Last night, we were drawn to the TV set in our hostel showing videos of Sky Diving in Interlaken. Bianca, our friendly host of the Falken Backpacker hostel was pointing to us that the girl sky diving on the TV was her. We looked like "Is that really you?" Her hair back then was short and black. Now she looked slimmer and her hair has become red. She was beaming and chatted with us excitedly about the thrill of sky diving. She has tried everything, Bungee jumping, paragliding and hang gliding but sky diving is the ultimate bomb! Before we knew it, she brought us maps and various activity brochures. She was talking about how she loves the Swiss and stayed here several times. She just came back from Thailand taking care of baby tigers. She planned to go Malaysia soon and work with the wildlife org. taking care of Orang Utans. I was like "Wot a life!" Su was soo into sky diving but me and TH were looking at the price tag. RM2,000 for someone to push you out of the plane?! Hmmm....
Bianca excused herself as her friend was waiting for her with her Vodka. Before she goes, she asked us "You guys wanna join us for a party tonight?" We were pretty drained and I just wanted to get some water and sleep!
Early next morning, we knocked on Bianca's door. "We wanna go hang-gliding!" She was still half asleep and said "Oh, I knocked myself out yesterday night. I'll be down in a minute!"
Bianca booked us for our hang-gliding session. Suddenly, Su starts freaking out. "OMG! OMG!, what have I got myself into? I don't wanna do this anymore". I am like "What the..., you're the most excited one earlier and got us doing hang gliding". Suddenly, a van approached us and out popped our hang glider team. We were scooted to the landing field.
This is Steve our pilot.
Steve, our pilot asked us "Who is the most patient one?". TH raised his hand. LOL
Now left me and Su. "Now, who wants to go first?". Su was shaking and like "No! I don't wanna go first". Well, guess who goes first?
Su & TH stayed back at the landing field. While, I followed the pack up to the mountain. Halfway up the mountain, the van stopped and Steve asked if we wanna jump from this spot or the one higher up. Unanimously, we chose the one higher up of course. "Good choice!" exclaimed Steve. Ed my pilot chatted with me and we signed the insurance form. I was so nervous, I signed my name on the pilot's column. Ed was like "Oh! So you can be the pilot then. I will just wait for you to get down" Eeeks!
The view on top was amazing. Too bad I left my camera down there as I don't wanna drop it during my flight. Later, I had TH to take my camera and this is the view we saw.
Ed asked if I would like to help him assemble the glider. I was like "For sure!" Luckily Ed double checked everything before we fly. I don't wanna have one of those strings I assembled coming out and we land on some trees.
We practised a little bit and before I know it, I was running down the cliff. I was finally flying!!!
Here are some candid shots of us flying. HEHE! Enjoy the view of Interlaken from a bird's eye view. (Anyway, Interlaken is mostly foggy so it is always better to see it with your own eyes)
"Look ma, no hands!"
Check out my landing video here (Right click to open a new window)Please excuse some unnecessary screaming and I sounded really weird in the video! Btw...I am not hanging on to Ed for dear life. I had to hold him like that so I won't fly off the opposite direction.
Meanwhile.....
Su & TH were killing time waiting for me ... playing with cows :S
Some para gliders who also shared the same launching area and landing zone. There were at least 50 para gliders on that day and the sky was filled with tiny specs of people floating on one of these.
After I came down, I had a bit of air-sick. I had to sit for awhile to get back my spinning head. Now, it's my turn waiting for them to come flying down. We were all gushing with excitement.
When Su landed, she was asking me "Did they ask you if you want to jump from the 1st zone or 2nd (higher) zone?"
I said Yes. After exchanging some words, we realized most of the stuff they told me is the stuff they told Su too. LOL!
We headed back to Interlaken and had a stroll.
Doggie day out. I still think the fat little pug is so adorable. It looked out of balance when he walked. I felt it's legs are too tiny to carry its fat little body.
Fat Pug: "Arghh...please don't eat me!"
This Japanese garden is so beautiful!
Field of dandelions!
The view was getting more amazing the higher we went. The following pictures were taken in Lauterbrunnen aka valley of waterfalls. You will see why...
No picture can do better than seeing this place for yourself. Standing here, I can see at least 5 waterfalls from both sides of the mountains. These waterfalls are actually melting glaciers from the top of the mountain. Sound of water falling or flowing filled the atmosphere of this little quaint village. We, city dwellers need to buy those CD to listen to water sounds for relaxation. Here, you can hear it all day 'live' and it's priceless.
Church bells echoed in this village breaking the silence apart from the constant sound of the waterfall. It's totally serene hearing the beautiful sound of the bell surrounded with this wonderful landscape.
Free flowing fresh water from the mountains. I totally enjoyed them. Icy, pure, clean and tasted so good! The one below is located directly under the massive waterfall in Lauterbrunnen.
We totally liked this village. It reminds me of the scene from Lord of the Rings. It is less touristy compared to Interlaken. It's another tiny village where I can see kids playing badminton while their grandparents watching their game. Wow! I was just thinking how cool is that to say to my friends "Hey, I am going back to my hometown - Lauterbrunnen to visit my grandparents"... It's like an escapade to a heavenly and peaceful place.
We passed a graveyard and the graveyard in Lauterbrunnen is nothing like the typical graveyard we used to know. This graveyard was blooming with colourful flowers. Each grave was planted with colourful blooms. Yes, they are not flowers we used to buy and just put on the grave. The flowers actually grow there. Some graves were decorated with tiny doll/toys figurines. I would say this is the most colourful graveyard I have ever seen. The graveyard was situated directly opposite the massive waterfall. What a place for the soul to rest in peace.
We reached the foot of the waterfall. I am not sure why I decided to make a "fat" pose with such a beautiful scenery. Spoiler!
More views of Lauterbrunnen...
Unlike other countries, toilets here are free and they are clean. For once, we can answer nature's call without getting charged.
We wanted to spend more time in Lauterbrunnen but we had 1 more place to go; Murren. I have read from past travellers that Murren is one of the most beautiful village in the whole of Jungfrau. So, let's go!
Here is our friendly cable car operator to Murren. Look. He even posed for us. Haha!
Going up, up and up!
The view now was replaced with blankets of snow. As the train went higher, the massive Monch, Eiger and Jungfrau peaks appeared clearer. We tried to keep our eyes open and tried not to blink too much as we don't wanna miss one second of the sight. It's soooo beautiful!
Alas! Murren!
Murren is an even quieter village. Compared to other villages, Murren is a car free village. Only vehicles carrying goods are allowed. When we arrived, it started to drizzle a little bit. However, the view was far too interesting to care about anything else. When we walked into Murren, the entire place was so quiet. Not even a single soul was seen. The only thing we hear is the sound of birds chirping. Regardless, we continue to walk around Murren.
The mountains were so closed I feel I can almost touch it. From here, we could see the villages at the bottom. We had a birds eye view of the mountain. Water spilling out from the heart of the mountain forming streams which flows to the valley.
We walked on the deserted Murren. All the cottages were different from each other. Giving a sense of individuality. I noticed at the front of the cottages were different name. Example "Flora", "Edelwiess".... I guess they don't need to use house number here as it's just a tiny village. Just put a big word "Flora" and your post will get delivered.
More free flowing water
Imagine waking up to these sights every morning. Birds chirping, fresh air, peaceful, noiseless...
All of us wanted to come back and stay here one day. There wasn't enough time to take in such wonderful sight. I could just sit here and do NOTHING for the whole day. If you think this place looks nice, wait till you see it with your own eyes. It's 201% much more amazing :P
We had to go back to our trains as we don't wanna miss out the last connecting train back to Interlaken. Awwwww...I just wished we could stay a bit longer :(
The temperature is just nice for us. This one is taken from inside the train.
View of Lauterbrunnen as our cable car descended
We are back to Interlaken before we know it...
Aha...I guess it's time to show you the very blueish lakes of Interlaken and a little bit more of Interlaken's view.
The scenes below are taken next to our hostel.
What better way to end such a beautiful day? With a Swiss cheese fondue of course! The lady who served us was very friendly. Explaining to us that this cheese fondue was made up of a combination of melted cheese and a hint of wine. YUMMY!
Well, that's it....our trip to Swiss.
2 comments:
Wow!!~ Cool!! How much does it cost u for the whole trip in Swiss?
haha! to be honest i dunno. all the cost are meshed up together.
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