TRAVEL AND LIFESTYLE DIARIES

The Lindengracht market is open only during Saturdays situated on the Lindengracht street in the heart of the Jordaan District in Amsterdam. I was actually searching for the famous organic farmers market of Amsterdam, the Noordermarkt, which happens to be in Jordaan as well but since we first landed in Lindengracht and we don’t have the time to do two markets in a day, we settled for this. I am reserving the Boerenmarkt - Noordermarkt for another time. Zelfbediening means Self-Service. Fresh produce on sale in the Lindengracht market. Fruits from free trade and globalisation: Oranges, Pineapples and Melons. Little boy waiting for his mother by the bike with a wheelbarrow in front - this is very typical Dutch, kids and goods are loaded into it at the same time. Next foto is the omnipresent cheese vendor. My girl friend asked me if the Dutchman ever gets jealous because we’ve just been out for a day and we’ve already had 2 encounters where I had to do a photo shoot with some ...

The spinster’s semi-monastic private community is a secret little place, an inner court stashed nicely in the center of Amsterdam’s medieval quarter away from the hustle and bustle of the city. The Begijnhof is not always easy to find but there are two entrances; one is in the Spui square--this is the brown arched door and the other one is on the side street from the corner of Spui (by Esprit Café). Walk a bit further down the alley until you reach an intersection and you see an arched brick gate. The begijnhof is open daily from 8AM to 7PM. When visiting here make sure to keep voices down as you are treading on private residential grounds. On the left foto is the main entrance of the Begijnhof. Middle foto is a garden near the Spui entrance with a sculpture of a Begijn, not sure who she is, could be the famous Begijn Cornelia Arents. Right foto is the entrance from Spui square. Most of the town houses here are built during the 17th and 18th centuries. Tourists and non-residents ...

In Playa del Carmenn I had my lunch at La Parilla Restaurant where I feasted on nachos with tomato salsa and guacamole. They are just my starter. For my main course, I ordered grilled lobster, just a small one. My big lunch: And I finished them all, except for the rice. Such a glutton, this woman, haha. This is the festive interior of La Parilla Restaurant. Although this was one of my best lunches (the best one was in Le Mont Saint Michel in France last year, I had a variety of fresh crustaceans, oysters, crayfish, prawns and clams, I am salivating now as I write, lol), I really felt guilty from all the food I ate. I felt hideous. So I made sure I did a lot of vigorous walking in the afternoon. My view to the street from the table. Later in the afternoon when the sun was setting down so I went back to the Fifth Avenue in search for a nice bar and this one caught me — a bar with swings as barstools! Now that's just cool, I cannot pass! Because I’m still...

I’ve talked about Playa del Carmen in my previous Mexico entries, it’s a touristy place, much more homely and charming compared to Cancun and the Hotel Zone. The locals call Playa del Carmen simply as “Playa” and in the olden days, “Xaman Ha”, a once small fishing village, now a booming city, it is the 3rd largest city in the Quintana Roo state after Cancun and Chetumal. I was deliberating if I should take the taxi to Playa del Carmen but the concierge in my hotel told me that the bus terminal called ADO is just around the corner and buses go to Playa every 15 minutes. He put my worries to ease when he said that the buses are new, huge, comfortable air-conditioned buses, and indeed when I saw the buses they look exactly the same as the tourist buses used for long distance tours in Europe. The bus ride from Cancun to Playa took about one hour and fifteen minutes and fare is $80 Mexican Pesos retour compared to $350 one-way by taxi. In fact I felt safe going with the bus with all the...