Travel Diary: Birthday Week Day 6 - Adda kadi laku da nga Dirty Ice Cream idiay Liechtenstein

His Royal Orangeness Karl Willem and PA/PR Gromit on a courtesy call to the officials of the Principality.

It jolted me as I stopped at a junction that I had covered 75% of the entire length of Liechtenstein. Not an exceptional feat in a country only 25km long, but given my advanced age (yep, it's all downhill after you reach your half-life) it's a big embarrassment that I haven't even fully explored my beloved Felepens. I've been stuck to Luzon all my life and the southernmost I've been to is Tagaytay (and I was disappointed to find that it was littered with boring fastfood franchises such as evil Starbucks, Jollibee, etc...the usual overpriced crap). I seriously need to rectify this lack of Philippine exposure.

His Royal Orangeness Karl Willem, PA/PR Gromit and I were off to see the Prince's art collection at the Kunstmuseum. Prince Johannes Adam Ferdinand Alois Josef Maria Marko d'Aviano Pius von und zu Liechtenstein is the only absolute monarch in Europa but to his credit, his principality still retains that rural charm. (There is one McDonald's though...ewww.) Still, the ultra-cleanness and orderliness of the built up areas reminded me of a theme park, albeit a very posh one bereft of the annoying man dressed like a rodent.

Close to the Patek Philippe store is the only ice cream place in the whole of Vaduz. It's owned by an Ilocana. It was not hard to guess that it also served as a Pinoy sari-sari store even without the large Philippine flags all over the place. There were the mandatory instant noodles and Sharon Cuneta-endorsed de lata. Who else would buy mediocre Serg's chocolates that cost twice as much as local Lindt bars but homesick Pinoys?

I had a scoop each of langka and ube sorbetes. As I greedily licked my ice cream cone like a lustful lesbian let loose on physical check-up day at Girls' High School, Manang's Liechtensteiner husband greeted me from across the parlour with "Ukinam, ukinam" to which I replied politely "Guten Morgen. Ukin-inam met ah". Disconcerting at first but who knew Ilocano can pass off as a Germanic dialect?

Manang proudly narrated how the Princess (the former Countess Kinsky of Wchinitz and Tettau) and her grandchildren regularly come for sorbetes.

"Alam mo, nung kararating ko rito, nagulat ako na walang bodyguard ang mga royals at parang ordinaryong tao lang sila!" And I was like "Er, manang, wala po tayo sa Isabela, aanhin naman nila ang bodyguards?" "Wala, naninibago lang ako kasi ultimo barangay kapitan namin sa San Pablo, maraming alalay."

After visiting the art gallery, I had farewell lunch with my wonderful social worker hosts. I had scouted the nearby mountains from across the Rhine yesterday and was happy that I was invited to come back and try to traverse the "Three Sisters" in summer. (And by that, I mean the mountains that border Austria.)

We killed time in the afternoon in the city of Buchs on the Swiss side. On the outerlimits of Buchs lies the smallest city of Switzerland - Werdenberg. HRO Karl Willem, PA/PR Gromit, and I had a grand time exploring its castle and the old houses around it.

After our mandatory high tea with the natives, we caught the Austrian train named Maria Theresa which began its journey from Vienna and terminates at the bustling metropolis that is Zurich.

At 5pm, HRO Karl Willem, PA/PR Gromit, and I were happily gorging on Luxemburgerli at that decadent Zurich chocolate institution Confiserie Sprüngli. I'm really not big on chocolates, but it's a great place to girl watch........


Beware: Michael Jackson crossing the street. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a numbered account here. A lot of corrupt third world officials have numbered accounts (like former Justice Secretary Perez, the tax-evading Pidal/Arroyo brothers. Thankfully, Liechtenstein is clamping down though on these dirty accounts.)

HRO Karl Willem and PA/PR Gromit take another coffee break at the chic museum cafe which has a Japanese sushi chef. The current art installation by Monika Sosnowska composed of a large mind-bending symmetric white maze that you can walk into is the stuff dreams are made of. Dali's Skull with Dancer was on temporary display as well as a Picasso before his cubism phase, and a shocking Pistoletto which I forgot to take a picture of because I was so enchanted and I only had a crappy disposable camera (it's a sculpture of a naked girl drinking tea juxtaposed next to a mirror.)

HRO Karl Willem and PA/PR Gromit at another museum, this time devoted to local history.

HRO Karl Willem and PA/PR Gromit and the smallest city of Switzerland in the canton of St. Gallen. Castle on a hill. Check. A couple of peasants houses around it. Check. Lake. Check. There, the ingredients for a city.

The train station at Buchs is the last Swiss station before Austria. The Austrian police check every caboose for passenger passports at this stop. While HRO Karl Willem and PA/PR Gromit travel visa fee, sadly loyal human consort The Nashman had to stay behind the yellow line.

Travel Diary: Birthday Week Day 6 - Adda kadi laku da nga Dirty Ice Cream idiay Liechtenstein

His Royal Orangeness Karl Willem and PA/PR Gromit on a courtesy call to the officials of the Principality.

It jolted me as I stopped at a junction that I had covered 75% of the entire length of Liechtenstein. Not an exceptional feat in a country only 25km long, but given my advanced age (yep, it's all downhill after you reach your half-life) it's a big embarrassment that I haven't even fully explored my beloved Felepens. I've been stuck to Luzon all my life and the southernmost I've been to is Tagaytay (and I was disappointed to find that it was littered with boring fastfood franchises such as evil Starbucks, Jollibee, etc...the usual overpriced crap). I seriously need to rectify this lack of Philippine exposure.

His Royal Orangeness Karl Willem, PA/PR Gromit and I were off to see the Prince's art collection at the Kunstmuseum. Prince Johannes Adam Ferdinand Alois Josef Maria Marko d'Aviano Pius von und zu Liechtenstein is the only absolute monarch in Europa but to his credit, his principality still retains that rural charm. (There is one McDonald's though...ewww.) Still, the ultra-cleanness and orderliness of the built up areas reminded me of a theme park, albeit a very posh one bereft of the annoying man dressed like a rodent.

Close to the Patek Philippe store is the only ice cream place in the whole of Vaduz. It's owned by an Ilocana. It was not hard to guess that it also served as a Pinoy sari-sari store even without the large Philippine flags all over the place. There were the mandatory instant noodles and Sharon Cuneta-endorsed de lata. Who else would buy mediocre Serg's chocolates that cost twice as much as local Lindt bars but homesick Pinoys?

I had a scoop each of langka and ube sorbetes. As I greedily licked my ice cream cone like a lustful lesbian let loose on physical check-up day at Girls' High School, Manang's Liechtensteiner husband greeted me from across the parlour with "Ukinam, ukinam" to which I replied politely "Guten Morgen. Ukin-inam met ah". Disconcerting at first but who knew Ilocano can pass off as a Germanic dialect?

Manang proudly narrated how the Princess (the former Countess Kinsky of Wchinitz and Tettau) and her grandchildren regularly come for sorbetes.

"Alam mo, nung kararating ko rito, nagulat ako na walang bodyguard ang mga royals at parang ordinaryong tao lang sila!" And I was like "Er, manang, wala po tayo sa Isabela, aanhin naman nila ang bodyguards?" "Wala, naninibago lang ako kasi ultimo barangay kapitan namin sa San Pablo, maraming alalay."

After visiting the art gallery, I had farewell lunch with my wonderful social worker hosts. I had scouted the nearby mountains from across the Rhine yesterday and was happy that I was invited to come back and try to traverse the "Three Sisters" in summer. (And by that, I mean the mountains that border Austria.)

We killed time in the afternoon in the city of Buchs on the Swiss side. On the outerlimits of Buchs lies the smallest city of Switzerland - Werdenberg. HRO Karl Willem, PA/PR Gromit, and I had a grand time exploring its castle and the old houses around it.

After our mandatory high tea with the natives, we caught the Austrian train named Maria Theresa which began its journey from Vienna and terminates at the bustling metropolis that is Zurich.

At 5pm, HRO Karl Willem, PA/PR Gromit, and I were happily gorging on Luxemburgerli at that decadent Zurich chocolate institution Confiserie Sprüngli. I'm really not big on chocolates, but it's a great place to girl watch........


Beware: Michael Jackson crossing the street. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a numbered account here. A lot of corrupt third world officials have numbered accounts (like former Justice Secretary Perez, the tax-evading Pidal/Arroyo brothers. Thankfully, Liechtenstein is clamping down though on these dirty accounts.)

HRO Karl Willem and PA/PR Gromit take another coffee break at the chic museum cafe which has a Japanese sushi chef. The current art installation by Monika Sosnowska composed of a large mind-bending symmetric white maze that you can walk into is the stuff dreams are made of. Dali's Skull with Dancer was on temporary display as well as a Picasso before his cubism phase, and a shocking Pistoletto which I forgot to take a picture of because I was so enchanted and I only had a crappy disposable camera (it's a sculpture of a naked girl drinking tea juxtaposed next to a mirror.)

HRO Karl Willem and PA/PR Gromit at another museum, this time devoted to local history.

HRO Karl Willem and PA/PR Gromit and the smallest city of Switzerland in the canton of St. Gallen. Castle on a hill. Check. A couple of peasants houses around it. Check. Lake. Check. There, the ingredients for a city.

The train station at Buchs is the last Swiss station before Austria. The Austrian police check every caboose for passenger passports at this stop. While HRO Karl Willem and PA/PR Gromit travel visa fee, sadly loyal human consort The Nashman had to stay behind the yellow line.

Travel Diary: Birthday Week Day 5 - Liechten-where?-stein, Birthday Outreach and Immersion

His Royal Orangeness Karl Willem, PA/PR Gromit and The Nashman vow to come back and scale the North Face. Itaga mo sa bato. We will return!

PA/PR Gromit woke me up this morning, looked deep into my eyes, and said "Let's go to Liechtenstein!"

"Er, do you realise that we are deep in the heartland of Switzerland?" I replied.

"No worries, with the high speed train system, we can get there in 3 hours." countered PA/PR Gromit and off he went to make some phone calls.

His Royal Orangeness Karl Willem, PA/PR Gromit, and The Nashman had breakfast, thanked the people who took care of us in Grindelwald and took the train to Interlaken. From there, we changed for the panoramic train to Luzern.

We had light lunch and coffee on the north bank of the river Reuss. I wanted to say how nothing's changed since the last time I was here (5 years ago) but sadly, the quayside now has a Starbucks outlet (disgusting!). Ugh, the beautiful view ruined!

I narrated to HRO Karl Willem and PA/PR Gromit how C-list celebrities in the Philippines do token 'social immersion' (or pagkukunwari - yung tipong isang Atenista or Assumptionista makikitira sa slums ng 14.5 hours para masabing naranasan nila ang hirap) or hand out fastfood meals at orphanages and shelters to mark their birthday and PA/PR Gromit said this was a good idea. So why not devote some of our time doing social work for the disaffected Swiss youth?

Diba? Para may masabing meron akong kawang-gawa tulad nina whatsthernameiforgot artista. Kung sabagay, last year during my birthday, I joined the French students in solidarity by making-sali sa don't be takot make-baka nila in Paris. Nalibre ligo tuloy ako by the water-cannons ng mga police. May kasama pang hitit ng tear gas.

PA/PR Gromit made another phone call and at 3pm we took a fast train to the Swiss border town of Sargans where we were met by a very dynamic and cheerful social worker from Liechtenstein who was going to be our host for the evening.

We hopped into his car and shortly, we were transported from the squalor and poverty of Switzerland into the small struggling country of Liechtenstein, the fourth smallest in the world whose GDP per capita is quintuple that of five African states combined.(Don't bother looking at lists, they are officially unranked. Yet, their $60,000 GDP per capita is just above Switzerland's paltry $50,000. My beloved Philippines? A trifling $4900.) The money the Swiss don't have, Liechtenstein has.

We changed transport to a hip van in the capital city of Vaduz before crossing the Rhine again into another Swiss border city. (Take note ha, sa sobrang yaman ng Liechtenstein, ang aking kaibigan na Liechtensteiner ay sa Switzerland pa nagka-kawang-gawa kasi nga poorer ang Switzerland compared sa kanila.)

Incidentally, three weeks ago, Switzerland 'mistakenly' invaded Liechtenstein. 170 infantry soldiers crossed the unmarked border before realising their mistake. (Kinda like Britain claiming they were 1km off the Iranian waters. They probably stray into Iran covertly many times and the Iranians got fed up and picked them up for their compulsory vacation. Thankfully, this sordid affair is over and it was revealed that Blair told Bush to back off after suggesting this was a good excuse to pick a fight with Persia.)

Today, I was introduced to a new sport called municycling. Basically, you take a unicycle, go up a mountain, and ride downhill using mountain biking paths. This doesn't sound so scary enought, so why not do it early evening, when light is fading?

I felt so old. There was this 9 year old kid who recently took up the sport. He fell and crashed many times but he seized the challenge like a pro. I think this bravery is something we slowly lose as we age. We're so afraid of falling that we won't even go out of our front door. I was impressed.

As an aside, coming from a poor country like beloved Felepens, I asked my host, in this patch of the world which God has blessed so much, what problems did these kids have, as one by one they were dropped off at the meeting point by their parents driving Mercs. (Pero baka nga poor sila kase yung chedeng nila, lumang 2005 model lamang.) The most common? Stress from the high standards required by their schools, the usual peer pressure to take drugs and alcohol, parents divorcing, and the usual antisocial behaviour of playing rock music too loudly. To take their mind off vices, the youth centre built skate parks, bmx courses, places to chill out, gave away free contraceptives, and told them "Here is a mountain, take your unicycle and and have fun speeding downhill"

Nanibago ako dahil kakaibang youth centre ito dahil ni isa sa mga batang kina-counsel ay marunong manaksak gamit ang ice pick. Nung nilabas ako ng aking ice pick and asked 'Was ist dieses?' (Ano itich?) ang sagot nila eh "Gamit sa fondue?"


HRO Karl Willem, PA/PR Gromit, and The Nashman do some cafe hopping from one town to the the next. This was at Interlaken. Interlaken is a town built for tourists so I can't say anymore about it except that it provides nice views of the Bernese Alps.

Well hello there miss Panatang Makabayan. HRO Karl Willem and PA/PR Gromit arrive in Luzern. At this stage, my two year old digital camera decided it was time to go kaput. Hence, we had to do with a disposable camera for the rest of the trip.

PA/PR Gromit assures me that I can cross over to Liechtenstein without a visa.

There was a comics festival in Luzern where all the big names of indie comics studios came to present their groundbreaking works. Hmm, maybe more Filipino comics artists should come to such events. (Gerry Alanguilan's current mindbending work Elmer would easily fit in this sort of crowd.)

HRO Karl Willem and PA/PR Gromit just had to walk along the quay and over Chapel bridge....

....before we took the train to a region of Switzerland I have not yet scouted for possible summer hikes....(BTW Luzern Train Station is a very beautiful station.)

HRO Karl Willem and PA/PR Gromit doing outreach work with the young kids of Switzerland....

...I wish I had a digital camera! These kids did some crazy stunts at high speed. Amazing!

Travel Diary: Birthday Week Day 5 - Liechten-where?-stein, Birthday Outreach and Immersion

His Royal Orangeness Karl Willem, PA/PR Gromit and The Nashman vow to come back and scale the North Face. Itaga mo sa bato. We will return!

PA/PR Gromit woke me up this morning, looked deep into my eyes, and said "Let's go to Liechtenstein!"

"Er, do you realise that we are deep in the heartland of Switzerland?" I replied.

"No worries, with the high speed train system, we can get there in 3 hours." countered PA/PR Gromit and off he went to make some phone calls.

His Royal Orangeness Karl Willem, PA/PR Gromit, and The Nashman had breakfast, thanked the people who took care of us in Grindelwald and took the train to Interlaken. From there, we changed for the panoramic train to Luzern.

We had light lunch and coffee on the north bank of the river Reuss. I wanted to say how nothing's changed since the last time I was here (5 years ago) but sadly, the quayside now has a Starbucks outlet (disgusting!). Ugh, the beautiful view ruined!

I narrated to HRO Karl Willem and PA/PR Gromit how C-list celebrities in the Philippines do token 'social immersion' (or pagkukunwari - yung tipong isang Atenista or Assumptionista makikitira sa slums ng 14.5 hours para masabing naranasan nila ang hirap) or hand out fastfood meals at orphanages and shelters to mark their birthday and PA/PR Gromit said this was a good idea. So why not devote some of our time doing social work for the disaffected Swiss youth?

Diba? Para may masabing meron akong kawang-gawa tulad nina whatsthernameiforgot artista. Kung sabagay, last year during my birthday, I joined the French students in solidarity by making-sali sa don't be takot make-baka nila in Paris. Nalibre ligo tuloy ako by the water-cannons ng mga police. May kasama pang hitit ng tear gas.

PA/PR Gromit made another phone call and at 3pm we took a fast train to the Swiss border town of Sargans where we were met by a very dynamic and cheerful social worker from Liechtenstein who was going to be our host for the evening.

We hopped into his car and shortly, we were transported from the squalor and poverty of Switzerland into the small struggling country of Liechtenstein, the fourth smallest in the world whose GDP per capita is quintuple that of five African states combined.(Don't bother looking at lists, they are officially unranked. Yet, their $60,000 GDP per capita is just above Switzerland's paltry $50,000. My beloved Philippines? A trifling $4900.) The money the Swiss don't have, Liechtenstein has.

We changed transport to a hip van in the capital city of Vaduz before crossing the Rhine again into another Swiss border city. (Take note ha, sa sobrang yaman ng Liechtenstein, ang aking kaibigan na Liechtensteiner ay sa Switzerland pa nagka-kawang-gawa kasi nga poorer ang Switzerland compared sa kanila.)

Incidentally, three weeks ago, Switzerland 'mistakenly' invaded Liechtenstein. 170 infantry soldiers crossed the unmarked border before realising their mistake. (Kinda like Britain claiming they were 1km off the Iranian waters. They probably stray into Iran covertly many times and the Iranians got fed up and picked them up for their compulsory vacation. Thankfully, this sordid affair is over and it was revealed that Blair told Bush to back off after suggesting this was a good excuse to pick a fight with Persia.)

Today, I was introduced to a new sport called municycling. Basically, you take a unicycle, go up a mountain, and ride downhill using mountain biking paths. This doesn't sound so scary enought, so why not do it early evening, when light is fading?

I felt so old. There was this 9 year old kid who recently took up the sport. He fell and crashed many times but he seized the challenge like a pro. I think this bravery is something we slowly lose as we age. We're so afraid of falling that we won't even go out of our front door. I was impressed.

As an aside, coming from a poor country like beloved Felepens, I asked my host, in this patch of the world which God has blessed so much, what problems did these kids have, as one by one they were dropped off at the meeting point by their parents driving Mercs. (Pero baka nga poor sila kase yung chedeng nila, lumang 2005 model lamang.) The most common? Stress from the high standards required by their schools, the usual peer pressure to take drugs and alcohol, parents divorcing, and the usual antisocial behaviour of playing rock music too loudly. To take their mind off vices, the youth centre built skate parks, bmx courses, places to chill out, gave away free contraceptives, and told them "Here is a mountain, take your unicycle and and have fun speeding downhill"

Nanibago ako dahil kakaibang youth centre ito dahil ni isa sa mga batang kina-counsel ay marunong manaksak gamit ang ice pick. Nung nilabas ako ng aking ice pick and asked 'Was ist dieses?' (Ano itich?) ang sagot nila eh "Gamit sa fondue?"


HRO Karl Willem, PA/PR Gromit, and The Nashman do some cafe hopping from one town to the the next. This was at Interlaken. Interlaken is a town built for tourists so I can't say anymore about it except that it provides nice views of the Bernese Alps.

Well hello there miss Panatang Makabayan. HRO Karl Willem and PA/PR Gromit arrive in Luzern. At this stage, my two year old digital camera decided it was time to go kaput. Hence, we had to do with a disposable camera for the rest of the trip.

PA/PR Gromit assures me that I can cross over to Liechtenstein without a visa.

There was a comics festival in Luzern where all the big names of indie comics studios came to present their groundbreaking works. Hmm, maybe more Filipino comics artists should come to such events. (Gerry Alanguilan's current mindbending work Elmer would easily fit in this sort of crowd.)

HRO Karl Willem and PA/PR Gromit just had to walk along the quay and over Chapel bridge....

....before we took the train to a region of Switzerland I have not yet scouted for possible summer hikes....(BTW Luzern Train Station is a very beautiful station.)

HRO Karl Willem and PA/PR Gromit doing outreach work with the young kids of Switzerland....

...I wish I had a digital camera! These kids did some crazy stunts at high speed. Amazing!

Travel Diary: Birthday Week Day 4 - Birthday Sledging, Fondue, Movie Premiere

His Royal Orangeness Karl Willem and PA/PR Gromit prepare our transport for the day.

It would be a shame, nevermind that there was very little snowfall this winter, to be here and not strap my feet to some plank and carve those slopes. Today was my 21st birthday and rather than feel depressed that half of my life has been wasted, I thought I'd do something scary to remind me no matter how shitty my life is, that I should always be happy just to be alive.

Since Rossignol was late in supplying His Royal Orangeness Karl Willem and PA/PR Gromit custom skis and I would never embark on an adventure without my two dogs, I got us a classic sledge.

Yes, not a light carbon fibre or composite sledge but a traditional wooden one.

We realised that we could propel ourselves from the TOP of Faulhorn all the way down to Bussalp. This 15km course is the world's longest sledge run with an altitude drop of 800m. Not only was it my first time on a classic sledge, I also didn't know anything about the course. Yet, as we all know, the first time may be bloody madugo but it's also the sweetest napakasarap.

It took us longer to climb up Faulhorn and I got sunburned severely because it was so sunny. From the top, the course looked scary and steep and the corners weren't banked which meant if we failed to turn, we'd go over the cliff.

Still, HRO Karl Willem and PA/PR Gromit said I could do it and more so, that I could steer our sledge into a new Philippine Classic Sledging record (if ever there was one). I took some practice runs over the lake and found the snow to be packed (almost like ice) and therefore very fast and hard.

After birthday lunch on the top of Faulhorn, we embarked on our "cool runnings" adventure.

I'm too incompetent with words in describing how scary but fun the entire experience was. (Experience it for yourselves then you'll know..)

Let me just say that I DO have experience riding wooden planks down steep slopes. When I was growing up in the mean slums of Baguio, I'd take a section of thick plywood, fasten a rope on the front side, and "wax" the underside by rubbing it with candles stolen from the church altar and would ride the plank down the asphalt side roads till I was stoked. And I'm telling you, crashing on tarmac is way more painful than on packed snow.

Despite three crashes, a hard turn that nearly broke my ankle, and painful sunburn. We survived! It took us 3 hours to get to the top of the mountain. It took us a mere 30 minutes to get to the finish line (12 km away).

(Wait! What happened to the final 3km? - The snow had turned to sludge and it was impossible to steer. Also we didn't realise that the last 5km was actually closed that day! We missed the avalanche warning signs.)

Still, I claim the Philippine Classic Sledge Record (let us forget for a moment that HRO Karl Willem is Dutch/Swedish and Gromit is English. I'm sure they won't mind filing this under the Philippine Snowsports Record Books.


HRO Karl Willem and PA/PR Gromit excitedly board the aerial gondola to First with our sledge.

HRO Karl Willem and PA/PR Gromit ride the sledge as The Nashman pulls them all the way to the top of Faulhorn.

Unbeknownst to The Nashman, PA/PR Gromit went to the patisserie, got a birthday cake, and put it in our lunch pack. I was touched.

My 21st Birthday and I'm with my best friends enjoying the vista. What would I do without HRO Karl Willem and PA/PR Gromit?

We did some practice runs. Learning how to steer the sledge, brake, do hard turns, and blocking our fears.

The starting point....

...our first spectacular crash that sent the sledge flying off the course.

...it looks easy.....

......until you start crashing.

...we sledged inside the avalanche zone! Wahoo! Safety regulations do not apply to Felepenos like me. Ay bale wala lang yan. May agimat ang dugo ko anoh. And I checked earlier that I still had an active insurance. (You need to take out a separate insurance that covers you for sports above 2000m)

....it doesn't look steep...

For dinner, I shared fondue with a pretty Californian (Olivia). She's doing film school and wants to be a director. I volunteered to read her script and if schedules permit, will audition for her first feature film. I warned her that due to my conservative Belgian Catholic upbringing, I can't show full frontal nudity and will not wear a condom during the mandatory and realistic sex scenes that are the hallmarks today's cinema.

...after dinner, I went to the Swiss Premiere of the new Rowan Atkinson movie. I forgot to ask if the film was dubbed in French or German, but then again, I'm watching frigging Mr. Bean! The movie had some classic slapstick scenes. What an apt film to see on my birthday. I realised, I shouldn't feel sorry for my superfluous and insignificant life and like Mr. Bean, feel positive that for every conundrum, there is always a simple solution. (Let us not forget that Rowan Atkinson has an Engineering degree from Oxford. Between Mr. Bean and MacGyver, I'd rather be with the Bean.)

Travel Diary: Birthday Week Day 4 - Birthday Sledging, Fondue, Movie Premiere

His Royal Orangeness Karl Willem and PA/PR Gromit prepare our transport for the day.

It would be a shame, nevermind that there was very little snowfall this winter, to be here and not strap my feet to some plank and carve those slopes. Today was my 21st birthday and rather than feel depressed that half of my life has been wasted, I thought I'd do something scary to remind me no matter how shitty my life is, that I should always be happy just to be alive.

Since Rossignol was late in supplying His Royal Orangeness Karl Willem and PA/PR Gromit custom skis and I would never embark on an adventure without my two dogs, I got us a classic sledge.

Yes, not a light carbon fibre or composite sledge but a traditional wooden one.

We realised that we could propel ourselves from the TOP of Faulhorn all the way down to Bussalp. This 15km course is the world's longest sledge run with an altitude drop of 800m. Not only was it my first time on a classic sledge, I also didn't know anything about the course. Yet, as we all know, the first time may be bloody madugo but it's also the sweetest napakasarap.

It took us longer to climb up Faulhorn and I got sunburned severely because it was so sunny. From the top, the course looked scary and steep and the corners weren't banked which meant if we failed to turn, we'd go over the cliff.

Still, HRO Karl Willem and PA/PR Gromit said I could do it and more so, that I could steer our sledge into a new Philippine Classic Sledging record (if ever there was one). I took some practice runs over the lake and found the snow to be packed (almost like ice) and therefore very fast and hard.

After birthday lunch on the top of Faulhorn, we embarked on our "cool runnings" adventure.

I'm too incompetent with words in describing how scary but fun the entire experience was. (Experience it for yourselves then you'll know..)

Let me just say that I DO have experience riding wooden planks down steep slopes. When I was growing up in the mean slums of Baguio, I'd take a section of thick plywood, fasten a rope on the front side, and "wax" the underside by rubbing it with candles stolen from the church altar and would ride the plank down the asphalt side roads till I was stoked. And I'm telling you, crashing on tarmac is way more painful than on packed snow.

Despite three crashes, a hard turn that nearly broke my ankle, and painful sunburn. We survived! It took us 3 hours to get to the top of the mountain. It took us a mere 30 minutes to get to the finish line (12 km away).

(Wait! What happened to the final 3km? - The snow had turned to sludge and it was impossible to steer. Also we didn't realise that the last 5km was actually closed that day! We missed the avalanche warning signs.)

Still, I claim the Philippine Classic Sledge Record (let us forget for a moment that HRO Karl Willem is Dutch/Swedish and Gromit is English. I'm sure they won't mind filing this under the Philippine Snowsports Record Books.


HRO Karl Willem and PA/PR Gromit excitedly board the aerial gondola to First with our sledge.

HRO Karl Willem and PA/PR Gromit ride the sledge as The Nashman pulls them all the way to the top of Faulhorn.

Unbeknownst to The Nashman, PA/PR Gromit went to the patisserie, got a birthday cake, and put it in our lunch pack. I was touched.

My 21st Birthday and I'm with my best friends enjoying the vista. What would I do without HRO Karl Willem and PA/PR Gromit?

We did some practice runs. Learning how to steer the sledge, brake, do hard turns, and blocking our fears.

The starting point....

...our first spectacular crash that sent the sledge flying off the course.

...it looks easy.....

......until you start crashing.

...we sledged inside the avalanche zone! Wahoo! Safety regulations do not apply to Felepenos like me. Ay bale wala lang yan. May agimat ang dugo ko anoh. And I checked earlier that I still had an active insurance. (You need to take out a separate insurance that covers you for sports above 2000m)

....it doesn't look steep...

For dinner, I shared fondue with a pretty Californian (Olivia). She's doing film school and wants to be a director. I volunteered to read her script and if schedules permit, will audition for her first feature film. I warned her that due to my conservative Belgian Catholic upbringing, I can't show full frontal nudity and will not wear a condom during the mandatory and realistic sex scenes that are the hallmarks today's cinema.

...after dinner, I went to the Swiss Premiere of the new Rowan Atkinson movie. I forgot to ask if the film was dubbed in French or German, but then again, I'm watching frigging Mr. Bean! The movie had some classic slapstick scenes. What an apt film to see on my birthday. I realised, I shouldn't feel sorry for my superfluous and insignificant life and like Mr. Bean, feel positive that for every conundrum, there is always a simple solution. (Let us not forget that Rowan Atkinson has an Engineering degree from Oxford. Between Mr. Bean and MacGyver, I'd rather be with the Bean.)