Chiang Mai & Zip Lines

Today we rose early to corral our group of 22 1/2 to the airport bound for Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. Red Elephant gave the whole crew red tshirts to help us stay together which of course lead to a Tshirt customization party on the bus.

After a short 55 min flight, which they somehow managed to serve a meal during, we arrived and went straight to the Flight of the Gibbon zip lining course. It's clearly not wise to take valuables when flying high through the air so you'll have to wait until I get images from our photographer to see, there are already a few and some video on FB with me tagged. My favorite is one of me floating through the air in a meditation pose.

Before we took to the air we enjoyed a delish lunch, perched next to a delightful creek while being entertained by a quartet of locals on traditional instruments. It was like being in the Jungle Book and totally surreal.

It was by far the best course any of us have seen. It took us four hours to complete the miles, literally, of lines the course had. There were 17 zips (linear was about 1/2 a mile long), 24 platforms, 4 suspended bridges (one about 200 ft long), several hikes and two free drops (one about 12 stories). It was so cool. My favorite was one where the zip was hooked to our backs so we could fly superwoman style. It was freaky to step off without having the harness in my line of sight! The free drop was also intense, trusting a stranger with my life.

I am especially proud of Amy-Chan, my roomie and trip bestie, she's terrified of heights and owned the course. At one point she had a panic attack and seemingly stopped breathing while we were hiking the shear side of the mountain early on and somehow she recovered and made it through, by the end she was even laughing a bit. Watching her reserve and bravery was inspiring and an honor.

It was an exhausting day full of adventure. By the time we finally reached our new hotel, Horizon Villages Resort, we barely made it through dinner before passing out.