This is how it all came about and where we are today. (Please come back to this page as we will add more as we go along)

One day in May 2002 I bumped into a nice little lady in a big City somewhere in Asia. After having a drink in order to apologise I went on to my next station in Asia. On the way out I promised to stay in touch by text message or phone calls.

On my return to Switzerland I kept my promise and called her once a week and sometimes we exchanged text messages. I started to become interested and she seemed too. As I had planned another trip to Asia I expected to see her again. But as life doesn't always go as one would like, I had to change plans and postponed my trip out there. Soon after I was given the possibility to re-plan but this time to Manila. I was happy.

So this is how it came to my first trip to the Philippines. Cristy picked me up from the airport and helped me to find the hotel. The driver which she organised for me was very friendly and we used him during all my visits to the Philippines. His name is Armando and if you ever need a good driver (new car and very clean) please call him, this is his number +63 (0) 917 7518378.

We had a beautiful time in early October 2002. I guess I fell in love at that time. As love is not always easy we also had some difficult times but these days are over now and we are happy together.

Having returned to Switzerland I could not forget her anymore. My phone bill went up and up and up. Soon after this it became clear to me that I must see her again.

I made arrangements to visit her again in January 2003. This time I planned to stay two weeks in order to get known to each other even more. Again the time was not always just sunshine but in the end the clouds disappeared.  Some clouds came back when I was back in Switzerland and we had to go through difficult times again. In the end it was all cleared and we are happy together again. During my first visit in Manila we met Maxi, a guy running a Hotel in Boracay. He, at that time invited me to come and visit him on the island if I would ever come back to the Philippines. As I still remembered him, we organised to stay there for a couple of days. During which we met Ellen and Maik. Boracay is a paradise.

I guess it all had to do with Cristy not being sure about what she wanted. But I let her explain it herself.

Again back in Switzerland we started to make plans to meet again. This time it would be even more serious as we planned that Cristy is coming back with me to Switzerland. I booked a flight in February for April 29th. At the same time we started the activities which would allow Cristy to get a Visa for Switzerland. First she needed a new passport. Not easy in that short amount of time we had available but she managed to get this done within a couple of weeks. So in late March, actually on March 29 she got her passport. We were very happy. Now the race could start with the paperwork for the visa application. We had literally 6 weeks to get this organised and pushed through.

As the interview at the Swiss Embassy went well it was now just a matter of time until they would release the visa. Actually on the day when I arrived in Manila my Love had to go to the embassy and to pick up the visa. Cristy came with the visa in her passport to meet me at the airport. Needless to say that Armando was our driver again.

The following day (May 1st) we again travelled to Boracay for another quick holiday down there. This time we needed the time for ourselves and did not meet up with a lot of people. We had a good time with Maxi and Angie again. After 5 days we returned to Manila as Cristy's birthday was coming up and we promised the family that we would go out and have a party. So on May 7th we all met at the Hardrock Cafe in Makati. During this stay I, for the first time, met all her sisters and brothers who live with her in the same house in Pasay City. Before that I only met Lanie and Mary-Ann during a shopping tour. But this time I was officially introduced and I believe also accepted by them. Of course I had to answer lots of questions in regard to our future and the upcoming visit of Cristy to Switzerland. They were all very concerned about Cristy being so far away from home for that long time (90 days visa). Especially Kuya Al checked me out and asked questions about me and how I would deal with Cristy's daughter Sherill-Anne.

It was a great evening out. Thursday & Friday May 8th/9th were the last days in the Philippines for a long time. So we prepared our trip back to Switzerland. On Friday afternoon it was time to leave for the airport. As usual Armando would pick us up and drive us to the airport. I was wondering how Cristy would adopt to the changed environment and whether she would like Switzerland. The flight with Swiss was OK and we slept a couple of hours.

The first days were very boring for Cristy as I had to go to work every day and she had to wait for my return in the evening. But soon she was no more homesick and adopted well to the situation. Especially when we started to pack up our goods she was doing very well. I don't know how I would have managed the move without her. Mid June we finally moved to our new home in the same village. Again Cristy was very busy with setting up the new household. Every day when I returned form work she made real big progress and after a week we were back to normal.

Now we started to relax and enjoy our new home. We invited a couple of friends and my two daughters to our Housewarming party.

On another occasion I had an invitation to the Swiss Open in Gstaad a very popular Tennis event. This time it was even more spectacular as Roger Federer just returned from his greatest success so far, the Wimbledon tournament which for the first time ever was won by a Swiss guy. Unfortunately Roger did not play that day as his rival was insured and quite before the game. He therefore only came onto the centre cord and played a couple of balls and then went again. Sad for the audience but such is life.

On the next day we visited "Lenk im Simmental" a very famous place for holidays. I will write more about this later on.

Lately we have been invited to a garden party in Weinfelden. Not much to say so look at the pictures instead.

Its now mid August 2003 and Cristy has returned to the Philippines as her visa has expired. The period since she was here in Switzerland was nearly as hot as in her home country. It is actually the summer of a lifetime. I cannot remember that we had a summer like this. Average temperature was over 30 degrees and at times reached 40. Highest so far ever measured was 39 about 50 years ago. Actually it was 1952, the year I was born. So for Cristy it was like being at home at least as far as the weather is concerned.

Now she is back with her family and I talk to her daily either by phone or by Web cam. We have already started the process to apply for another visa to bring her back to me in October. I will go the the Philippines in late September to visit her and her family. I guess its getting very serious now.

Now in early September we are making good progress with the visa. Actually we expect that her visa will be ready in about two weeks (its 1st of September 2003 today) from now. Her interview went well and I have already returned the guarantee form.

September 17th, today Cristy took delivery of her visa. I have made all arrangements to fly to the Philippines in a couple of days to visit her and her family. Of course she will come back with me and stay for another 3 month before we can finalise our wedding arrangements. Our current plan is to get married in January 2004.

October 26th and we are already back from our holidays in the Philippines. The two weeks were great. Hot as usual and little rain. Most of the time was spend to visit Cristy's in various places. Our longest trip took us to Bicol (Bikol in Bicol language). We rented a van and together with her sisters and brother Nelson we drove to Bicol. It is a long long journey. All in all we have been 12 hours on the road stopping here and there for either a drink or some food. The country side of the Philippines is amazing at times you imaging yourself in a jungle.

On Monday we went to meet up with Maik and Maxi. You remember Maxi runs the Hotel in Boracay and he planned his visit to Manila while I was there. Maik, in the meantime had opened a Bar in Visayas Street Quezon City named "Wild Horses". Apart from being a little off the main area it is a nice Restaurant. I guess Maik had the right idea but is in the wrong place. Too many local guys and not enough tourists which would guarantee his income. We wish him well that the business will be successful very soon.

No funny stories about Maxi this time, other than that someone liked his mobile that much, that he (she) stole it from him.

On Saturday we went to a waterfall (where most of the pictures have been taken) and had a typical Philippine pick nick. Rice on Banana leaves and grilled fish which we purchased in the local market the same morning. You can imagine that being on the country side far away from all tourist places I was sort of the attraction of the village. Everybody and his brother visited us during our stay and wanted to speak to the "Americano" which seems to be the word for any white foreigner. Fighting for my Swiss roots made little impression on them and some continued to call me Americano.

Everybody was very kind and friendly and I was invited to the "hard drinking" session on Saturday evening. After some Ginebra San Miguel I gave up and continued with beer, while everybody else kept on drinking Gin. Amazing how much they can drink without giving the impression to be drunk. At worse they instantly fall asleep. Obviously Cristy's father was very pleased with me that I was drinking with him and his friends.

On Sunday it was time to go home again as the kids had to go to school again on Monday, they already missed Friday I guess they just had been reported off sick. Another 12 hours later we arrived back in Manila. On the way home we visited Harry, Mary-Ann's boyfriend.

The rest of the week was spend with visiting more of Cristy's friends, but I did not bring my camera along. Cristy can tell you all about drinking Tequila with her friends. I don't go into details but she rather wanted to die than to live that night. At this point I really regretted that I did not bring the camera.

And soon it was time to get ready to come home again. The drop in temperature was dramatic from 33 Celsius down to 0 at arrival in Zürich. Cristy wanted to go home immediately.

Now one week has past and she is used to the cold, doesn't mean to say that she likes it, but she is OK with it.

I guess it's about time to write some more. It's nearly 3 month since I last updated this section. So here we go again. Its now the end of January 2004 and Cristy, since 2 weeks,  is again back home in the Philippines. But not for long I promise. But lets go back where we stopped last time.

That brings us back to mid October 2003 (quite a bit). Cristy kept on moaning about the cold and the miserable weather. But as the first snow was falling down her opinion changed immediately. She obviously likes snow. Each time when there was a little bit (1 inch or so) of snow she was very excited.

Actually on the day of our arrival back in Switzerland we had to go to a concert of Freddie Aguilar, a very famous Philippine song  writer and singer. He happen to be in Switzerland just that weekend and I had arranged two tickets before I left for the Philippines. You are actually listening to one of his songs right now. Its called Anak which is the Tagalog word for child. Its a sad song but very very nice. We both love it. Apart from the bad service, the concert included Dinner, the concert was excellent. So a pretty good start for us.

A couple of weeks later it was my birthday. Markus, a good friend of us, invited Cristy & me and some other friends to his place. We had a very nice evening together. Even a birthday cake was prepared by Irene. In order not to upset me they only put one candle on it otherwise the cake would have been too big anyway. Unfortunately Irene was not careful enough when she put the cake aside. This picture explains it all. As you can see in the picture gallery Markus is a very talented artist. The paintings shown have all been done by him, some are actually xxx rated. Many thanks to Irene & Markus who made this a rememberable night. Carol and Mahbub, we wish you all the best for your future.

As due to Cristy's visa your ability to travel is currently limited to Switzerland. So we decided to spend a relaxing weekend in the south part of Switzerland (called Ticino). As I was given the opportunity by my sister's son to use his flat down there I  took the chance. I can only say thank you to Massimo (living in Hawaii) for this generous gesture. On a Friday afternoon we left the northern part of Switzerland when heavy snowfall was with us all the time. Cristy was exited, she never experienced that before. While I was fighting to keep the car on the road she was fascinated by the landscape covered in snow. Arriving at the other end in Morcote it was like an early spring day. I regret that I did not bring my bike as it was really nice and warm (10 degrees). Enjoy the pictures.

The hype around Christmas starts early in the Philippines we decided to put up a Christmas tree long before the 24th of December, that's when we normally put up the tree. For the first time we had a Christmas tree prepared around middle of December. Amazing feeling. At my birthday party we agreed with Jörg to come to Tschamut in Graubünden. A place just below the "Oberalp" summit. During wintertime this is the end of the world on this side of the mountain as road is closed because of the snow. Most of the Swiss Alps are closed during wintertime. No chance to cross them at all unless there is a tunnel, a train or you can fly. On December 24th we went up to the place and met with Jörg. I have passed this place many times on my bike when I did practice cycling in the Alps but I never thought I would spend Christmas up here together with my Love. You forget the world up there and don't want to come back. People must be happy up there. At least we were.

On December 25th we took the train up to the Oberalp summit and then walked over towards Andermatt. The view was exiting. Jörg and I have been up to our knees in the snow and Cristy, like and Angel, walked across it no wonder she only weights 90 pounds. Good fun and a beautiful day. That evening we have been joined by some more friends of Jörg and had a nice green curry. If you are interested to learn more about that regular event in Tschamut, please visit Roman Kretschi's page and see all about it.

The next day we went to Andermatt on our own as the other guys went skiing, something Cristy cant do yet but is keen to learn. At least until she is on ski's for the first time.

Sad enough after 4 days we had to leave and go home as I had to return to work again. Bye bye Tschamut see you again.

New Year, again Markus invited us to his party on top of Zurich. His office is actually situated on the lake of Zurich. An excellent place to enjoy the firework at midnight. We have been accompanied by Carol and Mahbub for this evening. Already at 5pm we called Cristy's family to wish them "happy new year" . The Philippines are 7 hours ahead of Switzerland during wintertime (no daylight saving in that period).

During all this time we have been preparing our papers in order to get ready for our wedding. Unfortunately Swiss bureaucracy is a little bit slow and so Cristy had to return on January 11th without all papers completed. Two days after her return I got all my papers and DHL'd them to Manila just to learn that it would have been easier to get married in Switzerland. The lady at the Swiss Embassy is very helpful and helped to organise another visa, this time for the "preparation of marriage", for Cristy. While the paperwork has now started, Cristy is waiting for her visa once more.

If everything works out the way we have been told, then Cristy will come back to Switzerland around mid to end March. Just in time when the papers for the wedding should be completed.

Let's hope that things are moving fast now. I hate to be separated from her. That's it for now. Watch this space for updates on our story. Last updated on January 24th, 2004.

OK OK, I carry on now. Today is Sunday May 30th. A lot happened since I last updated our page. By now we are married since 2 days, but lets start from were we left it.

All through February we have been busy with getting our papers ready. I must say that the Swiss Embassy in the Philippines was very helpful and fast in the entire process. Once that Cristy's papers had been validated by the local authorities they where send to Switzerland for further processing.

No need to say that during all that time I was talking to her on a daily basis.

But in the end I received the final paper from the Swiss Civil registration which meant that Cristy could go and get her visa to enter Switzerland once more. This was at the end of March. By then we already made plans that we will go on holidays at the end of April. As her visa was only good for one entry into Switzerland I had to organize the "L" permit for her. This allowed her the leave and re-enter Switzerland  even before our wedding. On April 5 Cristy arrived in Switzerland, just before Easter. We were happy together again.

Now our early honey moon plans could go ahead.

All in between that we had to organize our wedding which was set to take place on May 28th. Markus and Carol agreed to be our witness for the wedding and Jrene took on the job to organize everything around it. But more of this later on.

On April 23 Cristy & I left Switzerland for another trip to the Philippines. We already organized another trip to Boracay for one week. What can we say about Boracay? A great place and this time it was really for a early honey moon. No comparison to our earlier visits, just a great time. I am sure you agree when you see the pictures. Maxi & Angie where great hosts once more. Thank you for that. We met a lot of could guys. Only to mention one - Pascal Conrad, a funny guy and always busy at times we thought that he was running the place. He was always helpful and knew everything what was going one anywhere on the island.

Time was really running and the week was over again.

Back to Manila, we had little time left to complete our long list of things to do. Soon after touch down we went shopping because we had a very difficult task to complete. Surprisingly this proved to be very speedy and not complicated at all. Its all about getting a wedding dress for my future wife. Land Mark was our first choice and within 30 minutes we found what we wanted. Just look at the wedding picture and you will agree that this was a perfect fit for Cristy. Albeit I must say the search for a suitable pair of shoes took much longer but finally even that was done on the same day. I must mention that I still wasn't sure what to wear on that day. How I resolved that one you will read later on.

In the evening we went to visit Cristie-Lyn & Bong, who, in the meantime, opened up their own place in Quezon City. A very traditional Video-Oke restaurant. San Miguel was a low as 23 Peso!! We had a great evening  together with some more friends of Cristy. Baby-Lynn, Rocelle, Bong and Cristie-Lyn. I resisted to sing any songs that evening, therefore not upsetting any of the guest. Some others appeared to be worse than I would have been, but nothing I could do. By far the best was Bong. Sorry no sample of his voice.

Not a lot to mention about Sunday.

On Monday May 3rd our first task was to visit the Swiss Embassy to submit some papers for Cristy's daughter Sherill-Anne and most important to hand over some flowers and Champagne to the lady in the wedding department. She was exited but had to get approval from her boss to accept the little gift. In general I cannot complain that people have not been supportive at all- I just like to mention the Swiss Embassy and the Migration Office in Zürich. Without their support we would probably still wait for all documents. Thank you, you have proven that the bureaucracy does not always exist.

Wedding rings were the next things on our list. Again a quick decision, thanks god.

In the evening we, Cristy, Lanie, Sherill-Anne, Regie and I, left for Bicol. For those who are familiar with traveling in the Philippines will know that traveling with Phil-Tranco is a nightmare. Not because the coaches are bad, no, its the roads which are in such a bad shape that you cannot sleep at all. The main roads are full of holes and some really deep ones. I was wondering why the axles did not break on this trip.

The reason for this trip was that we promised Cristy's parents to visit them before we leave. On Tuesday morning we arrived in Tigaon. Nanay & Tatay where happy to see us again.

In the afternoon Tatay convinced me to join him in his favorite sport. Cock fighting! An experience of its own. Just to mention I won 3300 Peso by betting on his Cock. The entire village was there and Tatay was happy to show his son in law together with his daughter. As during our previous visit lots of people came to visit us, mainly to check upon me. Interesting enough I was also invited to the local rally leading up to the election day later on that week. Even by now on May 30th it is not yet confirmed that Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is the old and new president of the Philippines. Regards from Florida in the US.

As it was only a short visit we went back to Manila on Wednesday evening. I save you the suffering story about the long journey home. You remember the bad roads!

Friday May 7th. You remember! That's Cristy's birthday. For the second time we spend that day in the Philippines. Coincident I call it. No, I really wanted it that way. That's why I rushed the migration office to issue a 6 month permit for Cristy.

You guess it, we went to the Hardrock again. I can only say, great party. Funny enough we met two couples who we first met in Boracay the week before. Michael & Geraldine, two nice guys. It's a small world.

On Sunday we left for Singapore. This time I was able to combine holidays and a business trip that's why we went to Singapore. So for me the holidays were over. Lucky for Cristy, my boss and his wife joined us in Singapore so she had some accompany while I was at work. Mid week we went on to Hong Kong, my second stop on my business trip in Asia. All memories were back immediately. Back to where it all began! Exactly two years ago! Lots of places to visit. Dask till Dawn, Joe Bananas, Cinta-J and the Peak.

On Friday I paid my tailor a visit. I selected a nice fabric for my wedding suite. He promised to deliver everything on time. And its true a week later the parcel arrived.

That was only one week prior to our wedding. Read all about it further down.

The Wedding Day

May 28th. I don't want to write a lot about it just watch the picture. They will tell you all you need to know. All I want to say is a big THANK YOU to Markus, Jrené & Carol. A great day which we will never forget.

That's where we are now. Of course I will continue to update our page with more news and pictures.

I know I know I know! I did notupdate our story for quite some time now, but you see life keeps me busy with other things as well.

Now its time to keep you up to date with what is happening in our life.

Lets start after our Wedding which was a great day which we still remember very well.