East Eats West

Panerai is passé - try Audemars Piquet instead

Picture: The mighty and classic Royal Oak Offshore (Picture courtesy of www.watchgid.ru)

Panerai is the shooting star among Swiss mechanical watches thanks to celebrity endorsement. Nowadays all movie stars from Kiefer Sutherland to Pierce Brosnan wear them in movies. But what if you think there are too many very fashionable people wearing Panerai watches and that Panerai’s exclusive sales strategy sucks? If you like big sporty watches that are classical, look no further as Audemars Piquet and the Royal Oak Offshore series. Made out of a solid case and with its own in-house made movement, the last family owned company is hard to beat. Yes, you can buy two Panerais for one Royal Oak but then again, Panerai’s limited series are just marketing crap, Audemars Piquet is a small company that does not produce more than 25’000 watches a year. This is exclusive!

PS: Jay-Z is wearing one and Beyoncé surely likes it! And if you want to meet a true watch addict, try this site by clicking here.

It is official: Zurich is very expensive

But Oslo, London and Copenhagen are more expensive. According to the Swiss Bank UBS’s survey the cheapest towns on earth are Kuala Lumpur (remember to buy there Swiss watches the cheapest), Mumbai (do not buy any watches here), Delhi and Buenos Aires. In contrast to the other cities inhabitants of Zurich do not have to despair: the wages are also high as they are in Oslo, Copenhagen, London and Geneva.

The Swiss National Day

Picture: Where has the flag gone or Fahnenschwingen (flag waving) on Swiss National Day.

Switzerland as we know it dates back to 1848 but our collective memory is deeply rooted in the events over 700 hundred years ago, when the three founding cantons (Ur-Kantone) Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden swore alliance against foreign forces. Each year on the 1st of August Switzerland celebrates its National Day with brunches on the country side, fireworks and bonfires. This year there were in some Cantons like Zurich no fireworks and bonfires allowed as it had not rained for days and the authorities were afraid of fires. And Switzerland being Switzerland most people stuck to the ban to the amazement of my foreign friends (one quote was: in Asia that would have never happened, forget it!). Nevertheless me and friends went to Küssnacht am Rigi in the Innerschweiz (Central Switzerland) to the lovely restaurant with farm up on the hills near Luzern. In the Restaurant Alpenhof we had a hearty brunch with Alphorn music and waving of the Swiss flag (Fahnenschwingen). See more pictures here.

Picture: Playing Alphorn (right) and Fahnenschwingen.

Swixx Liberalism

Picture: The new Stop Aids billboard found across Switzerland.

Switzerland is among to the most liberal countries in the world. A good proof is the recent national billboard campaigns of Stop Aids Switzerland and the Club Palace in Luzern, a brothel.

Picture: public billboards advertising for a brothel (and only naughty boys check out the link).

Discovering ancient Swiss Monasteries

Picture: The St.Maria the Angel monastery in Wattwil, Switzerland.

In Thailand, Laos and Cambodia temples often dominate village life and are in the centre of the town. In more rural and mostly catholic villages in Switzerland this is also still the case. I recently visited the Monastery St.Maria the Angel in Wattwil, St.Gallen. This scenic little monastery is inhabited by six nuns and is situated prominently on a hilltop, overlooking the valley. The monastery dates back to 1621 and is a little bijou. In the church one can find a book with worshippers asking Maria for help in their life, with their marriage, finding a partner, finding the right job and helping their old mom. Small candles are lit in order to make those wishes tangible. It reminded me a lot of those many rural temples I saw in South-East Asia and realized that humans all over the world strive for comfort from above.

Picture: guideline on how to do prayers inside the church.

Find details about the monastery here.

Pimp my daughter

MTV claims to be on the cutting-edge of social trends and youth-culture. This is also the backdrop of the new MTV show Parental Control. Not that I have time to watch the show in its entirety but I gathered that teenagers have to meet the parents of potential partners first before meeting the actual partners. How cool is that? Well, over 1 billion Indians will say not hip at all as this has been practiced in the Indian subcontinent for decades. Check out the MTV website here: http://www.mtv.de/shows/show.php?id=54

For a peep at what goes on behind the screens in the real ‘desi’ (meaning Indian) world of pimping their kids, I can highly recommend this blog of a ‘desi’ girl living in the USA:

http://revengeofthenerddd.blogspot.com/

How the WC came to Switzerland – Castle Lenzburg

Picture: the entrance to the mighty castle.

The Castle of Lenzburg has a history dating back 700 years and once belonged to the powerful Habsburg family. In the 19th century the castle got a new owner, Mr. Jessup from the USA, followed by another American owner. The major invention the Americans introduced to this massive castle towering on a hill over the valley was a water closet, or WC, an American invention. Today the castle houses the cantonal historic museum and has an excellent exhibition about how people lived from the medieval ages to late Baroque and Rokoko. Unfortunately, like many other sites I visited, has the castle only German signs and explanations.

Pictue: a fair-lady residing in the castle.

Check out the castle's website here:

http://www.schloss-lenzburg.ch/

New pictures from Switzerland

Picture: The cable car up to Mount Säntis. I posted a few new pictures from Switzerland in the summer here: http://easteatswest.typepad.com/photos/switzerland/index.html