Holland/Scotland Trip, December 2012 - Part 1

My husband works for Malaysian Airlines (MAS) and three of us in the family get free tickets (once a year) to any destination MAS flies to - my husband Paul, my youngest daughter Tammy, and I.  In order to make this happen, we have to save...a lot... so that we don't live on instant noodles on our trips! 

This year we decided to visit these two Dutch guys, then hop over to Edinburgh in Scotland to see a Malaysian friend who has been working there a number of years, May Lee (blog post on Edinburgh will follow later).

Richard and Matthias came to Malaysia (at different times) and only met each other when we were in Holland.  Both are industrial art students who did their internship here.  They are our church friends, badminton friends, Monopoly-and-other-board-games friends.
 

Richard, Paul (my husband) and Matthias - single and ready to mingle...the two Dutch guys, not the guy in the middle.  The guy in the middle is double and quite often gets into ...............(fill in the blank yourself :)

Matthias' precious family!  There are seven kids altogether, how awesome is that?   I think this photo was taken by a professional, it was framed up in their house.  What a lovely, lovely family!

This was the first time I was going to c-c-cold countries and in the winter so I packed and re-packed a number of times - I am not good in the cold!  It turns out the time we were there, the lowest it got to was 4 degrees Celsius in Holland, and 2 in Edinburgh.

But first, what's a photo without trees, eh? (wink)

                                                     Outside the Het Loo Palace




                                          This was at a park in Amsterdam



And what's a trip to Holland if you don't visit the windmills?  It was drizzling and too cold for me here!  I was usually in four layers of clothes, including thermal-underwear!

Madurodam is a must-place to go to when in Amsterdam.  Everything there is made in miniature-size.  So much attention was put into details, including miniature trees and shrubs, vehicles and boats (some that moved!) and people. The thought that came to me was that had we such a place in Malaysia, it would have been vandalised in a very short time!  What a sad thought.

Look at the crazy details of the moss on the walls of the building, and the cobblestone pavement!

This is a miniature building called The Sting, and to show you how accurately they followed the original building, I found we had taken a photo of it...

Food we ate (because Malaysians will ask!)

On the evening we were with Matthias' family, we had an assortment of yummy stuff to grill at the dining table - meats, pancake mix, egg and various vegetables like tomatoes, onions, mushrooms. (Oh, and his dad makes the most amazing coffee!  and I'm not even a coffee person!)

A snack plate of bites one afternoon at the beach (yes, cold like crazy and the guys, my husband the main instigator, wanted to go to the beach - to bungee jump! The bungee-jump place was closed - I wonder why, huh?)

Lots of bread with meat/sausage, burgers, hotdogs, Subway-looking sandwiches.  And lots of coffee!  and hot chocolate!

The boys cooked yummy pasta for us one night.  And boy, can you eat when you're cold and hungry and have done a lot of walking!

 

A savoury pancake with bacon on top (gosh, this looks yummier now that I'm looking at it again!) Ok, I've used to the word yummy too often...

yummy - ambrosial, appetizing, choice, delectable, delightful, divine, enticing, fit for a king, good, heavenly, juicy, luscious, mouthwatering, nectarous, out of this world, palatable, piquant, pleasant, rich, sapid, savory, scrumptious, spicy, succulent, super, sweet, tasteful, tasty, tempting, toothsome

One night, we decided to eat something different so we went to an Argentinian cafe (stout waiters, animal hides on wall, leather menu..) and ordered spare ribs.  Ooooo....

This funny man was humming as he made crepes at the fruit market, something Tammy was instantly drawn to. 

The crepes.

 Not the fruit market. 

 No, not the humming.  

No, not the man either.

I asked if the singing came free-of-charge and he said yes, and he asked if I wanted jazz, rock, the blues....and proceeded to bellow at the top of his voice! Hahaha!  Les Miserable, coming up!

Crepe that Tammy ordered - with banana, cinnamon and other stuff you will find in heaven.  See that face? 

P/S  Thank you to all who made so many comments on my last post (the DIY Christmas tree) - I have compiled them all under the comments section of that blog post, as well as responded to each one.  Do leave comments/questions here on this trip to Holland.   I love your comments!  Also, if you haven't signed up as a follower, that's on the right-hand side of the page.  Coming up soon in Part 2- things that caught my eye in Holland!