About
a week ago I ordered the buried life's book "What Do You Want To Do Before You Die?" The day the book arrived I decided to make a list of 30 things
to do before I turn 30. The list, which I will post later, is full of things
that have been floating around in my day dreaming mind over the past couple of
years. Without even planning, the first item, found me: #19. Go Bungee Jumping.
My first trip with Seoul Hiking Group was two weeks ago for the Jindo Sea
Parting Festival. The next trip popped up on Facebook and I knew it was meant
to be. A day trip to do some sight seeing, bungee jump, and explore some caves.
That's right,
bungee jumping. I made sure to Skype my mom the day before
and tell her my crazy plans. I'd recruited some of my fellow crazies living in
Seoul to come along, and we woke up bright and early to catch the 7:30am bus
and be on our way. Not before we took some silly photos outside the Express Bus
Terminal first, of course.
When
I first saw the platform, I remember thinking "Okay, that's not so
high." The jump was 65m, or a little over 200 ft. Honestly, looking up at
it, I had been expecting worse. It didn't seem too high, right? Wrong. But
we'll get there. Still pouring rain, we all smashed into a small room where we
signed our lives away on a form stating that we were responsible for anything
that would happen to us, yada yada yada. We then all had to weigh ourselves in
order to get one of four colored papers to determine which bungee cord we needed,
biggest to smallest: purple, red, blue, or yellow. They took about 15 people
up at a time varying in colors so they could switch cords each jump to make the
process faster. Once you rode a small elevator up about 30 or 40 seconds, you
reach a long tunnel that you walk out to the platform you jump off. You can jump
off two different sides, one facing the river, and one facing the mountains.
While they are pulling up the cord from one jumper they are setting up the next
one on the opposite side. We had about 55 or 60 people jump, so this took a
long time. I went in the second group of 15, and it was still raining at this
point. Trying not to think about what I was about to do, we walked out to the
elevator. As the elevator went up, I kept thinking, "OK.. this is high
enough. No really, elevator, you can stop. HOLY COW!! --- Will it ever
stop?!?!" Needless to say, I was freaking out by the time the elevator
doors opened to let me out onto the walkway to where I would jump. Why was I
doing this again? I had to keep reminding myself that I signed up for this, and
that this was something I wanted to do. I remember taking a second to breathe
in the adrenaline that I was feeling, and try to enjoy it. My legs were shaking
twice as hard, due to the freezing cold winds up there, and I think this
confused my brain into thinking I was even more scared. It's hard to imagine
what 200 ft. UP is, since you can't really focus on anything in the sky.
Looking up at the platform form the ground definitely did not seem like it was
going to be this scary.
I
can honestly say that it was the scariest thing i've ever done in my life.
The
10-15 minutes I spent up there waiting, and the 10-15 seconds before my toes
actually left the metal surface, were the worst. Jeremy didn't make it into my
group, so I was up there with two new friends I'd met that day -- talk about good bonding
experience. We were all in the same weight group, so they had
us each separated by one red jumper. At one point I had my hands on the
stranger in front of Me, unconsciously looking for some sort of comfort
I assume. When I was next in line I kept staring at the
"Northface" emblem on the back of her black jacket, trying not to
look down. My whole body was soaked because there was nothing covering us from
the rainfall. After she jumped I walked in and one of the two workers started
pulling up the harness as the other tightened the straps around my ankles. I
don't remember much from this short minute except looking straight ahead at the
mountains far in the distance, and the tiny cars driving on the roads below it.
It felt like I watched those cars for an eternity until someone behind me asked,
"How do you feel?"and I snapped back into reality. There was
no turning back now; I was moments away from this leap of faith. The only thing
the instructor said to me was, "Don't touch the yellow cord." (What
yellow cord?!) Then, he stepped in front of me and said "put your feet
where my feet are." I knew he had his foot half way off the edge, but I
couldn't look down. I moved my toes as far as I could off the edge. Again, he said,
"Put your feet like my feet" and then, "...Look at my feet." Well,
here goes nothing; I was forced to look down. The raindrops were plunging down,
just like I soon would be, as I moved my toes a little bit farther. Without any
more instruction he said " Are you ready?" to which I just
automatically responded "Yes" even though I still could not believe I
was going to actually do this. They started the countdown, which they do SUPER
fast (Probably in fear that if they go slow, people will chicken out).
5-4-3-2-1! And then it was up to me. I didn't hesitate, knowing that there was
only one direction I was headed. I just jumped, and that was that. It was an
amazing free falling/flying feeling. It was very scary. I screamed. I said bad words
that I warned other people not to say, knowing this whole experience would be
filmed. But, I couldn't help it. I was plunging down 200 ft. so fast that
nothing was running though my mind other than the hope that I would eventually
stop and go right back up in the opposite direction. Which of course, I did. I
bounced about 4 times and then settled down to a stop. I was lowered into a
tiny boat and brought to the sweet, sweet, stable ground that I had been
dreaming of ever since I stepped foot in the elevator to begin with. Don't get
me wrong; I wouldn't have taken back this experience for the world. I am happy
that I did it, and I am happy that it is over. Checking off my first of 30 items, was definitely a success.
April 21st, 2012
7am silly photo shoot:
Photos from the Ferry:
The boat quickly turned into a Nore-boat (Kareoke), in which was were serenaded by some of our fellow adreneline junkies:
Photos from Bungee Jumping:
 |
| The scariest moment... |
 |
| Jere's party pants |
 |
| Success! |
[videos to come]
Photos from the Gosu Caves in Gnayang Gun:
The caves were awesome. At some points you were crawling through small little areas, on hands and knees. It wasn't the easiest thing ever after a day in a bus, and bungee jumping, but it was cool to see. It was a long day, which ended with some bibimbap and naps on the bus ride back to Seoul.
My good friend Jeremy had it perfect when he said, "You have only just begun to live, upon reaching the edge of your comfort zone." These are the moments that I live for -- This time, literally standing on the edge. Until the next item on the list comes around, I'll stick to two feet on the ground at all times.
