October 4, 2021

July 2021

Life

After Italy, I had originally planned on going to Portugal and Spain, but the rapidly spreading Delta variant made me reconsider. On the second last day before flying out, I forfeited my existing plans for Porto to instead go to Berlin.

Tempelhof Airport's main check-in hall

Berlin is a very livable city; the place I'd settle in if I were based in Europe. It's green, modern, the cost of living is low (relative to Italy and the US), and also quite international. A city with a somewhat tricky history, Berlin has done an impressive job repurposing its historical sites into modern facilities while paying homage to the past. For example, the Berlin Wall Memorial along Bernauer Strasse features original poles marking where the wall once stood, complete with touching information placards telling personal stories of families affected by the wall. It also doubles as a strip of urban greenspace, a popular jogging track for residents and frolicking spot for dogs. Spreepark, a East Berlin theme park whose owner was caught for smuggling cocaine, is being developed into a public park and currently offers 'urban exploration' tours into the abandoned site. I also took a tour of the perfectly preserved Tempelhof airport, the main site of the Berlin airlift, which hasn't been in operation since 2008. The airport runway has been converted into a large urban green space, often used for electronic music festivals.

After 5 days in Berlin, I took a train to Prague. You immediately notice you've left Western Europe in Prague: it's significantly cheaper, curiously with its own currency, and the architecture – both newer buildings from the communist era and older buildings – give off a distinct Eastern European vibe. Prague is a unique and historic city; the significant tourist sites like the Charles Bridge, Castle, or Tyn Church are gothic from around the 15th century, while most of the buildings in the old town are from the classical period.

Prague

I began to feel sick the day I got to Prague. I'm not sure what I contracted, but it was some kind of infection that affected my heart. I had a fever and had difficulty breathing, often feeling a burning sensation when standing up or getting around. I went to a private practice for expats, who on the second day directed me to a public teaching hospital for further testing. This is where I really felt I got the Eastern Europe experience. After some testing in the emergency room, I was told to wait around for 3 hours for my results, but heard nothing after three and a half hours. So I went to check, and the middle-aged receptionist was particularly dimissive and aggressive in her poor English, telling me that it'd take maybe 5 hours or all day, and to just go back and wait. I waited another half hour before I got fed up, and went back. This time I was agitated and was more aggressive: when she was being unhelpful once again, I asked, "this is the fucking emergency room, why do I have to wait all day?"

There was definitely one word in that sentence she understood. She became visibly angry, and threatened to call the police on me. I didn't back down, encouraging her to go ahead. This turned out to be a bluff, and a minute later the doctor came out explaining that the results would be out in 20 minutes. In Chinese there's a saying called "用硬碰硬“, which literally translates to "use hard to bump hard"; I'll just leave it here.

By the end of my stay in Prague, I had fully recovered for my flight to Geneva. My one day in Geneva was when the Pokemon Go Fest was going on, so I spent most of my time walking around Lake Geneva doing raids. I then headed over to Verbier, where I learned how to paraglide for three days.

The view from the take-off before my first flight

We spent about two days running up and down a field, learning how to take-off and land. It was tiring and grilling in the sun, and the fact that we were 2200 meters above sea level didn't help. But at least the location was beautiful, and we also got lucky with the sunny weather. It had been raining all week last week, but this meant the ground was still muddy so my shoes were wet the whole day. On day 3, we were like young birds who had just learned how to fly: we ran off an incline into the valley about a mile high, flying completely solo for 15 minutes. The pre-flight of that first flight was a bit nerve-racking, but once in the air my nervousness faded immediately. This was probably the closest to human flight I could get to, and the pain from the last two days became worth it. I hope to find time next year to complete my lessons and get my license.

It takes about two weeks to become a certified pilot, but I also wanted to explore Switzerland. After Verbier, I first headed to Lausanne to meet a high school friend before going to Lauterbrunnen, seeing the Chateau Guillon en route. If you had to go to one place in Switzerland, go to Lauterbrunnen. It's an immensely scenic valley with high cliffs and plenty of waterfalls on both sides, while Interlaken and Grindewald are also nearby. At the peak of Jungfrau at 3500 meters above sea level, I saw another world covered in snow, and was definitely underdressed for the occasion. The same afternoon, I did the Murren Via Ferrata, one of the most exhilarating 'hikes' I've ever done. Through the 3 hour trek along the side of the Lauterbrunnen valley, I crossed multiple waterfalls, hanging bridges, and briefly felt a paralyzing sense of vertigo on a section only consisting of iron rungs directly above the valley. My legs were very sore by the next day, but I continued with another 30k-step day on Mt First, hiking to a beautiful alpine lake called Bachalpsee. In the afternoon, I walked along a river gorge formed by glaciers and saw the hillside town of Grindewald, perhaps the setting and inspiration for fairytales.

Hiking the Murren Via Ferrata

I then spent a couple days in Zermatt, a tourist town next to the Matterhorn. However, the weather was not in my favor: clouds covered the scenic peak on the days I was there. Regardless, it was another beautiful region of Switzerland; I saw glaciers at the top of Gornergrat and hiked to both Stellisee and Riffelsee, famous lakeside viewpoints of the Matterhorn. I took the scenic Glacier express to Chur to visit the tiny country of Liechtenstein, which basically felt like another canton of Switzerland. In my last few days in Switzerland, I visited Lucerne and went up Mt Pilatus, hiking up in the clouds to get to the peak.

I only got a brief clear view of the Matterhorn on the train up to Gornergrat

Overall, I felt very connected to nature the two weeks I was in Switzerland. Like Italy, I look back at my time there very fondly, but the experience was totally different. I made a video about my time in Switzerland after I got back to the States, which you can find here. I hope it conveys the nature vibe that I now treasure.

Food

Fondue for one (1)

• Currywurst (Berlin, Germany): it's not good for you, but I love Currywurst and had it many times in Berlin. In particular, there was this shop called Curry und Chili where they had a 10 spice-level challenge with the top level at over 7 million Scoville units (for context, the Carolina Reaper is at 2 million Scoville units). Everything up to level 9 (2 million Scoville units) was doable, but level 10 really affected my consciousness for a bit. The experience was excruciating, but honestly worth it: I can now say I've had something almost 4 times as spicy as the Carolina Reaper.
• Durum Doner (Berlin, Germany): the other food I had a lot of in Berlin were Durum Doners, a Turkish wrap filled with vegetables and shaved meat. They were cheap and very tasty, especially with a good medley of aioli sauces and spices. Honestly, I probably prefer German Kebabs over Turkish ones, sorry.
• Kin Dee (Berlin, Germany): A Michelin starred Thai restaurant with a particular emphasis on fresh local ingredients. There are no Thai staples like mango or papaya, but instead replaced with local vegetables. Nonetheless, it is still unmistakably Thai, but a unique one that’s been created as a product from its environment. Check out this video explaining chef Dalad's philosophy.
• Beef Tartare (Prague, Czech Republic): this dish was basically on every menu in Prague, and I ordered it often. Some came with rich or subtle sauces like aiolis or mustard, while others were simple and pure in its flavor of raw beef. Overall, Czech cuisine is very focused on meat; one of the most recommended restaurants in Prague is a butcher shop.
• Torkel (Liechtenstein): I was in Liechtenstein for about 3 hours, and 2 hours were spent at this brilliant Michelin starred restaurant serving modern regional cuisine. The dessert was the highlight of the meal for me; the passion fruit dream has a passion fruit cream sweetened using honey with the texture between ice cream and pudding, but features an exceptionally creamy mouthfeel. Passion fruit seeds are laced at the top of the cream, as well as sweet berries to complement.
• Instant noodles (Switzerland): I made instant noodles for quite a few times in Switzerland, partly because everything was so expensive but also because there were very few good restaurants. I take pride in my instant noodles: I add tomatoes, Chinese cabbage, cilantro, and an egg to make it a holistic meal. I also paired it with some Swiss meat and cheese on the side.
• Chocolate (Switzerland): one of my favorite chocolates is Laderach's strawberry white chocolate. I normally don't like fruit in chocolate but this one is different. The crushed air-dried berries create a contrastingly tart taste that is dotted between the sweet white chocolate. They come in big sheets and you buy it by weight.

Beef Panang curry from Kin Dee

Misc

I took Ryanair for the first time to get to Berlin. My ticket from Milan was 30 euros. Ryanair is the master at shaving cost: the seats don't recline, the turnaround time between flights is immediate (we boarded right after the previous flight deplaned with no sanitization in between), and the flight safety manual is printed on the seat back.

I remember thinking it was strange that eggs are not refrigerated in European supermarkets. Turns out, the USDA requires eggs to be washed and refrigerated while the EU prohibits any type of cleaning. Both are approaches to preventing Salmonella: washing the egg reduces sources of bacterial contamination but also removes the cuticle, an outer shield on the egg that protects against bacteria, forcing it to be refrigerated.

Cliché Instagram pic

The Olympic Museum in Lausanne is one of the most immersive museums I've been to. It had accessible descriptions for all ages, interactive exhibits, and very colorfully presented content. For example, there were displays on scientific innovation in sporting materials, and a gallery of all the torches and medals used in the different Olympics. I learned about Olympians' touching stories and played simulations as if I were competing too.

One of the most impressive things about Switzerland is the prevalence of infrastructure. Cell service coverage is comprehensive even on mountain tops, there are cable cars going up every mountain, and the train service is one of the most organized systems in the world.

I visited the Liquidrom in Berlin, a day spa retrofitted in a futuristic train station built during WWII. For an hour, I floated aimlessly in a warm pool looking up at the ceiling with a window into the sky. It's a relaxing, personal, and cleansing experience, but with far less effort required compared to Eremito or the Empire Builder. I highly recommend it.

In Berlin

The hardest thing about paragliding is keeping all the lines untangled.

I am a big fan of Patagonia because of its 'environment first' philosophy; there aren't many companies out there actively telling you to buy less of their stuff. I visited the Patagonia store in Berlin because my sling bag was frizzing up in the back, and they had an in-house tailor who patched another material over it. The result was so great it felt like the bags should've been made like this to begin with.

Switzerland is really expensive. Every meal starts at around 30 USD, including places like Five Guys. A kilogram of beef is 69 CHF, which in US terms comes out to about 34 USD per pound. Apparently this is partly because there is a strong preference for domestic meats.

I was first introduced to Kofola by a colleague at QuantCo, who described it as an example in which a knock-off was better than the real version. Kofola is a Czech carbonated soft drink that originated as an alternative to Coke during the Cold War, originally created as a draught using the byproduct from roasting coffee. It has a fruity and licorice-like taste, and contains 30% less sugar but ~50% more caffeine.

Prague's metro system probably has the fastest escalators I've been on. It feels almost dangerous, and you really have to pay attention to not slip.

At the manga inspired Tokyo 2020 exhibit in The Olympic Museum (ft. surprised emotion)