Last year, we decided to be really daring, and signed up for a paragliding trip through one of the local tour groups. I have paraglided quite a few times with my friends in South Africa, but Robin had never done it before. I had also only ever done it tandem with an instructor, since most countries have special things in place, apparently unknown to Koreans called safety regulations....
We headed out bright and early to get the bus to Seosan. It's a really pretty area of Korea, with mountains, rice paddies, fields, and it's not too far from the ocean. The bus got us to the place where we had to be, but couldn't get up the dirt road, so we had to get out and hike up the rest of the way, to a grassy mountaintop. There, waiting for us, was a Korean family, and a couple of Korean men ~ the instructors.
Having done tandem jumps before, my friend Andre always gave such extensive safety talks to the people he would take with him. You knew everything that was going on, and if he had to pass out in the air, you, the newbie, would probably be able to land safely, after his instructions. The same cannot be said for the Korean instructors. Basically, they couldn't really speak English, so they instructed us (a group of 30 or so foreigners) using sentences like, "Right hand, ear", "Left hand, hip". Everyone was totally confused, but they assured everyone that it was super easy, and took us to the side of the mountain, to jump off. They decided that they would talk to each person, by strapping a walkie talkie to the jumpers' helmet... This is safe... I promise??
First up was the trip leader, a petite Korean girl. She had been acting as our translator, and the instructors nominated her to go first. The problem was that the instructors hadn't ironed out all of the kinks though. She was visibly petrified, and so, when she left the ground, all of the foreigners started cheering. She was flying, and it was amazing. Then she did a manouvre in between two mountains, like a pro, and we were yelling even louder. Then, she face-planted into the side of the mountain... In a thorn bush. It was brutal. It was one of those moments when everyone goes "Ooooooh" and looks away. It turns out that the radio idea was good in theory, but she couldn't hear any of the instructions over the sound of us cheering! That pro-maneuvre between the two mountains was just lucky, and the landing was probably lucky too, since she only had a few scratches and bruises. It didn't fill me with confidence!
A lot more people went, and a few more people wacked the side of the mountain. The main problem was that the instructors were shouting things like "Left hand, hip", and the adrenaline and nerves and fear caused people to either mix up left and right, or get over zealous and take it to "left hand, knee"... There were some pretty epic fails.
Then it was my turn. I was petrified that I would crash. Not because I was too nervous or scared, but because I can't remember my left and right when I am totally sober and relaxed. I couldn't exactly let go of the parachute to see which thumb and forefinger make the letter "L". Amazingly though (and probably because I practiced left and right with Robin), my ride was as smooth as can be. My landing was so gentle and perfect (excetpt that they chose a rice paddy as the landing and my shoes got all muddy).
Robin followed my lead and did a perfect job too! We are like little paragliding ninjas!
It was an awesome experience, and highly recommended for anyone to try... Although, if you do, maybe try it somewhere where it's not so dangerous! Haha!
Happy flying!
