switzerland (+)

Switzerland's railway system is ranked first among national European rail systems for its intensity of use, quality of service and strong safety rating. It's the sole transportation we used during our three-week travel in this mountainous country, through the valleys, around the lakes, to urban cities, and rural villages. A quick check with its mobile app can tell you all the available routes to the destination you want, the exact times of arrival, the stops along the way, the platforms to board, even how crowded each train is.

The train itself is nice and clean, comfy and roomy, with designated spaces for bicycles, luggages, child seats, etc.

On the second day of our trip, I left my phone on the train. As we stood at the platform of the station we just deboarded, wondering who/what to contact for help, another train arrived, and down came a woman conductor for routine check. We told her what happened and she invited us to the train as it must leave on schedule, where she asked for the details of my mishap, and my friend's phone number for call back and assured us they would let us know if they found the phone. We got off the train at the next stop, and decided to go to the customer service counter there to report the loss just to be doubly sure that someone would look for it. As we approached the counter my friend's phone rang, and we handed it to the customer service agent so they could talk in German. Moments later, "they found the phone, and will bring it to this station by one of the next trains coming in. You can come back here to pick it up in about an hour," the customer service agent smiled and told us. And I did get my phone back an hour later, in the middle of nowhere, in rural southeastern Switzerland!

I couldn't be more impressed by and appreciative of the diligence and efficiency of the people and the system there!

The other pleasant surprise thing I encountered in Switzerland was their food. It was in general a good mix of German, Italian, and French cooking—no surprise, as it is the country's population composition—with quality agriculture ingredients (great bread and potato, freshwater fish from the lakes, happy cows on green pasture 😏), homey taste, at reasonable prices. (Average dish at formal dining was about 20% higher than in the US, but then you didn't have to tip, so it's a wash.)

Last but not least, the most pleasant thing of this trip, however, was to be accompanied by Joseph Chou, my best friend from high school, and his wonderful wife Peipei!

They were the ones that planned every detail of the trip: studying the places to visit, setting the itinerary, booking the hotels, reserving the train seats, etc., and led every step of the way as we moved up and down the country. When I said we took on this trip as a self-guided tour, what I really meant was a "Chou-guided" tour!

And I got to enjoy many precious moments with Joseph: in the train, at the summit, on the trail, sharing thoughts and memories of the old and the new. Joseph was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer two years ago and went through a major surgery and chemo treatment last year from which he was still recovering. I am so grateful that we had such a wonderful trip together to reunion and reconnect!

Thank you, Joseph and Peipei, God be with you, and let's do it again sometime!

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Lausanne is a hilly city on the north shores of Lake Geneva, in the French speaking southwest of the country. It’s home to the International Olympic Committee headquarters, as well as the Olympic Museum and lakeshore Olympic Park. A grand cathedral in a busy old town district, and a street musical festival we bumped into whose charismatic singer and rappy but melodial singing still play back in my mind.  

Bern, the capital of Swiss Confederation, is a modest, everything-within-walking-distance town. It has an "Einstein Museum" (Einstein lived in Bern for seven years, 1902-1909, while working for the Swiss patent office) that not only details the life and stories of Einstein and his times, but teaches you easy-to-understand Special Relativity Theory in ten minutes.

Geneva is another shore city, sitting at the southwestern end of its namesake lake, bordering France, from where John Calvin, a giant of the Reformation Movement, escaped to preach in the city for 28 years before he died. A "Reformation Wall" built on the old fortification walls of the city, depicting key Calvinist and other Protestant figures, represents the significant roles these people and the city played for the success of the Reformation Movement nearly half a millennium years ago.

We took a side tour out of Switzerland to Strasbourg, France for two days before the end of our three-week trip. Strasbourg is a border city in northeastern France across the Rhine River from Germany. It's been historically a contested territory between the two countries for hundreds of years but is now the peaceful seat of the European Union Parliament.

It's also a charming tourist town with a 600-year-old cathedral and a river/canal surrounded old town.

And six Michelin one-star restaurants, one of them we visited.

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Located at the heart of Switzerland, the Berner Oberland (Bernese Highlands) region is famed for its natural beauty and alpine charm. We rented a three-bed-and-two-bath-room apartment house at a resort tourist town Wengen for four nights to explore the area.

A young woman (Jungfrau), a monk (Mönch), and an ogre (Eiger), all standing 4000+ meters tall—yes, these are names of the famous triumvirate of peaks in Swiss Alps we went to see, at a summit that's 3000 meters tall itself.

Another bigger name peak, Matterhorn, the one Disneyland emulates at its theme park in Southern California for bobsled roller coaster rides, took us a day trip to its access city Zermatt, where besides seeing the 4478-meter tall big rock from anywhere in town, we also watched a short movie at the city museum that documented how the first ascent to the peak was accomplished in 1865, with tragic ending (some climbers died) and unresolved suspicion (was the rope cut intentionally?).

Back at Wengen, I spent one morning taking a cable-car lift to a 2200 meter summit, then a one-and-a-half-hour hike in the snow with my traveling companion Joseph. Worth every bit of my sore feet later that evening!

There are two major lakes in the region, we managed to visit two cities by one of them. At Thun, we saw people surfing on the river, at Spiez, skiing on the lake with some self-propelling gadgets. Eye-openers for a dude from a Southern California beach town!

It was snowing when we left town. The first of the season, said the driver who picked us up for the train station.

switzerland (1)

We took an unusual self-guided three week tour to Switzerland in September.

Right off the plane, we got a taste of this mountainous country's super efficient railway system by taking a train off the airport terminal and reaching our first destination in less than an hour.
 
Lucerne is a city tucked between a big lake and a few surrounding hills, at the outflow of a river from the lake in central Switzerland. Its indelible landmark is a footbridge that is the oldest wood covered bridge in Europe, with triangle paintings that depict Swiss Confederation history dating back to the 17th century. 

A visit to its old fortification wall and tower and a rock-cut monument commemorating the heroism of Swiss Guardsmen reminded me of the grit and the will of self-determination of the people that make the country what it is today.

Lugano is yet another beautiful lakeside city, at the very southern end of the country, bordering Italy. 

From there we took a bus east, traversing northern Italy to return to the southeastern tip of Switzerland, then boarded a train that took us up and down 2000+ meter high mountains and valleys, before reaching two highland hideaways—Pontresina, a tranquil one-street village, and St. Moritz, a one-time Winter Olympics host, somewhat chic-ish town—in southeastern Swiss Alps. 

Then we went to the northeastern corner of the country, and became accidental attendees to a once-every-25-year regional festival at a quaint little village, Appenzell, that featured an air show, an Oktoberfest-like celebration, and a wrestling contest.

St. Gallen, the major city in northeastern Switzerland, has an expansive cathedral-abbey built on the hermitage of an Irish monk who came to evangelize in the 7th century, with a library that keeps 160,000 volumes, including thousands of manuscripts dating back to the 8th through 15th centuries, and notes of cooking tips and dietary suggestions by the monks such as 

"May chopped herbs through the cross turn tart in the vinegar," 

"May mushrooms often stewed with blessings be imbued," and 

"In beer's careful brew, blessings anew."

john adams

Leader of the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, senior diplomat to France, Netherland, and Britain, the second (and father of the sixth) president of the United States... John Adams was one of the prominent founding fathers of the nation, the like of George Washington or Thomas Jefferson, if only without any dollar bills bearing his image.

But unlike Washington or Jefferson, who were wealthy Southern plantation owners*, Adams was the son of a humble farmer in New England who, growing up, wanted to be just another farmer like his father.

Except his father had a different idea. One day father and son set off to the creek to cut thatch and worked through the day. At night at home, father said, "Well, John, are you satisfied with being a farmer?" Though the labor had been very hard and very muddy, John answered, "I like it very well, sir."

"Aya, but I don't like it so well: so you will go back to school today."  

John went but was not so happy as among the creek thatch.

Later, when he told his father it was his teacher he disliked, not the books, and that he wished to go to another school, his father immediately took his side and wasted no time with further talk. John was enrolled the next day in a private school down the road. He made a dramatic turn and began studying in earnest.

Though John's father, a respected deacon at the local church, wanted him to become a minister, John's own experience under his father's roof, seeing many "ecclesiastical councils" going through there, gave him second thoughts.

"I saw such a spirit of dogmatism and bigotry in clergy and laity, that if I should be a priest I must take my side, and pronounce as positively as any of them, or never get a parish, or getting it must soon leave it."

He had no heart for such a life and told his father he would take the career of law even if that profession was not generally held in high esteem then.

A successful lawyer he had become, and when the infamous "Boston Massacre" – where a platoon of British soldiers inadvertently fired at a disorderly, violent crowd, killing five civilians – occurred and no other attorneys would come to the soldiers' defence, Adams came forward, believing no person should be denied the right to counsel and a fair trial, and got most of the British soldiers acquitted.

During the Revolutionary War Adams was appointed a commissioner to France to help negotiate a French alliance against Britain. Leaving his wife, children, his home, his livelihood, and knowing nothing of European politics or diplomacy and unable to speak French, Adams took the assignment with pure patriotic sense of duty and boarded a newly commissioned warship for a 3,000-mile voyage across the North Atlantic in a treacherous traveling season.

They escaped the chase of three British frigates at the beginning of the journey, but encountered another heavily armed British merchant vessel three weeks later. Adams was advised to stay at his cabin when the captain informed him they were about to engage with the British enemy.

The fighting was soon over, after a few cannon shot exchanges, the British vessel surrendered.

During the fighting, however, the captain found Adams had taken a place in the heart of the action, musket in hand.

"I then went unto him and said, 'My dear sir, how came you here,' and with a smile he replied, 'I ought to do my share of the fighting.' This was sufficient for me to judge of the bravery of my venerable and patriotic Adams."

America was a divided nation 250 years ago (as today), before and during the Revolutionary War. It was estimated one third of the colonists favored the Revolution, one third opposed it, and one third were undecided. And soon after the independence, partisan politics took over (as today) between the Federalists and the Republicans, resulting in comical theatrics as seen in some newly developed democratic countries today:

"Vicious animosity of a kind previously confined to newspaper attacks broke out in the first physical assault to occur in Congress. In the midst of debate, when Federalist Roger Griswold of Connecticut insulted Republican Matthew Lyon of Vermont, Lyon crossed the chamber and spat in Griswold's face. Soon after, Griswold retaliated with a cane. Lyon grabbed fire tongs from the fireplace, and the two went at each other until, kicking and rolling on the floor, they were pulled apart."

As a young man, Adams had done some soul searching of himself and concluded "honesty, sincerity, and openness... are essential marks of a good mind," and was determined to be a man of integrity: "reputation ought to be the perpetual subject of my thoughts, and aim of my behavior," but confessed vanity – being overly proud, conceited – was his chief failing.

Perhaps that was why though he had accomplished plenty for the country, he was not well liked by many of his political peers, who, while admiring his patriotism and integrity, deemed him aloof, arrogant, and combative. But that might well be his temperamental side, another key trait of his personality, at display. As Adams himself admitted in his old age:

"[As president] I refused to suffer in silence. I sighed, sobbed, and groaned, and sometimes screeched and screamed. And I must confess to my shame and sorrow that I sometimes swore."

By all standards, Adams had a happy, satisfactory family life through his life: He married his intellectual soulmate who became his lifetime political counsel, had three sons and two daughters, one of them (John Quincy Adams) became the sixth president of the United States, and fifteen grand sons and grand daughters whose company he enjoyed in retirement.

But tragedies also struck: One of their daughters died at two, the other one died in her forties of cancer. Two of his sons, though both having outstanding personalities and great ability, were considered mentally unstable and died of alcoholism, one at the young age of 30.

He tried to hang in through these with his philosophy and religion. "Rejoice always in all events, be thankful always for all things is a hard precept for human nature, though in my philosophy and in my religion a perfect duty."

He remained as he had been, clear-eyed about the paradoxes of life and in his own nature. Once, in a letter to an old friend, he had written, "Griefs upon griefs! Disappointments upon disappointments. What then? This is a gay, merry world notwithstanding."**

He died on July 4, 1826, the 50th birthday of the nation he helped create.


* John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams were the only two of the first twelve US presidents who never owned slaves

** From the book "John Adams" by David McCullough

snæland, norge

On our previous trip to the Baltics, the only Nordic countries we didn't cover were Iceland and Norway, so when a cousin of mine in Vancouver asked us to join them for a cruise to these two countries, we gladly obliged.

This 12-day cruise started at the southwest of Iceland, made a half circle to its northeast, then headed north into the Arctic Circle to a Norwegian archipelago midway between North Pole and the northern coast of Norway, then southeast to the Norway mainland, where the tour ended.

It was a cold weather trip, as you might imagine, but not so cold really, averaging high 40's Fahrenheit, and could be balmy when the sun showed up, like when visiting a cookie cutter town center, or while cruising a fjord.

The coldest spot (low 30's Fahrenheit) was reserved for "the world's northernmost town" Longyearbyen (pop. 2500), 650 miles from the North Pole, where an underground "Global Seed Vault" keeps over one million seeds from all over the world and where there are more polar bears than people.

 

Old time, harsh living mining and fishing villages had been mostly converted to cozy, scenic tourist towns.

​But the rough terrain remains wild and beautiful.

As well as accessible, such as this geothermal spa that seemed to be a popular hangout place for local high-schoolers.

Unlike the many august, solemn looking cathedrals we are used to seeing in Europe, two contemporary churches in little northern Norwegian towns impressed us with their innovative and inspirational looks and design.

When in Viking countries, read Viking stories. I picked up and read a book on the Vikings from the ship's library and got an interesting side view of European history through the aggressive activities these Nordic "barbarians" brought on to the British Isles, the Frankish Empire, Russia, the Byzantine Empire, and the Mediterranean.

​And for my aggressive act to the edge of the world, I was awarded a certificate.

Happy traveling!
​

* For more photos and details of the trip:

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/E2tkvFrqyJbL9tA9/

privileged

My dentist chatted with me the other day, said his little daughter just learned from school that "there are so many people in the world!": One point four billion in India, ten million in Czechia (where the dentist's wife came from), and here in the US we have over three hundred million people... So many, she was amazed, and so few of them she knew or would ever know, she thought.

That triggered a tiny old memory of mine: As a young boy, I once saw a calendar poster on the wall, a blown-up tourism photo of sorts, showing a Parisian city scene, the Eiffel tower in the back, people strolling around on streets, parks, buildings, etc... And there, a young woman walking up some steps caught my eyes, and caused me to think: this is a real person... what happened to her after this picture was taken... where is she now... what's her life story like...

I came from a sentimental culture of the old, I remember on the day we finished our grade school, they had us kids grouped up and circle around the school yard while the PA speakers played some melancholy "I am going to miss all my dear teachers and classmates" music that actually made some of us twelve-year-olds cry...

Fast forward more than half a century later, I've come half a world to reside in a New World, picked a career path that took me traveling seven seas and five continents, met multitudes of people of various creeds and cultures, ethnicities and origins. And though most of these encounters were transitional or transactional and went by fast, a few of them did stick out.

Like the Russian "handler" that accompanied me through Moscow-Saint Petersburg-South Russia for my one-man technical show for two weeks, the "boys and girls" Japanese support team a Canadian and I used in our multi-city tele-promotion campaigns off and on for three years in Japan, and those young-and-restless, rebel-with-some-vague-cause computer whiz kids I recruited and "managed" for one and a half year for my startup company... Where have they all gone and how are they doing now, I sometimes wonder.

There is an old Chinese/Buddhism notion called 緣 (yuan), the serendipitous encounter between people and things, that seems both chancy and destined, unexplainable but meaningful, that ought to be taken blissfully.

Indeed, out of trillions of stars and planets in the cosmos, billions of people on Earth, what are the odds I meet these few people through this limited life span of mine, be it my blood-related family members, lifetime partner of my choosing, people I go to school with, seekers in the same pursuit, neighbors next door, fellow travelers I met at tours, lecturers whose teaching I enjoyed... my dentist.

"What a privilege to know you," I said to him.
 
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We humans are competitive animals, vying for resources, amassing fortunes, optimizing our own wellbeing... But don't blame me for it, blame it on my "selfish gene", that since day one has commanded all the cells in my body to take all the nutrients they can, grow bigger and fatter, get smarter and shrewder, gain advantages in the world, so I can pass down that same gene to my offspring, so it can start reproducing and multiplying again, over and over... It's just the law of nature.

But hold on, isn't that the same gene that also instructs my cells to differentiate, to become specialty organs that work together to make my body a functional whole? Isn't this cooperative, holistic, interdependent working between protein, cells, organism also a natural law in action, and a more intelligent and elegant version than the brute force grow-and-multiply-at-all-cost one mentioned earlier?

Further, those competitive, selfish "bad traits" notwithstanding, a natural human grown-up also possesses some "good traits" such as love, kindness and care for others. You may say these socially good traits are derived and kept because they bring benefits to the group, creating greater chances for survival for a greater number of people, thus it is still the natural law at work, and you are right. "Social Darwinism" means truly a good thing if interpreted this way.

As a matter of fact, I would argue from a strictly evolutionary point of view, that once such "emergent qualities" as cooperation, love and compassion appear, they become "winners" and non-discardable building blocks for evolution, forces that move life in the universe up a higher level.

With such qualities built-in us, maybe that's why we are naturally attracted to the "transcendentals": things that are good, beautiful or true, even when we are not entirely clear what they might be.

Or perhaps that higher level, such as loving enemies or meeting aggression with kindness, has been revealed in our religious ideals and by some "holy-man" examples, that teach and show us how it can be achieved through "the love or fear of God" and spiritual practices.

What a privileged position we humans are at, to be either pushed from below, or pulled from above, to our next high!


"The moral sense perhaps affords the best and highest distinction between man and the lower animals."
— Charles Darwin

"And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good."
— Genesis 1:31