October 25, 2009

 Woke up at 4:30am…boooo!! Left our bags at the Shanker Hotel and took a taxi to the bus that will take us to Last Resort that left at 6am. They kind of left something out about Last Resort. That something was a 3 hour bus ride. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous. However, the winding roads did tend to make me a bit nauseated. We did get one bathroom break on the way up and got to stop for snacks and talk to some locals for a bit.  My favorite part about traveling is talking to random strangers and learning about their culture. It is a lot to take in, but you learn so much. The bus arrived at 9am and we were ready to get off! Last Resort is located literally miles from the Tibet border. I know I have said this a lot, but it is hard to explain how gorgeous it is. The river is roaring and there are massive boulders just being pushed around.

Once off the bus, you start to look around and finally get your bearings. Then you realize that there is a bridge held together by steel cables that is 400M long (that’s a ¼ of a mile) that stretches across this roaring river coming out of the Himalayas. This is the ONLY way to get to the Last Resort. If you are afraid of heights, too bad, there is no other place to stay…you MUST cross this bridge. It took awhile to sink in how high this bridge really is. Half way across the bridge it turns out this is where the jump point is. You could tell Joel was a bit nervous knowing that this was the point where he would have to jump off later today and I was really on the fence if this was something I could even do. Once on the other side we continued to check-in; tonight we are sleeping in a “luxurious” tent, complete with 4 beds and lanterns. For in the middle of nowhere, this place is actually pretty modern, it feels safe.  

 At 10am it was time for our bus to decide if we were jumping or not. Joel was already committed he had decided he was going. I finally realized I have to go, I may never have this opportunity again, and that is when my heart began to beat really fast. Within minutes they had our height; they had our weight; and had sorted us into weight groups to head back out to the bridge we had just come from. That was a lot to take in such a short time. So, here we are, walking back on the bridge, grouped by weight, still not knowing who is going first. Guess whose number they called? Yeah, it was mine; I’m the first one. Now I signed up, not to do bungee, I signed up to do swing. Basically they put you in a harness, tie you to a rope that is latched to a steel cable further down the river, and then…you jump. Scariest moment of my life! The guys said jump on a count of 3, so I went on 2. It is a 7 second free fall. The entire time I’m yelling “no, no, no” while pushing my feet in a downward motion, like that’s going to stop me somehow. The adrenaline rush was so intense that it lasted for 15 minutes after the swing stopped. It is very similar to the feeling I get when I am on stage….times 100. After unhooking myself from my harness I waited down below for Joel to do his jump.

 It would figure since I was the first person to jump that Joel’s would be the last. It was a lot of fun watching the other people jump. Everyone’s adrenaline was so high when they finished it was like a family reunion; everyone was giving high-fives and hugging each other. Joel and I kept waving to each other, even though it seemed like he was an ant to me and I was an ant to him since we were so far away from each other. It was scary for me to jump first but I can not imagine what Joel was going through. So the time came for him to bungee. Joel leapt off the ledge like a champ! My screams were more in fear and you could tell his were more in fun. The only thing that looked like it sucked was being that the bungee was over the river, he had to hang upside-down for at least 5 minutes before he was able to catch the “state of the art” bamboo stick that he had to grab to be pulled over to the river bank. There is one other thing they don’t tell you about the Last Resort, once you jump you have to take the 30 minute hike back up the mountain to get back to Last Resort.

 The food here is amazing, it is all-you-can-eat, it’s an open air bar, lots of people to talk to, and the weather is not too bad either. Drinking beer with family and new friends in the middle of nowhere is a nice end to one hell of a day. I’m actually looking forward to sleeping in our “luxurious” tent tonight.