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If you try.........
"On my last few trips to Amsterdam I had frequented "Dutch Flowers" and "Tweede Kamer" and had found the grass and hash excellent. Before my last trip however I decided that I was going to be more organised (or as organised as on can be whilst off your head) in my assault on the coffee shops. I printed off the reports of the various shops and their specialities as well as the coffee shop map (invaluable). Here is my account of the five days, mostly seen through a haze of thick marijuana smoke:
Day 1 (Saturday) Arrived at the hotel (4.30pm) which was just off Dam Square so once I had dropped off my bags and looked at the map I was in a state if delirium to find that the Grey Area was a 5 minute walk from the hotel. This was the one shop I had read so much about that I was concerned that I would spend the whole week in this one shop. I got there at about 5.00pm only to find it closing (ie the door was closed and a few people were climbing out the window) and I couldn't get served. Apparently they were all going to a party. One of the staff told us that" RookerieII" sold the same Bubblegum so off we trudged. Arrived at Rookerie and bought 2 gm each of Bubblegum and AK47. I settled down with a beer and skinned up the Bubblegum and sat back and waited for the haze to decend, once it did my arse was stuck to the bench and I was zombified. Once I was fairly wasted, an English guy sitting next to me recommended the orange bud from "Piccassos" around the corner. I bought 1gm of that as well as some Nederhash. After having spent about an hour at Rookerie I decided it was time to move on so I rolled one with AK47 and left. The rest of the night was spent in a very stoned state and I'm not sure whether it was the AK or the Bubblegum (lets be honest how many people know after 2-3 different joints which one got them stoned). (My money is on the "AK47" ,if "the real McCoy" ,this stuff slaughters you very quickly, for a very long time) Day 2 (Sunday) Woke up at about 10.00 and having read the reports there was only one place we were going for Breakfast (Sweet Tooth here we come). We passed the Grey Area on the way still closed. Arrived at Barneys the smell at the door was enough to make you think that this was heaven. The place was fairly busy so we shared a table with a Brazilian couple after a full Irish breakfast we scored 3gm of the Sweet Tooth. We each rolled a "J" and proceded to smoke one over a second cup of tea. We had agreed to meet a friend in "Dutch Flowers" so had a bong hit or three (BIG MISTAKE) of sweet tooth before leaving and sparked up the second joint for the road. We were comatose for the next I don't know how many hours but that was as stoned as I have ever been in 20 years of dope smoking. We found our mate in Dutch flowers, gave him a few tokes of sweet tooth and all watched the ducks in the canal for the next hour. When we straightened up a bit we went back to the Grey Area. Closed. Must have been some party.
We had read about the pool tables and board games at "La Canna" and so being too wasted to do anything more energetic we made our way there. We went up to the first floor and ordered a beer, my mate who obviously has a death wish, refused to roll one with either bubble gum or AK 47 proceded to try and overdose on Sweet tooth by rolling a neat one (no tobacco) with the remaining "ST" whilst I set up the pool table (with a lot of help). We played pool and smoked the "J". Half way through the game all I wanted to do, as the balls weren't in focus any more, was to chill, so we decided to attempt to play backgammon. This coffee shop has 3 backgammon sets and not one of them is complete all the pieces are different. I wish we had been filmed trying to get a set assembled after about half an hour we managed to sort out a board and two sets of pieces but no dice. What a mission to get a set of dice. The barman sent us to the toilet attendant, who sent us to the dealer's window. He didn't have a dice but sold us 1gm of "White Widow" (not great). Eventually the first guy we asked found them, after all that excitement we couldn't be arsed to play. We found this a great place to chill but once the Grand Prix started we left. Why did they put the "telly" (television) on??? We moved on to "De Kuill", which we hadn't read too much about, but this was a nice quiet shop with a pool table and a chilled atmosphere. The two of us decided it was time to get a bite to eat so opting for the sensible option we made our way to Home Grown Fantasy where we each had a piece of "space cake" (Hash Cake) and a coffee. (The word "sensible" has very broad parameters in Amsterdam) Now suitably refreshed we hit the Red Light district. The rest of the night was spent in a very trippy happy state.
Day 3 (Monday) Now lets get sensible, or did I forget to mention that this was a business trip we were on ? (Hence the restrained approach to the previous 36 hours in Amsterdam, then?) So, 7.30am on Monday morning we were at Central station to go to The Hague to attend 2 very heavy serious business meetings after which we were offered an evening of entertainment in the Hague, but I could hear the "Bluebird" calling (this was one coffee shop I had read so much about but had not visited during the previous two days) We tried the Khali Mist and whilst it was not as potent as the AK47 or Bubblegum we had sampled earlier it was more buzzy and a good high. And a nice place to chill. We didn't bother with the Grey Area as it is not open on a Monday (is it ever open?). "C".
The more observant of you may have noted this was supposed to be a 5 day diary, "C" blames business, but I reckon he hit the "AK47" bigtime.......... Its amazing he can recall so much and achieved so many of his target coffeeshops !! I don`t know what was going on with the "Grey Area" They are usually reliable. Sept2002: Open and busy, got some nice"Soles" - Moroccan Hash - there.
 
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