Today I'm just going to take you on a whirlwind recap of a crazy jumping, soaring, flying, bouncing, screeching, leaping, whooping, pummeling adventure through the rainforest!
Early Wednesday morning the 10 of us who had already arrived at Belle Villa arose for a quick breakfast and then piled into a van that would take us for an hour+ journey to another outskirt area of Chiang Mai. It was a bumpy, steep and death-defying ride where a couple of us (the Ingleby sisters) almost lost our breakfast that we'd so hurriedly eaten. When we arrived, we gulped in the fresh air and glanced around at what would be our adventure for the day. We were ready (and a little nervous) to go on the Amazing Race-featured Flight of the Gibbon. In other words, '18 platforms of high-flying, zip-lining fun!' www.treetopasia.com
Our guides started out by introducing themselves and making us sign a waiver that said if our lives ended by falling thousands of feet to the ground or all of the bones in our bodies were crushed into sawdust by running into a tree - then we can't blame or sue them. Okay, so I'm exaggerating a little bit but now you know how my acrophobic mind was interpreting the document!
We got all suited up...ready to go!
When we got to the first platform my hands were trembling, I was so scared. In fact, I was T-T-T-TERRIFIED. It helped that I could sit down in the harness and hold on for dear life. My family and friends, though...amazing! They were fearless! They were bounding off of platforms without even holding on, just doing nosedives into mid-air, trusting that cable would bounce them back up. Unbelievable! I think they loved every second of it. Me, on the other hand, what I realized is that my fear of heights is much worse than I thought! It didn't help that the guides knew I was the most afraid in the group, so they tortured me - holding on to the strap on my back, letting me dangle above nothingness for what seemed a lifetime, acting like they were going to push me off the platform before I was ready - so mean. I felt like I was back in middle school, trying to stay clear of the bullies! Even my cries of, "Please be nice! I'm getting married in 4 days!!!" didn't seem to work! Haha...they had a GREAT day with me. :)
Part of the platforms were regular zip-lines, part was rapelling where they just lower you straight down and there were a few wobbly bridges. Pictured below is the longest zip-line.
And below here is the highest suspension...
Haike about halfway through one of the zip-lines:
And, finally, safe and sound back on the ground!
After our hours of insanity :) in the trees, we had a Thai lunch and then were taken to another area with a waterfall and a trail to hike up next to it.
We got back to our resort in time for a shower and dinner then most people dispersed to their rooms for the evening... Emilie, some of the other girls, and I went to my room, though, to do practice hair for the wedding ceremony!! It was so fun to chat and "play dress-up" as I ended up in my dress and veil by the end of the night, ya know, to practice! Here's a picture from the evening...and my awesome shoes!
There really were too many amazing pictures from this day...it was so hard to choose just a few to include here. If you want to see more, just let me know! Also, I'm including a few YouTube links below...for a taste of the zip-lining!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w00cxIHwlc8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojhHvamuk0E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB-O7rta4TU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPMiyhMQmtg
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