World’s Highest Bungee Jump

Swetha & I are part of a World Record now. You want to know how. Then you have to read my post.

Macau, which is best known as Asia’s largest destination for gambling and its revenue crossing Las Vegas within no time. For the adventure seekers, it is famous for its main stream attraction which is Bungee Jump from Macau Tower. Macau tower which is located in the former Portuguese colony stands as tall as 338 m (1,108.9 ft) and the top floor approximately at a height of 764 feet (233m). Yes you guessed it correctly, the bungee jump is from the height of 233m making it the World’s Highest Bungee Jump.

Ever since I knew Bungee jumping, I wanted to do the jump in New Zealand, South Africa, Nepal and Macau. Macau being so near to Singapore and being the highest, I always wanted to go for the jump.

It all started with a Deal coupon that I bought online misjudging it to be a great offer for a 4 Days 3 Nights in Hong Kong. Keeping that aside, I went to Macau from Hong Kong on Sunday (Sep-11) totally focused to directly go to the Macau Tower. Thanks to the marketing strategy of a tour guide who persuaded me in buying his offer of going around Macau first in his Mercedes van and then end up at Macau Tower.

By the time I reached Macau tower it was around 12.30. Frankly while buying the tickets Swetha & I definitely gave a second thought whether to go for it. We decided and bought two tickets for the Bungee Jump + Photos + Video. We paid 6100 HKD for 2 passes for the jump.

As we were going up the tower, it was just like a jittery ride to the top floor. We signed a paper which said they were not responsible for my injuries or death.

Swetha & I got nice T-Shirts which were colorful when compared to the T-shirts we got in Phuket, Thailand.

The next step was to get the harness which would fit us. Then along with the harness we were weighed and our weight was noted on our left hands.

While we were sitting and waiting for our turn, we were checking around from the top and I was a bit scared at the height. The view from there was simple awesome and breathtaking.

Then I saw some kids doing the sky walk and felt that it shouldn’t be so tough as even the kids were doing this. There were also some funny sign boards.

At that point I realized that, there were lot of people doing sky walk but only 8 people doing the bungee jump. The tourists were excited to see the jumpers and were taking our pictures like animals in the zoo.

Then it was time and all our hearts were pounding harder. The first guy who was jumping was the heaviest of us. So my number of 4th and Swetha’s 5th in the queue.

While we were waiting in the queue, we asked the staff there as how many times have they done this. We were dumbfounded to hear that one of the guy has jumped the tower 96 times. Wow. I thought “Its a life time experience for many and its a daily job for some”. While we were in the queue looking at others jumping, we were shouting and encouraging the fellow jumpers and at the same time were trying to release the tension.

My turn came and I was sitting on the edge while the one of the staff was tightening the harness and tie the ropes to the legs while other one was shooting me asking how it was feeling. In the video my message to my friends and family was, ” At this height there is nothing we can do but to jump. So lets do this “.

I reached to the edge of the plank looked at the videographer shouted “Yooooo” and looked down. I was scared, Yes I was scared at that height. Then I thought dude come on you are on the edge and you can’t go back. Lets do it. I opened my hands like the wings of a bird as I hear the background 5 .. 4 .. 3 .. 2 .. 1, I took a leap and rest is history.

It was an amazing experience. By the time I realised that I was falling, it took me just 5 seconds to reach the end point and then I was pulled up. And that was it. The reason for which I was there was fulfilled.

After seeing all the videos of jumps around the world, I felt that this was the safest jump of all. After reaching the ground, I waited for Swetha’s jump. As I was waiting I could see her jump and then her voice in excitement.

Now as the certificate says, Swetha & I are officially entitled to ask “Do you have what it takes?”. Friends, it is an experience which no one should miss.

Night Photography @ Raffles

Traffic in the night with the Fullerton Hotel background

Skyline when seen from Merlion

Skyline when seen from Esplanade

Hyderabad in Singapore

As every weekend, my roommates had discussion on what to do this weekend. After Surya's suggestion we finally decided upon going to trail at Mount Faber. For more than a week Singapore was too hot. So we started off early at 7AM from Tampines. We reached Vivo City had some breakfast and then headed for the trail. In the middle of the concrete jungle in Singapore, Mount Faber possessed the beauty of nature and gave a panoramic view of Singapore skyline.




When we saw the map of the whole trail, it was shown as if it was a long trail and an exhausting one. We walked for around 30 minutes and we see that we have completed the trail. All of us were disappointed with the trail. But then we headed towards the Henderson Waves bridge which was really nice. From we took a different trail which was a forest walk trail. We walked over a long canopy walk which was a nice experience.




At the end of the canopy walk, we reached Hyderabad Road. It was nice to see Hyderabad in Singapore. From there we took a bus and headed for Sentosa. We wanted to go to the adventure park which was opened recently. We took the mono rail then the bus then walk to the adventure park. Once again a disappointment because of the bad weather it was closed.



Even though we were not able to do the activities for which we went for but were happy to at least go out and spend sometime outside rather sitting at home and watching the boring movies.

Cruise to No Where

On Saturday we went for a cruise to nowhere. Yes it sounds strange and out of the ordinary and also interesting. It was a short trip on a cruise ship. This ship doesn't leave any port neither it takes you to any port. We were picked up by a ferry from the Tanah Merah ferry terminal at around 10AM. We were taken to Bintan and got transferred into another ferry which actually took us to the ship. We knew that this ship was a casino ship and not really sure what else would be there on it. However, it was like a viewing standpoint, from on board the ship and from quite a distance.

Once we entered the cruise ship, we were asked to deposit our passports as well as employment pass at the reception and we could collect them while leaving. Right from the entrance we could see all the casino halls. People were busy playing them. We were not allowed inside as we were carrying cameras with us. We were asked to deposit them and then enter the casino. We were hungry and first wanted to explore the ship, eat and then play some games at the casino.

As far as entertainment and amenities go, they were the same as what are offered on the longer cruises around the world. There was Foot reflexology, Massage and hair saloon. There was a movie room. There were two restaurants and two bars on the ship. There was a place for dancing. But we couldn't enjoy dancing as they were playing Malaysian and Chinese songs all the time.

We had lunch at the Patricia restaurant. There was lot of Sea Food and it was just like a feast to all the non vegetarians. We enjoyed the food a lot, then again explored the deck of the ship, took some pics and then went down to the bar to have couple of drinks before we went to casino.

We played 50 dollar worth games on the slot machines and got just 40 bucks and 10 dollars we lost. The whole trip was a nice experience. We were just charged 22 dollars for the travel, food and enjoy the amenities for the day. We left the ship at around 8.30 in the night back to Singapore. There were so many old Chinese and Malaysian people on the ship who just came there to play Casino.

Overall I would suggest that this is good for a one day entertainment trip for all those food lovers and casino lovers.

Pagsanjan Falls, Manila

Day 2 (26th June 2009)
I have done some jungle trails in India and also had some river ride experiences there. But I would rate the trip to Pagsanjan Falls as one of the best jungle and wild river ride experience. On day 2 of the trip we started off for Pagsanjan Falls early in the morning. It was a journey of around 2 hours from Tagaytay. The place can be compared as Philippines little amazon where the river flows through magnificent canyons sheltered by lush green vegetation.

We read about this ride online and had great expectations. When we were on the way to the place, we were chased by a guy on the bike. He stopped us and spoke to the driver in their Filipino language. Later driver told us that he chased us to ask if we are interested in taking a ride with their company. We said OK for it and we were taken to house which was connected to the river. We discussed about the cost of the ride and then after getting to an agreement we ordered some breakfast. We had nice breakfast and then waited for the canoes to arrive.

The canoes arrived and we were asked to sit 2 in each canoe. These canoes were manhandled by two boatmen. Once we all sat in the canoes, a motor boat came and tied these canoes to it. The wild river ride what we expected started off very slowly from the dock where we hired the canoes. Firstly, I couldn't understand why our canoes were stringed and towed by that motor boat for some distance. After going some distance in the water, then I realized that the boatmen were conserving their strength for the upcoming rapids we were about to battle with.

With in no time the calm river turned into cascading rapids. From here the boatmen showed their extreme agility and strength to skilfully manoeuvre the canoes upstream by hopping on and off the canoes against the rapids. We all couldn't help them but were just amazed and excited with such an incredible showmanship. This was an awesome entertainment for all us. We started shouting in excitement as we saw some small waterfalls and when we saw the rapids ahead.
As we entered further into the magnificent canyons, we were all overwhelmed with excitement and joy that’s hard to explain. It was very surreal. The mind-blowing sights and eerie sound of the jungle caused a great sense of awe … all we could say was …wow.

Once we reached the main waterfall we were all happy to see the final destination. We were taken inside the cave which goes just below the waterfall, I had tough time covering my camera to avoid any water to spill on it. We dived there for sometime and we returned back to the shore. We then were taken down the stream through the rapids which was again very special experience with in itself.

Like what most tourists do, we took a lot of photos of ourselves and of course…the scenery and waterfall.

After coming back to the company we took shower, changed clothes and started off for a good lunch. We searched all over but finally landed up having a vegetarian pizza with unlimited soft drink. From here we went ahead to Metro Manila where we wanted to visit Mall of Asia. This was the biggest mall I have ever seen in my life time. We had only 1 hour and hence we saw just one building in the whole mall. We entered a shop and bought some souvenirs.
At around 6 we reached the airport and flied back to Singapore.

Taal Volcano, Manila

While we were on the way to Kota Kinabalu during May - 2009, we have read about Taal Volcano in the Tiger Magazine. Immediately we decided to go there. We planned for a Manila trip for the coming long weekend during August. Thanks to Surya's friend who suggested not to waste long weekend for Taal Volcano as its just a day trip from Manila. I then did some more research and with some help from Surya's friend we finally decided up on an itinary just for a weekend trip. We booked the tickets to Manila for July 24th weekend. Below are the details about the trip.

Day 1 (25th June 2009)
While searching for the accommodation, I came across a blog in which I read about the Taal Lake Yacht Club. This was very near to the Volcano. It was in Tagaytay town. We had no clue what kind of accommodation we were going to get. After some emails and enquiries with Peter and Ronnie, we decided to stay there. 25th at 4.30 AM we landed in Manila airport. We came out of the airport and looked around for a placard of my name. We got into our taxi which we booked before hand. It was a 90 minute ride to Tagaytay town. We stopped over for breakfast at a very scenic restaurant. After breakfast we headed to Taal Lake Yacht Club.

When we reached the club we were not sure of what was in store for us at the club. We waited for a while to get the rooms and also for the arrangements for the trip to Taal. When we were asked to move into the room, we were all excited to see the lake right through the room. Accommodation there was terrific and at a very affordable price. We just paid 2300 Peso for 7 people, which is just 10 dollars per person per night stay for such a luxurious stay. After changing clothes and taking some pictures we headed for our boats in which we had to ride for around 20 minutes. These boats are called as "bangkas".

Taal Lake Yacht Club offers two different treks. One is the most common ‘tourist trail’ and the other they offer is called a ‘secret trail’. We opted for the second one which would actually let you go all the way into the crater and even swim in the lake. We were charged around 2500 Peso per boat which also included charges for the trek. Once we reached the foot of the volcano, we were asked to pay 90 Peso per person as landing tax and also 50 peso per boat for the parking. Once we reached there we were literally harassed by the people selling us the horse rides to the volcano. We firmly said no to everybody and started off the trail without wasting any time. As most of us (other than swetha and srini) have already done the Kota Kinabalu trek, this walk was very simple for us.

As we were walking all the horses were coming behind us in order to convince us for a ride on their horses. That day we were the only visitors to Taal Lake from that route. After going for 1 KM, Swetha couldn’t walk further as she was not accustomed to such a physical exertion. We then took a ride of horse for her. They charged 600 Peso for that. I gave my bag to Swetha to hold while I walked with equal pace with the horse. The trail was steep and was a bit tough for those who are not fit. It took about 45 minutes for us to reach the top. We stopped in between for some pictures too.

Here once we stopped at the top to see the Lake and the world's smallest volcano, before we could actually enjoy the experience we were in yet another tourist trap. The guy at the shop asked if we were looking for some drinks. When we said no then he asked "would you like to buy your driver some drinks?". At that point we cannot straight away say no and hence we had to buy a drink for the driver and then for all of us. The rates were hiked up there and they sold a tiny bottle of water for 50 Peso.

After the exhausting climb and harassment of the vendors and tourist traps everybody forgot what has happened once we got the sight of the gorgeous lake inside the crater. At that moment we felt very nice as we have seen that in a magazine and today we were actually standing there. It would be tough to describe how beautiful it was up there and how surreal this experience was for me. We then started our down trail towards the lake in the crater. As we went nearer and nearer to the lake we could smell the steam coming out of the gas vents here and there on the volcano. Once we reached near the lake we went near one such vent to see how water was boiling. We took some pics near that and went and touched the water in the lake at one end. It was very hot and we would definitely get burns if we stay longer there. After photo session, our guide took us to a place where we all could get into water and have a acidic water bath. It was fun.

After half an hour of just chilling in that warm water and staring at the magnificent view we finally decided to head back. The way back up was a bit tough but was worth the pain. From the middle point the way down is more relaxed and we can appreciate the scenery more as we see Taal Lake. After another 30-minute steep and dust-filled trail down, we reached our bangkas. We drank one coconut each and then boarded the boat and headed back to Taal Lake Yacht Club.

The whole trek lasted about 3 to 4 hours for us (including boat ride to and from the island). We wanted to take bath immediately after reaching the Club. But once we saw the food we changed the idea and started to eat. No one liked the food and hence we just had a minimal food and then thought of all the possible activities we could do there. We were offered sailing, wake boarding, kayaking and pool. As it was almost 3 by then we planned to play pool for sometime. I, Swetha, Nagaraj, Surya and Santosh played pool. We had some beer along with the French Fries. The French fries with Mayonnaise here were the best we ever had till date. At around 5 we went for 30 mins sleep. We got fresh and we left for the Casino in Tagaytay. As everyone was hungry we wanted to have something for dinner. Our driver suggested us to check out the pizza at "Yellow Cab". Frankly speaking that was the best pizza I had in last 2 years.

After having pizza we went ahead for casino. None of us were dressed properly, but then Surya used his MBA skills to convince them and we all entered the casino. We took 50 coins for 500 Peso. This time we all played at the slot machine. Everyone lost money other than Swetha and Nagaraj. They were able to recover the whole loss and we got back our 500 Peso. We stopped playing once we got back our money and left home and the next day we had to start very early for the Pagsanjan Falls.

Over all the day was great and going up to the Taal Volcano was an incredible experience.

Mt. Kinabalu Trek Travelogue

Well its been quite a while that I am back at work and has been busy these days with loads of work and hence couldn't do this earlier. The experience I had in KK I am still on a high. It was an unforgettable experience. As I have already given the details about my drive experience and the preparations for the trip, I shall directly go to my trek in this post.

Arrived Mesilau at around 8.50AM and then I started the trek. The guide for the climb was 40 year old man by name Dalios, a very friendly guy and could speak a little English. He was an informative guy and have already reached the summit more than 800 times. Yes you have seen it right, more than 800 times. We asked him as how much time it would take for us to reach Laban Rata. He said we can reach by 4PM if we are fast enough. Our group as everybody were youngsters we thought we may reach by that time or earlier. Dalios said that the slowest person would dictate the pace. He also said that he would remain with this group until we come back to head quarters.

The trail was just a single path all the way till the top with all the sign boards hear and there with no hope of getting lost. As we started off, I forged ahead at my own pace ahead of all my friends. Once we reached the 500m mark in just 20 minutes we were all delighted and took some pictures with the sign board. From here on for every 500 mts we could see the change in the expressions on the faces of the group.

Just before we reached 1KM mark we came across a very beautiful scenic place where we could see the donkeys ears peak through the clouds far away. We all thought it would be the KK summit and were afraid to see it so far and asked Dalios if that was the summit. To our surprise he said we cannot see the summit from there and its far away from there. Now we knew what was in store for the rest of the day for us. Hence from there on deliberately we were all holding back and taking it easy one step at a time and not getting tired by doing some heroics. At about 1KM Nagaraj and Mahesh gave their bags to Dalios to carry as they were not able to do it by carrying the bag. I took some luggage from Santosh to make it lighter for him.

The stretch from 3KM mark to 3.5KM mark was the toughest in the whole trail till Laban Rata. Everybody was so tired that we took more than 10 minutes break at this point of time. Similarly at every 500 mts from here we started taking small breaks. The whole trail was not just climbing a single mountain, but it was climbing up a mountain twice and descending down twice and the climb the third one. Hence because of this we were exhausted a lot through the journey.

We had about 4 km left to cover and we reached Layang Layang which was the intersection point for the Timpohan and Mesilau trails. From here on we all were feeling the effects of the altitude slightly and this was slowing up in my group. From here on it was like resting around every 100 metres or so. All the way I took charge and tried motivating the group to move faster and take less breaks. 2KM was left and I could push everybody till then and from here on Mahesh slowed down and was stopping for every 50 steps he was taking. I asked other to go ahead and tried motivating Mahesh all the way up to Laban Rata. The path was treacherous in some places so we had to be very careful with our footing.

During our way up we heard somebody running down. When looked up we were shocked to see one of the guys from the Park running down the mountain. Now you might think anybody can do it, but then this guy was carrying an empty gas cylinder strapped to his back. We just couldn’t believe our eyes. Here are struggling every 50 metres with a small back pack and there was a guy with a gas cylinder on his back and running full tilt down the same track. I tried showing those guys and some fit old people climbing with ease to Mahesh and tried motivating him. But it was of no use as Mahesh took his own sweet time to go up to Laban Rata. We reached Laban Rata at around 18.30 hrs, the rest of my group arrived at 18.15 hrs.

Mahesh was literally shivering because of the temperature on top and also because of the cold breeze. We took a wise decision to take extra jackets and hence rented 5 jackets. We had our dinner there. Nobody was in a mood to actually eat anything but then we need something to start oru early morning trek that night. Dalios to came to us and asked if we are going to come for the supper at 2AM. I and Surya were the fit guys then and hence we volunteered to come down again from the lodge which was 200 mts ahead from this place and get the food.

We tried for a warm room at the reception for Mahesh as he was not at all in a position to again come into the cold night. As there were no rooms available we had to move on and reach the lodge 200mts away. We were not sure how the rooms were. We just knew that they are not warm rooms and were scared of the temperature there. We reached the lodge and saw that it was just a small room with 4 bunker beds. We 5 people adjusted in that 4 bunker room itself. We slept after having pain relief tablets, headache tablets and some pain relief cream and spray.

Alarm woke me at around 01.15 hrs from a very deep sleep. If it was any normal day then I would have definitely turned the alarm off and went back to sleep. I bet quite a few people did just that. But I was determined and had got this far and in another 3 hours or so I would be at Low’s Peak. So I forced myself out of bed and woke up Surya and we both left for getting supper for other 3. We went down had some hot coffee before and after our supper which included bread and egg. We packed the same for Nagaraj, Mahesh and Santosh. We went back to room and woke them up to have their supper. There was a stage when Santosh said he will not be able to make it and he would sleep there. But we all motivated him and finally made them get ready and started off at around 2.30AM.

Everybody virtually started the climb together in the pitch darkness. It was a wonderful sight to see all the torches and head torches ahead and behind us snaking their way up the mountain. From here on I have seen something common with all the groups going up. Everybody have started off slow and were going very slowly with very less stops. Our group were able to make it to the first stop at a single stretch which was 500mts away. At this point we stopped and saw everybody climbing the rock marked out by a rope. I was excited to see that as we have to do some rope rappelling all the way for more than 1KM. We started off and as Surya, Santosh and Nagaraj climbed, Mahesh got a little scared and did not want to climb up catching that rope. I had to shout at him a lot and convince him. He then started off after me keeping a hand behind him all the way just to make sure that I am with him.

We climbed for certain distance and reached the check point where we were asked to show our registration card and the number. The guy sitting there noted and asked us to show once we descend down. All this morning trek I was feeling very energetic and did not got any issues with the altitude. Nagaraj was literally down with headache because of the altitude change. I had to take charge and had to literally push him along the way for some distance. Just after I was able to see the summit, my back started aching and I was hardly able to walk up.

As it started to get lighter as day broke I was beginning to see the mountain and surrounding areas in all their magnificent glory. On arriving at the edge of Lows Peak there was many people at the summit. I waited until Nagraj and Santosh also reached that point. Then we took some pics with the beautiful sunrise behind the mountains. From there it was around 200mts to reach the summit. This was yet another tough trail in the whole journey. Mahesh, Nagaraj and Santosh did not dare to come up while me and Surya wanted to reach the summit and hence started going up. We reached at the top and took some pics and video at the top.

Then it was the long decent back down to Laban Rata. Coming down in the daylight gave us a view of what we had climbed in the dark. It was quite scary. At this point Mahesh was yet again tired and Nagaraj was suffering from severe headache and I was suffering from severe back pain, we were slow in coming down the trek. On the way down we decided to take a short nap of 15 minutes and then leave for the descend. We reached the room and slept for a 20 minutes and then started off with all the luggage and checked out of the rooms.

We took some breakfast and also took some pics with the surroundings. As there was water available at all the rest houses we just took 2 small bottles along with us. Yet again I had to carry the heaviest bag after Dalios as he was carrying Nagaraj and Mahesh's bag.

On the way down we saw something different to what we saw during the ascend. We saw all the people on their way up and we offered some encouragement. There were questions being asked and answered. The only way I have been motivating people was by telling them just 30 mins more or 1 hour more and its easy just go on. Seeing the local men and women climbing this mountain with three or four rucksacks, seeing them climb with all the provisions for the Laban Rat was just amazing, the fitness levels of these guys is truly amazing. But what absolutely took my breath away was seeing these guys carrying up the full cylinders upto laban rata. I just couldn’t believe it.

On the way down Santosh cramped his leg very very badly but did not stop anywhere. We were astonished to see his determination to finish the trek and not to make the things slower. We made very poor time going up when compared to coming down according to our guide. We reached the bottom at around 18.30. Land Cruiser came to pick us up from the Timpohan Gate ot the head quarters. At the head quarter we picked up our certificates and gave our guide his very well earned tip.

Everybody was tired and we planned in such a way that we should drive directly for dinner and then go for a good massage so that we can reduce all the pains. Surya yet again drove the car all the way to KK town. We had dinner at Anjappar and then went for a nice Thai massage for 2 hours which proved to have a great effect on all of us.
All in all this was an experience of a life time and something that will remain in my memory for the rest of my life. What more can I say. It is not easy but the end product arriving at Lows Peak makes all the effort worthwhile. All in all, two memorable days.