Interlaken

Interlaken, the paradise for extreme outdoor sports, is situated at the heart of Swiss Alps. As the name implies, the town is between two lakes, Lake Thun and Lake Brienz. From there, one can easily choose skydiving, paragliding, zorbing (google it if you don't know what it is), white-water rafting, rock climbing, and of course, skiing and snowboarding. It's a heaven if you have $$$ !

Other than those sports, Interlaken is the transport hub to many Alps destinations, including Jungfraujoch, the highest train station in the world !

Weeeee, paragliding over Interlaken

the canal connects the two lakes

did I look worried?

paragliding is not difficult; all you have to do is to scream and run as fast as you can... and hopefully the parachute will open :)

paragliding over the Alps, what in life can be better? 

cogwheel, helps train to climb steep slopes.

What's next? 

LAUTERBRUNNEN / GIMMELWALD !!!

Vancouver + Vancouver Island

I am back from the trip; and I've made two life-changing decisions.

One, motorcycle is too dangerous. I rented a motorcycle and had a minor crash. Man, it totally scared the shit out of me. After the incident, I've made up my mind that I won't be buying motorcycles.

Two, Vancouver is such a beautiful and peaceful place. It's very green with trees everywhere. After my graduation in December, I will go back there to look for jobs. Vancouver island is not a bad choice as well.

During my 7 days there (5 full days actually), I saw a black bear, deer, bald eagle, sea lions, seals, sea stars, and crabs. It's a very wild place, and I just scratched the surfaces. Here are the pics:

sunset over West Vancouver

parked cars in a ferry. It can fit quite a few cars.

world parrot refuge. It's so loud that we are given earplugs.

there are hundreds of them, and it's quite creepy when they keep saying "hello", "hi" and "I love you"

revenge of the parrot

in the summer, there are goats on top grazing

the rental car

rain forest

scenery in Vancouver Island

Long Beach Unit.

Victoria

Empress Hotel

BC legislative house

B.C. Ferries

view of Coquitlam, where I used to live for 4 years.

boarder crossing to U.S. which took over an hour.

Peace Arch. Border between Canada and USA

"Children of a common mother". Ha, there is no need to show off, but I lived in Canada, US, and UK. woohoo I rock !

One final thing. I do believe there is god and he is a funny dude. Case in point, I found coupons on the internet which saved about $300 on car rentals. I was a happy man. Then on my first day, I was given a fat speeding ticket of $299. LOL. anyway, that ticket is being contested.

CIAO~~

hehe~~

sorry for the lack of updates. I've been extremely busy for the schools and just done all my exams today. Sigh. And my grandfather passed away a couple months ago...so I wasn't keen on updating my blog.
I am heading to Vancouver and Vancouver island for a week starting tomorrow. When I come back, I will have a lot more time and energy to post once more. CIAO~

Zeppelin (airship) museum, Friedrichshafen, Germany

So far, I am the first and only person I know who go to Germany by BOAT. Pretty cool eh (or maybe not). Anyway, I took a boat from Swizterland to Germany via Lake Constance (Bondensee). Bondensee is surrounded by 3 countries, the other one being Austria.

Zeppelin airship was the future of air travel before airplanes became prominent. Then the disaster of Hindenburg at Lakehurst basically doomed this awesome technology. 

Titanic is the sea's most famous disaster. Hindenburg is probably the most infamous air disaster. 

Here is the amazing video. Imagine the effect it had 70 years ago.

The disaster probably foreshadowed what's about to come. Hindenburg was the

last president for Germany before Hitler. This airship was the main show in the 

1936 Berlin Olympics. Needless to say it's a big part of Nazis propaganda.

Hindenburg over New York. There were no 747

Goodbye Switzerland. See you next time. 

Swiss Alps in the background

Gigantic Airship

Hindenburg replica. It's probably the food court

look at how comfortable the chairs are. No airplane chairs come close to this (economy class)

Journey from Europe to America took 3 days. Bathroom does look nice

this is the economy class. oh man...looks comfy

President Hindenburg (I got a photo of Hitler's bust...I'll post it in the future)

video taken in New York's sky

those airships are gigantic. probably 3 times as long as 747s

oh, that's the cabin of a Germany regional train

the regional train was new. Small, quiet, speedy. In other words, totally awesome.

train destination: Lindau !