Spinning Paragliding at Batu, Malang

Paragliding? One of the things that I've never imagine to try. Not because I have acrophobia- phobia of heights, but I have never thought I'm gonna be an adventurous person. And there I was, tried to drag out my adrenaline by paragliding. And Batu, Malang is the place where I got this amazing experience.

Fly up high-Paragliding

So, how can I got Batu? This is because I have been involved on a project positioned in Malang. Well, about Malang itself, I think Malang is the best city I have ever visited in Indonesia. Nice weather, paradise of food, and less traffic jam. For now, I think I will be glad to live in there, if possible :D

It was weekend when I went to Batu. I and four colleagues were confused how to spend our weekend. It was easy to decide to go Batu since it is known as tourism place. The problem was what kind of place we were going to. We agreed to decided later, until we reached Batu. We also agreed to spent the night at Batu for taking breath of fresh air in the next morning. It was just like that  :D 

After had dinner at Penyetan Bu Kris which is a very nice restaurant (like I said Malang is paradise of food), we were heading to Batu-directly went to our inn in Songgoriti. It is an inn that my friend used to visit whenever he goes to Batu. I forgot the name, but it is quite good inn either for the place or the price. And also, we did not forget to buy some snack. Let's rock our vacation weekend-the victory days after the hard weeks #seriously :D 

Apparently, we did not have a relaxing night. Besides had a chit chat each of us, we also had to arrange our plan for next day. Rafting and paragliding were our top candidate. At last, the paragliding was the chosen one. Contact already kept, so we went to sleep.

We woke up quite late to our schedule. We planned to visit the paragliding agency. And unfortunately, we did not meet the person we looked for- Mas Yoshi- contact person of the paragliding agency. We called him,then we were asked to go directly to meeting point on a top of a hill. Luckily, there are direction to the meeting point.  As we went up, beautiful scenery was really good along the way.

As we reached the meeting point, people were already coming around. Since it was weekend, no wonder more people came. I thought that all those people were going to glide. Yet, it was only couple people who wanted to try it. It is quite understood since it is one of breath-taking sport. The other ones looked at Malang city view or hilly mountain or to looked at paragliding itself.

Preparation before 'jump'

Soon, we asked him that we wanted to glide. Nervous? Definitely! That was my first time to face open sky. It was not long queue until my turn. Before the "jump", I need to put on some secure tools (I even borrowed uncomfortable shoes from the agency-too small, no shocks, and they insisted)  and got a short briefing. In order to calm myself down I questioned the probability of falling down. And Mas Yoshi said that it is only a couple percent (he even said impossible) to fall down when gliding. I don't know whether he only pursued me or it is truly the fact. He also said that the key is we have to run, jump, and immediately pull out some kind of belt so we are in position like sitting. Just like that! One more thing, it is called "tandem" gliding since there would be pilot behind me to drove the parachute (indeed, I don't have the ability to drive it).

The jump

All set up and ready to go! I would jump within minutes. It is a lie if I was not nervous. One, two, and go... I ran, jumped, and pull 'it' out. Yuhuuu.. I'm flying- I thought. Speechless at the beginning. After satisfied enough to feel the sensation, I was starting to ask my pilot about paragliding, how to drive, where to find, how to get the license, and about his experience. Unexpectedly, he went to several nice place-even going abroad just by his profession-as a glider (how envy I am). And finally my pilot said "Wanna try to swing?" I said "No problemo.." And he started to maneuver. Instead of swinging, apparently it was spinning (the parachute steady on a point, and we swinging around just like to make a circle pattern- hopefully it is easily understood). Oh my God.. That was the best experience. I've never felt that sensation. My adrenaline was truly dragged out. I've never felt that sensation even until now. Even my friend did not get that experience. I really wanted to ask to do that maneuver yet I had time limit. After around 20 minutes, I got my landing. It was smooth landing and the important thing is I'm safe. Thankfully, I have had that experience.

Above the sky

That was one of my 'pricey' experience. However, I will never regret it since it is is really remarkable moment. After had my 'paragliding' experience, actually I went to sight seeing on 'Alun-Alun' of City of Batu and Batu Night Square to try some 'play-stations'. But I think, it needs another story to tell.