“Every man has the right to risk his own life in order to preserve it. Has it ever been said that a man who throws himself out the window to escape from a fire is guilty of suicide?”
G-max is open until 2 am.
You pay at the ticket booth. They offer special packages including momentos for the ride i.e., video recording, shirts, caps, etc.
Two gantry towers mounted on a platform.
The video recording was not working when we got there so we could not avail of their combo package (which included the momentos) so we just paid for the ride.
We were on a queue and found my legs weakened as I watched the passengers inside a metal spherical car being thrown into the air. I heard people’s scream faded into the wind as they were being vertically catapulted at 200 km per hour in a dazzling height of 60 meters from the ground. “What if die?” I told myself. Fear was painted all over my face. I looked around and found that, it was just me, Oki, and a White kid on the queue. Nyar! There were more spectators than people wanting to try it. Not far from us, a group of young Filipinos were cheering us. “Go, go, kaya n’yo yan!” (Go, go, you can do it!). I tried boosting my puny confidence and convinced myself that everything would be okay. Besides, our rides have already been paid. We didn’t fly all the way to Singapore just to chicken out!
It was actually Oki’s idea to try the G-Max Reverse Bungy. She obviously likes the fun thrill. She signed up to skydive in Subic last year and will probably fly to Chang Mai this year to bungee jump. I will try to see first if she’ll come out of it alive and maybe convince myself to do it too. But for now, reverse bungy/bungee is more than enough.
“Who wants to go next?” the guy who was assisting the passengers asked.
We live only once and NOT being able to do it when I already had the chance is way beyond me.
I gulped as we went into the platform. The guy had our safety belts and latches locked. I asked the guy who was assisting us if someone had already died from this ride (a stupid thing to ask really) and he said, “G-Max is 100% safety record.” He said it like a template, which worried me more. Crazy hell, my head was in a fuzz as we waited for the launch. Right at that moment, I was thinking of my poor, innocent mother. She doesn’t even know I was in another country with a half chance of (maybe) not coming back to her alive. It amazes me how imaginative and exagerated I could I be when I am freaked out and scared. Wah!
I believed they’ve arranged us by weight for stability. I was in the middle. On my left was Oki and on my right was this kid who was being chatty and made sure this ride would be my most memorable one. I was so caught up with my own fears that I barely understood what he was telling me. All I got was that, it was his second time riding the bungee and he was all so looking cool about it.
The kid was counting from 1 to 10 while the operator waited to turn the electro-magnetic latch that would launch us into nowhere. After the “go sign” we were catapulted into heights with a g-force. It was then that I started screaming. At 200km/hr I was belting on top of my lungs. I was hoping not to die that night. No kidding.
Oki and the kid were looking so damn cool about it. What the heck. After three throws, and several bounces, we were lulled into the air 60 meters high and the kid would talk to me, saying: “What would happen if by bad luck the ropes malfunctioned and separated from the passenger spheres? We would fall and then all of a sudden a big bird would come and get us!” He was describing the ‘what if’ to me so vividly that abruptly I told him to shut up. But he would not. He continued to torture me with his vivid descriptions. Ah, kids!
Until finally, the ropes relaxed and we were lowered back into our launch position. The ride was chaotic and disorienting. The force and the strong wind completed the thrill. My heart simply would not pacify. I enjoyed screaming though. God, I had a nice belting power!
I didn’t have the stamina to take pictures but basically, this is how reverse bungy works.
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10 comments:
Wow! Yan ang di ko nasubukan last time. Paano, sira nung nagpunta ako at napigtal daw dahil nagka roon ng aksidente.
I love your narration!
Wow! You tried the reverse bungee. I don't think I have the guts to do so though. I'm not really a fan of thrill rides ... Pero it's really cool that you countered your fear and went on it!
:D
This is one I always wanted to pluck up the courage to do. I'm a bit better if I can't see my impending doom so the idea of the rope snapping and just being catapaulted up into space to asphyxiate is prefereable to the normal bungey of watching as the ground comes a little too close and then entwines itself with your face.
First the serious part... I do think everybody has the right to end his own life...
Wow! I wouldn't do that for anything in the world... even for a Nikon D300 & assorted prime lenses.
I think it is madness... and you even need to pay for it.
To be honest I didn't thought you would do something like that !
Congratulations. You are fearless!
As my opinion about bungee jump... I think it is even more crazy! ;-)
wow! superb! maybe i'll do that when im dead. hehehe...
I've been here many times and seen people launched from it but you'd never get me going up in it!!! No matter how drunk.
So, was it better than having an orgasm?
Sorry for the stupid question, neglect it, it was the first thing that came to mind.
I'm glad you can tell me and I cannot tell myself :-)
Sounds like a great experience,though.
Off topic: "den kleine Beyen" is indeed my 17 year old badminton playing son Tom. He calls himself "the small Beyen" he is taller than I am and I am 6 ft.
@Ferdz:
don't worry, there is always a next time. sana masubukan mo siya one of these days. iba yung thrill pramis. nakakatakot lang tingnan. mas matagal pa ang takot ko kaysa duration ng ride. thanks Ferdz!
@Kyels:
more than the fun i got from riding, i think i am more excited with the fact that i can always challenge myself. i've died and resurrect from this thrill and it's a good feeling...
@Dom:
we seem to share the same intensity of imagination. but it's good you know, imagining the worst so that when you finally decide to ride and give in, the worst is over. i am sure it's not the idea of 'dying' that scares you. there's more to it than simply challenging yourself and conquering fear. there's more to it than imagining that the rope would snap and throw you into the abyss. you will discover a lot more about yourself. excuse the blah-blah but you know me...i need to blah-blah to entice people.
@Sidney:
haha. you are such a funny guy! and yes, i do think that it's madness too. but hey, didn't it occur to you that the synonym of the word life is madness? and i am glad to say we all live in it. cheers to this madness!
@Dong:
do it when you get the chance! i am sure the thrill will provide a totally different perspective. that's exactly why we live and we continue to live... to engage in madness once in a while and discover things. okay, forget everything i ever said.
@Mike:
NEVER say NEVER, my friend!
@Peter:
So, was it better than having an orgasm?
---> hmmm. could be. i dunno. even the word "orgasm" has been overly subjective and overstated. try it and differentiate! ;-p
Okay, so that's really scary. And I'm just reading your post! Wow, I should have tagged along with you so I could have taken your pictures. :) Kaya lang, even if I were only a spectator, I'd be scared to death as well!
Congratulations to you and Oki! :)
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