Bungeeeeee!!!

To begin - I would like to dedicate this post to my mom, whose birthday it was a couple of weeks ago mom - I'll be home soon enough :)



Now...



Whenever I do something or set myself to do something, I aim to do it with integrity, honesty, respect and to do it to the best of my ability. This applies in all facets of my life, from the friendships that I hold so dearly and (arguably) too tightly, to my working environment and professional and intellectual goals. The whole point of me coming to Korea was to challenge myself and the notions that exist in my young mind and to do this with integrity, honesty, respect and to do it to the best of my ability. The end game for the past 10 months and for the coming 3 revolves around 3 things:

1. Travel

2. Putting myself outside of my comfort zone

3. Experiencing things that I would otherwise probably not try back in SA.

This post is particularly about numbers 2 and 3.

One of the things I have always wanted to do/ have looked intriguingly on at, was bungee jumping. It would normally be the 1st step in an individuals quest for a rush/flight. I started with a rather tame leap of a mountain back in November - So one could say I am kind of regressing :-P

However with warm weather set in here in the R.O.K more and more out doorsy things have become appealing to me. I hiked up a decent sized peak and then I saw a day tour available to go white water rafting and bungee jumping. This trip was made all the more interesting as I was travelling with my 4th and so far 2nd worst case of Tonsillitis in the past 1 and a half months.

(Please forgive me for the pun that is about to occur)

I had to leap at that opportunity, so I signed my name up for the day trip that took place a couple of weekends ago.

The adventure was set. I had my sun tan cream primed and was stocked with painkillers and meds from the Dr. I was not going to miss this opportunity. However, as always with these tours, 1st I needed to get myself to Seoul.

In an effort to save a bit of cash for impending expenditure I caught the 18:20 Mugunghwa (slow passenger train - refer to Transport) from Deagu to Seoul and settled in for the 4 hour ride. (You could ask - "Why didn't I take the bus? It is cheaper and only takes 3 hours". If you chose to ask that question to yourself then you have not been reading my blog carefully enough. TISK TISK! A reminder - I DO NOT enjoy bus rides and avoid them as best I can). The trip did give me the perfect amount of time to finish reading this book...

Which I borrowed from Sandy.

See I actually am reading!!!

I began the book by enjoying the detail in the descriptions. Then I got a little bored because the book stopped being about what I was enjoying about it but it brought me back in a lovely way through the courage of the main character and the love his family genuinely have for him. A recommended read if you are up for it.

As is always the case when I get to Seoul I had to find accommodation, so I travelled to my regular area where I have now stayed 4 times and grabbed a motel room.

Bright and early the next morning (7:00) I met up with other travellers going on the tour and we started our 2.5 hour bus ride to the Hangang river white water experience.

At the reststop

I got a little more acquainted with a few people (Dave, Laima and Julie)... 

Dave (Left), Julie (Back Right), Laima

...who were going to be in my raft and then we grabbed our gear and headed for the water. There were 9 of us in our raft plus two guide - here is one of them:

The journey on the river took about 2 hours and along the way I got to have my 1st swim in 10 months!!! Sadly due to the lack of rain in the 3 weeks preceding this trip, the water level of the river was very low, which meant a little less white water and a lot more getting stuck on rocks that we would normally glide over.

It was all great fun though except for one irritation I had. One of my team members DID NOT KNOW HOW TO PADDLE! It, for some reason was getting to me - I think because her lack of technique the other 4 of us on that side of the raft were paddling out of sync, which was causing some hassles with directionality.

"If it was bothering you so much, then why did you not suggest to her how to paddle?" Well I thought we were all there to have a blast and there was no need to be picky, so I left thing as was and stuck to my task. Sadly unless we had underwater camera we were prohibited from bringing our ones along so I have no pics of the actual rafting.

Lunch was spicy squid stir-fry with rice (of course) and the normal Korean side dishes and then it was off to the bridge for the big jump.

Dave mentioned to me that last time he was on the trip they only had 30 people jumping, we however had about 60 as almost everyone wanted to jump! I stayed at the back of the queue so that I could take some nice pics (and one video which you need to look at sideways if you want to see what I did eventually) of people jumping. For those of you who are interested I am going to tell you how it all went down (another pointless pun - do what you will to me when I get back to SA). If you have done bungee before and don't care on the process, then go and make yourself a cup of tea and maybe everyone else will be done reading this bit when you get back so that you can resume your goggle eyed enchantment at my tail of courage beyond measure.

You signed up and payed your fee and then your weight was taken. I was sitting at a light 58kg (though my ticket says 59). Based on your weight you were given a letter of the alphabet to let the operators know what kind of rope they should use for you. My letter was B. The height of the jump was 53m up from the river and the initial free fall would take you down about 35m and then you would bounce around gradually staying closer and closer to the river as your momentum slowed down losing about 5-10m of bounce each time. The initial pull as you reached the tension threshold of the rope was the oddest feeling - kind of like having all your organs in your torso squash against your rib-cage. As you were bounce around a guy in a row boat was to row into position to pick you up when you were not bouncing anymore and the operators had lowered the winch to which the rope was attached, such that you could be collected by the boatman and taken back to tera-firma.

I didn't quite have that last bit. The operators lowered my cable a little too much so for about 2 minutes while I was waiting for the boatman top get to me (as he had started late) my head was bobbing in and out of the water while I was hang upside down. I didn't exactly expect that. But hey, no harm done. It was an incredible rush and an even more incredible experience. I was lucky that Laima - with her good photography skills and incredible camera, as well as Julie (with my camera) got some shots of my jump for me. Here are a few of my "Jump Shots": 

Laima took this and the next (best) photo.

Due to the extended period of time it took for everyone to jump I got back to Deagu just after the last bus and train so I stayed the night there and headed back to Yeongchoen around 10am on the Sunday morning.

WHAT AN ADVENTURE!

To clue you all in - I have officially got my Bali trip with Deborah planned and I have also got flights confirmed for Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia. Here is to a few more adventures ;)