Took the Leap

I didn't think I would ever utter these words: I WENT BUNGY JUMPING!!!!!!

Yep. Took the plunge. Hopped the bridge. Paddled the 'ol canoe. (ok, not that last one so much, but you get the point.) It was the scariest, coolest, most all around awesome, heart-pounding adventure ever. I thought my heart was going to crack a rib up there right before I leaned forward off the platform and then began falling. SOOOO scary, but in a really, really good way.

How did this come about?, you may ask. Well, we decided to rent a red truck taxi for the afternoon, and split between 6 of us, it came out to 86 baht each, which is roughly just under $3, which is awesome. This guy drove us around for 5 hours. You can't get that in the States. We went to the Mae Sa elephant camp first and watched the elephants put on a show, where they played soccer, played harmonicas, painted pictures with real paints and paintbrushes, and acted really cool. I almost bought one of the elephant paintings, but it was 2,000baht, and it was either that or bungy jumping, and I think we all know which of those I did. :)))))

My new friend, Mikey.

Our next adventure took us to the Tiger Kingdom, where we were able to interact with the tigers and basically lay all over them. They were really, really much bigger than I remembered them being. I chose to see the big tigers and the lion cubs. You could choose which age range you wanted to see, and that seemed like a good mix. The tigers were thrilling to be with because even though people do this all the time, there was still a wild sort of aura around them, and their power seemed to pervade the space every time I got close. They're definitely the most "regal" or "majestic" animals I've ever had contact with. Though one of them wasn't quite so regal when he sprayed one of the girls petting him with pee. She wasn't too happy.

The lion cubs were cool, too, but they were sleepy. It was neat that I got to see them on my own, though. It seemed that everyone else had chosen to go see the tiger cubs instead. It was weird being able to touch such wild animals.


The coolest part of the day, as I have already hinted, was the bungy jumping. My housemates, Neha and Jackie, went yesterday, and their raving about it made me want to try it out as well. The bungy jumping apparatus was housed on the grounds of the X Center for Extreme Sports. It's basically a giant crane that takes you up in a little platform, and let me tell you--50 meters is much, much higher than it looks while standing on the ground. I got up to the top and almost died. The way they strapped me in was by wrapping my ankles and calves in a big, neoprene wrap that went around my legs two or three times then velcroed shut. That was to cushion them from the flat nylon rope that attached me to the bungy cable. Then I sat in the platform cart thing and rode to the top with my instructor/photographer. (I have pictures, but I can't load them right now as they're on a dvd. I'm trying to upload video to youtube as I write.) Once we got up there, he took some pictures of me before I jumped (can't wait to see those--I look terrified, I'm sure), then he counted "One, two, three, bungy!" and I just leaned forward off the platform--enter the scariest three seconds ever--and fell, fell, fell, screaming. My mind was a total blank. Couldn't have probably told you my name in those seconds. Then the cord bounced me back up and I flipped over so that I was almost vertical again, right side up, before falling once again. I bounced around up there for awhile before coming to a stop and being lowered down far enough to grab the really long bamboo pole they used to pull me over to the side of the pond. It was such a rush! I know I've been skydiving, but this was scarier. I guess because the ground was closer and fear of death was more intimate. It was really cool, though, what a sensation. If you want to do one or the other and you're kind of a chicken, I would definitely recommend skydiving before bungy jumping. Man, it was scary. My housemate who went with me today, Fiona, had to ask the instructor guy to push her off. He seriously pushed her over, because she was too scared to let go. It was really funny.

Grr. My video is still uploading to youtube. If I can't post it, I'll be really mad. Technology over here is not all great. It's so hard to get pictures and video online. In fact, I haven't yet succeeded in getting video online. Also on my plate tonight: packing. That will be a challenge. I fly to Bangkok tomorrow afternoon and then I'm heading to Koh Chang, Kanchanaburi, Pattaya, and possibly Cambodia (to see Angkor Wat). We shall see. If Koh Chang is awesome, I might skip everything but Pattaya ( to see the Cavanaughs) and hang there. Grrrrr. Why aren't my pictures online yet? Double grr.