Day 1 - 11 December 2019

Number of members: Ten. Consisting of Loh’s family, my mum-in-law and our family.

We met our guide - Peter - at the Schiphol Airport (Amsterdam Airport) at about 8am plus. Having loaded our luggages, his driver drove us to Giethoorn - a beautiful and quaint town.

Due to the winter month, there wasn’t many people. In fact, we were the first group to do the cruise along the canals. The guide was telling us that on good days (in spring or summer season), there could be about one thousand boats cruising along the canals at the same time. It was unbelievable. The depth of the lake was only about 1m. No fear if one were to fall off the boat.

The ride was slow and enjoyable. Beautiful thatched roof houses flanked both sides of the canals. Kids were worried that the ducks would be “run over” by the boat. The ladies were just enjoying the ride. The guys were snapping pictures of anything that looks postcard worthy.

Lunch was at this restaurant by the name of Fratelli. I ordered pasta and the portion was so generous that I couldn’t finish it. To put things in perspective, the portion was twice the amount compared to what I’m used to having.

After lunch, the driver drove us to Castle Muiderslot. We had a guide who brought us around the castle and it enhanced our understanding of its history, culture and generally the people during the medieval period. The tour around the castle lasted about an hour.

The driver then drove us to Ibis hotel where we will be staying for the next few days. We had early dinner. As we were all overwhelmed by the effect of jet lag, we ended our day after dinner.