Beach bummed

As of June 21, summer has officially arrived. You'll have to excuse me for not blogging about it earlier, because it's been pretty hard to get all worked up about it when it's been gray and rainy for the first two weeks of the season. 

I check the weather forecast obsessively (being appropriately dressed for the weather can spell the difference between bliss and misery), and after the seemingly unending doom and gloom, I was ecstatic to see sunshine and 27℃ forecast for last Monday... the hottest it's been all year!

I've been reading about Amsterdam's city beaches, which are basically man-made patches of sand strewn around the city. Now Amsterdam's not by the sea, so the "beaches" are actually beside canals and rivers, thereby satisfying the basic beach requirements of sand and water. But others, like Strand Zuid, have no sand at all... and the "beach" on top of the NEMO building has sand but no water! 

Coming from a country of beaches (without the quotation marks), I found this all very... curious. Apparently, the city beaches are intended to give people without the time (or money) to go on vacation the chance to still enjoy summer at the beach. And with the weather being so changeable from day to day all the time, planning a proper seaside vacation can really be iffy. That I can definitely relate with. So I figured: why not give the urban beach a try? 

Bright and early Monday... uh, afternoon, I hopped on a tram to Centraal Station, then on the tram 26 to the man-made island of IJburg, which is the next big up-and-coming residential development. 

IJburg and the other nearby islands definitely deserve their own walkabout/photo safari. Being new and man-made, the islands feature modern city architecture vastly different from what you'll find in Amsterdam. Definitely interesting, but what I saw reminds me too much of our Asian megapolises. If I wanted brand spanking new and cemented, I would just go home... or back to Singapore. I like the greenness, narrow streets and history of Amsterdam too much to move out here. But who knows, the still-low property prices of IJburg may make me eat my words some day.

On that island is Blijburg, which from everything I've read so far is hailed as Amsterdam's best city beach. A "nomadic" beach that has changed addresses several times, Blijburg came into being as a by-product of the construction of the island and its buildings, and will continue to relocate until the construction of IJburg is completed.

I've read a lot of things about Blijburg's "great vibe", which actually made me look forward to getting there. So apparently, "great vibe" means "transplanted from a backpacker's memories of the 6 months they spent bumming around Southeast Asia (mostly Thailand). Quaint little beach shacks? Check. Fluttering neon-colored pennants? Check. Zen-inspired chillout bar? Check. Oversized Buddhas? Check, check, check... six times over.

So, let's talk about the beach.

Mga tsong at tsang, nagpunta ako dito para sa beach, ngunit ako'y nabigo. Walang beach. Walang dagat. Walang buhangin. Siya'y semento na pinagdidikdik at tinambak sa tabing-ilog. Nalungkot talaga ako.

I felt like doing a Nora Aunor in Himala. "Wala! Walang beach! Nasa tao ang beach!" Kasi, mga friends, enjoy na enjoy na talaga sila dito. Siguro kung may "great vibe" nga ang tambakang ito, dahil lang sa mga tao. Wa sila care na nakahiga sila sa buhangin na gagawin lang panambak sa atin. At dahil bawal lumangoy, talagang pahiga-higa lang sila lahat. 


Este, kami pala. Nakalimutan ko, kabilang na pala ako sa hanay ng mga desperado.



Bawal lumangoy. Pwedeng magtampisaw sa isang mababaw na cordoned-off area, pero di ko maatim tanggalin ang aking tsinelas at umapak sa buhangin. Lalo na't lahat ng nakikita kong bumabalik galing sa tubig, putikan ang paa. Eeeew! Sorry, ang arte ko. Feeling ko 5 years old ako ulit na nandidiri sa buhangin.

To paraphrase the timeless camp classic, Temptation Island: Walang dagat. Walang buhangin! Magpaitim na lang tayo! Pero hindi puwede ang basta-bastang hilata. Talagang pinilit kong isiksik ang bawat bahagi ng katawan ko sa tuwalya. Ingat na ingat nga lang ako sa pag-ikot-ikot, at di ko talaga maatim sumagi ang siko o hita ko sa buhangin.

Mabuti na lang at maya't maya ako dinadapuan ng mga ladybugs. Yun lang talaga ang kinatuwaan ko sa nagpapanggap na beach na 'to. Diba ang cute?

Blijburg is just a few minutes from Marlon's office, so he dropped by to pick me up after work. Before leaving the office, he texted me: "How's the beach?" I was stumped, and thought for a long while. "You have to come here. We need to share this," I finally replied. 

"Sabi na nga ba eh. Your message said it all," Marlon said by way of greeting, as he eyed the beach and came over to me, gingerly stepping around the bodies of alarmingly lobster-skinned sun-worshippers. There are times when having someone to speak to in Tagalog is really such a blessed relief. This was one of them. "Diba?!?" I finally exploded. "Diba di siya pang-beach, pang-construction siya?!? Panggawa ng semento?!?" Marlon, whose dad is an engineer and contractor, burst out laughing and said: "Mas maganda pa yung buhangin na ginagamit ng dad ko sa construction. Hindi 'to papasa!" 

So there we have it, mga tsong at tsang. I just had to find out what this whole city beach thing was about. And I, er... I guess I did! The next time it gets this hot in Amsterdam, I'm hopping on a train to a real seaside beach. No sense in letting myself get beach bummed again!