This morning I started the day with a run along the Amstel River. Because in Shanghai I don’t have many opportunities to run outside, let alone in nature, I try to use the opportunity to run as much as possible when travelling.

There is a small gravel path next to the Amstel river, so I did not have to run on the main road. I ran to the village of Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, and it was beautiful. The sun was just rising on the horizon, and there was some fog over the river that slowly disappeared. It was very quiet, even though this is supposed to be one of the busiest parts of Holland. Far away I could hear the traffic of Amsterdam’s ring road, but the main sound were some birds singing.

At a windmill a bus full of (presumably) Malaysians were taking pictures of each other and the windmill. A runner also seemed to be something special, because when I ran by the camera’s were suddenly pointed at me. I wonder what time these tourists start their tours, because I encountered them around 6:30 AM!

Being able to run from a city into nature in just 10 minutes is something you cannot do in most cities in the world. But amazingly I only encountered two other runners during the one hour that I was running. People living in Amsterdam probably take for granted that they have nature just around the corner. But for me this was the best start of the day that I can imagine!