4 ms·
I was very vocal that they shouldn't make the "coffeeshops" Dutch only, but that was before widespread legalization elsewhere. I remember seeing a lot of people
by greggarious 4y ago
I was very vocal that they shouldn't make the "coffeeshops" Dutch only, but that was before widespread legalization elsewhere. I remember seeing a lot of people pissing and shitting in places other than toilets and worse, with the attitude they could just get on a train and never come back and the police wouldn't come after them.
(In America, crossing the border like that is less effective.)
>Prague, Budapest, Instanbul, Berlin, even Belgrade have a party scene I'd describe as wilder and edgier.
But in those cities if you act out, you'll be punched out. Amsterdam seemed to have a lot of people who can't handle ambiguity, hence needing to literally go into the weed store with weed and literally go to the sex worker store with a sex worker in the window.
(I don't pay for sex, but as a humanist if that trade is going to happen I'd rather it be legal so folks have recourse if abused... it troubles me when it's warped from something done in desparation by the first generation into something glamorous.)
I feel bad for Dutch people. It's also got great coffee shops (for just espresso), museums, parks... it's like there's two cities in one.
I mean look at the article:
>This latest round of proposed measures includes initiatives targeting troublesome tourist behavior, such as limiting the number of river cruises; implementing earlier closing times for bars, clubs and window brothels; and banning cannabis smoking in certain parts of the city.
I was under the impression you should only doing it in the shops, and are risking a ticket or worse if you do it out of the park where it bothers people?
I feel bad since I was a bit wild myself, in the get drunk and be loud sense... but dear lord they're absolutely right to not want a bunch of 19 year olds re-enacting Eurotrip, people don't act antisocial in say, Prague or Paris at the level they do in AMS, but both have sex work and drugs. It's like the European Las Vegas, in that people confuse respect for privacy and autonomy with a free pass to do whatever they want.
PS: The Red Light district, once you're not near the windows, is quite beautiful and there's a lot of small shops and bars that are well run. It's literally like two streets that are "extreme", and the issue IMHO is the type of guy who comes to treat the window girls like zoo animals, not sex work per se.
Anyways, sorry for the wall of text -- I'm ill, and coping by pounding sudafed and water and posting on the internet since apparently antibiotics won't cure this cold virus, and it makes me sad as an autistic person seeing how badly people mess up on purpose when the entire time I was in the country I was petrified I'd offend people.
TL;DR:Some tourists are assholes it's fine to not want them showing up.
- HWR_14 4y ago> and are risking a ticket Eh, if you are leaving the country soon, does a ticket matter? Are they going to extradite you for a 25 euro fine?
- greggarious 4y agoDo they check those things at the airport? I know in some SE Asian countries you'd be not allowed back in if you didn't make it right. Maybe the Dutch should do the same. Or skip the fine and make them spend the night in jail unless their "business friends" come bail their ass out.
- HWR_14 4y agoI don't think they check such things at the airport, but I have no idea. Certainly you can drive without any checks into a neighboring EU country and fly from there.
- nullcaution 4y ago> in the country I was petrified I'd offend people. How so? I generally feel Dutch people are pretty patient.
- greggarious 4y agoIt's a long story. I was presenting at a conference, and my employer was not respectful of the separation between work and home. So I felt like I couldn't really... vacation... like a normal twenty something. But the people I was interacting with were mostly fellow tourists... the few bartenders or whatever I had to talk to were nice folks. (To give an example, someone from my hostel started bragging he was a Navy Seal, got mad I doubted that, then started telling everyone I was in the CIA, and then threatened to punch me when I said "would the CIA go smoke their brains out in the smoking room? Leave me alone") TLDR: The Dutch are patient, guys from the Army lying about their MOS to an NGO worker not so much.
- trilbyglens 4y ago