Amsterdam is a floating city, or that is how it appears. It is also one of the world's most bicycle-friendly cities. Amsterdam Centraal railway station, built in 1889, in a decision enforced by The Hague, is built along Amsterdam's waterfront, The IJ (the digraph "ij" is considered a single letter in Dutch), which means "Bay." This was a highly controversial decision in that it cut off Amsterdam from its own waterfront. It was designed by Pierre Cuypers, who also designed the famous Rijksmuseum.The architecture in Amsterdam is a rich tableaux. Early architecture is of French influence, such as neo-gothic and later a more indigenous style called Jugendstil or Art Nouveau. Much of this wealth was fueled by Holland's colonies in modern day South Africa and Suriname as well as those under control of the Dutch East India Company, such as Indonesia. Which brings me to my favorite Indonesian restaurant, Kantjil & de Tijger. This is named after an Indonesian children's fable, the mouse deer and the tiger. The story unfolds below:
Mouse Deer or ‘Kantjil’ is Indonesia’s most famous animal hero and people have been telling stories about him for hundreds of years. ‘Kantjil’ is a tiny deer who has tiny tusks instead of horns, beautiful dark eyes and graceful and elegant movements. Despite his small size, Kantjil survives in forests full of ferocious wild animals because of his cunning. In this tale, Kantjil tricks a tiger three times.
One day Kantjil was resting quietly when he heard a tiger approaching. He feared for his life, so he quickly took up a large leaf and began to fan a pile of dung which happened to lie near. When the tiger came up and asked what he was doing, the mouse-deer replied, "This is food belongs to the King and I am guarding it." The tiger who was very hungry wanted to eat the royal food, but Kantjil refused for a long time, advising the Tiger not to touch it as it would be wrong to betray the King’s trust. At last, however, Kantjil agreed, as long as the Tiger would wait until Kantjil had gone far away before eating it so that Kantjil did not get the blame. When Kantjil had reached a safe distance, he called back to the Tiger, "You may begin now". The Tiger hungrily seized what he thought was a delicious morsel, only to be cruelly deceived. Furious at the trick played upon him by the little Kantjil, he hurried after the fugitive to get his revenge.
Kantjil meanwhile had found a very venomous snake, which lay coiled up asleep. Sitting by this, he awaited the Tiger's arrival, and when the latter came up raging in pursuit, Kantjil told him that he had only himself to blame, since he had been warned not to eat the food. "But," said Kantjil, "you must keep quiet, for I am guarding a precious belt belonging to the King. You must not come near it, because it is full of magic power." The Tiger was so curious that he demanded to try on the precious belt. Kantjil again agreed, but warned Tiger to be very careful and, as before, told the tiger to first let him get safely away, in order that no guilt might attach to him. When Kantjil had run off, the Tiger seized the supposed magic belt, only to be bitten by the snake, which he did not succeed in killing until after a severe struggle.
Again the tiger chased Kantjil, and this time found the mousedeer standing beside a great wasp's-nest. As before, the Kantjil warned the tiger not to disturb him, for he was guarding the king's drum which gave out a very wonderful tone when struck. The Tiger, of course, was wanted to strike the drum. Kantjil pretending to be reluctant at last agreed, stipulating, as before, that he be allowed to get out of the way. As soon as he had put a safe distance between himself and the tiger, he gave the signal, and the tiger struck the nest, only to be beset the next instant by a swarm of angry wasps. Kantjil was saved again!
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