Paragliding

This weekend, Zach and I went paragliding!  We signed up with a group who took care of all our weekend plans.  (http://daegucompass.com/)

At 8:00 am on Saturday, we met up with about 45 other people from Busan, including 3 of our Soju Family members, and got on a charter bus which took us to Ulsan.  It only took about an hour.  Another bus from Daejeon was also joining us.  Since there were so many people, we were split up by city.  The Busan people were to go paragliding first.  That made us super happy!  When we got to the paragliding site, we had to get into smaller buses to take us up the mountain.  We were in the first group to go.  Let me tell you, it was pretty incredible.  I was able to get pictures/video of Doug and Rob because they went ahead of us.  Once Zach, Fran, and I were at the front of the line, I put my camera away because things starting happening super fast at that point.  Don't worry though!  Each of us were given cameras on poles attached to us to record/take pictures while we were in the air.  When we get those pictures/videos, I will be sure to post them for you to view.

Our tickets.  It also has the contact information of the paragliding company.

On the minibus going up the mountain to our paragliding spot.

Me and Zach at the take-off spot.

The "runway"

The four of us were left after Doug took off way ahead of us.

Doug didn't quite make it off the mountain the first time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uNX-YTLHtg

But, he finally did: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10ybdwRVn0c

Rob made it off without a hitch the very first time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uNX-YTLHtg

Paragliding was so much fun!  I would do it again in a heartbeat.  I had a smooth takeoff and the view was awesome!  We couldn't have asked for a better day in terms of weather.  The sky was clear and the sun was shining!  We were in the sky for about 5-10 minutes.  We landed on our butts in the rocks near a small river (landing any other way could have caused broken bones).

Once all the Busan people were finished, the Daejeon people had their turn.  While waiting for them, we went to a castle that wasn't really a castle.  I guess it used to be, but there is no sign of it now.  However, we were able to sit around and "shoot the shit" with some of the other people on the trip whom we just met.

Some new friends.

Me and Zach

Later that evening, we went to a pension.  It's basically like renting cabins in the mountains.  There were about 90 of us in several separate cabins.  We all converged in front of our cabin and had a bonfire with hamburgers, hot dogs, a bunch of free alcohol, and music.  The party went strong until about 3 am.  Zach and I went to bed around 10 pm.  We were both fighting colds and didn't want to be miserable the next day.

On Sunday, we left at 8 am and headed to Gyeongju.  There were several stops planned for Sunday, but the 5 of us decided to stay in Gyeongju and catch the KTX back to Busan.  We got home much earlier than we would have if we had stayed with the tour which made us all very thankful!

In the flower garden.

Flying kites.

Flying kites.

New friends.

Me and Zach

Soju Family photo.

We had a really great weekend!!