I walked out to the bus platform and waited for bus no. 91 which will take me directly to Zaanse Schans. The trip took about 40mins and it cost me 5 volumes on the strippenkaart. The bus system here is pretty interesting. You get on the bus, tell the driver where your destination is and lay your strippenkaart on the counter, then the driver will stamp on one of your strippenkaart’s columns (depending on how many zones you are traveling) using a stamp. Going outside of Amsterdam, I passed by some residential area. Most of the residential here are on low rise flats of 3, 4 or 5 storey high. One thing that stood out is that they all have big windows. And unlike the windows in the Amsterdam buildings, these windows are just a big piece of glass without any patterns or sections. Most of the windows had their curtains opened hence you can peek into the décor inside. I must say most of the decors are really nice. The bus no. 91 stops next to the Zaanse Museum in Zaanse Schans (the last stop). I can already see the windmills from here. As soon as I step off the bus, a scent hit my nostrils, it’s familiar, sniffing hard, I recognized the smell as the cocoa smell similar to those in the Bukit Batok area (some years back when I visited my friend staying there). I walked into the Zaanse Museum as the tourist info counter is there. The lady officer provided me with the area map, explained to me the 2 types of Zaanse Schans Pass that I could buy. The full pass covers all the fee paying museums (Zaanse Museum, another smaller museum, clock museum), free entry to the first mill and then discounts on the subsequent mills. The second pass just covers the Zaanse Museum, free entry to the first mill and discount on the subsequent mills. After some thinking, I decided I will not purchase any pass and just pay for the mills that I wanted to go to. Each mill charges €3 per entry. There are some workshops like the cheese factory, clog making factory etc which are free to enter.
Armed with the map, I set off to explore the area. There are several mills along the River Zaan. The people who lived along its banks and who had grown rich through trade and fishing, built their first windmills around 1600. Initially they used the wind to keep their feet dry, but later on they used it to develop an entire industrial area. Barley, paper, wood, cooking oil, mustard, tobacco, hemp and many other products were processed in 1000 windmills in the Zaan area. From 1850on the work of the windmills was taken over by soot-spewing steam engines. Now, only 13 windmills survived, as monuments of industrial and technology. 
First, I entered the cheese farm, where they show how cheese are made (too bad the demo is not on while I was there) and then you can get your cheese in whatever size you like at the shop behind. Next I visited ‘De Kat’ (The Cat), a dye mill operating since 1782. A brochure was given to me and it says ‘Welcome to De Kat. Your visit to the mill is at your own risk.’ Okay, point noted. Inside at the ground floor you see 2 huge wheels spinning and crushing on the chalk stone, turning them into chalk powder. Then you can climb up steep and narrow staircases up to see the upper part of the gears which spins the wheels. You can climb 4 storeys high and on the second storey, you can climb a short stairs which leads you out to a platform so you can gain a better view of the mill from the outside. The sail of the mill is also located here at the platform. The miller turns the sails, mounted on the 15-ton cap, into the face of winds. He also regulates the speed of the windmill by means of the sails and boards. While inside the mill, you can definitely feel the power of the wind as the wooden platforms would shake and rattle as the speed increases. 
After coming down from the mill, I bought a cup of hot chocolate with free cookies for €1.50. It’s nice and thick and warmed me up a little. Down the route, there are also saw mill, oil mill which are opened for visit. However, I didn’t go into the rest of the mills but just took photos from the outside. I followed the route to the last mills before turning back. Then I went to the other side where the clock museum and the smaller museum are located. The views are just lovely. The buildings here are all constructed in wood and painted in green. Turning back towards Zaanse Museum, I visited the clog making factory. In here, they have a display of various types of clogs, some with very sophisticated carving and some in peculiar shapes and sizes. There is a demonstration of how clog shoes are made. Traditionally a hand-made clog would take around 3-4hours, but now with the machines, it only takes around 5-10mins. The clog-making machines operated like imprinting the keys, where you have a master sample and then the machines just mold the new clogs out. Simple. I bought some postcards and also a stamp collection from the souvenir shop. I had to go to another souvenir shop to get some stamps so I could post them off. After that I took the bus back to Amsterdam Centraal Station.
I got back to my hostel around 5.21pm, showered, and had an apple. Then about 6.25pm, I went out again to join the Red Light District walking tour. The tour costs €10 and there are about 20 of us. It was quite cold, so our tour guide, Alex started of the tour by asking us do some stretching and jumping exercise, haha. Then, we were off to explore the Red Light District. Alex told us that there is a World Cup qualifying match between Scotland and Holland hence the many Scotts in town, showing their patriotism and support. We were taken around the area, showing us some quirky shops, passes by many window girls, seen the door of the hardcore gay pub. Alex told us the history of the Red Light District, how it began and told us that the government is currently planning to close down this area. So many of these windows has been closed down and turned into a display window for local artists. At one point, the group were split into boys and girls group as the boys were sent up the street where the ‘ladies’ can come out of the windows and 'touch' the customers, luring them into their place. Since the girls are not so welcomed there, Alex took us down through the town’s narrowest lane and waited for the boys to return.
During the tour, we stopped at a place and there was a pink scooter parked there saying ‘ex-porn star’. Some of the tour mates took photos of the scooter. I noticed that the window girls nearby saw the cameras and was quite sensitive / annoyed by it as she quickly drew up the curtain until they were done with the shooting. Yes, here at the red light district, you cannot photograph the window girls or else you are just asking for trouble. Some of the more aggressive ladies will come out, grab your camera and throw it to the canal; or they will flick you with a shot of urine... In this area, whatever sexual fantasies you had in mind, there will be a place to satisfy whatever you want. Live sex show, peep shows, sexual theme bars, sex shops, pornographic video booth, fetish parlours, lap dancing clubs, and a sex museum. Then there are all sorts of window girls, tall, short, fat, skinny, young and old, different nationalities and also transvestites.
One of the most famous venues in the Red Light District is the world-renowned Casa Rosso live sex theatre, presenting a series of shows and erotic acts. Another similar venue is the Banana Bar, where the drinks are poured by a group of topless barmaids. And for an extra €50, the same waitress will perform a series of sexual favours including the consumption of banana from the private area. Other than these, there are also private clubs, escort agencies and massage parlours. The entire tour lasted about 1hr 45mins and the group head down to the Belushi bar. However, me and several others who weren’t interested in having a drink head back to Central Station and back to my hostel. This tour was quite an eye opener to me. It’s absolutely safe to wander around by yourself as there are police paroling around the district. However, I wasn’t that brave to wander around by myself hence taking up this tour is well worth it.
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