrived in Netherlands was the herring. But that was bought in a little food stall on the streets of Amsterdam and did not has the freshness or sweet taste as this one had. 吃完鲱鱼，又吃了另一个好料。喏，就是这个炸鱼柳。这可跟一般的炸鱼柳不同哦，这个可是用新鲜鱼炸的，味道特别甜美！
After devouring the herring, we next bought some kibbeling. Do not dismiss these as some ordinary fish nuggets or fish fillets because these are made from fresh fish and have such a fresh and sweet taste that no other fish nuggets or fillets can rival. 好像一直都在说吃的hor？还不是因为我刚到阿姆斯特丹的时候跟Tu和Siu Kee说，才走了三个月就稍微瘦了，牛仔库已经快掉下来了。因此他们就说要好好养肥我，把接下来一年的好料全部给我补上，也要满足我的亚洲食物瘾，除了喂我一堆的小吃外，还带我去吃中餐、日本餐、韩国餐和越南餐等，每天都不同。结果花三个月才松掉的裤子，才短短三天又变窄了。
Hmm… … I seem to be going on and on about food. But that is only because Tu and Siu Kee made it their project to stuff me with food before I leave Netherlands. After three months on the road, my jeans have actually started to loosen as I did not eat as much as I used to. Tu and Siu Kee said that they will make sure they feed me the next one year’s worth of goodies, so that my jeans will not loosen till I get back to Singapore. With all the eating going on, it took only three days for the jeans to feel tight again.