Star Spangled bungee jumping

For July 4, 2007

"Can I be the one to push her?" ~what I imagine the bungee jump workers saying in Chinese as I was strapping in

Long Qing Xia was absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. It was exactly how I imagined parts of China, actually. Gigantic rock mountains that go straight up in the air with green trees somehow clinging on for life to the sides and tops and blue blue water below. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The trip started bright and early at 5:30 a.m. because I thought we needed to catch the tour bus and I didn't know how often it ran. Imaginary bus #8 supposedly only ran from 6:30-8:30 a.m. (thanks again Jake!). To the credit of my sense of direction, we accidentally took the subway the wrong way for a bit, but finally wound up at the right bus stop where 919 (the slow bus which I was explicitly told to take, hah!) was waiting for us (us being Mo and Sasha). As luck would have it, a gorgeous guy named Ryan was sitting in the back by himself and we proceeded to become best bus buddies. Ryan, from MN, had come from Shanghai on business (he was the international director of a software firm) and was in Beijing until Sunday. He was unfortunately on his way to the Great Wall and couldn't be swayed to join us. He entertained me with stories of his world travels (ALONE!) and gave me more and more hope I could one day do that as well. The bus ride was at least an hour and a half, all for just 12 RMB a person.

At one point, I figured out the bus wasn't going to take us directly to Long Qing Xia, but the couple behind us said to follow them when they left. When we arrived at our transfer, we decided to break down and get a cab (it had to be a private taxi). The woman trying to sell it to us pulled the baby card at one point. When we finally got to Long Qing Xia it was 9 a.m. As we approached, the terrain became more and more beautiful, with giant mountains like I had never seen before, pastel outlines against the morning sky. We arrived at Long Qing Xia and the place was a mix between ultimate consumerism and raw natural beauty. Definitely a tourist trap (this is the 16th most popular place to visit in Beijing) we giddly hopped on the world's longest escalator which was in the shape of a yellow dragon and the adventure began. We caught a boat tour of Long Qing Xia (Xia = Gorge) and felt humbled by the sheer size of the mountains. We passed the bungee jump of doom and a tight wire with a person biking across carrying another person below in a swing. Once we landed ashore, we decided to hike to the Temple of Illusion. I've since decided it's name is "Illusion" because the fanciful idea I had of being in shape, especially after my skip up the Great Wall, was indeed, an illusion. We had to take several breaks and I thanked my foresight to wear a bikini top. On the way, we passed men in slacks and a woman in an all-black suit with high heels. HIGH HEELS people. Perhaps this is why the Chinese have survived for so long--they subject their bodies to torture. At one point during our ascent, we passed a path that led to a small temple-like building. I bounded past the sign that said "Do Not Pass" and met the people who bicycle across on the tight wire. I asked if I could be the person to ride on the swing deal below and they told me 100 RMB. Sasha and Mo forbid me to do it, but personally I thought it looked less scary than bungee jumping (no weightless feeling in your stomache!). I might add that this was NOT part of anything you could really do at this park, but one is allowed to do anything for the right price in China. It was much higher up than the bungee jump, for comparison's sake. When we finally made it to the top (I was the first one by the way!) we sang the National Anthem in honor of July Fourth. It was probably the most patriotic any of us have been in our lives--I loved the irony of the sitch, especially with a Communist flag flying below. Mo played his flute, Sasha vegged and I looked ow-ooout (10 points to the person who catches this reference). When we finally decided to haul ourselves from the haven of the temple, our next stop was bungee jumping. It was rather small, only 50 something meters above the water. I missed Mo, but came in time to film Sasha. Then the drama ensued with me pacing back and forth contemplating if I should go or not. I grilled both Mo and Sasha for second-by-second details on how they felt. Yes, you get that weightless feeling in your stomache--you're falling. It was way scarier than any roller coaster I've been on!! Their descriptions weren't convincing me. My histrionics provided entertainment to all of the workers for a good ten minutes. It took Sasha saying I'd regret not doing it and a big grin from the man who would take my money to go, to convince me. Now, the catch after you pay is that if you hesitate for more than three minutes, you forfeit your right to jump. And your 150 RMB. Sasha went up with me and Mo went below to film (I'm so glad I had both of them there to guarantee I couldn't bolt). Sasha said she'd count to three only once and as I contemplated whether I'd jump or kindly scream "Hell no" on three, I felt a mighty shove from behind and went tumbling down. The instructions on how to hold my arms during decent went quite to the wayside and I had my eyes closed for the first half of the fall but forced them open for the second and screamed as I saw the water rushing to meet my head. Before it did, I caught and the weightless feeling subsided a bit. From there my screaming of fear turned to screaming of, "What the hell was that?! He pushed me!!" and to "Okay, I want to get down now." The boat caught me below and I'd say it was all over in less than a minute. After that, we caught a boat to go back. Our last hurrah was to slide back down the mountain on little trolleys (easiest 20 RMB I bet this place makes) and concluded our trip at 3 p.m. It was an easy bus ride back and upon return, a group of us went to Grandma's Kitchen, one of the restaurants suggested in my magazine for good down-home American cooking where I gorged myself on a burger with fries and a Kaluah milkshake.

I must say this will be one of the most memorable Fourth of Jul(ies?) I will ever have.