Tegernsee III

Been a while since my last post. Have to admit that i got a little lazy after sometime. Can't remember exactly what i had been doing last week, probably it was nothing much, thus nothing worth writing. Got pretty busy over the weekend due to a friend's visit though, thus have to be a tour guide. In any case, this is probably going to be one of the last few posts for this blog. My 4 and a half months here in Munich is coming to an end. However have got still a couple of places which i have yet to visit, particularly the Alliance Arena, the glowing bubble look alike stadium sitting on the outskirt of the city. Also the windmill next to the stadium. Once those 2 are conquered, i would have finish visiting all the touristy destination here in Munich. But the weather forecast for the week doesn't look good at all. In fact its a catastrophe. Rain, sun rain sun rain sun. And what do we get from that combination?? Yes, Singapore's f*&^ up weather. I think THE "upper being" is preparing me for the weather back home.

Made another trip down to Tegernsee on Sunday. This time round i went with 2 other friends with the train. Goal was to scale the mountains which i fail to conquer the last time. FOCKENSTEIN. Yes, this time round, its a mission. While this week's weather sucks, last week's weather was unquestionable summer weather, meaning 30 degrees and hardly any rain. So the weekend was kinda like in between the good and bad, or rather the beginning of the bad weather, thus it was really unstable. One moment it was bright and sunny, the next we are hiding under a shelter from what appeared like thunderstorm clouds. My landlady recommended another route to the Auer alm (if you still remember, its the restaurant sitting on the mountain top), saying that it offers a better view and gave us a sketchy description on how to find it. And as it was a route less trodden, the signs were not clear. So we had to choose between the route which i had taken before (which wasn't too pretty but i knew the way) or the unknown way, full of risks. Kinda sounded like my real life problem.... anyway, i decided that we should take the risk, which began with a steep climb along a ski lift route. Not long later came this german man from the other way. He saw us heading into the forest and advised us not to continue as the weather was approaching. And getting caught in the weather in the mountains is really a big big problem. Having travelled all the way down from Munich, we decided to continue. I must say the umbrellas we brought along influenced my decision. Not long later came this other group from the other direction. It was a german lady with 2 teenagers, apparently they came from Munich as well but turned back because they were afraid of the weather. By this time, we were already deeper into the forest and turning back down the steep slope looked a little dangerous, thus we continued anyway. Think it rained the previous days, the surface was soft mud and puddles, after much hopping, jumping, screaming, moaning, we successfully manoeuver through this really horribly mud patch. Went through a fence and got an electric shock from the harmless looking gate. By the time we reached auer alm, it was already 3.30pm, 3 hours after we set off from the foot. Took a short break at the auer alm before heading for the summit. At the mountain top, the weather was everything we had hoped for, no rain, thin clouds and sunny. If only we have a walkie talkie with that group of germans who turned back. "hello hello, you are missing out the good stuff here!!" With the cow bells klinging in the distance, we set off again hoping to make it to the summit before 5. I gave ourselves till 5 before we have to head back, whether we make it to the summit or not as i don't want us to be stuck in the mountains in the dark, and who knows what kind of animals come out in the night. As we got higher, the path became even less trodden. They looked more like paths used by cows. Due to the weather, the mountains were pretty much ours. Hardly anyone walked past us in the upper region. And the mud problem got so bad at one point that we couldn't continue anymore. No way i gonna have mud soaked socks , don't care about my SAF shoes, but not my socks. At that point, we were still about half an hour from the top, and we spotted this other "summit". It was already 5 by then, thus we detoured to the lower summit instead. Now between that and us is one last stretch of soft mud green pastures. With pastures come cows, with cows come shit. Tredding through the field was like tredding through a minefield. And the shit looked like they have been there for months. After 5 hours of climb, the shit looked suspiciously like a yellowish coloured stone, something that you would want to step on. Well i didn't. Thank god. After 5 hours of climb, tredding through mud and camouflaged shit, shocked by electric fences, 10 pass 5pm, we finally made it. Although not the highest point, it was enough to see the endless rows of lower Alps that run as far as we could see. The scenery was simply priceless. Didn't dare stay long, thus headed quickly down the mountains. This time round we took the path i knew. 2 hours later, we were back to the foot. I think we were the last group of people leaving the mountains. Overtook a couple on the way down, but we were pretty sure no one else was behind us. After a total of 7 hours, risking getting lost, risking getting struck by lightning or falling trees, defying safety advices, trekking through "minefields", risking getting stuck in the mountains in the night, changed the colour of our shoes, we made it. Maybe risks are worth taking after all?