A city of 600,000 bicycles, 165 canals, 1400 cafes and bars, 755 ferries, 232 trams, and many more, Amsterdam, the capital and largest city of The Netherlands is a city of many colours and juxtapositions. Perhaps it is better known as the ‘city of sex and drugs’ due to its famous red light district, and liberal coffee shops where the thick heavy whiffs of weed/cannabis along with the brew can warp time into a timeless experience or eternity to infinity.

And since this is an account of my impressions and solely mine, you bet they are subjective. I could be wrong about a whole lot of things as things are not always what they seem to be, rather never! But still, my impressions of Amsterdam are my first impressions as an outsider of seeing, watching, processing and making sense of this lovely city where there is so much to do and yet nothing at all… sitting at Leidseplein, with a packet of steaming hot fries with a pinch of my favourite hot, spicy sambal sauce, especially on a weekend and watching the thoroughfare is like doing nothing and everything at the same time!

What an ethnically diverse city this is! It seems to embrace people of different colours, languages, religions, shapes and sizes that converge in a cacophony of jingle, which disperse no sooner than they met.

And then, Amsterdam as rightly pointed out by one or our classmates is a ‘city of books’ and one can lose oneself just as much in its encapsulating wonder as in the labyrinth of roads leading to and from it. Though a small city, the numerous lanes can be quite confusing… it could land you in the red light district, and catch you unaware at the sudden sight of attractive belles on the glass windows, as was the case with me when one evening I tried to find my way from the Central Station to meet a bunch of friends, or could make you go in circles just like a dog after its tail only to realise after a good “roundabout” that you could have reached the place in a shorter way or that it was just there! Ahh! What agony!

Well apart from the Dutchies, I guess most don’t know that Amsterdam is a great bird watching destination as well! No. I don’t mean it the way you think about the word “bird watching”. Today, when I was forced by one of my class mates and floor mates of Meer en Vaart (meaning where the lake meets the stream) to go for a walk on the pragmatic that it would refresh my mind, me thought, “What the hell. Let’s go. In any case I wouldn’t finish writing 4000 words or even close to it in two hours.” And being the nature lover that I am, I was pleasantly surprised by an array of wetland birds. Though I couldn’t tell off hand what birds they were when questioned by my friend, a little search back home through Fatbirder, Flevo Birdwatching and several other online guides, an I learnt that I saw the Baikal Teal, the Ice-landic Black-tailed God wits, Chiffchaff, Waxwings and many more (high up on the tree, and without the aid of my spectacles or binoculars, it was hard to recognise any).

And now before I cross my word limit any further, I’ll halt. But there is more to come… in the coming weeks. So keep yourselves posted to wereldjournalisten.

Cheers!