06/03/2010 Zip Lines !!

We got picked up in the morning for our trip to the zip lines in the jungle north of Chiang Mai (about an hour north). The trip took us into the jungle along a fairly steep rough mountain road. We arrived at the starting point with our new friends we had met on the bus on the way. Everybody had to wear hair nets except Grahame who was able to wear his cool bandana. After they had fitted us with our harnesses we left all our gear in a locker and headed off to the jungle. There were other groups in front of us but our guides pushed us through so we didn’t have to wait for heaps of people. The first line is only short to get used to the setup. As you progress along they get longer and some are steeper so you have to brake (the brake is a stick with a bend on the end that you pulled down onto the cable!!!) otherwise you smack into the landing zone. It was pretty darn scarey and Tracey had a bad landing and smacked her foot. The longest line was 300 metres and went across a small valley. In between some of the lines you had to absail straight down.

The guides thought this was amusing and played drop you like a rock but stopped you in time before you crashed into the ground. Seeing as we were slightly heavier than everybody else Grahame had to use his brake a lot more but still managed to smack into a tree. They also made the mistake of sending us down one of the long double lines together and we did not make the landing with Tracey crashing her already sore foot again. As we did not make it to the landing you basically roll all the way back along the line until you stop in the middle. The rescue involves one of the 50 kilo guys coming back down the line and towing you back to the platform. They have to clip a small line to you and by grabbing the line with their hands and dragging you back. Considering its uphill all the way they were pretty much wrecked by the time they had managed to get us both back to the platform. Apart from one massive walk up hill it’s a great experience and would recommend it.

After you finish you have to walk back but you do get an included lunch which is ok. On the way back you get to go to some hot springs which we thought you could swim in but you can’t as they are actually nearly boiling hot and are crap anyway. Pretty much a waste of time as they turned out to be a couple of sulphur smelling pools surrounded by a fence. So if you go talk them out of going to the hot pools and get home early for a beer!!! When we got home we hit the super cool pool and that’s about it.

SK House, 30 Moonmuang Rd., Soi 9 Chiang Mai, Thailand
Ph: 053 418396 / 053 210690; email: sk_house@hotmail.com; www.theskhouse.com
(700 Baht w Air and Hot Water Ensuite – very good quality and a refreshing pool)