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“... and fell like a screaming yo yo 160 m to the river floor” |
Three hours from Kathmandu is a metal bridge suspended 160 m above the Bhotse river. A crazy Swede decided it would be a great place to hang a bungy chord and charge tourists to jump off it. That's how the world's third highest bungy jump got to Nepal.
We knew that our year off would present opportunities to do and see things not possible while at home. Jumping off the third highest bungy seemed to fit appropriately with that idea. So we convinced ourselves we should do it (for better or worse this happened over Happy Hour with beers).
So a week ago, we headed out to the bungy resort determined to throw ourselves off a bridge. My jump went fine, since I've jumped before. But it was Jenn's first time and she couldn't do it. She got harnessed in and walked to the edge of the platform with her toes dangling over the 160 m drop. The bungy master yelled "3-2-1- Bungy!" but she didn't move. She stood frozen over the edge for a good 30 minutes with the bungy master urging her to jump. Nothing he said could convince her to jump and she had to come off the bridge thoroughly disappointed.
Jenn's in good company with failed jumpers. One of the guys at the resort told me about a New Zealander who was at the jump a few days ago. He travelled an epic 270 km by jet ski from the country of Bhutan and rode up raging rivers all the way into Nepal. He decided to try the bungy, but like Jenn, he couldn't do it. He was at the bar later that night in tears over his failed bungy.
Jenn couldn't get over the jump either so we did the only logical thing - we returned to the bridge two days later to give it a second try. Coincidentally, the date of our jump was December 31st. We joked that this would be her jump into the New Year.
This time Jenn knew what to expect. Her problem the first time was that she thought about the jump too much. She was trying to rationalize something as senseless as bungy jumping while she was standing on the edge. This time, she would not try to question anything and just jump.
Funny enough, this was the exact same advice the bungy master gave her the second time around.
He said, "Don't ask any questions. When you hear the words just go."
Then Jenn asked "Is this supposed to be this loose?".
The bungy master snapped back, "That's a question." And just led her over the edge.
She heard the familiar "3-2-1 Bungy" and took her biggest leap of faith ever. And fell like a screaming yo yo 160 m to the river floor.
I met her at the bottom of the jump and she was ecstatic and babbling a mile a minute. She said the first moment after she leapt off the platform she felt an intense fear. Then because the free fall was about 4 seconds, she could feel the sensation of the free fall. Then when the chord stretched out and she knew she was fine she couldn't stop laughing while being bounced upside down on the bungee.
Needless to say, we're both still reeling over our jumps. It was a great start to the New Year.
Cheers!
Lenny and Jenn
previous travel blog entry
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