UEFA 035 – Free Adam

UEFA 035 – Free Adam

We walked along together with the busy morning crowd and arrived at shops selling Dutch colorful clogs.

It reminded me of my late father. Way back in 1960s my father made wooden clogs for each of his children with different sizes. He made them himself. I saw how the clog developed from a raw piece of wood into a footwear. He was a good carpenter. He also made book cabinets and book holders normally used for reading the Quran, which in Malay is called ‘rehal’.


Then we came along row of ‘fast food’ shops and restaurants. One of them is named ‘Free Adam’ coffee shop. FEBO is one where fast hot food are dispense at an insertion of coins.

At another row of wider back-lanes are shopping centers and shopping malls carrying branded clothings, shoes and accessories. We stopped for a long time inside one of their supermarkets and were amazed with all kinds of strange products and product names. One of them was a peanut butter with the brand name ‘Pindakaas’. It looked tantalizing that we bought a bottle to bring it home for memories.

We liked the Pindakaas very much and missed it when it was finished.

We also bought many kinds of unique chocolates and sweets for our children. For relatives we bought cookies, biscuits and uniquely flavored tea bags.

Just outside the supermarket were flower shops. We stopped here again for quite a long time admiring the beautiful flowers of Holland. We were especially, hypnotized by the various colors of fresh tulips. My wife bought some glass and plastic tulips for our home and souvenirs.

It was by now almost lunch time. We asked around and catch a tram back to Centraal. We had decided earlier that morning to have lunch at the Turkish restaurant where we bought our pita kebab last evening.

During lunch, each of us had a Shish Kebab. It came in 2 very long skewers which extended beyond the circumference of the large dining plates. Each piece of lamb skewed in the skewer was about a size of a 50 cents coin and the thickness was about the thickness of the bristles of a toothbrush. It was really filling.

That Turkish restaurant was located at Oudebrugsteeg, which was the name of a road. God forbid, that the restaurant was flanked by indecent adult shops both on the left and right of it, such that, a naughty glance was unavoidable. They sold all kinds of items to arouse our sexual desires and temptation to buy their ‘dirty’ products. Please don’t quote me, but I would call that business ‘dirty money’. The dirt here is pornographic.

Some pictures and techniques displayed in the windows were actually depicting women as sex slaves.

I thought the West are very concerned about women liberation and equality?

How come their society allowed such a free display of enslaving women to satisfy the sexual desires of men?

Where is the liberty of the women?
When will the women be treated decently equal to men?
What happen to the morality and dignity of women?

Women liberation organizations must make strong effort to help the women of the world to be given the freedom and equality to live decently and be free from becoming sex objects. The Girl Power must protect women from becoming nude and half-naked models on advertisement boards, magazines, televisions and internet.

For example, what does naked women had to do in car, computer and condominium advertisements?

Instead, the advertisers should portray elegant ladies in jackets and official-cut pants to potary an image of professionals and carrier women.

Being present in Europe and seeing their lifestyles with my own eyes, I do not have anymore high hope for western philosophy of modernism, education and way of life. Although my religious adherence had worn out, I still cannot accept such extreme lifestyles.

No wonder in one of the wall painting graffiti in Basel I saw the word ‘sex objek’. I assumed the graffiti was displaying the painter’s disagreement with the western social system that does not protect people from becoming the sex victims.

Once again, I saw the liberal philosophy of life, defeating man’s natural instinct to be a good human and servant of the Al-Mighty God.

Given the ultimate freedom, man will do things to their own destruction.

No wonder, many prophets were sent to this Earth.

I came to know that there were about 124,000 genuine prophets sent to this world from the time of Prophet Adam to Prophet Muhammad. Man need to be guided to lead decent lifestyles and be obedient to the Sustainer and be always mindful and thankful to the Creator of man, heaven and Earth.

643 words

Drafted on 07.04.2007

Edited on 22.07.2007 at 1022hrs

At Woodlands Avenue 5

UEFA 034 - Adam

UEFA 034 - Adam


Along the way, I had been wondering if there was a town named Adam in Holland. The name was seen in many signboards and road signs.




O how proud I’d been, to have my name displayed everywhere in Holland.





Already in Singapore I had a road after my name, that is Adam Road. Along with it there is also Adam Road Hospital, Adam Park, Adam Food Centre and I hope the Circle-Line MRT station there will be named Adam MRT Station.




Soon I found out that Adam in Holland’s road sign was an abbreviation for Amsterdam and Adam was also a name of a big telephone company, but, I do not know if that was Dutch.




We alighted at the Centraal Station. Hi guys…take it easy. It was not typo error or my negligence. That is the way the Dutch spell the word Central, with a double ‘a’.



Ooops I suddenly realized that I did not write much about the different currencies of the countries I had visited thus far. Let’s do it now.




In Switzerland the currency was Swiss Francs (Sfr) = 100 centimes.

In Austria, the currency was called Schilling = 100 groschen.

The French currency was French Franc (Ffr) = 100 centimes.

The German had Deutsche Mark = 100 pfennig.

The Dutch currency was Guilder = 100 cents.

England’s currency was Pound Sterling = 100 pence.

Belgium’s currency was Belgian Franc = 100 centimes.




We did not have to change to Belgian Franc, as we only ride through Belgium via train, and we did not go down anywhere, and did not buy anything in Belgium.




At the Amsterdam Centraal Station, we immediately went to the Money Changer to get Dutch Guilders. Money Changer was also known as Gambio and many of them are operated by Thomas Cook.

Then we walked along the streets and found a budget hotel named

El-Alkmaar Hotel. Being cheap, we had to climb up to the 4th storey, but it had its own toilet, which was my wife’s pre-requisite for any hotel we need to stay. She dislike hotel with shared common toilet.

Just a few steps from the hotel was the Sarang Mas Indonesian Restaurant. Suddenly we felt like home, and sat there for a cup of tea. We glanced at the menu and decided not to have dinner there as it was X.

We walked further across the river and saw the famous Dutch water taxis (passenger boats) and we also noticed the preservation and conservation of the old houses along the streets and river bank. I supposed we were in the city centre of old Amsterdam.

We had a simple kebab and pita for dinner, like the one we had in Osnabruck and retired for the night.

Pita is a kind of Greek bread. It was soft, round and easy to eat. It was half-sliced and stuffed with sliced kebab, lettuce, potatoes, tomatoes, onions and topped with tartar or mayonnaise sauce or any other sauce available.

Next morning we walked to an old castle in the city. Then we saw a collection of cheese. There were so many of them with different look and different prices. We walked along a back-lane and found ourselves in a Chinatown. There were some Chinese and Chinese food and goods. There were also curry powder, fresh chili padi, ikan bilis, tom yam paste, dried fish and even belachan.

At lunch we decided to go back to the same Turkish restaurant and had a luxurious shish and doner kebabs with skewers

After lunch we continued walking and came across a canal. As we walked along the canal we noticed a strange shape of steel bollards. On the other side of the canal, we saw row of glass panel shop houses. Inside these glass panels were women clad in half-exposed dress.

We understood later that they were prostitutes trying to seduce customers with their erotic window displays. In this area we saw many advertisement boards of Erotic night clubs and the peepshow clubs. Although we did not go in,it was so obvious from the signboards.

552 words

Drafted on 07.04.2007

Edited on 22.07.2007 at 1002hrs

At Woodlands Avenue 5

UEFA 012 – Santis

UEFA 012 – Santis

Santis is 2502 meter above sea level. It was a breath-taking view from upthere though it was misty and traces of melting snow can be seen down thevalley. The gustily wind was cold, although it was a sunny afternoon.

After some light snacks and soft drink, we made our way down to Nesslau-Neu St Johann. We had our lunch there, in a decent restaurant.

After making my order, I rushed to the toilet, to remove the long-john I had under my clothing. I had it on, because I was expecting a very cold temperature up on the Santis. Under my jackets, I had 2 layers of T-shirts and a shirt. I also had 2 socks on. Now, I had to remove some of them, because I began to sweat.

I made a stupid impulsive blunder during that lunch. I ordered for a salad dish. It tasted too sour and I put it aside, but ordered another dish which was equally not pleasing to my taste buds. I took only half portion of that second dish.

Both Anke and Manfred had their wallets on the table. Neda, Jomaah and I,of different culture, kept our wallets safely in our pockets.

I called the charming young waitress for the bill and announced to her that I wanted to pay for all. Anke and Manfred turn down my offer, saying that it was a crazy decision, but I insisted, saying that I need to contribute something for the trip.

Apparently, I did not know that, my 2 Jordanian friends had committed to pay Anke SFr 20 each for the trip. I only knew it when I saw them paying Anke the money, at the end of the trip.
I handed to the waitress a SFr100 note. She returned me Sfr30.It was a very, very expensive meal for me.

I learned much later that, putting wallet and purse on the table is a sign of going on Dutch. Which means he/she is paying only her own meal.They are realistic in that sense, because, the meals in Switzerland are expensive, as I experienced.

After lunch we drove to Wattwil. Then into a tunnel to Kaltbrunn, Uznach and stopped for a while at Rapperswil.

328 words

==============will be continued============
~drafted on 07.12.2006

~edited on 28.03.2007

~at Woodlands avenue 5

~20:34 hrs