Don’t be Lazy, Let’s go Crazy

After a touristy day at Da Lat, we decided to do some adventure activity. Da Lat is one of the few places in the world where Canyoning is done.

Canyoning is a sport that involves navigating down a fast-flowing mountain stream in a gorge. It involves using techniques such as climbing, abseiling, sliding, and jumping.

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There are enough pictures on this post to give you an idea of Canyoning is. Here is a sample.

We started from our resort at around 8am. A few of our group members were quite scared to do the activity and had dropped out. We had still requested them to come along in-case they change their mind later. The activity guide came to pick us and and gave a pep talk. Post that, everyone in the group wanted to do the activity. It was amazing to see how simple words, thickly coated with confidence, could easily change the mind of people and remove their fear.

To pump up our energy, he had this slogan that he repeated like 100 times in the trip.

Don’t be Lazy, Lets go Crazy

When I heard the slogan the first time, it was funny and thought how lame can this get. But over the course of the activity, it became our energy boosting mantra. The mechanics of building energy in a group is basic but has very high potential. Just repeat a rhyming quote, and while you say it, make sure you increase your volume and pitch. The last word or couple of words are at the highest volume pitch. End it with a “ooooo” at the same high pitch and volume. When the whole group says it together, it gives a boost in energy.

1. Practice

There were 7 activities to be done for the day. The first one being practice. The guides taught the basic techniques of abseiling, which is nothing but climbing down a rock face with a rope. While it seems quite dangerous and difficult, in reality, its quite simple and safe. Our group had people with different levels of fitness and skill and all of us were able to comfortably do it. The practice was also quite simple and after around 3 attempts of doing the activity at the practise area, we were confident we could face the rock face.

2. Waterfall

The first activity was abseiling down a rock face near a small waterfall. We had to hold a rope and climb down the rock face. While at the practice area everything was ok, when I started doing it, it felt like my hands are giving up after a while. I was waiting for the rock face to end and to get dropped into the water and I was also scared to let go of my hands which were crying to be let off. Thankfully the rock face ended and I got dropped into the fresh, cold flowing water. I was such a blissful experience.

3. Zip-lining

After the first real experience, our confidence increased leaps and bounds. Everyone of us were able to do it comfortably. The next was zip-lining. It was quite a small zip-line and everyone did it quite easily. As you complete the zip-line you dash into the river and based on your weight, posture and speed, you will land at different places in the river. It was easy and fun. The entire zip-line travel took less than 8 seconds. 🙂

We walked along and through the river. There were places where the river was slow and shallow where we floated around. It reminded of my rafting experiences in Coorg.

4. Water Slide

In the next activity, we were just sent down a small waterfall. It’s called water slide. While it sounds dangerous, it was not so dangerous frankly. When you reach the bottom, you are pushed down into the water and go a little disoriented. But after a few seconds, you understand what water did with you and get back to senses. It reminded me of an adventure activity that I did in NewZealand where you raft down a waterfall. This was a smaller version of that. It was a nice experience.

5. Play

There were small waterfalls that we could sit under, and play. A waterfall which is just around 10 feet high can create a heavy forceful throw of water. We could feel the water hammering on our heads inspite of our helmets. Whatever said, playing in fresh water which was cold on a warm day was really a blissful experience.

6. Big Waterfall

The next was the most difficult of all activities. We had to abseil down a waterfall. Not the side of a waterfall but through a waterfall. The rock face is slippery, the water is pouring on you, the waterfall is big (around 30 feet) and towards the end it also goes inward. It was adrenaline pushing experience. While you are in the middle, the water is constantly falling on your body and head and you have no way to but to hold on, walk down calmly and enjoy the experience. This was the the highlight of the adventure.

Some folks slipped while coming down but it was all safe. No one was injured even slightly. The guide took very good care of us.

We had to trek through the forest and sometime on the river. The trekking was not for long but it had tricky places where we had to hold a rope to climb down, small rock faces to hold and.get down and so on. It was definitely medium level trekking. However, it was quite short (about 30 mins long) which made it feel like the easy/very easy category.

7. Washing Machine

The last adventure was called washing machine. There is a harsh and small waterfall. You go down the rope for a small distance, then leave your hands and legs to get dropped down into it. The water pushes you in all directions and you get hit by the rocks on all sides, literally like what clothes experience in a washing machine. The only difference is clothes experience it for 30 mins, we would be experiencing it for about 30 seconds.

Here too, almost all of us got disoriented when we were dropped into the water. The best part is, the water is so harsh that whether you do or don’t do anything, it will take you downstream. There is no control you have whatsoever.

Lunch and More

After all this activity, we returned to our base camp pumped up with energy mentally but drained physically. We were served with salads, fruits and bread which we belted as we were super hungry. The food tasted so good and there was nothing left on the table when we were finished.

Later, we did some roll-a-coaster rides in the same area. This roll-a-coaster was different. The cars could only take two people each and we had the ability to control the speed of the car. There was a brake given which was under our control. So if the car was going down a slope and you felt scared, you could slow it down. Most of us did not use the brake at all. To get the adrenaline rush, we kept the speed at a maximum. But it was fun to brake suddenly while going at high speeds too.

The long tiring day ended and we proceeded in a bus to our next destination. Mui Ne. It was a long tiring travel. We stopped at a place to have some coffee and were invited to do some Karaoke Sessions. We sang a couple of songs on the karaoke as it was fun to sing on a mic.

We reached the lazy beach town of Mui Ne at around 10pm. The resort was quite warm (both emotionally and physically) and welcoming. Let’s see whats in store for us tomorrow.