Switzerland
Photo of the Day 6/7
by Sean on Jun.07, 2009, under Photos, Switzerland
Victory Monument in Bangkok, Thailand
The Victory Monument located in the center of Bangkok was erected in 1941 to honor the glorious Thai win over the French in Indochina that gave them back land ceded in the late 19th century. This small-scale war lasted only a month, and resulted in few casualties. Nonetheless, the Thai military commander was so enthralled with getting the land back that he had the monument built.
The reality is that the Japanese forced them to end the war, as France and Thailand were both it’s allies, and it was preparing to fight in the Second World War. Having its allies fight each other meant they would be unable to help them.
Activities in Interlaken
by Sean on Jun.04, 2005, under Switzerland
The next day I got a voucher for the white-water rafting activity because it cost me around $70 and I really wanted to do it (the voucher was good for 5 years, and it has 3 years left on it still!).
After that I went Canyoning! 
There were two Canyoning trips going that day: a 2 hour and a 6 hour trip. Needless to say I took the 2 hour trip because I didn’t want to push myself too much after yesterday’s fight with the Sun.
Anyways, me and about 15 other people I didn’t know got suited up and climbed into a van that drove up the mountain for 20 minutes on a tiny winding road. 
The first “jump” was actually a “slide.” We got down on our backs and they pushed us and we slid into the water below (about 3 or 4 feet, nothing major). 
We eventually had to repel down about 30 feet into the next cavern.
All the while it was 60 degrees outside and about 60 or so in the water, and I was freezing! The instructor told us to put our arms at our sides and lift our shoulders in order to keep the blood flowing to warm ourselves up (sorry no picture!)
The instructor kept making fun of me because I was wearing contacts and every time I got into the water I had to stop and wipe the water out of my eyes! 
We had this one jump of about 10 feet, and we were told to jump for 1 single point because if we were off by even a few inches we would either hit the wall or a large rock, so I was naturally pretty scared. After nailing the landing, I was pretty confident. Then came the final, large jump of about 30 feet (no ropes folks!) Here is a picture of the Instructor doing it because the one of me isn’t as spectacular 
After that I went back, relaxed, packed up and we went to the train station to head on over to Venice!
Interlaken
by Sean on Jun.03, 2005, under Switzerland
Balmers
We arrived at Balmers around 10am on a beautiful sunny day. There was not a cloud in the sky and the amazing breeze made us want to explore the town! We immediately put our stuff down and purchased our activity packages. The others wanted to do the six hour canyoning activity, but I knew I couldn’t hold my bladder that long. I didn’t want the embarrassment of pissing in the water and having everyone say, “hey, this is supposed to be cold water.. why is it so warm all of a sudden?” and then I say, “I didn’t do it,” when in fact I did! In the end, I chose on the three hour canyoning activity with some other backpackers. I planned to go white-water rafting as well, but I never made it.
Balmers
