The Dutch People

They are mostly straight talking multi-lingual friendly & helpful folks. Malaysia behaves as if it's the only multi racial country in the world but Holland is far more ethnically diverse than we are. Despite that, everyone seems to speak Dutch & I was surprised that I'm spoken to in Dutch in supermarkets & shops first. The great thing about the Dutch folks is that they can make the switch to English seemlessly when you tell them that you don't speak Dutch.

They also seem to be friendly folks; the people whom I walk past in the office corridors & share elevators with all say "hi" or "hello" or "good morning" even though I don't know them. Do that in Malaysia & people will think that you are nuts.

There were several occasions when I wasn't sure if the train I was on would stop at my intended destination. The people on train whom I asked for directions would often ensure that I knew where my stop was if they alighted before I did.