What a beautiful place! I didn't know Amsterdam had canals like Venice.Is it possible to swim in those waters? It reminds me of a video I saw of a guy who decided to get around the city by rivers or canals.
What's truly remarkable is that he did it by floating! No boats or kayaks.
At first, I was also surprised to see how the houses stood above the water, but when I read about it in detail, I realized that there were huge pillars installed under these houses, which allowed them to stand firmly in place.
Human ingenuity is impressive; in rich countries they have stilts on which to build cities. Whereas in countries of the global south, some cities are a collection of houseboats built together on banks of water.
It's exactly like that. In rich countries, all this seems possible, but in countries where life is very difficult, it is very difficult to build such houses and adopt such a lifestyle.
Sadly, this is the reality, and in some countries, like Bangladesh, water is encroaching on land that was once dry land, leaving people with nothing. This is also due to governments failing to act.
That's right
For your information: Amsterdam is built on stilts in the water, and the same is true of many other places in the country. Most of the Netherlands lies below sea level.
And yes, as well as houseboats, you can also go boating, cycling and swimming in the canals and other waterways. I used to do that as a child too.
How interesting! I imagine they have sluice gates or dikes to control the water level when it rains and things like that.
A floating house sounds interesting, almost like a Motorhome. Just yesterday I saw a movie where a policeman lived in a houseboat, or small yacht, and it seemed like a tempting idea!
The houseboats can no longer sail; they simply float or are towed. They all have a registered address and are moored at the quay of a canal. In winter, when it freezes, you have to chop the ice around your boat.
You can still get away in a yacht, or in a camper van.
There used to be a woman whoblived on one and looked after cats. She used to take in all the stray cats on her houseboat. Now it’s an official organisation. I think those cats are still on a houseboat in the canal, only there’s no one living there anymore.
We also pay for the dykes extra taxes + for water building... the quality isn't that great they leak.
Now they want more taxes... most likely they wasted it in something else, since the taxes go up and they invent more like war taxes...
It is true that building a house on water and maintaining it requires a lot of taxes because houses built on land are fine, but houses built on water require a lot of maintenance, and the lives of these people are a little different from the lives of ordinary people because they have to work hard and do a lot of work. In addition, their means of traveling are also different.
Very true. It is a complete different lifestyle. At times we forget the houses and everything are built in the water. If you look closely you can see, many houses are no longer straight, still flexible enough to not fall apart.
Here you can see a building that leans forwards 👇
It scares me a little. But I suppose they'll do maintenance on the submerged foundations!
That is what one should think...
I actually noticed this too, but I ignored it, thinking it was just my eyesight. Now that you've explained it, it's true that this building is shaking a little.
It can be noticed all over the city and the same you find in other cities.
Wow! And the advantage I saw in the houseboat was that if you didn't like your neighbors, you could just sail away to better ports.
Now there are directions even in the water. They control us completely, and on top of that, they're wasting our taxes!
You can take the axe for the ice and use it for the neighbour's boat ...
Water with us isn't free. You cannot just decide to buy a boat and put it there. If you like to fish you need a paper and to pay a fee.
If you have a boat or yacht you need a license plus you pay for wherever you want it to be or stay. Taxes are generated out of everything. The more you own, the more taxes, payments, worries...debts, loans and more loans ..
It seems that with the taxes on everything, there will come a time when only the rich will live in the Netherlands and it will be impossible for us to survive there.
The rich intend to make one big datacenter out of the Netherlands and force farmers to stop. Without farmers, no food. Not only for us but also many others abroad. I doubt they care about people...
The new world will be one of slavery like in the book: Brave New World.
Saw the film: The Hunger Games? Or the series " The Silo"?
It is a fact that it is impossible to live without various shops and farmers. Therefore, if we say that only rich people can live in such places, it is not possible because they also get the essential items they need to live from shops and farmers.
It's no wonder foreigners who come to Paraguay feel like they're in paradise, even though the country seems like a medieval village in many ways haha... But taxes are low. That said, don't expect the healthcare system to save your life!
What makes you believe it will here? I haven't visited a doctor since they messed up the last time which is at least 13 years ago...
Not that it is easy to get an appointment for ten minutes max.
Well, I suppose that even though the system is a disaster, I don't think university degrees sell as well as they do in my country. We have doctors, lawyers, and teachers practicing with degrees they bought. They didn't complete the required coursework. Does something like this happen in your country?
I have obtained quite detailed information about this and have come to know that these houses do not float on water but stand firmly in their place just as houses built on land stand firmly in their place because the pillars placed under these houses are so long and deep that they do not allow these houses to move.
Exactly. I still remember the sound It heard for weeks of not months during my childhood, it lasted the entire day, as they put those piles into the earth.
We have a saying that building a house on water is like building a house on water, and that saying proves to be absolutely true here.
I am not sure what is meant by it since the translation says twice the same.
Building a house on water is like what?