To continue on with my travel stories, one in particular comes to mind now that we've hit the summer holidays. You see, last summer I decided to venture to Thailand to work at an orphanage for kids with special needs. After a month of exhausting work, a dear friend of mine invited me to visit him and his family in Malaysia. The deal was that if I would pay for my flights, he would cover everything else. What a deal right?
And so I went, and the deal was no word of a lie! He had planned out the entire week for us -- even got angry when I offered to pay for an ice cream or pop here and there. We had a fantastic time, I met his family, his friends and really got to see Malaysia as I wanted - no touristy garbage, just first hand Malaysian style travel.
One of the excursions that my buddy lined up for us was to go to this island called Langkawi. It was beautiful -- we stayed in little villas, enjoyed some extremely spicy food and hiked, swam and boated like it was nobody's business.
On our last day on Langkawi, the group of us (my friend and his friends) all decided to go to the beach at sunset. I, looking for adventure as always, then thought it would be a great idea to go parasailing! For those of you thinking "So what? People go parasailing all the time!", you really have no idea what MALAYSIAN parasailing is like.You see, as I said before, I was experiencing Malaysian travel just as a Malaysian person would. Therefore, the beach we were at was not touristy, nor did it offer the comforts of a classy resort with certified equipment or bilingual staff.
So there I was, standing on the beach with my buddy as he bartered with the guy to get a better price for the activity. As it turns out, they were both born in the same tiny mountain town and so, being "brothers" we got a fantastic $30 for 20 minutes each!
My friend was a little nervous about parasailing (I should have listened to him) and so made me go first. We walked out to the beach and each got strapped into what looked to me like fraying seat-belts. I stood there, happily being groped by random men as they put my "harness" on, and tried to understand the instructions on how to parasail from a man with very little knowledge of the English language.
I was to run (yes RUN) down the beach in the harness, pulling the parachute behind me until the slack between me and the metal dingy boat that was to be pulling me disappeared. I would then be hoisted into the air and pulled along the shore, over the water and off into the sunset. After my time in the air was going to be drawing to a close, I would "hear a whistle" and see this small, Malaysian, purple-shirted man waving his arms above his head. After I saw this, I was to pull on the right side of my parachute. Once I saw this same little man waving his arms below his knees, I was to let go of the parachute and drift softly down to the earth where he and his co-workers would catch me.
It sounded easy enough to me and after going over it about 30 more times with the man, I was on my way down the beach, awkwardly running like some sort of Forrest Gump equivalent, strapped onto a parachute and into a sketchy harness, waiting to be hoisted into the air.
Off I went, sailing through the sky, looking out over a calm sea at sunset. The colours in the sky were insane and the beauty of where I was - at what seemed to be the top of the world - was overwhelming. As the boat turned and began to go back the way we came, I stopped looking at the sunset and the ocean, and focused on the beach below. Much to my surprise, when you're at such an altitude, people on the beach look more like ant colonies than actual human beings.
So there I was, looking down, trying to spot the small Malaysian man in a purple shirt amongst a sea of ants and suddenly found myself getting a strange sinking sensation deep within my soul. As I tried desperately to search for my little man in the crowds, what do I hear but a whistle blast - just the cue I was waiting for to begin my decent onto the beach. At that moment, I grabbed onto the right side of my parachute and began to pull. Looking down at the beach I began to see many people waving their hands over their heads. I thought to myself "WOW, I am actually doing great!" ... that would later prove to be the dumbest thought I had ever had.
After keeping my focus on the people on the ground for so long, (what was really maybe 10 seconds) I looked up to see that I was no longer over water.. and was in fact heading quickly towards a very rocky cliff. Realizing this, I let go of my parachute and was instantly whipped in the opposite direction where I saw - looking down again - that my boat driver had stopped driving the boat and was also waving his hands above his head.
Then it happened. I looked up. What I saw was my parachute folding in on itself and what I felt, was a sudden rush of wind and as I began to plummet to the ground. Scrounging to make it alright, I tugged on my parachute here and there as I free-fell from what was now about 3.5 stories in the air. I decided at that moment that I did NOT want to break my left leg again (as I had just recently gotten out of a cast) and so angled my body in such a way that my whole right side would take the impact of the fall, instead of my left.
As I crashed to the ground, what seemed to be hundreds of people came running toward me screaming in Malay (the language of Malaysia). I was numb and in incredibly shock that I had just plummeted from the sky. One man yelled at me in English "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?? YOU COULD HAVE DIED!!" as I tried to untangle myself from the mess of the parachute and cords.
I ended up with a sprained ankle, a twisted knee, a sprained wrist, a mild concussion, a toe-nail completely ripped off, and bruises up and down the right side of my body.
I could have died that day. I'm very aware of that. It certainly has made me think twice before trying to experience things that perhaps are maybe not as safe as they should be. None the less, I did get a fantastic story from the fall... even if it did result in some pain meds, bandages and a seriously bruised ego.
And so I went, and the deal was no word of a lie! He had planned out the entire week for us -- even got angry when I offered to pay for an ice cream or pop here and there. We had a fantastic time, I met his family, his friends and really got to see Malaysia as I wanted - no touristy garbage, just first hand Malaysian style travel.
One of the excursions that my buddy lined up for us was to go to this island called Langkawi. It was beautiful -- we stayed in little villas, enjoyed some extremely spicy food and hiked, swam and boated like it was nobody's business.
On our last day on Langkawi, the group of us (my friend and his friends) all decided to go to the beach at sunset. I, looking for adventure as always, then thought it would be a great idea to go parasailing! For those of you thinking "So what? People go parasailing all the time!", you really have no idea what MALAYSIAN parasailing is like.You see, as I said before, I was experiencing Malaysian travel just as a Malaysian person would. Therefore, the beach we were at was not touristy, nor did it offer the comforts of a classy resort with certified equipment or bilingual staff.
So there I was, standing on the beach with my buddy as he bartered with the guy to get a better price for the activity. As it turns out, they were both born in the same tiny mountain town and so, being "brothers" we got a fantastic $30 for 20 minutes each!
My friend was a little nervous about parasailing (I should have listened to him) and so made me go first. We walked out to the beach and each got strapped into what looked to me like fraying seat-belts. I stood there, happily being groped by random men as they put my "harness" on, and tried to understand the instructions on how to parasail from a man with very little knowledge of the English language.
I was to run (yes RUN) down the beach in the harness, pulling the parachute behind me until the slack between me and the metal dingy boat that was to be pulling me disappeared. I would then be hoisted into the air and pulled along the shore, over the water and off into the sunset. After my time in the air was going to be drawing to a close, I would "hear a whistle" and see this small, Malaysian, purple-shirted man waving his arms above his head. After I saw this, I was to pull on the right side of my parachute. Once I saw this same little man waving his arms below his knees, I was to let go of the parachute and drift softly down to the earth where he and his co-workers would catch me.
It sounded easy enough to me and after going over it about 30 more times with the man, I was on my way down the beach, awkwardly running like some sort of Forrest Gump equivalent, strapped onto a parachute and into a sketchy harness, waiting to be hoisted into the air.
Off I went, sailing through the sky, looking out over a calm sea at sunset. The colours in the sky were insane and the beauty of where I was - at what seemed to be the top of the world - was overwhelming. As the boat turned and began to go back the way we came, I stopped looking at the sunset and the ocean, and focused on the beach below. Much to my surprise, when you're at such an altitude, people on the beach look more like ant colonies than actual human beings.
So there I was, looking down, trying to spot the small Malaysian man in a purple shirt amongst a sea of ants and suddenly found myself getting a strange sinking sensation deep within my soul. As I tried desperately to search for my little man in the crowds, what do I hear but a whistle blast - just the cue I was waiting for to begin my decent onto the beach. At that moment, I grabbed onto the right side of my parachute and began to pull. Looking down at the beach I began to see many people waving their hands over their heads. I thought to myself "WOW, I am actually doing great!" ... that would later prove to be the dumbest thought I had ever had.
After keeping my focus on the people on the ground for so long, (what was really maybe 10 seconds) I looked up to see that I was no longer over water.. and was in fact heading quickly towards a very rocky cliff. Realizing this, I let go of my parachute and was instantly whipped in the opposite direction where I saw - looking down again - that my boat driver had stopped driving the boat and was also waving his hands above his head.
Then it happened. I looked up. What I saw was my parachute folding in on itself and what I felt, was a sudden rush of wind and as I began to plummet to the ground. Scrounging to make it alright, I tugged on my parachute here and there as I free-fell from what was now about 3.5 stories in the air. I decided at that moment that I did NOT want to break my left leg again (as I had just recently gotten out of a cast) and so angled my body in such a way that my whole right side would take the impact of the fall, instead of my left.
As I crashed to the ground, what seemed to be hundreds of people came running toward me screaming in Malay (the language of Malaysia). I was numb and in incredibly shock that I had just plummeted from the sky. One man yelled at me in English "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?? YOU COULD HAVE DIED!!" as I tried to untangle myself from the mess of the parachute and cords.
I ended up with a sprained ankle, a twisted knee, a sprained wrist, a mild concussion, a toe-nail completely ripped off, and bruises up and down the right side of my body.
I could have died that day. I'm very aware of that. It certainly has made me think twice before trying to experience things that perhaps are maybe not as safe as they should be. None the less, I did get a fantastic story from the fall... even if it did result in some pain meds, bandages and a seriously bruised ego.
Like a tall glass of ice water on the hottest day of the year.
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