@korno 549431 wrote:
Erm, don’t buy anything off the trolls on the bridge in town. Very dodgy characters they are.
Only buy drugs from shops, not people on the street.
… ah, my old pals and resting spot… actually you’re right, it’s no place to make new friends if you’re there for a weekend.
Get advanced tickets for a club is definitely good advice, and expect the first half hour spent smoking dope openly to feel very weird as your paranoia evaporates.
You’ve got to be in that city for at least a week before you are operating at the same level as everyone else. Weird buzzy energy, the Dam.
The Vrankrijk (“Vrankrake”) Squats in Spui Straat used to be a gateway into the “alternative culture” but they’re fucking hardcore, they usually ignore tourists (and have the reputation of eating them occasionally, although I don’t think that’s true). Don’t know if they’re still there, squatting was made illegal (again) a couple of years ago but it’s been there so long (and it’s like Fort Knox) that they probably still are there.
Most of the Red light is just for tourists, you’ve got to get further out to find most of the Dutch bits of Amsterdam. Oh, and technically a “tolerance zone” goes with the license, so you do get some coffee shops and sex workers away from the Centrum (you did when I was around there, maybe 13 years ago now).
