Keukenhof Holland

20 April 2016

It was really an amazing experience!!!

I would love to visit Keukenhof Gardens again and again!

You can refer to my previous post about my trip to Amsterdam too.

I visited Keukenhof Park with a great friend of mine.

It was a wonderful day-trip

It was her idea after all to come here!

We purchased the tickets online.

Each ticket looks like this.

This one is called "Combi Ticket".

It is your ticket into Keukenhof  Park and also

your return ticket for shuttle bus service

called Keukenhof Express from Schiphol Airport to Keukenhof.

You can buy this at Keukenhof official website.

As soon as we arrived at Schiphol Airport,

we followed the signs leading us to Keukenhof Express.

Our bus left the airport to Keukenhof exactly at 11.15 a.m.

and I said...."Keukenhof...here I come!!!"

Keukenhof is in Lisse, which is famous for tulip fields.

So on the way, we could see colourful tulips here and there.

Luckily I didn't miss to look out of the window all the time.

What a divine view!

We arrived at Keukenhof main entrance at 11.45 a.m.

Let's enjoy the photos!

Well, these photos cannot do justice to what I saw!

trust me.

I fell in love with red tulips!!!
Don't know why...but I just became crazy when I saw ones!

We enjoyed the Park until 5.00 p.m. and

started to find our way out of Keukenhof main entrance.

We rode the shuttle bus back to

the airport exactly at 5.30 p.m.

As we arrived at the airport, we went to _I amsterdam_ sign,

just outside of Terminal 1-2...in front of Schiphol Plaza.

We took thousands of photos in front of this sign,

with each alphabet, I guess....hahaha.

.....and it was suddenly 6.30 p.m.

We had to catch our flight back home at 8.30 p.m

so we decided to get in early

and just be ready anywhere near the boarding gate.

Before departure, we looked for a prayer room

to perform/read salah.

We found 'the Meditation Centre, Schiphol Airport'.

At the moment (20 April 2016), it was located on the departure level.

For now, I am not sure whether it has been relocated or not.

Please check the website for recent updates.

 What a colourful experience!!!

Bye now.

Amsterdam within 1 hour

I traveled with a great friend of mine.

It was actually a day trip to Keukenhof.

But we thought we should go to Amsterdam City first

and take some pictures, at least.

Then we could enjoy the whole day at Keukenhof.

Early in the morning (6.50 a.m.),

we took a one-hour-flight (Flybe airlines)

from one of the UK Airports

to Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam.

We arrived at 8.00 a.m. but it took about

half an hour to get out from the terminal

after going through the immigration.

That's normal for morning flights!

As soon as we walked out from the terminal,

we took a public bus to go to Amsterdam City (No.197).

We managed to catch the 8.30 a.m. bus.

**The bus-stop is exactly in front of the terminal exit.

The fare is only EUR10.00 return per person.

We decided to spend ONLY about 1 hour at Amsterdam and

return to the airport to catch the Keukenhof Express

(shuttle bus to Keukenhof which takes you directly from the airport).

Our journey to the City took about 30 minutes, I think.

Luckily, the traffic was very smooth, I suppose.

We got out from the bus (about 9.30 a.m.) at the final stop

which is Rijk Museum.

This stop is exactly in front of 

the famous _I amsterdam_ giant sign.

 

We went to Hard Rock Cafe Amsterdam,

which is located a few steps away from here.

My friend spent only, literally, 5 minutes at the Cafe

to buy a t-shirt  for her husband.

Then we hurriedly walked back to Rijk Museum.

On the way, we stopped at three souvenir shops

and grabbed some postcards and fridge magnets.

The postcards are 5 for EUR1.00

and fridge magnets are 2 for EUR5.00.

Well, actually we could get 3 for EUR5.00

at other shops but we really did not

have time to walk further to find these shops.

 We took great pictures at Rijk Museum.

There is a beautiful garden at the Museum

with tulips and unknown pretty  flowers.

I was so excited to see a big chess board!!!

 Then, we ran to _I amsterdam_  which is

located next to the Museum.

There were thousands of people!!!

We couldn't get any decent pictures with the wordings!

Never mind....

After 15 minutes fighting for good photo-shots,

we left the place

and ran to the bus stop to get back to the airport.

The frequency of the bus is only 15 minutes, as people say.

Yes, we had to wait for only 5 minutes and suddenly it arrived on time,

and took us back to the airport!!! Yeay!!!

***Actually, there is also _I amsterdam_ sign at the airport too.

We took thousands of pictures in front of this sign

before flying back home that night.***

 We successfully managed to spend about 1 hour at Amsterdam!!!

Right on our schedule, lovely!!!

As soon as we arrived at the airport (about 11.00 a.m.),

we followed the signs which led us straight to

Keukenhof Express bus stop.

Yeay!!!

Our bus left the airport to Keukenhof exactly at 11.15 a.m.

and I said...."Keukenhof...here I come!!!"

We arrived at Keukenhof at 11.45 a.m.

and aimed to explore the Garden until 5.00 p.m.

or 5.30 p.m. the latest.

We allocated about 5 hours of our time here!

...because we had to catch our flight back home at 8.30 p.m.

You can read my post about my trip to Keukenhof

and view some great photos of the majestic tulips here.

Bye now!

Rice Cakes in Soy Sauce

Non-spicy tteokbokki

(tteok--korean rice cakes)

I love tteokbokki but prefer the less spicy ones.

This is one of the most delicious ttoekbokki I have ever tasted,

because it is not spicy at all...haha.

You can prepare the ingredients below.

Steps:

No.1 - heat it (use frying pan / wok).

Lightly fry No.2 and 3 for 2 minutes.

Add No. 4 and fry for 2 minutes.

Add No.5 and fry for 2 minutes.

Add No.6 and stir-fry for 1 minute.

Add No.7 and keep stirring.

Wait until the sauce starts to boil and becomes thick.

If the tteokbokki is not cooked yet, add more water.

Keep stirring and wait until it starts to boil again.

Repeat this action until the tteokbokki is fully cooked.

The sauce will soon be very thick.

Now, it is ready to be served!!!

***If we talk about its texture, you would get almost similar texture

as if you were eating Kuih Biji Nangka

(a Malaysian/Kelantanese traditional kuih/dessert)

You can get Kuih Biji Nangka (Butir Nako) recipe from

the most informative food blogs, Intai Dapur and Azie Kitchen.

How do you know whether your tteokbokki is cooked or under-cooked?

-->bite one piece of tteokbokki. If it is all chewy, gooey and fully soaked, it is cooked.

If your tteokbokki is hard, tough to chew and dry inside, it is definitely not cooked.

But, some people love to eat under-cooked tteokbokki. So it depends on your taste buds.

My "Stir-Fried Rice Cakes in Soy Sauce" was inspired by Maangchi

Gungjung-tteokbokki 궁중떡볶이.

She is my favourite Korean YouTube cook.

You can follow her recipe and original instructions to get the best non-spicy tteokbokki.

Good luck!!!

Marimo World #4: MEDIUM size marimo

The one on the left is my MEDIUM size marimo/ moss ball which is about 4.5cm.

The other two marimos floating next to it are considered LARGE

which are 5.5cm and 6cm.

***See my SMALL marimo/ moss balls

Wordless Wednesday: Doll House