Brokeback Mountain

Once you get over and see pass the nudity and some of the more intense homosexual acts in the movie, you will learn to LOVE this movie. The story is thought-provoking, mind-bloggling, and simply powerful. Pay close attention to every detail and you will notice there is a purpose for everything. This movie is full of symbolism and intriguing notations. Everyone did such a magnificent job telling this story of forbidden love...

If you're up for some after-the-movie discussions, email me!

Back Home

"No matter where I travel, or just how far I roam,
There's just no other place, quite as nice as home."

I'm finally home, after a 16-day trip to Switzerland. And boy it is wonderful to be back! Don't get me wrong, it's not like I didn't like Switzerland; the entire trip was a very enriching experience... a part of my journey that I will never forget. But being able to be home is a whole different ballgame. After the first week, I was already homesick and ready to come back. But I managed to stick it through! I tried my best to enjoy myself and made the most out of the time I spent there. Along the way, I've made some notes what I thought about Switzerland:

1. People here are generally nice. They are a lot nicer than I thought they would be. I guess I am drawing from the past experience I had with the French people in Montreal, Canada where everyone seems to have a staring problem. Here people still stare, but not as apparent. For the most part, people just mind their own business. Some of them are helpful and courteous. They do their best to help you.
2. Things are very clean. There’s no garbage anywhere. Even the public bathrooms are clean. The paid bathrooms in the train stations are exceptionally clean because they have janitors on site. Trains are older but still clean. People don’t litter, and they have janitors pick up any leftover newspapers and trash at every major stop.
3. There is a lot of graffiti. Somewhat ironic to the whole cleanliness deal. Every wall is marred by some sort of graffiti which is such a shame. I don’t know why there is so much graffiti here. I saw one guy actually spray-painting on a wall in broad daylight. Obviously, he’s not afraid to be caught.
4. They like to cook with high-cholestrol foods. Mayo, butter, chocolate and eggs -- in huge portions. The worst devil: Cheese Fondue. Fatty, but of course, tasty.
5. They are a big-on-dog country. Everywhere you go, people bring their dogs with them. I see dogs on buses, trains, in restaurants, everywhere. Most of them are so well trained. But it’s surprising to see so many of them in public places. That would never fly in San Francisco, even though SF is also a very dog-friendly city.
6. Things are very very expensive!! The starting rate of a taxi is 6.30CHF (which is about $4.15) That's more than NY! Vegetables at grocery stores are ridiciously priced. Everything from transportation costs to food to material necessities are so expensive. I wonder if people there make a lot of money. They must do, otherwise, everyone will be living in poverty.

These are the more interesting facts about Switzerland that I've observed during my time there. Until my next travels, I am glad to stay grounded for a while. There's nothing better than sleeping in my bed.

Interlaken, Switzerland

I played hookey from work today and journeyed off to Interlaken, located in the middle of Switzerland, between the lakes of Thun and Brienz. Interlaken is primarily famous for its ski slopes on the Alps with access to the lakes for non-skiiers. It is a 2 hour train ride from Neuchâtel to Interlaken, with a stop in Bern. It's also an expensive trip - tickets cost 78 CHF ($60 US) for round-trip... Despite the $ and the time, the trip is well worth it. The train ride is a sight-seeing experience on its own. Getting there is already half the fun. I was looking out the window on the train and enjoying miles and miles of green pastures, trees, the valley...and then just in a split second, snow-capped mountains appeared in front of the train. It was unreal! The mountains were so close and so pronounced. Very beautiful indeed! The Swiss Alps up close!

The train also swung around Lake Thun which had absolutely clear blue waters. More mountain ridges appear in the far background. Simply amazing! I also took a separate trip to Grindelwald, the ski center that also links to the remarkable Jungfrau Top of Europe ski slope. I didn't go to the Jungfrau because it would have taken 5 hours to get up there and I didn't have time. Interlaken is really meant for an outdoors escape... in the winter there is skiing, in the summer, there are a dozens of water-based activities. Although I didn't do any of these, it was still just as pleasant to enjoy the spectacular views.

This is random, but I had to share -- I just had one of THE BEST chocolate croissant. I bought it at, of all places, the Coop, which is Switzerland's version of Safeway. It has just the right amount of crunchiness, topped with bits of roasted hazelnut. The chocolate inside is mousse-like, smooth and creamy. Simply heavenly delicious! The ones we have in the States are nothing in comparsion... the pastry is usually oily and the chocolate is hard. The croissant here is soooo good!! Wish I could sneak some back to the U.S. without anyone knowing.

Neuchâtel, Switzerland

I took the train from Luzern to Neuchâtel yesterday, which was possibly the worst day to travel. It was snowing! The weather here is absolutely insane. The day before was beautiful, sunny, and clear. Then it just decided to snow! Worse than the snow was the fact that I had to change trains in-between with my 2 heavy luggage. There were no direct trains from Luzern to Neuchâtel!! I had 15 minutes to get off, dash to the right platform, and get on. I strategically sat near the doors, made sure I was ready 5 mins prior, etc. I have to say that the Swiss people here are genuinely nice people. Many of them offered and helped me with the luggage on and off the trains. I arrived in Neuchâtel, at the Beau-Rivage Hotel around 6pm. Neuchâtel is a small city in the west side of Switzerland and is known as the "Watch Valley." It is surrounded by smaller towns such as Le Locle and La Chaux-de-Fonds where watches are manufactured. The population is mainly French-speaking. (Luzern is mainly German-speaking).


Neuchâtel

Today the weather was back to the beautiful, sunny and clear. How odd. I woke up around 10am, which is the first day ever that I got to sleep in and not have to wake up at ungodly hour. Casual day today, no work. I got a self-guided walking tour brochures from the front desk and journeyed off. I first stopped at a restaurant called Le Jura Brassie. I don't know the items in French, but I had the daily special which included a salad and the main entree was pork with a sausage inside. It was accompanied by zucchini with cheese and rice. Food was good. I followed the tour guide and was surprised how close things were. Along the way, a woman approached me and asked if I needed any help with directions. Again, I was pleasantly surprised that people here are very helpful and nice. I guess I has been skeptical because of my past negative experience in Montreal (Canada), which was my only exposure to anything close to European. I saw a lot of fountains. In fact, Neuchâtel is also known as the city of 140 fountains (some better-looking than others -- some are very plain looking).
Within 1 hour, the walking tour highlights were done. This is a very small town afterall. After my nice afternoon stroll, I stopped by a cafe and got myself a cup of cafe and a patisserie creme (coffee and chocolate cake). Tasted delicious and today was just the perfect day to people-watch and stay mellow...

Fountaine de la Justice

Luzern, Switzerland

After a 11 hour United flight from SFO to Frankfurt, Germany, my coworker and I land to find out that my connecting 2:15pm flight from Frankfurt to Zurich was canceled. Good thing we arrived early enough to quickly get onto the one leaving at 1:10pm. But that one was delayed and it was a bloody mess. By and by, we didn't leave Frankfurt until 2:30pm, which brings us back to almost the time of our original flight. We land in Zurich in 1/2 hour. We then had to carry all our luggage (heavy ones!) to the train station. By that time, we've met up with 2 more people who flew from Hamburg to Zurich and another 2 who took the Lufthansa flight from SFO. We all ended up at the same location, at the same time, taking the same train. It reminds me so much of Amazing Race, where 3 teams set out at different times and got onto different flights, but still back in the same game when at the train station.

We had to take a 1-hr long train from Zurich Airport to Luzern, where we will be staying 5 nights. Luzern is about 1 hour away from Basel, a city in Switzerland that attracts thousands of watch lovers, watch buyers, and watch makers with their Basel World Fair. The fair is what brought me to Switzerland. This fair is truly an amazing event. Very big scale! After a long day of meetings and a strained shoulder from carrying my bag filled with paperwork and reports, the first day is finally over! I have yet another full schedule of meetings tomorrow. Despite all this, I enjoyed a very nice authentic Swiss Fondue meal yesterday at this restaurant called Fritschi in Luzern. It was established in 1602!! Simply amazing! I really like Luzern. It's nice and quiet, and very picturesque. The population in this small town is 70,000 so there are less crowds and less traffic. But unfortunately I won't get a chance to explore this city!! The only thing I can, however, is to capture these pictures outside my hotel window. I have a corner suite in the hotel with a spectacular lake view. Here are 2 pics I took. Enjoy the beautiful Luzern.


Swiss Alps and Lake Luzern