A Trip Down (and back up, down, up, down) Longqing Gorge

Ok it's time to get caught up with everything that has happened lately. This post takes us back to Sunday, October 15.

First, here is the conversation that took place late Saturday night.

A: “Hey guys, you want to go bungee jumping tomorrow!?!”
Everyone: “YEAH!”

So we designated one person to get up at 9am and start waking up everyone else so we could get to the bus station early. Amazingly the plan worked very well and of the 8 people who said they wanted to go, 7 actually did.

We almost went to the wrong bus station, but we found the right bus and the ride took about two hours. I was very happy we had seats because the bus was packed with people who were going to the Great Wall. We stopped a ton of times along the way and every time there was a net gain in people on the bus.

After reaching our destination we got off the bus and this lady immediately started telling us she could take all of us to the Gorge in her little minivan. She even agreed to wait for us while we ate lunch. After lunch, she brought us to the van and we saw how tight of a fit it was going to be. Stewart didn’t even have a seat so she whipped out a little stool for him to sit on. When we got to the gorge she agreed to wait for us there too, so she could take us back.

We bought our tickets and started making our way through the beginning of the park when we saw the “world’s longest chain of elevators.” This giant dragon is full of escalators that take you to the top of the dam. At the top we got in a little tour boat that went down the reservoir in the gorge allowing everyone to see the cool rock formations. After the boat turns around at the end of the reservoir, it stops at a dock in the middle to let people get out and walk along the trails in the hills. We got out and went straight to the bungee jump area (after going to the bathroom of course).









At the bungee jump station we started checking in and they started weighing us. When I saw that I started to worry (hmm, all of my stories seem to be related to me being big). I got on the scale and I was 94kg. The guy there started shaking his head and waving his arms around and he told us that 90kg was the heaviest anyone could be. I immediately started taking off my shoes, jacket, and taking out everything in my pockets. None of that worked though and they wouldn’t budge. Well we went up the stairs to the big platform and started getting scared.

After the first person jumped, the guy came over to me and said I could jump if I didn’t mind getting wet, so then I went and bought my ticket. Of course I was thinking things like what if I hit the bottom, but the platform was sticking out pretty far. We decided I should go last since it was going to be the most spectacular jump. I took off my shirt and was ready to go.

After the guy strapped my legs to the rope he didn’t give me much time to stand around. I jumped off, saw the water, didn’t think I was going to hit it, and ended up going in down to my chest. Right as I went in another tour was passing by so as I was dangling there after the big bounces I heard lots of cheering. They way they unhinged us was by lowering us down to a boat, so while I was upside down waiting for them I could feel all the blood running to my head which made my eyes feel pretty weird. All in all it was extremely fun. Unfortunately I don’t think there were any pictures taken of my jump, but fortunately one of my friends brought along his video camera, so my entire jump is on film. We just need to figure out how to convert it and compress it, so I can get it on here.

Well that about wraps up that weekend. I still have a lot more posts to make, so I’ll get to work.