Let them eat (space) cake

One of the biggest lures of going to Amsterdam is of course to try everything that is deemed illegal in your hometown. This includes various actions involving the word weed, such as buying weed, smoking weed, and eating weed brownies, which are also known more exotically as space cakes.

Most Amsterdam coffee shops offer these space cakes as either muffins or brownies, with brownies being the stronger of the two. They usually cost around 5 euros, and especially those with scenes of Eurotrip on their mind, know not to leave Amsterdam without trying at least one (or more!). Many places also warn you about the dangers of space cakes, since you won’t feel the effects as quickly as smoking weed. In fact, it can take up to an hour to fully feel the effects of eating a space cake!

Me and Tania were pretty excited to try the space cakes, as any first time Amsterdam go-ers would be. However after going to a couple coffee shops, I still can’t really tell you what tripping out on space cakes are like, because we never got to experience it! The shops we went to must have sold really weak space cakes, which was disappointing since one of them had actually gotten quite good reviews. We waited and waited, but didn’t feel anything. Well, I felt a bit hungry, but I’m always hungry.

On the bright side, if anyone is curious as to what tripping out on magic truffles is like, that I can tell you!

Apart from the coffee shops, the red light district is completely crazy on the weekends, with everyone in various states of subconsciousness. The windows of the red light district are lined up with prostitutes wearing the smallest bikinis in existence, and gesturing at young male passers-by to come join them. If a guy does become tempted, they enter, and the prostitute will draw the curtains, which indicates that she’s busy…at work.

For those interested, I read somewhere that they charge around 50 euros for about 15 minutes of work. No wonder they can make up to 500-600 euros a night! (Maybe we should all quit our day jobs and try this out for a living!)

Tania managed to take this photo before the prostitute in the photo saw and started shouting at her angrily.

Although we didn’t know it at the time, some prostitutes will go as far as marching out of their windows, and throwing your camera into the canal, as a way of protecting their privacy!

Neon signs advertising for live sex shows also line the streets. Because it’s Amsterdam after all, there’s always a line up of eager men (and a good amount of women as well!) waiting for the next show.

Back at our hostel, called Meeting Point (which is conveniently located right by the red light district), we met some interesting people to spend our nights with including a baseball player, who looks quite cozy with Tania in this photo!

And these British guys, who nicknamed me “the famous travel blogger”, and really hoped I’d post a photo of them on my blog,..

So there you go!