In the Swissness

I'm back in my beautiful little country since 3 days. And no, I don't have anything like jet lag or reverse culture shock or anything alike. The only thing I have is pure happiness, joy and wonder about all these small little things we have here. Like showers that actually have pressure, there is basil in the garden, food is good, pillows are soft, fridge is full of milk and yogurts and cheese and olives and salad, there is bread and cornflakes and fruit, air smells fresh and clean, I can sleep without earpax, the bus takes me from the station to Lagerweg in 4 minutes without standing in traffic for 5 hours, miraculously I get Der Bund for free at home, the bakeries sell Gipfeli, the Aare is clean and blue-green, the Rhone vally lies in pure sunshine as always with already a bit of snow on the very mountain tops, I have a sink, I have a flush, trains are fast, opening the window at night cools the room down and not the opposite, there are no air cons, aahhh... so many nice things!

This is a very materialistic approach, I know, I know. But it's nice nevertheless. :-) And anyhow, it's not the time yet to explore the non-materialistic things YET, because right now, technically, I should be sitting on the table and studying, since exams are coming up in only 14 days and I have not started yet!

And therefore it's over and off, because now is the time to start. So now you know, I'm back, and in good condition, and would be very happy to go for a beer sometime. Just call me up!

Travelling is Beautiful

I just returned from Thailand. The past two weeks and spend travelling the country. First up to the north, then down to the south. 10 very very active and intense days. Always up early (sometimes 6:30) and usually in bed late (except for the nights when I already fell asleep during dinner because of complete exhaustion). No days of lazy hanging around, but always up and doing things.
And wow it was worth it! I discovered several things:

- Travelling alone is very cool. I was first a bit afraid of it. Now I know, it is awesome. I met so many cool people and I'm convinced I would not have met that many in such a way if I would have had company.

- My limits are way further than I thought. I can actually easily survive 10 days with a tiny amount of sleep and having a real bed only 5 nights out of 10.

- Diving rocks



Now, read the following posts and enjoy.

PS: the "Underwater" post had some difficulties uploading pictures. As soon as it works properly again I will upload more, so check again. :-)

Underwater

What is Koh Tao all about? DIVING!!

And that is what I did. 6 absolutely fantastic days that were not only a lot of fun, but defenitely broadened my horizon because they brought me to the most beautiful, mysterious, magic and easy going place on earth: the world under the the blue mirror, the underwater world.

I went to Koh Tao with the intention to get the Open Water Certificate just so I have it, and so that if I had the desire to go diving at some point in my life, I could just go. I was not at all aware of how awesome this thing is. I fell in love with it. There is nothing else on my mind anymore, day and night.

So I got stuck there and got the Advanced as well. I don't regret. Even though my bank account is probably emty. I don't regret. See the pics and you will see why. Or better: Become a Diver and you will understand why.

So here are the next steps in my life:
1. Get a job and earn some money.
2. Go to the Red Sea or Australia or where ever is good diving.

:-D

Happy through a lot of mud

My first destination was Chiangmai, a place way up north close to the borders to Laos and Burma.
I didn't see anything of the city at all though. I arrived by night bus early in the morning, stored my luggage, packed a smaller back pack and went for a 3 days - 2 nights hiking tour in the middle of the jungle about 3 hours outside of Chiangmai. I joined in a group of 10 people (2 USA, 4 Germany, 1 Denmark, 1 Ireland, 1 Spain, 1 France + me + 2 local guides) all between 20 and 30. I have to say, it was a very cool group. We had a lot of fun together and it was amazing to hear of the lives of these people from so different cultures and backgrounds. Thank you all of you guys, it was good times!

For the first time I discovered the beauty of travelling alone. You really meet people. Good people.

The hike was wonderful. I guess that's the best word for it. Even tough it was a lot of mud, a lot of slippery stuff, many landings on the bud, many many wet shoes and socks, a lot of up and down, it was just the coolest thing.

During the days we not only did a lot of walking through breath taking sceneries, but also elephant riding and river rafting! Look at the pictures, they tell you more than I could tell you here in words.












(the last picture is right after a refreshing jump into a waterfall in the middle of nowhere)

We spend the nights in cute local villages (that were not overly touristy), with no electricity and candle light, with awesome food cooked on the fire and long inspiring discussions. (Thank you John) Not to forget some thinking outside the box, far outside... ;-)

Exhausted and happy we returned to Chiangmai, where I had 1 hour to repack, shower, get a ticked to Koh Tao. Then I hoped on the next night bus that took me to my all the way down to the south...

Almost back!

Only a few more hours and I will be back in Switzerland!

For everyone who wants to pick me up at the airport :-) :
I will arrive in Zurich on Monday morning at 9:10 am with the flight AF 5100

More updates soon.
Cheers

Short update

What a total rip off! Imagine this internet cafe is charging me 2 Baht per minute! That is why this is only a very short update about what I'm up to and where, and what will happen next.

Last Wednesday was my last working day. In the evening I left for Chiangmai on a night bus, where I did a 3 days hiking tour through the jungel. Amazing stuff, pix and stories to read soon.
After that I went straight down to a tiny island called Koh Tao where I'm getting a divers license. That's where I am right now. And you guessed right: more will follow.

On Saturday I will return back to Bangkok where I will have my last day with the MC of Thailand and on Sunday I catch my plane back to the Swissness.
I will arrive in Zurich on Monday the 25th in the morning. From there: straight home to my dear parents and my sisterheard in the most beautiful part of Switzerland!

See (most of you) soon!

Singapore!

I spent my weekend in a very special place. It's a city in Asia, just that when your in it, it doesn't feel like Asia in any way. Singapore. The DHL Land.
Singapore is a wonderful place: It's very alive, clean, well organisied, extremely diverse, english speaking... a good place to be!

Unfortunately I didn't see much of the city by daytime, which was mainly due to the fact that we never really went to bed before 5 in the morning and that on the day we wanted to look at the city, sky decided to pour water at us all day long! So the weather I guess you could say was not the best thing about Singapore.
But the night live was quite impressive! We went out the first night with the other two bernese that were visiting as well, second night we had a movie night with some other DHL trainees and later on went out of course. Then the last night, one german trainees organised a german barbeque (he even bought the meat at a swiss boutchery). The food was so good and it was a comfortable night. And clubs are big (!) very very big! And good!

But yes, I also did see a bit something of the city. :-) Little India, Chinatown, Big Durian, Chocolate Bar etc.


Time went quite fast however, because the next morning I was already off to Bangkok again. I was amazed that I could have a culture shock after having been away for only 3 days. More amazing even that I didn't have a culture shock at all the first time I came here. I just saw and accepted, explored and exepted and tried not to have any very fix expectations.
But then suddenly I discover, that all those small ennoying things can be fixed. Singapore makes an example of how easy and well organised it can be. But then you go back to Bangkok and you are stuck in traffic for 3 hours, the bus takes you to some random place, the taxi driver doesn't understand a word of english and is not able to get you where you want to be, the smell of garbage all over... Just all these things freaked me out the moment I got back from Singapore. Strange. But soon I will be away from Bangkok again to travel the country for 10 days. We will see how I feel when I get back from that...

Reunited and off I go

For something more than 2 weeks, AIESEC in Thailand has been a one man show. Or better one woman show. From conference OC setting up/training/coordinating, TN raising, making of marketing materials to the forming of 3 national teams (and some minor other stuff): All me.

But not anymore! Because from yesterday on, I'm reunited with the African rhythm in our team! Rina is back! It was awesome to catch up, hear many IC stories, tell her many many members-of-AIESEC-in-Thailand stories, etc etc. So good to have you back girl!

But well, I will leave her again today, because I'm off for Singapore. Flight leaves at 18:00!
Just for you to know: My Thai sim card does not work outside of Thailand, so I will be using my Swiss number this weekend until Monday.

Keep on checking this for Singapore-stories!
Over

Unexpected Discoveries

Again it's 6 in the morning. Again it's comfortably warm outside around 30 degrees. And again I'm standing under the cold stream of water in my outside-shower admiring the sunrise. But today I don't know what to expect. I booked this day trip to some random place last night around midnight, after some tourist convinced me that it would be worth it and much better than working on a Sunday. He turned out to be right.

So once I was sitting in that mini van at 7, I found out where we are headed to: Kanchanaburi.
During the second world war, Japan took over most of southeast Asia. To ensure the supply for their army forces in Burma, they stared construction of the so called "Death-Railway" between Thailand and Burma. This railway was constructed by war prisoners, most of them from England and the Netherlands.
In Kanchanaburi, this railway had to cross the river Kwai, for which they had to construct a bridge. During this construction that took only 4 month, more than 100'000 prisoners of war died in accidents, of exhaustion, malnutrition or diseases.

graveyard for the prisoners of war

There you are in Thailand. You think of Europe and know how much it was effected by the second world war. And of course you are well aware that this is not it. That there are many other countries that suffered in this dark period of history. But there are certain places in the world where it strikes you when you suddenly find yourself in the middle of a graveyard for war prisoners. This makes it suddenly so very visual why this war is called world war. A feeling of sickness remains. Always.

The Bridge at River Kwai

The trip takes us further to the north by train. By far one of the most beautiful train rides I've ever been on in my life. Not even Oslo - Bergen compares to this. It led us through tropical rain forests, always next to the River, that is big and takes up as much space as it wants, not being forced into a certain shape by human being's constructions like in Europe, and surrounded by beautiful mountains. Now I know that I'm in Thailand. This was the moment where I realized that there is more than just a huge and noisy city with exotic food and language. No, it really is a breathtaking country and a sudden and very intense feeling of affection for this place is growing within me.
Oh, and another unexpected discovery: You would not believe it... This train takes you right through kilometers of marihuana fields! I could almost see Leonardo DiCaprio running half naked for his life... ;-)

View from out of the train window

next to the place where we had lunch

The trip ends at waterfalls where many locals like to spend their weekend with their kids. This was a whole big area full of forest and waterfalls and wherever you would look, you could always see at least a 20 kids playing! It was very entertaining to watch. Here was where Eva (the German girl in our van) and me went for a bit of a walk. Isn't it funny how always when you are abroad you get into conversations about what a cool place Europe is?! :-)

Ayuttaya

Finally I managed it! I started to truly travel the country. My first trip led me to Ayuttaya which is the former capital of Thailand. Apparently it used to be a glorious big and shiny city and people said it was the most astonishing and beautiful place of the far east. Now it is a lot of ruins of temples and castles. Not as breathtaking as south American ruins I have to say though.

I already got the feeling it would be a good day when I could witness a beautiful yellow-orange-red sunrise while taking a shower (as said earlier, my shower is outside) at 6 am. I guess I could see such a sunrise everyday, just that I don't normally get up that early.
I took a taxi through a vast and sleeping city to Kao San (the touristic centre of Bangkok) where I joined in a group of about 8 people. From there a minibus picked us up and drove us about 3 hours to the north to Ayuttaya.

Here a few impressions...

The minibus took us to all the main sights and everywhere we had quite some time to explore the area. Our group was put together of interesting and very diverse people. We had a couple form France that was originally Thai, 2 Canadian girls who where a lot of fun, one slovenian medical student, one Turkish economics student who lives in Japan and is now on a traineeship in Bangkok and others that I didn't have the chance to get to know. In the end of the day, after having seen many many ruins, gotten a lot of sun, with hurting feet and somehow exhausted but very happy, we were taken back to Kao San. When falling asleep, I was looking forward for what the next day might bring... see next post!