Entries about backpacking

One of the defining moments of staying with the Werner family was when we were having supper with Daniel, Cyril and Andy.
Half of the time was spent planning activities and talking about us.
Cyril:" What are you doing on saturday ? When i get off work, i want to bring and show you switzerland" ( went on to make many plans !)
Daniel : "ok so tmr you ll do this, and the day after we will do this"
Suddenly,
Daniel" Guys what do you want to do ? Do you have anything planned out ?"

(we have no idea what to do and was just following their plans)
Shawn and Jason: " We will just follow you guys "
Daniel: " HAHA, we make more plans for you than you make for yourself ! "

I was really touched and felt a deep sense of warmth inside, we were daniel's friends but the rest of the family did not come with the attitude, they are daniel's friends and he will take care of them but the entire family wanted to and made the effort to get to know us, bring us around....
Lovely

After the Supper we had a crazy idea to go back to the bunker and get the speedometer we found !
It was past midnight and pitch black haha,
We were suppose to get up around 6.15 the next morning....
We overslept ! So did Daniel !
Haha, when i walked past his door the next morning, and we both stared at each other and simultaneously burst out laughing.

Thursday.
We went to work, We relocated a 5/6 m high stack of hay by hand ( No joke)
Tiring it was, but the main problem for me was the massive dust cloud being stirred up which than brought chaos and fire in my nose.
But ! we had a Raclette for lunch ! Ooo lala
We help with some gardening after lunch and than had a special dish for dinner.
I have no idea what it was called but it was basically a giant bowl of strawberries, muesli, yoghurt and milk.
It was super nice ! However, most singaporeans will not be used to it as, typical dinner for us is always warm and savoury.
We had a nice long chat with Cyril and Yvonne (really miss the both of them)
We than went for a BBQ at the Lake ! played basketball and than Daniel said to me, im going to the lake to hang again, you come too !
We were exhausted and had to wake up at 6 the next day so we wanted to go home !

Daniel than said :" Ok you drive back, and i ll come back later ! "
Shawn: " what ! really ? By myself ?"
Daniel :"Yes go ! "
Shawn (in the car after leaving daniel) :" WA, epic ! "

Friday.

We went to the Andy's family pig farm !
Haha, We helped to shove shit and clean all the pig pens !
Wa super dirty and smelly ! ( but we got used to it after awhile haha)
We were working with Josef ( Slovakia) Super capable and trusted worker ! ( there was only him and Andy's Dad working in the massive farm)
We watched him remove the teeth of baby pigs, helped him feed the pigs as well as tried pig cheese ! ( yes made with pig's milk ! )
It was hard work, and a little back braking as we had to bend down the entire time to work.
We had a nice Rosti lunch and went back to work,
It was time to Castrate the pigs ! ( due to the strict laws in switzerland, the pigs were gassed first)
Imagine someone grabbing you, gassing you and you wake up with your balls gone...
Yes, that is what happened to the pigs
Yes, i did it to one of them.

We came back from work exhausted but the delicious Risotto Rice and the great chat with Daniel's two sister was made us really happy !
She is from ETH ! ( yes i didnt know what it was until i googled it ! )

Things go up, things go down,
But at least the Lord is always around.

We went for a Road trip to the Gothard the next day, and when we came back, Daniel said,
You have two options, either you rest or i teach you to drive the tractor ( If you have to guess which one we chose, slap yourself )
Yes ! a tractor !!!

Sunday morning ! ( mother's day ! )
I sent my mum an email wishing her happy mother's day and than Daniel took us hiking !
We drove 80km to the foot of the mountain and started our hike !
Once we started, i knew immediately that all my other hiking trips werent really hiking haha !
( i was drenched in sweat ! and feeling really tired )
I have no idea why, the entire time, i was thinking to myself, i climb Biang with FBO and can climb so much in the army with FBO now so lousy embarrassing Singapore haha !
Daniel hadnt climbed in 10 years but he was really doing it faster than us !
When an old lady overtook me and Daniel turned around and asked if i was ok
I replied, " IF they can, I must ! "
There were really alot of old people climbing the mountain ! SUPER ZAI !
We finally arrived at the top 1,794 m Hoher Kasten !
The view at the top, tre jolie !!!
You could see 4 countries, Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein
Really Epic, it was surrounded by the Alps.
We had a nice lunch and found Nody ! ( the worker in daniel's farm who was from that village, like the village lao jiao)
he led the Descent and showed us how to do it the Nody way haha

The next part was really sad but happy...
We rushed back, and went to Ida's house to help prepare dinner, RACLETTE mother's day dinner !
really nice dinner but inside i was a little sad that the next day, we would be leaving...
I cant find the right words to describe the atmosphere and food at a dinner.
Maybe this intangible feeling is what made it so special...

"People are not people without people" Shawn

It was a really tough decision, to stay or to leave.
There were many different options, we cpould stay longer in Bouligat, up to 3 weeks, or go on to the next farm or even next 2 farms !
We had so many options it was a bit of a headache. Even among the next farms there were several options to choose from.
As we had 'mass send request to several farms, somehow the many that replied all seem interesting.
A super embarrassing thing even happened, while at the thursday market, another farmer selling bread ( Michel ) came up to me and said Are u Shawn... yes.... You are suppose to come next week right ? ....redfaced shawn stunned and mumbles errrr we are waiting for some stuff to happen so we will contact you online. ( i neither considered him nor replied him after awhile as he was a little strict and there were better options)

In the end i decided to leave as, i felt yes they were really nice people and all and we really wanted to stay and help, but it would be better for us if we could see more farms and experience more. The next awaiting farm was a Bed and breakfast 34 ha big !! in contrast to Ferme de la bouligat which was 3 ha

We told them we were leaving on tuesday...Daniel left us earlier as he had to go back to Cambridge to study. this next portion is a description of our last night.
It was 9pm and they were still busy, so we decided to cook them our instant noodles for dinner, haha beef noodles and mee goreng.
After dinner, the three of us were sleeping in the trailer when Daniel suddenly said, I'm going to put the Cat in the cupboard ( the same cat scratch daniel went he tried to carry it) Are u guys ok with the meowing the whole night.
Are u serious ?! i repplied ( with daniel, u never know when he is joking) haha
Thinking he was joking, i just laid down and said, ok la
The next moment he got up, wore his jacket and went out into the night in search of the cat.
He found it, brought it in and put it in the cupboard !!!
I was stunned and was confused, whether to laugh or feel sad. Daniel said the cupboard was lined with pillows, so it would be very comfortable. I made him promise to remove the cat in the morning, and in my mind i thought, should be quite comfortable and warm so i went to sleep.
i am a very light sleeper, and i could hear the cat meowing and scratching the door at different intervals during the night !

The next morning, i awoke...Daniel was gone, but i could still hear the cat inside !!!
nonsense Daniel, he didnt let the cat go !!! and i was too scared at the thought of wha i would find behind the door to open it. So Jason did the dirty work and let the cat out of the Placard
Haha, it seemed perfectly fine

Sunday,
i awoke at 7.30 am and walked over for breakfast.... the door was locked. Feeling very cold, i went back to the trailer to wait.
8.30, i went back, still sleeping !!!
I decided to read my book outside the trailer...
They finally awoke at 12.30pm !!!! Wa, they forgot to tell us they sleep in on sundays
We had breakfast than.
Oh man, after breakfast they went to laze around,and so did i...
After awhile jason and i decided to cook Lunch.
So i cooked them a Rosti, haha and jason baked them a cake apple crumble : )
We had a nice lunch, off course they said my rosti was nice

Monday,
Pierre, Xavier, Jason and i finish the green house, finally ! haha the job was completed...
We had a simple dinner and more cake and crashed.
After dinner Xavier asked me what was i studying in University, i replied Should be business.
He immediately said You devil !!!
haha, and everytime i tried to explain, he said devil !!! haha
Than he said Shawn you are a cool guy man, but you are the devil !!!
Haha,oh well, i guess he is right in some way
Tuesday,
Breakfast time, i had a super heavy breakfast as i didnt know when my next meal would be ( wise choice)
They bid farewell and thank us for our work and Xavier brought us to the bus station.
After shaking hands and Thanking Xavier, he turned to me again and said: Shawn you are a nice and cool guy, dont be the devil
I smiled and said ok thanks, i really will miss him...
We went to the train station, it xas either a 5 hour free train, a 3 hour train we had to pay a reservation fee or a 1.5 hour(very expensive or free) bus ride. We went to check with the train station and it was.....FREE !!!!
Weeee !!!!
Backside pain bus to Aubenas

We left the comfortable, clean, efficient and nice Switzerland to France. I mentioned before about the punctuality of the trains in switzerland, the same does not apply in France. haha
When we got off the swiss train for the train to the farm in France, we were relieved that we finally could afford some stuff( Haribo !!!)
However, we got quite irritated thatour train was delayed ( unheard off in the swiss) and we had to call Lisa to inform them we were going to be late as they were picking us up at the train station.

We waited awhile when Xavier suddely appeared and brought us to his car. His english was quite bad, and i was struggling hard to communicate with him, but first He did not look like the average farmer.
He was tall, young and with sunglasses and the only thing that gave him away was his hands and the dirty old car. Haha
When we arrived at the farm, we met Lisa ( his wife) and Pierre ( their friend and worker) who showed us around the Farm.
Honestly, it was smaller than i expected ( 3 Ha) but big enough as they were only 2 people and that had about 10 greenhouse and a horse ( Rosali) and another plot of land for other stuff.

They were sleeping in a mobile home (which was essentially a giant container) where the shower was located and had our meals.
We were sleeping in 1 out of the two trailers meant for workers and random friends.
There was 2 Dry toilets ( toilets without water, just sawdust to cover ur dump with) and a workhouse.
Our trailer was very bare, two beds and a cupboard, very little...but enough.
We were honestly a little disappointed as

1) there were only 1 horse and 2 cats...
2)the rooms were a little errrrrr
3) the toilets were quite errrr
4) the work on the first day was very tiring, boring and hard !!!

At the end of first day, we gathered for a simple dinner of green salad, beans and carrots.
We found out they were very poor, they had purchased the Farm for 111,000 Euros and were still paying it off.
After dinner, they took out 3 plates of different pastry !
Super nice, apple crumble, Rhurbarb cake and apple cake ( i gave them the names myself )
It really was good, and i told jason, ok at least the cake is worth it. haha

At this point of time, i have to share about my thoughts on traveling,

Every person at every age should travel.

For the young, it broadens perspective; inspires and induces them to set goals and priorities.
For the middle aged, It reminds a person of his identity and reminds and allow him to appreciate what is important in life.*
For the old, If you haven't seen much, you haven't lived much.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

We had to leave Fabio's after staying there for 4 days.
I never knew we would have so much fun staying with the 4 guys, the amount of beer they drank over the 4 days was more than the amount of water i drank haha ! ( somehow they are doing quite well at school, Manuel is taking a double degree in History and Biology and he also reads alot of Philosophy ) Crazy !

Oh well, it was a great time, we went to Manuel's house (back in Thun !) by ourselves. His house was about 1/2 the size but there was only him living in it (He broke up with his girlfriend recently ) His rental was 1000 Francs a month ( 1400 Sgd) still cheaper than daniel's matchbox room in cambridge 1050 pounds ( almost 2100 sgd) haha !!! With a better view and nice neighbourhood, daniel was quite pissed off at the price of his accommodation.
Manuel was a really nice guy, his english was alot beter in real life than over the phone. He was a 32 year old living by himself. Interested in Chinese martial arts and this interest sparked his interest in Chinese culture (just like Pierre ) His house was decorated all over with chinese stuff ( a buddha, chinese paintings, giant chinese brush, chinese swords, chinese tea and pottery. We were already embarassed by miube when his skills at chopsticks overshadowed ours, Now, Manuel's house was definitely more chinese than mine !! haha

His entire house was decorated and also modified by him. His toilet is also super cool, his shower head had Led lights whenever water flowed through and there were posters of Waterfalls everywhere haha.
To train, he had a giant punching bag, a bucket of sand for punching in ( yes hardcore ), 5 nunchucks, various swords, a pole ( used for spear training), shurikens and more.
We could very well be staying with an assassin, haha, but despite all this, Manuel was a really soft and nice guy who was extremely polite and genuine concern for us. He was also very funny and made various funny expressions to help bring across his points.
We just did some grocery shopping and came back to rest as we were a little tired ( he gave us a key so that was great, again he trusted us before even meeting us really epic, would u leave ur key to someone u never met ? especially if he was an Asian ? )

The next day, i asked him if he knew how to cook a Rosti, as i really wanted to try 1 and it was the last swiss dish that we haven really tried ( it goes for around 20 sgd in a restaurant ( just for potatoes !) and he decided to cook one for our lunch !
Haha, i have tried cooking a rosti once ( based on gut feeling) and the reaction was, hmmm what is the difference between a Rosti and Hashbrowns ? haha, i finally knew !!! Manuel's Rosti was crispy on the outside and all fluffy and soft on the inside

The next day, we did it again, and i had a chance to cook my own !! Haha, and the epic thing is i managed to flip it !!! Woooo ! haha, we ate alot of pasta and rosti those 3 days
Manuel ( feeling guilty he had gone out each night and had no time for us) decided to bring us hiking !
However, by the time we decided it was too late so we had to go hiking in a nearer 'hill' which was still a mountain as it was more than a thousand meters. Thankfully, we had another chance to climb the swiss mountains...
It wasnt an easy journey up, and i realised every time i climb something steep, memories of climbing in the army will just come flowing back, and i would just smile to myself, thankfully this time im doing it without a crazy backpack and some harribo in my pocket haha

While walking up, we encountered an entire village that was situated on the mountains ( according to manuel this was quite common), i felt it was quite amazing how they managed to construct everything so high up and also live so far from the rest of the world.
We walk past many different cattle grazing and lazing around, soon there was a herd of sheep just 5m away from me.
I felt very curious as i never seen a sheep so close before and the fact that they wouldnt run on to the road as they were just enclosed by what look to be 2 thin black ropes. The four of us walked closer and looked at the sheep, while looking at the sheep i decided to hold the wire and and the stand for support...
This time i kid u not that i flew away...
Not because the sheep were so nice but because the thin black wires were all charged, and i felt the entire electric current flow through my body, haha and the rest looked at me with eyes wide open and asked if i was ok, not sure whether to laugh or be concerned, haha, after 2 secsonds i could still feel the effects of that current in my chest and heart.
Haha, oh well, experience Manuel apologised for not warning me before hand and daniel said wa imagine if u die here...After manuel realised i was fine, he said now i could leave the way since my battery was charged, haha
We continued walking upwards in no specific direction.I was thinking to myself, manuel seems quite lost ( it was his first time up ) and felt at least we got to climb somewhere.
I was so wrong, somehow manuel found the way too the top and oh man was it another sight to behold.
In fact it was probably one of the better sights on this trip, even better than gurtenbahn as over here we could see most of the famous swiss Alps.
Manuel showed us the mountain that he climbed ( i still cant pronounce it till today) and i told myself one day i gotta climb one of those one day.

We walked past 2 couples having a BBQ !!! Wa so nice ( remember in Europe im a broke man , in the swiss im a vagrant )
After photos and chilling there, Daniel and Manuel took up Nunchucks to practise haha !
We had a steep decent down, passing by plenty of houses which were just really sick, they really had the best of both words. Full of nature and crazy scenery but yet enjoy the comforts of modern technology.
When we reached the bottom ( oberhofen) it was a small town beside the lake and we went to the restaurant as Daniel and Manuel wanted a drink; surprisingly the price wasnt inflated despite the perfect location.
It was a very nice restaurant (open air) beside the lake and you could still see all the beautiful mountains but somehow there wasnt many people there. We went back and had a feast ( Rosti, pasta, fish fillet, sausages, cheese, bruschetta) haha.
We bid farewell to a drowzy Manuel at 6 am and left for the bus, initiallly when we were walking out we saw the bus and we sprinted like crazy to get on the bus as we thought we were late, but when we finally got on, the bus just waited there for another 15 mins ( than i realised that ours was the first stop) Alamak....
When anyone comes to the Swiss remember this the Swiss are always punctual, their trains schedule says 9.15am and the train will be there by 9.05 and be gone before 9.16. Serious.

Journey by train to the Farm in France ( Lisa and Xavier) Weee !!!!

Queen, yes im in the farm now and it is a vegetable farm so i have been eating vegetables every meal !!!
Haha, but its like super fresh( we pluck some of them ourselves ) and somehow taste very different haha You should see this

Jeryl, you must come one day also !!!
I was telling Michael ser when i was in the Swiss, i was really happy but felt quite sad that my friends and family were not with me to enjoy it also, and might never be able or want to...