Dear Friends,

it has been a while ;-) As you may know I started a new job last may in Grindelwald a swiss tourist town. I have been working for a 4 star hotel chain, as a “holiday experience enhancer” means taking care of hotel guests. The hotel is situated in the heart of the town with a fantastic view to the surrounding mountains like the world famous “Eiger Northface”.

The background of this picture shows the lower Grindelwald glacier, the two peaks are called “Fiescherhörner”. I went on hiking trips with hotel guest, the longest one was around 3 hours walking time. I really enjoyed being in nature, breathing fresh mountain air, being active and meeting folks from all over the world. I also taught Qi Gong which is very similar to Tai Chi, and I right liked it from the start. It was great fun to give introductory lessons to guests. Besides this activities I gave Aqua gym lessons, did a weekly crossbow shooting contest, etc.

This picture above shows the tourist town of Grindelwald with about 4000 inhabitants. 90 % of the income is related to tourism. A hundred years ago, people here lived solely from farming. There are still some cheese farmers here who produce yummy cheese (fondue, raclette, etc.)

This picture was made of one of my guided hiking trips in Grindelwald.

Lake “Bachalp” is a beautiful place where you are able to enjoy a breathtaking panorama.

In spring when the snow on the peaks starts to melt, Mountain Rivers get more water and some awesome waterfalls can be seen.

With some of my friends I went Canyoning – where you have to go down a river in the mountains. There are parts where you have to abseil, jump into small pools, slide down rocks (see picture). It was great fun, even though I have lost one of my contact lenses. At the end of the trip we were quite exhausted and looked forward to a well deserved cold beer. Btw, the river was quite cold (around 11 degrees Celsius).

Also great fun was to sled down the hill on a special summer sledge track, even though my scared friend always asked me to slow down ;-)

This picture shows the village of Lauterbrunnen with view into the narrow Lauterbrunnen vally where one can see five waterfalls.

Actually I work for two hotels, the other one is located in the town Wengen which you can see on this picture here. The town is carless, one has to take a cogwheel train to reach it.

 This picture shows the “Eiger Northface”. Many mountaineers died trying to reach the Eiger top going trough the step and dangerous northface. Recently they have filmed a movie here called “Northface” Go and watch it!

My summer season contract ended on 20th October. I went to Berlin to see some friends and learn more about the city with interesting history.

After this I went again to do a 10-days Vipassana (www.dhamma.org) meditation course in Switzerland. Yes, again 10 days of silence, no writing, no reading. This time it was a bit harder than on my first course in India, but I managed to survive and got deeper into the technique.

And finally I have put all my travel pictures on my homepage www.buddha-beat.ch. Unfortunately a English version of the page is still missing but you can have a look at the pics under “Fotogalerie”. Enjoy!

I have decided to stay for a winter season in Grindelwald. My contract starts on 11th December and ends end of May. I’m just making my mind up what to do afterwards, but we will see…

Guess I want write again before Xmas, so I wish you already a very merry Xmas time and a happy new year. Be happy and love (not only yourself ;-) May you will find the power to you’re your new years resolutions come true ;-)

Winter is already here, Grindelwald is ready for the ski season which starts in a few days. I wish you all the best and send you warm greetings from cold Switzerland.

Send you love and wish you inner peace
Beat