Interlaken
I'm now taking a boat from Interlaken to Thun. It's slow and it takes 1 hour by boat, what train can do in 15 minutes.
There are mainly elderly people on board the boat. Pensioners I believe. They are elderly couples and I think it's really sweet that they're seeing beautiful Switzerland together.
I arrived at Interlaken West station at 9am this morning. The train ride from Bern was scenic. We passed Lake Thun which was beautiful. It's slow and scenic.
Almost every stop was a picturesque postcard moment. There was a point where the train stopped, almost to let tourists whip out their camera and capture the moment.
I checked into Backpackers Villa and I loved it instantly. I asked the receptionist Rafael about the paragliding trip and he booked one for me at 10.45am.
The bus picked me up at 10.40am and the driver greets me "Annyeonghaseyo" to which I laughed. Yes, in the eyes of Caucasians, all Asians are alike. 2 other Indian girls boarded the bus and we headed off to Beatenberg. Dave is my assigned pilot and we take a 5 minute walk to the cliff where we'll take the leap of faith. The song "Jump" was playing in the bus at that time. Time has a sense of humour.
Dave lays out his equipment on the floor and passes me the helmet to put on. I see and touch snow for the first time. It's like lots of chilled ice lumped together.
Shortly after he clips the harness on me, he tells me to wait for a few minutes for a clear wind direction to start running. He counts "3, 2, 1" and we start walking and start running faster, and faster. Then we take a leap of faith and jump off the hill. We are in the air!
It's surely one of the most thrilling rides of my life. I'm in mid air and all I see below are trees and the village of Interlaken and its inhabitants. Dave explains that Interlaken is in the middle of two lakes "Thun and Brienz", hence the name. We see Jungfrau, the top of Europe, the highlight of the Alps.
It's amazing how simple engineering paragliding works. No engine, just heat from the sun. Interlaken is amazing Dave explains, because it can be winter in the mountains, but it's summer on ground. We see the Aare river and the two lakes. The water is emerald and clear.
Coming from a tropical country, Switzerland is so different in terms of culture and landscape. I feel like I'm having a holiday, on my holiday. This is Switzerland, beauty unparalleled.
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