A Remembrance of Things Past #2

Well, after getting a good nap in after writing the first of this two part series of blogs, I feel like I can write the second part now. Matt (my brother for those of you who don't know) flew in early Sabbath morning-- the beginning of the second week with the family. The fun and adventures never ceased. I suppose I should start with the whole diving head first off a giant metal thing... Let's see... Ahem!

(Movie preview guy voice)

It was a day like any other day in quiet semi-rural Chiang Mai area. Birds were singing, smoke had settled over the valley, excitement was buzzing throughout the air. But just around the corner, somewhere deep in the jungle lurked the face of... a challenge! Three months of being separated, two brothers, one plunge to reunite them and prove to the world that they really are brave.

(Normal Michael voice)

So, yeah, Matt and I-- after a day playing with elephants and monkeys-- decided, "Hey! Let's go bungee jumping." Summer and I had scoped out the place before, and we decided to wait until the family was here so we could go together. Mom and Dad gracefully bowed out. Summer decided she'd wait until her family was here. So that left the brothers. One grueling game of Rock, Paper, Scissors later to determine who would go first, we had our winner-- Matt. We said our goodbyes, and I watched with eager anticipation as Matt strapped in, made his way to the top, and jumped. It was pretty sweet. Now let me give you the first-hand experience.

I wasn't really that scared... more excited than anything. I signed my life away, stepped onto the scale (apparently to make sure I didn't hit the water or anything bad like that), and then sat down and let them strap me in. I'm pretty sure my feet and lower legs lost all circulation, but hey... that's a cheap price to pay to ensure your head doesn't lose all circulation. I then literally hopped over and onto the lift. I sat down and he hooked the bungee cord to my ankles. Then, it was nothing but up. It was really a pleasant ride. Nice and slow, so you could think about all the bad things you had done in your life and ask forgiveness. It was a beautiful view too, despite all the smoke. My thoughts as I was going up?

"Wow, that's a long way down. Hey look, I can see the other side of the valley from here. I wonder what we're gonna have for dinner. Okay, we should be stopping right about... now! Okay, we should be stopping right about... now! ... now! ... now!?! When does this thing stop?"

Then it did. There were a couple brief moments of, "Michael, are you going to be a wuss and make him count twice, or are you just going to man up and jump?" But, then he was telling me to step up to the platform. This was the scariest moment of the whole experience for one reason only. I almost jumped before I was ready. When your legs are firmly bound together as they were, to get somewhere you have to a) waddle for a very long time or b) hop to where you want to go. I wasn't about to hop, so I took hold of either side of the railing by the platform and just lifted my self up to place my feet down on the platform. The problem is... there was a good 20 meters of bungee cord hanging down below me just waiting to pull my feet over the edge. As I was suspended by my arms, my feet casually swung over the edge. This got my adrenaline pumping a bit. But then it was nothing but solid platform 160ish feet above the ground under my feet. Ahhh relief! 3...2...1... Bungeeeeeee! And I was off. Plummeting head first toward the rapidly approaching water below.

It was pretty amazing. Quite the head rush, though. There was more blood in my head than I knew what to do with. Now, I have a certificate of courage, though. I think I'll frame it.

A couple other highlights of the week involved to animal parks, actually. The first was the Chiang Mai Zoo. It is a huge complex that is very spread out. Unfortunately, we chose to walk through the park instead of buy bus tickets to shuttle us from one place to another. Lesson learned. Anyhow, we saw many exciting animals, some of which you can see in the pictures above and/or below. I was up against the railing looking at and taking pictures of the hippos, when one decided that I was going to feed it. So, it came up to the wall, stood up a bit, and opened his mouth nice and wide so I could look down its throat. It scared my so bad, my first picture was blurry, but then I got a nice shot of it. After that, we got to spend some time with the giraffes. This was cool, because you can actually feed and touch them. It was all of our first times touching a giraffe. Their tongues are so long, I was sure it was going to grab hold of my arm and just gulp it on down. Summer got some pictures of her favorite rodent-- the capybara. She'll post one later for you to see. They are huge.

The other park was the Chiang Mai Night Safari. This is one of only three Night Safaris like it in the world (the other two are in Singapore and China). When we first started walking in, there was a little booth outside the park renting out quads for those who wanted to go ripping around on them. We asked the guy if people ride them in the park. He said, "No... Too dangerous. We tried that once, and it did not work too well. The animals charged the vehicles." Ha! That was hilarious. Just the way he said it was so matter-of-fact.

In the park, there are three loops that you can go around. The middle one goes around a large lake, and it is one that you walk around. It is open almost all day, and at night they turn on the lights for people to see the animals. We tackled this one first. On our little trek, we came across an amazing pair of white siberian tigers. They were beautiful! The amazing thing was... we actually got to hear them roar. It was not so much an MGM lion roar, but more of a throaty growl/whine. I actually got pretty good at mimicking it. The other two loops were ones that you rode on a tram around. These were really neat, because they only run at night. They have all kinds of lights to show you the animals. Some of them are just free wandering, and others are behind fences or large steep pits/cliffs so they can't get to the trams. A very unique experience. At the end of touring around the loops, we watched a lazer/light/water fountain show on the lake. It was set to music and really masterfully done.

Before we knew it, our weeks with the family were over, and they were on a plane, heading back home. It was so nice to see familiar faces and to be able to show them the excitement of Thailand. If any of you want an excuse to visit an exotic place, there's really no better excuse than to come visit us. The only requirement is that you come with peanut butter and leave with smiles on your faces. Thanks for the memories.

~M