Flying over Holland was amazing, it really is flat. Apart from the man-made dikes, there isn't the slightest bump on the landscape. (I've wondered since who decided it would be a good idea to build on this low lying land, so low in fact that huge contour banks were constructed to surround the land to stop it getting flooded...seems like the perfect place to start a country?) Unlike flying into Brisbane with its coloured rooftops, every roof in every town we flew over appears exactly the same colour. There are many modern power generating windmills dotted over the countryside. The farms are rather interesting, on either side of the road there are houses quite close to each other and behind each house is a long narrow strip of land.

As I gazed out the window, I saw what I can only describe as a small rocket/torpedo looking object shooting very quickly upward in the distance. I know what you're thinking, and I tried to tell myself the same thing…it was just another plane…and yes it did have the body of a plane…but no wings. It was also moving far too fast to be a plane. I secretly glanced at Floor who had a startled look on her face and turned to me and asked "Did you see that?" "Hmm…yes," I replied "what do you think it was?" "It looked like a torpedo." she replied. After quiet discussion between the three of us we decided we may have just had a lucky escape…after all we were flying China Air and maybe some country was trying to shoot the plane down in protest of something. Anyway it makes a great story, but I swear it certainly wasn't another plane.

Safely on the ground at last, and as I watched the ports and backpacks going round and round on the luggage carousal I noticed a port with a sticker "Do you have something to declare?" on it. How civic minded of them I thought...a nanosecond later there is what appeared to be a crocodile's tail swooshing from side to side hanging out of port! When I turned to Floor and Michel they were laughing - the Dutch authorities' sense of humour apparent, in an effort to get travellers to think about what they have in their luggage. After Michel helped me get my backpack off (hooray it managed to get off the plane at Taipai and onto the plane to Amsterdam) - I said goodbye and set off to find Hayley.

After what seemed like hours of searching for her, I turned around and there she was capturing my beaming face on film (well digitally) for all eternity. I think we had the longest hug in the world - one for when she was feeling so unsure in Taipei, another for when she felt so lonely and doubtful in Amsterdam and yet another for when she was so sick in Barcelona and all the ones her family so many miles away gave me to pass onto her - it was fantastic to see her again.

As we walked from the train station (dodging other travellers, locals, bicycles, cars, trams and buses on cobbled paving which made it hard to tell the road from the footpath), I tried to imagine how she must have felt doing this on her own and I have no idea how she did it…but she did. First on the agenda after checking into the Shelter City Christian hostel (a true haven in very liberal minded Amsterdam but unfortunately located right next door to the red light area), was a shower. As my last one had been thirty seven hours ago, I could wait no longer. What I described to Hayley as the "best shower I've ever had", I later found out could have been even better if I'd selected a shower with an actual shower rose on it - who knew Dutch showers were just like ours and not a stream of water coming out of a pipe!

We set off to explore (and of course find lunch, Hayley's favourite food in Amsterdam, petite frites) in the main street. She insisted we walk through the red light district and while trying to appear nonchalant and not look like a prospective client by actually looking in the windows, I caught glimpses of these "ladies of the night" (even though it was the middle of the day) in various states of undress, attempting to entice/lure a client through their doorway. (I don't know if I'll ever be able to use the term 'client' again when referring to a customer at work.) I tried to shutdown my olfactory senses as the smell of urine is everywhere in this area. After emerging in the town square, I was overwhelmed that my little girl had experienced this on her own and at such a young age (I also blame the lack of sleep) and burst into tears - how did she manage to cope with this sensory overload when she was on her own and feeling so uncertain?

After handing over €2.85 ($5) we were given a cone of hot chips with more mayo than we were able to consume, and Hayley was right, it was the best tasting mayo. As we sat eating, I couldn't believe I was actually doing this in another country on the opposite side of the world, but the buildings reminded me that I was indeed in a different country, they are so tall and narrow...a result of taxes being charged on the width of homes a centuries ago.

As we walked to Anne Frank's Haus (house) I took in these tall narrow buildings, the cobbled "footpath/roads", weaving bicycles and pedestrians, a few cars and of course the canals - I really was in Amsterdam, though there wasn't a clog to be seen. We came across a couple of young men moving into a building in a very interesting way - all the multi storey houses have hooks at the top their façade to which a rope and pulley is attached and the boxes (which was what these guys had), and I guess furniture too, are hauled up and taken into the building via a window.

There was what appeared to be a rowing competition happening in one canal. Large dinghy styles boats containing between eight and twelve rowers giving it their all and a cox shouting at them to stroke and pull their oars into the boat as they went under the bridges so they didn't get smashed on the pylons of the bridges. I'm not sure how they managed to take the tight corners at the t-junctions of the canals without bumping into the walls of the canal, and how they would get past the other boats (if they actually caught up to them) without bumping oars in the narrow canal.

Ann Frank's house was a moving experience. I had read her diary at school with interest and sadness, and to now be in the house where she and her family (and the Van Pels, another family who were their friends) hid from the Nazis not that many years ago was quite incredible. As I held the railing to climb the narrow stairway, it was difficult to comprehend that this young Jewish teenager's hands had also been on these same rails - I can't really explain what this felt like.

Her father Otto, who managed to survive Auschwitz has allowed the building to be set up for display but didn't want the rooms to be furnished, I guess it was a private and sad experience (his wife and both daughters all died in Auschwitz) that he was sharing with us, but I'm so grateful that he did. However, the walls of Anne and her sister Margot's rooms still had the photos and magazine pictures of movie stars Anne had glued on in an attempt to decorate them, just as teenagers today do…though minus the Blutac.

It is also a tribute to the brave people who risked their lives supporting the Franks and the Van Pels families by providing them with food and clothing, to the kindness other people can show to a race experiencing extreme atrocities as much as to the families who hid in the building.

We then went in search of Noordenmarkt to find the "best apple pie in Holland"...Floor and Michel were right. A thickish shortcrust style pastry (including a top) was filled with a delicious spiced apple filling. We also had a hot mint drink, literally a spring of mint in a glass topped with hot water - very nice.

For dinner we'd decided to satisfy Hayley's craving for Thai food (she hasn't found it in any of her recent destinations) and went back to one we'd seen on our explorations during the day but at €14 ($26) per meal we decided to look elsewhere. The next restaurant was more reasonably priced but sadly didn't have her favourite (Penang) on the menu so she had to settle for a red curry, which did the trick anyway.

I'd managed to stay awake until 9:00pm but couldn't manage any longer, so went to bed and slept till 6:30am, almost a miracle for me.