ZRH-KUL

Sun 2/1/25

We woke up at 4am to prepare for early departure to the airport for our 8.45 am flight to Doha, and then back to KUL. We took the free hotel shuttle bus at 5.20am. The bus ride to the airport only took about 10 minutes. The check in counter at the airport was not opened yet when we arrived so we had to wait for about 10 minutes before the staff came. 

A few days earlier I was notified by Qatar airways that our DOH -KUL flight would not be a Qsuite, so I changed our seats according to the seat planner of 2-2-2 arrangement. However, this morning we were notified at the check in counter that we would be getting the Qsuite after all, so we had to choose our seats again. We chose the 1A and 2B seats by the window. 

We then took the train to Gate E for immigration check. The train was not working on our arrival day to Zurich so we took the bus last time. After immigration, we went to the Prime Class lounge. There is a small prayer room without ablution facilities. We had breakfast of croissant, bread, cheese, scrambled eggs, olive, latte and juice at the lounge before boarding at gate E53 at 8am. We departed on time at 845am

small prayer room at the lounge

breakfsat at lounge

waiting at the lounge

We chose the window seats 5K and 6K on the right side of the plane. We enjoyed view of the Alps mountain from the sky. While waiting for my meal, I requested for the saffron karak chai and was also served arabian coffee. 

alps views from the plane window

arabian coffee with alps view

For starter, I had smoked duck with orange vinaigrette; main course of roasted rack of lamb with rosemary scented jus, cheese selection of swiss tomme, gorgonzola and brie; and chocolate tart and mango mousse for dessert. The flight took 5h 40 min to Doha and we arrived at 1625.

not in menu- while watching Count of Monte Cristo in French

smoked duck with orange vinaigrette

rack of lamb

cheese selection

chocolate tart and mango mousse

At Doha, we had a connection time of 3h 50 min. Since we would be boarding from Gate A, we went to the Al Mourjan lounge. It was just as big as Al Mourjan Garden lounge, or perhaps bigger with its dining area on the floor above. We went for prayers in the prayer room in the lounge, took a shower and then had light dinner. The shower at Al Mourjan have the toilet together in the same room, so it was more convenient. We didn't have time to check the quiet room here though.

dinner at Al Mourjan lounge

shower at Al Mourjan lounge

prayer room at Al Mourjan lounge

For the DOH-KUL flight, we were seated in Qsuite. I was seated at 2B facing forward, while Partner In Crime was seated at 1A facing rearwards. The stewardess for this flight wasn't really up to serving me, so I had to buzz the help button a few times. Anyways, for the in flight meal, I chose the smoked salmon with maple glaze, dill and togarashi for starter and grilled black angus beef tenderloin for Main Course and sour cherry clafoutis with vanilla bean ice cream for dessert

compartment to keep handbag

smoked salmon with maple glaze, dill and togarashi

grilled black angus beef tenderloin

sour cherry clafoutis with vanilla bean ice cream 

After dinner, I requested for the mattress and set the flat bed to sleep. I managed to sleep maybe about 2 hours. I wasn't woken up for breakfast, but I was awoken by the sound of fork and plates clattering. 

For breakfast I chose evergreen detox (on hindsight it was too healthy, should have chosen the peach, blueberry and vanilla smoothie instead); greek yogurt with pumpkin seed, raspberries and honey as Starter and omelette with tomato confit and mushroom as Main Course. Bread of croissant, sesame baguette and pistachio danish were also served. 

greek yogurt, croissant and danish

omelette and mushroom. green detox in the background

Our flight arrived on time at KUL at 8.20am. 

It was a short trip to Switzerland only covering a small part of Bernese Oberland and Valais canton. The number of places visited was limited since it is winter and we took public transportation. We could have visited more places if we drove as we could leave our bags in the car in transit and it would have been faster to reach the destination by driving. But we chose public transport as Zermatt was a car free village, hence we still would have to take the train if we chose to drive. 

No doubt Switzerland is a beautiful country with the mountains, lakes, rivers and waterfalls. However it is an expensive country. Total cost of our journey was RM 9195 for ground for 2 persons and RM 9598 for business class flight per person i.e. total RM 14196 per person.

Zurich-Rheinfall

Sat 1/1/25

Today we would be going back to Zurich to catch our flight back to Malaysia the next day. We took the 9.14am train to Zurich. We bought the ticket from the SBB app for CHF 40 (RM 200) per person. We changed train at Bern towards Zurich HB. There were not many people on the train from Kandersteg to Bern, however the train from Bern to Zurich HB was almost full, so we had to share our compartment with another couple.

goodbye Kandersteg

We arrived at our hotel Movenpick Zurich airport at 12.15 pm. We walked from Kloten Balsberg to the hotel for about 10 mins. We stayed near to the airport as we have an early flight tomorrow, departing at 8.45am. I booked the hotel through the Accor app for CHF 86 (RM 433) as I am a ALL Accor member. 

We waited for an hour before we could check in. While waiting, we had the welcoming drink of latte and cappuccino at the hotel bar. We saw some flight attendants and pilots from Qatar airways in their uniforms checking out of the hotel.

welcoming drink

our room

After refreshing and having lunch of the packed sandwich and fried rice we made at the apartment in Kandersteg, we set out again.  We first walked to the Zurich Islamic center, about 10 mins walk and prayed there. It looks like a normal building with no domes or any of the usual mosque features. After that we went to the Coop supermarket Glattbrugg nearby to buy chocolates as souvenir.

Zurich Islamic center

inside Zurich Islamic center

We then headed out to Rheinfall, a 43 min train ride away. We took the train from Glattbrugg to Neuhausen Rheinfall. We arrived at the Rheinfall waterfall at almost sunset at 5pm. We actually passed through Germany on the way to Rheinfall where 2 stations - Lottstetten and Jestetten are actually located in Germany. 

Lottstetten and Jestetten  in Germany

There were not many tourist at 5pm and it was getting cold. We walked down from the train station and took photos there.

different viewpoints of Rheinfall, all no entrance fee

We took the 6pm train back to Zurich HB. It was really cold while waiting for the train. At Zurich HB, we went to a souvenir shop and bought a Victorinox Swiss Army Knife engraved with Partner In Crime's name for 14 CHF and fridge magnet for CHF 7.9 as a token (RM 110) . 

Feeling a bit hungry, we snacked on tuna sandwich bought at Nordsee seafood restaurant and then proceeded to walk outside Zurich HB to enjoy the views of the Limmat river at night. 

Limmat river at night

It has been a long day today, so we returned back to the hotel after a short stroll by the river. We packed our bags before we went to sleep. We would be waking up early to catch the free hotel shuttle bus to the airport at 5.20am

Oeschinensee

Fri 31/1/25

After having our self made breakfast of fried rice and sandwich, we set out for Oeschinen lake, part of the Jungfrau-Aletsch-Bietschhorn UNESCO World Heritage Site at 9am, located at depth of 1578m. We took the cable car to reach there as we didn't have snowshoes to hike the trail. We bought the return trip which cost CHF 16 (RM 80) which is cheaper than buying one way ticket each way i.e. CHF 12 per way with total CHF 24. We also bought the ticket through the SBB app.

fried rice for breakfast and packed for lunch

It was snowing and very cloudy today.

very cloudy, cannot see the top of the mountains

We shared our cable car with a family of 4. The mother pointed out to us a herd of mountain goats as we were riding up.

mountain goats

It was a foggy day today. We managed to reach the Oeschinen lake before it was completely clouded after walking about 45 mins from the train station, stopping for photos. We took photos at the lake viewpoint while the mountains were still visible. 

at the start of the walk to Oeschinensee

walk to Oeschinensee

walk to Oeschinensee

walk to Oeschinensee

frozen Oeschinen lake behind, mountains still visible

frozen lake Oeschinen

frozen lake Oeschinen

frozen lake Oeschinen

Once we went to the lake for the Ice Walk, suddenly the weather worsened. It became so foggy that visibility was only up to the next stick on the lake, which was probably about 10m. We walked around the frozen lake, following the sticks. You would require a snowshoe if you want to venture out of the marked area of the frozen lake as the snow was too deep. 

ice walk on the frozen Oeschinensee

frozen lake below

ice walk on the frozen Oeschinensee

getting really cloudy on the lake

There were people ice fishing on the frozen Oeschinen lake but we just observed from far. There are arctic char , lake trout and rainbow trout in the lake.

ice fishing

We returned to the lake viewpoint and sat on the bench there to have our packed sandwich and fried rice, in the hope that the weather would subside. After about an hour waiting, the weather did improve a bit, so we walked towards the lake and made another round with better visibility, but the mountains behind were still elusive. 

eating fried rice in the snow

slightly better visibility on the frozen lake Oeschinen

The weather forecast showed that the whole day would be foggy, so around noon we walked back towards the cable car station. Just before reaching the station, it became foggy again, worse than this morning, with visibility up to 2m only perhaps. We waited again near the station, watching a kid's ski competition before taking the cable car ride down at 1.30pm. 

Back at the apartment, Partner In Crime prepared dinner of fried rice and salad, and we had the last pack of Big Kari Maggi noodle with eggs that night. 

maggi kari in cold weather