I was in Amsterdam for 4 pleasant days:
From Amsterdam, I took the 8am bus from Sloterdijk Station to The Hague. Flixbus is the continent's budget bus company. After an hour, I reached Den Haag Central, the central station of The Hague.
Situated by the North Sea, facing England, The Hague is where the central government of the Netherlands is located. It also houses the International Court of Justice (ICJ) located. In 2017, it was a time where China was brought to the ICJ for the dispute in the South China Sea. I felt it was interesting to visit The Hague.
The Hague is an important and impartial European city.
Golden Stock Hostel, where I stayed had numerous books, and I enjoyed one of them
The first stop, after leaving my luggage in the hostel, was none other than the ICJ.
The Peace Palace hosts the ICJ and Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA)
The Peace Palace opened in August 1913. The early days was not effective, and the irony was that, World War 1 happened shortly afterwards - July 1914 to Nov 1918.
American steel magnate Andrew Carnegie was the main sponsor
The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced
Unfortunately, the free visits for Peace Palace applies only on weekends. With limited time in The Hague (just 2D1N), I was happy to hangout in the visitor center while it started raining outside.
Lots of students at the center
The Peace Palace had many guests - Big Chief White Horse Eagle visited in 1930
World peace was, and will always be a universal goal. Fast-forwarding to the end of 2020 (a year ravaged by COVID-19), I think the world needs peace even more.
The drizzle didn't stop, but I needed lunch.
Fortunately, lunch was familiar food - Indonesian! Something I hadn't have often for a year (I had been living in Scotland for the past 10 months).
Lunch menu, in Euros
How often do you find authentic Malay food in Europe?
It felt surreal
It felt like Hari Raya
At 10 Euros, I had one of my best meals in Europe, ever
I find the weather in The Hague is as good as in Britain. I spent some time chatting with the owner and a waiter, both from Indonesia. Malaysia and Indonesia are like England and Scotland. We are somewhat alike, but seldom admit it. Malaysia and Indonesia go back a long way. The first king of the Malacca dynasty - Parameswara was from Palembang (in Sumatra, Indonesia). Of course, we had the Konfrantasi in the 60's, where Sukarno objected the formation of Malaysia, and actually launched attacks against Malaysia (from 1963-1966).
Nowadays, the only rivalry is in badminton and football.
The awful (rainy and cold) weather meant that I was back at the Hostel at 3pm, and continued reading the book on The Hague.
It was definitely a rather relaxing day, and I tried to read and understand The Hague as much as I could.
Up next...
I visited the seaside town of Schveningen, where I laid my eyes on the North Sea. I then take a 10 hour road trip to the Belgium city of Bruges:
https://weesertan.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-hague-part-2-journey-to-bruges.html
No comments:
Post a Comment