According to the label, this post is about Jalan-Jalan.. It's not actually.. Unless you count the walk to and from the course venue back to the hotel as Jalan-Jalan.. But luckily the course organizers gave us one (and a half) day break to explore more of Holland.. And boy did we explore..
Oops, I forgot to give some intro.. Hee.. It was declared by the upper management of my company to attend a 2-week course in Delft, The Netherlands a mere 3 weeks before the said course. Alhamdulillah, me and my fellow colleague managed to make our preparations accordingly and were on the 12 hour flight to Schipol Airport on the 13th June..
The city we stayed in, Delft is in South Holland, an hour away from Amsterdam and is located between Rotterdam and The Hague. It's a quaint and quiet city and everybody mostly got by on foot or with bicycles. I read somewhere that it is one of the prettiest cities in Holland and I have to say the article did not exaggerate. With its winding canals and wonderfully preserved buildings it has a certain charm big cities are so lacking these days. It's nearing summer there so it's not really cold. We even had to take off our jackets in the last few days there. But the rain is not so predictable. Thankfully, I learnt my lesson from Kelana Convoy last year and brought an umbrella with me. And also, the days are quite long. Sunrise is at 3am and dusk were around 10pm. This may be why our course is from 9am to 7pm everyday. Long, huh.. And the shops here close at 6pm.. Great..
On days where we finished class early, or skipped class (just once!!) we would walk around the city and do this thing we call SHOPPING.. Heh.. We mostly went to souvenir shops (duh..!), supermarkets, clothing store and our favourite spot: a Turkish cafe which serves up heavenly kapsalon (french fries and shredded chicken with melted cheese).. Yum..
When we got the time, we took the tram to The Hague and the first place we went there is Madurodam. Madurodam is a miniature city where most of Holland's landmark buildings are scaled down to a 25th of its original size. It has castles, churches, and even the Schipol airport. Trains and trams all run their course and stopping at their stations. Being there literally makes you feel like a giant. And being our first time there we initially ooohed and aaahed at almost every structure, which stopped after a while. They even had these little human statues sort of froze in motion and when you take a picture, you wouldn't know that thay are miniatures. 
We went to a friends' house not far from Madurodam. Mun lives with her two children, Amni and Amar. Both soo adorable I regret spending soo little time with them.
Mun brought us to Zaanse Schans where we could be a bit closer to the windmills, and even go inside one. The stairs were so steep that the safest way to go down is facing the ladder. We saw how they made cheese and clogs and even got to taste some of the cheese with yummy dips. On our way out I bought the collectible calendar with our faces on for a frikkin 10euros... Expensive much?
Then, we took off for Volendam. And as usual when in Volendam, it's Dutch costume time! Mun treated us to fried seafood for lunch, which is like super tasty. Especially after almost everyday of bread and butter. The shopping here was fantastic, almost everything is cheaper so in order not to fel too cheated, we bought a few souvenirs.
Mun dropped us at a bus station heading to Amsterdam and after a while spent wondering around finding the canal ride, we gave up and just took the tram to Museumplein for a picture with I amsterdam. When we were queueing up for tickets back to Delft, a kind lady gave us two daycards, which meant we got a ride home for free..!!The last few days were spent looking for things to bring back home. We bought loads of stroopwafels and I got myself a few shirts (All of them black.. Blegh..) But I especially loved the "Good Girls Go To Heaven; Bad Girls Go To Amsterdam" one.. We went to the same souvenir shop five times (even went in twicw in ONE day!!) at went out with different things in hand.. LOL..
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