Originally published on Nov 1, 2016.
1. Interlaken is a small village surrounded by mountain ranges. Everywhere you look you would see towering mountains covered in trees in its autumn colors. And beyond the nearby mountains, you would be able to see snow-capped mountains. The scenery perfectly captures the beauty of nature. It was just like what you see in postcards. But it was real, no filters, no photoshop editing needed.
2. On the train ride to Interlaken, after being wowed by the landscape, the next thing that captured our attention were the cows freely grazing in the pastures.
a. It made me wonder if I had seen cows before in real life. And I was surprised to see that they were colored brown and white, and not black and white like what is usually shown in milk boxes. Regardless of the color though, I was sure they were going to taste well as they were clearly only grass-fed.
It was now a must we ordered some steak here.
b. In the middle of the town there was another wide open grassland. This is where many paragliders landed. And once again after being amazed at the paragliders, you’d notice the cows. There were a about 4 cows grazing in a fenced pasture. I believe these were the town’s cows and attractions since they had huge bells attached to their collars. Every time they moved their head, the bell would sound. This attracted tourists to take pictures in the area with the cows.
While observing the cows, they really never stopped eating. So their heads kept on moving, and the bells just kept on sounding. The cows didn’t seem to mind the noise though.
I couldn’t help but wonder what would I do if I also had a bell around my neck. What if that bell sounded every time I ate?
Would that make me stop eating as much?
Without giving it much thought, instinct gave me the answer…
‘I would rather go deaf than go hungry.’
c. The major reason why Mae and I decided to go to Interlaken was to try Paragliding for the first time. The way it worked was pretty straightforward. A van picked us up from the village, we also picked up the paragliding pilots on the way. The van drove up into one of the neighboring mountains. And on the way up, we saw a lot of cows (no bells) who were still eating nonstop.
We got out of the van, expecting to smell fresh air, but instead was greeted with the smell of fresh cow dung. We walked about 5 minutes to the takeoff point and the pilots setup the gliders and gave us instructions on what to do during the flight.
Basically all we had to do was run off a cliff, and the pilot took care of the rest. So when the pilot said to start running, you just run. When we started running it felt like something was holding you back, and after a few steps you could already feel being lifted up in the air. In a matter of seconds you were already flying, above the clouds, with the whole village of Interlaken, its clear river, and surrounding mountains as your view.
At the start of the flight the pilot is was taking a LOT of pictures giving you instructions to look left, right, up and down to pose for the camera. But after that its a full 3 to 5 minutes where its just you, the cold air rushing through your whole body, and the amazing view.
It is times like these that your mind just thinks about nothing and everything at the same time. It was at this time while just being overwhelmed with the view that I saw the landing field. (I knew it was the landing field from above because of the 4 cows.)
I thought popped in my mind, ‘Would it be good to live as a cow’?
After all, you would just be eating non-stop. And the fatter and bigger you get, the more praise you would get from your owner. Wouldn’t that be a good life?
As we were getting closer and closer to the ground I realized, that the cows were eating nothing but grass. Cows are vegetarian.
So I guess the answer would be no.
Overall, it was a good and meaningful paragliding experience.
d. Later that day, we ate a beef burger. It was delicious.
3. Interlaken is the coldest place in our trip. And I do not like the cold, as it feels so crippling. You have to wear so many layers, getting up from bed is harder. You always have to use hot water… so many inconveniences because of the cold weather.
Now one afternoon, Mae and I decided to just sit in a bench in the village center to pass time before dinner. Our view was still the same mountains and trees in its autumn colors. But no matter how many times you see it, its still an amazing thing to just look at!
Mae and I talked about a lot of random and trivial stuff which I cannot remember anymore. What I do remember though is just the feeling of being surrounded by beauty. You have an amazing view and right beside you is your beautiful wife. It’s priceless. What more can you ask for?
So I started wondering if it would be really so bad to live in a cold place like Interlaken? So what if its cold 1/4 of the year, as long as you had this amazing view! And Mae really loved the cold weather unlike me. I was giving it serious thought.
Then after about 45 minutes of just sitting on the bench, I started feeling the cold penetrate through my hiking shoes, and double layered socks to my toes. Then the cold worked its way up, piercing my maong jeans then my thermal pants. Then I felt the cold in my balls.
So would it be so bad to live in a cold place? My intimate parts already gave me an intimate answer.
4. Another highlight of our trip was our visit to Jungfraujoch, the highest railway peak in Europe. It was built way back in 1912, where they tunneled through massive mountain ranges building 3 train stations along the way (inside the mountains!!!). There was also a resort, hotel, restaurants, and a snow park on top of the mountain.
Again, this was fully built in 1912. More than 100 years ago! (It has of course been improved throughout the years).
And while much of Interlaken and the view from the top were about the beauty of nature, going thru the tunnels of Jungfraujoch made me think about the power of human desire.
100+ years ago, a man (Adolf Zeller) wanted to build railway stations inside the mountain ranges and build a resort when then reach the top. I dont know why he wanted to do that, nor could I give a logical reason for attempting such a feat. The only explanation is human desire.
He wanted to do it. So he got started. 16 years later he completed it. And 100 years later, it is still standing strong attracting millions of people per year.
You dont need a reason to do anything remarkable. Human desire is enough.
And so I’m left with a serious non-cow-or-cold related question… what will I be building for the the next 16 years (that hopefully will still stand 100 years later)?
I do not have the answer for that tonight. But I will definitely continue thinking about it.