Backpacking to Europe – Part 15: Journey to Weesp

Previously

Day 3, Saturday – 11 February 2017

Just like on the second day, we woke up sharp at 4.30 am. We could feel the cold breeze from the outside because we did not fully shut the window. It felt extremely cold as compared to the previous two days. I walked to the window and took a look outside. I could not believe my eyes. Snow! The whole area was white as overnight snowing has covered the square area.

Sama macam hari kedua, kami bangun tepat jam 4.30 pagi. Kami dapat rasakan angin sejuk dari tingkat bilik kami sebab kami tak tutup tingkap rapat malam semalam. Tapi, rasa sejuk pagi ni lebih sejuk dari dua hari sebelum ni. Aku jalan ke arah tingkap dan intai ke luar. Macam tak percaya… salji! Kawasan bawah tu penuh dengan salji yang turun sejak malam semalam.

Snowy morning.

Whilst waiting for the sun to rise, we updated our social media accounts, took our daily bath, ate Brahim’s instant fried rice and packed our bags since we planned to check out before going to our next destination. We planned to go to another municipality in the province of North Holland and since we did not sure when we will arrive back at Bullewijk, it is better to be safe by checking out before hand.

Sementara tunggu matahari untuk terbit, kami kemaskini akaun media sosial kami, kami pergi mandi, makan nasi goreng segera Brahim’s dan kemas baju kami siap-siap. Hari ini, kami rancang nak ke salah satu daerah di wilayah Utara Holland. Memandangkan kami tak pasti pukul berapa kami akan sampai semula di Bullewijk, kami check-out siap-siap dari BnB.

We spent some time in the room after we were ready and by 8.30 am, we had already cleaned up the room. We locked the room and went to the reception area to leave our bags. We told Richard who was in charge that we were going to be back by 4.00 pm. “Don’t be late!”, Richard reminded us.

Kami lepak-lepak di dalam bilik dan dalam pukul 8.30 pagi, kami dah siap kemas bilik kami. Kami kunci pintu bilik, pergi ke reception dan tinggalkan beg-beg kami. Kami bagitau Richard yang bertugas untuk hari tersebut yang mungkin kami akan balik untuk ambil beg-beg kami dalam pukul 4.00 petang. “Jangan lambat ya?” kata Richard.

Breakfast at the Doner Company. Recommended. Please try!

Honestly, I felt a bit sad that I would be leaving BnB ZOH. Maybe the quietness or the cleanliness or that it did not feel too touristy, I did not know why but I just love staying there. It made me feel like I was at home.

Sejujurnya, aku rasa agak sedih untuk tinggalkan BnB ZOH. Mungkin sebab kawasan ni senyap atau sebab kebersihan dia atau sebab dia tak terasa macam kawasan pelancongan sangat. Entahlah, susah nak cakap tapi aku memang suka tinggal di BnB ZOH. Rasa macam tinggal kat rumah sendiri gitu.

We went out of the BnB and it was snowing heavily and it was extremely cold too. We walked towards the Metro station and the feeling of walking on the snow was exciting for my wife and I. We could feel the ‘crispiness’ as we walked, step by step, towards the station. “Khrup… Khrup…Khrup…”, it sounded.

Kami keluar dari BnB dan salji turun dengan lebatnya. Cuaca pun tersangat sejuk. Kami jalan ke arah stesen Metro dan perasaan berjalan di atas timbunan salji membuatkan aku dan Amira teruja. Boleh terasa ‘kerangupan’ salji tu bila kami melangkah. “Khrup…khrup…khruppp”, bunyinya.

Taking the train to Weesp.

We walked slowly to the platform. It was too cold, we could not withstand the breeze and prayed hard that the train will arrive as soon as possible. The train arrived within 2 minutes and off we went to Amsterdam Centraal station.

Kami berjalan perlahan-lahan ke platform. Memang sejuk sangat sampaikan aku berdoa cepatlah tren sampai. Nasib baik tak sampai 2 minit, tren sampai dan kami pun terus ke Amsterdam Centraal.

When we arrived at Centraal station, the snow was falling heavily, blanketing the ground. We went into the boom gate and tapped our OV-Chipkaart. “Beep beep”, it sounded. I looked at the display – “Error”. I tried again, and the same thing happened. I told my wife “I thought we still have more than 10 Euros, right?” and she nodded.

Setibanya kami di stesen Centraal, salji turun dengan lebat sekali sampaikan jalan semua putihhhh je. Kami pergi ke arah pagar nak ke stesen keretapi tapi bila kami tap OV-Chipkaart, dia keluar “Error” padahal duit ada lagi dalam kad kami.

One of the trains at Centraal station. This is an international train from Germany, I think.

So, we walked to the Information counter where we bought the card yesterday morning. Apparently, there must be a minimum of 20 Euros in OV-Chipkaart in order for the boom gate to open. We reloaded 10 Euros into our card and we went back to the boom gate and we entered into the plaza area. Although I already had instant fried rice for breakfast, I was still hungry, thus we went to The Doner Company for breakfast. As compared to last night, we were the only two customers today and was entertained swiftly.

Kami pun jalan ke arah kaunter Informasi yang kami pergi untuk beli OV-Chipkaart ni pagi semalam. Rupa-rupanya, untuk naik tren, kena ada sekurang-kurangnya 20 Euro dalam kad. Kami pun top-up lagi 10 Euro dan masuk ke dalam stesen, melepasi pagar. Cuaca sejuk membuatkan kami lapar. Nasib baik The Doner Company dah buka, kami pun makan di situ. Malam semalam ramai sungguh orang. Pagi ni, kami berdua je.

After breakfast, it was time to go to the platform. I searched the screen for the train heading towards Zwolle as one of the stations that the train will call at was Weesp. The train will arrive at Platform 11b and we went up, waiting for the train.

Lepas sarapan, kami pun cari platform untuk kami tunggu tren ke Weesp. Aku tengok pada skrin dan nampak tren yang menuju ke Zwolle akan berhenti di Weesp. Tunggu di Platform 11b. 

Waiting for the train to arrive under freezing weather.

As we waited, I could see the snow falling more and heavier. The breeze was getting more freezing too. It was not long before finally the train arrived and we were on our way to Weesp.

Sementara menanti tren sampai, aku boleh tengok di luar stesen, salji turun makin banyak dan makin lebat. Angin pun makin membeku. Tren tiba tak lama kemudian dan kami pun dalam perjalanan ke Weesp.

Weesp is near but it feels so rural.

We arrived at Weesp station in 20 minutes. We exited the train and turned right, towards the exit. We tapped our OV-Chipkaart (the fare was around 4 Euros) and went outside.

Dalam 20 minit, tren tiba di Weesp. Kami keluar dari keretapi, turun ke bawah dan belok kiri ke arah keluar. Kami tap out OV-Chipkaart (tambang kira-kira 4 Euro) dan keluar dari stesen.

Snow everywhere!

I was shocked to see the snow outside the station – so thick and still falling. It was very quiet too, save for some people who were either waiting for cars to pick them up or was waiting for the snow to slow down so that they can walk to the bus stop. But the view was just too surreal for me and Amira. It was our first experience seeing snow falling this much and we were so happy.

“Wow!” aku terkejut tengok salji kat luar stesen tu – tebal dan masih turun lagi. Dah lah sunyi je kawasan tu. Adalah dua tiga kerat orang yang tunggu orang lain. Tapi, pemandangan dia memang cantikkk. Nampak suci je. Gembira aku dan Amira.

More photos below:

Next: Part 16

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Weesp is a town located within 20-minute train ride from Amsterdam. Amira and I stopped at this town because we intended to visit one of the attractions nearby, a Medieval castle situated in the town of Muiden. I will highlight the visit in the next post.

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