According to Enid Blyton..

I am pretty sure most of you who are about my age (20+) or probably older must have experienced this craze when you were younger.. The Enid Blyton craze! Borrowing all her books from the library, hiding some of the books in your secret place in libraries so that you can borrow them next time or probably buying one or two from the bookshops because they are damn expensive.

Aha, I remembered reading my first Enid Blyton's Fairytale when I was 8 and I grew to love those pixies, gnomes, fairies and toadstools which I am dead sure kids nowadays have no idea what I am talking about. I finished her set of Famous Five and my favourite will always be the Wishing Chair! I still have that book at home.. =)

Well, as I entered secondary school, I no longer read her books but I still recall all the play houses mentioned in her books. And just when I thought that play houses only exist in her books or probably in the eighties when there were no Playstations and Barbie dolls..

Ta daa.. I found a real playhouse when I was in Volendam, Netherlands!

and they have their own boat too..

And just like George from the Famous Five, they have a dog as well!

Oh my, how I wish to have my own playhouse too but I guess I am too old for it now. And I am sure my collection of Enid Blyton's books are still collecting dust well kept in my store room.

The Dutch owed the windmills..

And as I climbed up one of the remaining 1150 windmills in Netherlands, I quietly pray that I will be safe because the ladder looked so unreliable, admire the beauty of the windmills and nod my head as the Dutch man in front of me explained about the windmills.

"..... and now there are only about 1150 windmills left all over Netherlands...bla bla bla..."

And as he went on telling the curious tourists about the windmills, I was busy snapping pictures but hold on a second! I heard him talking about Amsterdam was developed around a dam??

Thats a BIG WOW from me! Well, windmills were once upon a time used in agriculture and now, used to generate electricity but it had never crossed my mind that without the windmills, Amsterdam will not exist. Because, in the early days, the Dutch used the windmills to remove excess water from the low lying districts, making the land fit for human habitation.

And this shows how much the Dutch owed the windmills because without the windmills, Amsterdam might not exist and they can forget calling themselves Dutch.

YES, Dutch out there, you know you owed the windmills! Do take good care of the remaining 1150!

Perfect Love

Rings and roses have always been linked to perfect love but do imagine how amazed and dumbfounded I was when my tour guide in Amsterdam told me that tulips signify PERFECT LOVE!

Aha, I was there on my 21st birthday in April with few friends of mine and I purposely chose Amsterdam because I wanted to see their famous tulips badly. Nevertheless, we did stop by the infamous Red Light District.. *chuckle* Don't you dare tell me you didn't when you were in Amsterdam because we all know you are lying..

Keuhenkof Garden is the highlight of my trip to Amsterdam and by looking at the pictures below, I am sure these pictures painted more than a thousand word. The beauty of these flowers are just INDESCRIBABLE!

For those of you who are planning to visit Amsterdam next spring, do not miss this eye-catching garden and it is only open to visitors 3 months in a year..

Note: Now, lads out there.. Do consider giving your girlfriends/wives tulips instead of roses. Tulips are equally pretty and of course, it signifies PERFECT LOVE!