Day 56 - 18th August
It was drama in the night. No, Mr Happy had not managed to get in to sexually love me but two beds in the 12 bed dorm were infested with bed bugs, the two girls were packing their stuff up. I picked up their sheets and bundled them up before throwing them onto the balcony.
A few hours later, we were up for a breakfast of Banana pancakes (yeah!) and and tea, We then headed downstairs for pick up to go on the Dalat Passion Tours trip. No money, no bags or valuables required. Just water and swim shorts.
Our guide, Gold ran in, high fiving us all in his under armour shirt and bandana and told us to load up on the bus. We lost Sèbastien in the group and didn't see him for the rest of the day.
When we arrived and put on harness equipment and hard hats, I realised we weren't going canoing but instead canyoning! No I knew, but it was fun to play up to the group with it. Our guide, Gold told us about techniques and how to do they scaling down safely. 'You walk, walk, walk. Stop. Photo, yeah, photo, then walk, jump, jump, jump until three metres from the bottom then let go into the water. No lady boys please, lots of jumping and photo with no hands on the rope!'
But then the jokes stopped as I realised I would have to start jumping off cliff tops and abseil down them pretty soon. Whose laughing now, Danny Boy? Well certainly not me as I'm terrified of heights. But I always feel like I'm going to miss out if I don't do these things.
The first one wasn't bad for a taster, and when I reached the bottom and high fived Jordy, the adrenaline had kicked in and I was off.
After, we took to a rock water slide, which is basically a constant flow of running water flying over smooth rocks from about four metres. The instructors, Lion and Windy just held our jackets and we went down backwards, head first. It's amazing how fast you can plummet down four metres with just water pushing you. What a rush.
Lunch of baguettes and fruit was welcomed by all before we moved off on a mini hike towards our second destination.
Drop two was over a waterfall and I went first, scaling down, pausing for 'photo' and cursing as I went. It was such a rush but I was always cautious knowing that my fear could kick in at any moment. The rock was really slippery so our shoes had to come off and we had to drop into the water from about three metres up.
After a brief trek, we reached the 11 metre cliff dive. Jesus, my stomach turned. I hoovered over as the two Irish guys in our group threw themselves off without hesitation. Jordy followed shortly after with his Go Pro attached.
I was the only guy left and my nerve was fading quickly. Julie, ever helpful, told me not to be a ladyboy and I heard Jordy say at some point 'Don't be a pussy, Dan.'
I turned away and took a deep breath. I then turned and yelled out 'Oh shit,' as I flew off the cliff. The plummet lasted only a second or so but as I hit the water, I yelled out in joy. Hell yeah. What a rush. I did it.
When I reached a rock, I was shaking, so was everyone else. But mine was from pure adrenaline. My heart was racing but I looked back at the rock and knew it was an incredible experience. Anything now was easy.
The final rock was nicknamed 'The Washing Machine,' and as Gold put it, 'When you're done, come back up and tell me why it's called the washing machine.'
As I went down, the rocks began to disappear, and all I could see was a sheer drop and a gushing waterfall. Gold was yelling out lean forward and let your legs dangle. As I hung there, I just released the rope quickly so I zipped downwards into the waterfall. It spun me around and I realised why it had its nickname. The current pulled me under and I was sucked into a pool outside the falls where Lion and Windy were waiting.
And just like that, the canyoning was over. Another experience finished just like a click of the fingers. But one never to forget.
We arrived back to find Mr Peace and a team fumigating our room like something out of Monsters Inc. when they were done, we headed out to Bingo Pizza and I indulged in a BBQ Chicken pizza. It was delightful. At the same time as enjoying our meals, I opened up a controversial game of truth with my four travelling companions. Questions such as 'What do you find most annoying about each member of the group?', 'what was your initial reaction of each member of the group,' and 'what's the worse thing anyone has every done to you?' came up with a number of others and we all felt like we knew each other much better afterwards.
Another round of pool squared the night off for Jordy and Sèbastien, who went to a Karoke bar and to bed respectively. The girls and I went to Bee Bar for G and T's and wine and further open discussions.
It was a great way to finish Dalat and we crawled into bed past midnight, me a little later after a short and sweet Skype session, ready for the 7am bus to Muine in the morning. Oh, I do love those morning buses . . .
A special note also to Matthijs - safe travel back home buddy, I hope your grandmother gets well soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Hi, leave me a message. I would love to hear from you.