Switzerland: Land of organized beauty

Glacier Express on Landwasser Viaduct

Switzerland had been on our wishlist for a long time. So, our 2024 Europe schedule was around Switzerland with a meetup of our European friends who flew over to trek its famed mountains together.

Chapel Bridge, Lucerne

Our first sight of Switzerland was early morning on our overnight bus from Brussels to Lucerne where we stayed the longest, 4 out of the 9 days. Lucerne is a quaint city centrally located for many popular tourist spots. Our Airbnb host graciously offered to pick up our luggage after we reached early in the morning so we could do some local sightseeing before our late afternoon check-in. That worked out perfectly. We freshened up in the nearby railway station and then wandered around. We visited their famed Chapel Bridge,

Chateau Gutsch

 

Lion Monument, and Chateau Gutsch. At Gutsch our Google map showed that there was a Funicular to go down but we couldn't find the entry point even though we could hear the train! After searching for a bit, we saw some people come out from behind a building and point out the entry. Another surprise awaited us as this funny (first time for us!) train ran without anyone at its controls like an elevator in a building. There was no one else taking it to guide us! We read the instructions... got in... door closed... down it went at a very steep angle.. and got us to the foothills safely. *phew*. Quite an experience indeed. 

Water fountain, Lucerne

So many things were new and interesting for us on our first day in Switzerland. Water fountains with cute spouts that gave drinking water continuously, on-time buses (we had city passes for free rides), nature all around, etc. Finally, we visited the wonderful Museggmauer Fort with incredible views before heading to our Airbnb and finally checking in exhausted after a full day of walking and sightseeing.

Lion Monument, Lucerne

From the many possible destinations to experience the Swiss mountains around Lucerne, we chose to visit Mt. Rigi. It is known for its views, ferry ride, cable car, and cogwheel train. The ferry gave us some fantastic views whichever way we looked with idyllic sailboats, towering mountains, birds, quaint lakeside towns, and so on. The ferry itself was quite an experience with exposed engines and drink services on board for first-class passengers. 

On Ferry to Mt. Rigi

We chose to get off at Weggis, took the cable car to Kaltbad and then the Cogwheel train for the final leg. All are free with a Swiss Rail pass and you don't have to worry about buying tickets. Mt Rigi was a fun experience with short trails at the top to enjoy 360-degree views. There are also several trails to go up or down by foot but we had not planned to do them. 

View from Mt. Rigi

The next day we chose to go to Trummelbach Falls on a recommendation and enjoyed it thoroughly. The train from Lucerne is the same one that also goes to Grindelwald and the popular Jungfraujoch. How is that possible? Well, it splits at Interlaken with one part going towards Lauterbrunnen and the other Grindelwald! So, one has to board carefully at Lucerne paying close attention to the A/B part of the platform number. As expected we didn't, and had to switch over later in a mad scramble. The falls are a great experience to witness the power of water up close. 

Trummelbach Falls

We chose to walk back the 3km which turned out to be the highlight of the day as the views were mesmerizing and better experienced on foot. We also painted small personal canvasses midway to capture the ambiance, which was quite fun.

Walk back from Trummelbach

Our Airbnb was called Apartment Mount Pilatus, so named because we could see Mt Pilatus from the windows and the Kriens Cable car station was walkable from there. So, this was a must-do for us. Our host recommended that we check the cloud cover before visiting it. But, since this was our last day in Lucerne it was then or never. We were lucky to get great views with clear blue skies as we went up on the cable car to the first stage, Frankmuntegg. We walked around there and enjoyed some exhilarating toboggan in a bobsled-like setup before taking the Gondola to the top or Kulm. And yes....  the top was completely under cloud cover. 

Dragon Path, Mt. Pilatus

We walked the Dragon Path around the mountain top that was very deserted, freezing cold but thoroughly adventurous and enjoyable even without the views. There were rare (I think) high-altitude plants tagged with scientific names making the trail special. We headed back down via the worlds steepest cogwheel train  which was quite an experience. 

Lucerne is a wonderful city that helped us explore Swiss culture for the first time. It is located perfectly to visit many popular spots and mountains of Switzerland. 

This, useful link to compare the mountains we could visit from Lucerne, helped us tremendously. Thanks, Alexx!

Zurich from Grossmuenster Tower

Next was our meetup with my wife's school friends to bond and trek in the Swiss mountains. We took the train to Zurich to join the group. We spent half a day exploring the city. In that short time we managed to visit the huge National museum or Landesmuseum of which we hardly explored 10%, Grossmuenster church with its city views from the tower, and even had a lunch picnic along with the locals on a city bridge.  We caught up with our group for dinner at Hiltl after a lot of excitement with the 3 college classmates meeting after many years. Our treks were planned at Lugano but our stay was in Bellinzona, a quaint little town close to it. The train journey from Zurich to Bellinzona was quite interesting as two young friendly Swiss professionals riding along with us shared many aspects of Swiss culture.

Lido San Domenico, Lugano

Our first trek was the scenic Olive Grove Trail along the Lake Lugano shore. There were cute restaurants all along the trail. We relaxed at one, Lido San Domenico, for some drinks, after just 10 minutes into the trek! They were that irresistible. 😄. The trail winds through some extremely picturesque villages. We met a German team cycling all the way across Switzerland and beyond. 

Monte San Salvatore to Melide

The longer trek we did was the trail down from Monte San Salvatore. The Funicular to the top was fun, the views at the top were spectacular. We could even see Italy. Since our goal was to trek down we could not explore the area which included a museum. We chose the trail down to the lake, that descended most of the time winding through villages along the way. From the lakeside near Melide, we took a bus to Morcote for our Ferry back to Lugano. Morcote was another lovely lakeside city where we had our Lunch with beautiful lake views. As a bonus, we got to witness a Harley Davidson rally who were in that area for an event. 

View out of Glacier Express

Our next big Swiss adventure was the famous Glacier Express. We had booked the leg from Andermatt to St Moritz. Unfortunately, because of flooding in the area, we had to take the local trains for part of the itinerary, from Andermatt to Chur. So, we got to experience the Swiss mountains on both the local trains and the Glacier Express. The local trains were quite good. However, Glacier Express had larger windows, personalized service, and onboard catering. Regardless of which you choose to go on, the mountains and the vistas are truly magical to watch from a train window. As another blog described, no camera can do justice. Just put it away after a few images for nostalgia and enjoy the sight of mountains that go by. Highlight was going over the 122 years old picturesque Landwasser Viaduct. 

Swiss Alps from GE

We planned only an overnight stay at St Moritz, a picturesque upscale ski city. Our stay was in a lovely youth hostel next to the forest into which we did a quick morning walk before heading off to the railway station to begin our Austrian adventure.

Forest trails, St. Moritz

Many more images with captions in the photo albums below. Enjoy.

Lucerne and Glacier Express

Lugano with friends

Mussegmauer Fort, Lucerne

Cogwheel Train, Mt. Rigi

Top of the World, Mt. Rigi

Wild flowers, Mt. Pilatus

National Museum, Zurich

Picturesque Cottage, San Salvatore trail

Glacier Express

Netherlands: Canals, Cycles and Windmills

 

Kinderdijk

It was my second visit to the Dutch country. The first time was to drop our daughter at Maastrict to start her undergraduate studies. We mostly roamed around this peaceful town, took a day trip to Liege, Belgium, and did some tourist activities in Amsterdam and Utrecht. With some familiarity and our daughter and cousins to guide us this time, we got adventurous and explored places not on the usual tourist circuit.

Coot Nest

On our first day, we took a morning walk around the Utrecht neighborhood where we were staying. Nature was plentiful. The highlight was, that we got to observe a Coot nest in the middle of a small park pond. How nice and safe it must feel!

Oude Waranda, Tilburg U

For the first weekend, we stayed near Tilburg University. The campus was peaceful and quiet as it was closed during our stay. The wonderfully designed nature park in a star shape,

Oude Waranda, is adjoining the university and we thoroughly enjoyed exploring it one of the days. It is one of the oldest baroque forests in the Netherlands. The main paths were quite wide with thick foliage all around. We found a foot trail that took us along the railway line and crossed the tracks to another park, the Wandelbos. This park had a lake in the middle some ducks, cormorants, and other birds to quench our birding desire. 

Wandelbos Park, Tilburg

The next day we walked around the Tilburg farmers market which was quite fun. 

Tilburg Farmers Market

Gouda was a lovely city to visit the next day. It has calm canals, and pebbled roads with shops, eateries, and old buildings. But our highlight was visiting the fun Cheese Museum with our 6 yr old nephew, where we got a good introduction to the city's history, ate lots of cheese, and learned how to pronounce Gouda (it's howda!).

Zandvroot F1 Circuit

Zandvroot was next on our schedule because our son had booked a BMW experience there. We found it a peaceful seaside town famous for its F1 circuit which hosts the Dutch leg of the Grand Prix every year. There were many nature trails around the racing circuit that we didn't have time to explore. Since it was not a race day, the public was allowed into the stands and pits where we could stroll among drivers/mechanics testing out their racing cars. On the way back a brief stop at Harlem was memorable as we caught the Dutch Euro Cup game at a local pub.

Harlem

Our Amsterdam visit was wandering the city, a free lunch concert at Concertgebouw and the somber, well-maintained Ann Frank House. We ended with some drinks along the canal nearby.

Amsterdam Canals

We got to spend a night at Rotterdam which allowed us to visit Delft University campus and  Kinderdijk. Kinderjik, a UNESCO World Heritage site, gave us a good glimpse into Dutch nature and also learned about its history of canals and windmills. We reached this place by the fun and convenient waterbus from Rotterdam. The windmills, even though 100s of years old are still in use. Few are converted to museums and are accessible by walk or by boat shuttle. We used both to get around. All of them are surrounded by villages and pristine nature. We saw ducks, terns, and geese, during our walk/sail around this place. There were also excellent museums and audio-visual shows to inform visitors of its history.

Crested Grebe, Kinderdijk

Overall, one can clearly see how much the Dutch love nature. They take care to preserve and protect them but still give ample access to us, nature lovers, to get up close and enjoy.

Selected images from the Netherlands leg

Utrecht Ebird list

Tillburg University Ebird List

Kinderdijk Ebird List

Canal Restaurants, Utretcht

Bikers, Rotterdam

Duck Nest Box, Kinderdijk

Mute Swans, Kinderdijk

Windmill, Kinderdijk

Nature pond, Kinderdijk

Singapore Malaysia, Badminton and Nature

 

It was my desire to watch an international badminton tournament live that made us travel to Singapore and allowed us to explore nature around there. I caught the quarter-finals and finals action at the BWF Singapore Open. Before this event, we took a peek at the wonderful nature parks in the Sarawak region of Borneo Island which is part of Malaysia and also visited the superb Sungei Buloh Wetland Preserve in Singapore in between.

Thanks to my nephew in Singapore who suggested Sarawak on Borneo Island knowing our interest in nature. Borneo is the 3rd largest island and has many diverse nature sanctuaries. We had a difficult time choosing which ones to visit. We finally settled on 1. Bako National Park (for the proboscis monkey) and 2. Kubah National Park. Both were close to Kuching where we planned to stay. We postponed planning the logistics after we reached there, a mistake as you can read below. 

For Day 1, we had hoped to visit Bako but found out late morning, that we needed to start early as the park entrance is accessible only by boat.  After some research, we decided to taxi to Matang Wildlife Center. We only realized it was a rescue center, not a sanctuary when we reached there. It was also closed in the afternoon because they let the captive Orangutans out. The person in charge was sympathetic and since we had driven up all the way let us in with warnings to keep away from some paths. Also, there was no bus or return taxi service, so we had to hold back our taxi. The best is to drive there in your own vehicle. We did get to see the captive Orangutans who were very comical in their enclosures and Rhinoceros Hornbills.

We took a cruise in the evening on the Sarawak River, which was fun with snacks, drinks, and cultural events. It was an out-and-back with great views of the sunset. The Kuching waterfront from where the cruise starts is quite a happening place with choices of local food, music, and good space to walk around. We had some wonderful street food like Satay before it started raining heavily. 

For Day 2, we visited the famed and highly recommended Borneo Cultures Museum and booked a night walk at Kubah National Park. The museum is well done with spaced-out exhibits that are innovatively designed in how the information is presented. For example, in the birds exhibit, you could press a button to hear the call of a bird as a silhouette of the same bird lights up on the wall close by. 

Kubah is famed for its frogs which are best seen on a night walk. We were lucky to have chosen a very nice and friendly guide, Lucien, for the night frog tour at Kubah which can only be done with a guide. He picked us up from our stay and gave us an incredible look into the nightlife of animals at Kubah. 

On Day 3, early morning, we caught the local bus which took us to the jetty from where one could charter a boat to take us to the entrance of Bako. The bus cost us just 1 Ringitt per person when a taxi could have cost us nearly 50! Bako did not disappoint as we sighted the Bearded Pig as soon as we entered. The funny but also grave and serious-looking Proboscis monkey welcomed us with plenty of posing before we had even checked in at the visitor center. They guide you on the trails depending on your interest, fitness, and time available. We did a long trek to a beach and a shorter boardwalk over a peat swamp habitat. Time is limited here as our return is fixed by the boat we hired to get us here. If you want to experience this park to the fullest, they offer overnight accommodations too.

In Singapore, we went to Sungei Buloh National Park with our hosts. It is one of the best natural preserves I have ever visited within a large city limits. Wonderfully designed with huts that look out on

the water and swampy areas, almost like a hide. We had a good time walking around and spotting birds and the ubiquitous monitor lizard seen all over the park. We also got lucky to spot a couple of Otters that were frolicking in the lake. We hope to visit again during the migratory season for better spotting.

Overall, we had a wonderful time exploring nature in Southeast Asia that rivaled any we have seen. All the parks were well-maintained and rich in biodiversity. 

Images from the trip

Malaysia

Singapore

Frogs and more at Kubah National Park, Sarawak, Malaysia.