Flying Without Wings!

I now know how it feels to fly.

True, the paragliding experience I had wasn't as exciting and as risky as that done by fellow blogger and flickr celebity-fotog Totomai, but it was the experience of being suspended in the air, by my lonesome, that was by itself, the end I sought. The short ride already gave me memories that would be etched forever in my thoughts.

And because of the adrenaline-rush that it brought, I am now more convinced to go for the mountain-top jump when the opportunity presents itself someday.

It never is too late to try more dangerous stunts, eh. :-)

***

As I mentioned in my previous post, the ascent to the paragliding jump-off base was like courting danger, but I still can't help but salute the course engineers for their ingenuity. You see, the mountainside was steep, probably about 70 degrees in slope. There seemed to be no way around it, so they just deviced a way to go straight up! That they did by installing an improvised train, a monorail actually, through a railway pegged to the ravine. It operated like a giant zipper, where the car's teeth get slowly implanted in the rail's holes as it moves. It was powered by a motor that reminded me of the Briggs & Stratton type used in the province for motorboats. I tell you, the ride was shaky, like riding a roller-coaster that has seen better days.


And mind you, it was an open ride - no seatbelts to harness the guests. I'm sure, falling from where we went (400 feet high up) would have left anyone with no bones unbroken. But then again, those who go up are supposed to fly down - if they can face that prospect, falling through a ravine wouldn't really be scary anymore, right?