Wait Please

This past weekend (7/30-31) I went to Seoul to meet up with a friend from high school, Josh, who is stationed in Korea again with the military.

Things were all planned out.  We were going to meet early in the morning on Saturday, head a bit out of the city to go Bungee Jumping, and then make our way back in to do a little sightseeing around Deoksugung Palace, Jogye-sa Temple, Changdeokgung Palace and the North Seoul Tower.  

An amazing day was lined up.

Except not everything went as planned.  A lot of things didn't go as planned.

Josh's bus was 2 hours late.  Which was fine, I had 'How to Train Your Dragon' on my iPod and was happy to sit in a coffee shop and watch it!  (Yes, it's an animated movie, and it's AWESOME!)  This meant we got to bungee later than planned, which meant we had to wait for them to reopen after lunch, and then wait some more for our jump time to arrive.  

However, at 3:00pm our jump time came!  After a quick weight check (which was shit, but you want to be sure the rope is set to bounce you back and not snap in half!) we were strapped into our harnesses and riding 45m (~150ft) to the top of the tower!  

Awful.  Waiting on top of the tower, was AWFUL.  I don't think I'm afraid of heights.  I have a greater fear of small spaces than I do heights, but being up there and looking down was nearly enough to make a person sick!  My heart was racing.  My hands were shaking.  I didn't think I could go through with it!  

Josh jumped first.  Screaming with excitment the whole way down the bastard. 

When it was my turn, I really didn't think I was going to be able to do it.  I was sick with nerves.  45m is high!! and I was just going to jump out!  Into nothing!  Praying a rope, that is who knows how old and how safe, is going to work against gravity and pull me back up!  That's a lot of faith!  In a rope!  But I did it.  Took two countdowns and eyes shut tight, but I jumped.  

Scariest. Craziest. Sickest. Awesomest thing I've ever done.  After the jump I sent this out:

Because of our late jump, we didn't have a lot of time for all of the planned tourist stops.  We did stop by Jogye-sa Temple (pictures on Facebook) before heading back to the hotel to get cleaned up and head out for the night.  Oh.  But I forgot.  We didn't have a hotel booked.  So we spent a few more hours of our day calling around to every hotel in the Lonely Planet guide to see if any had rooms available.  After ~20 calls and the help of some very, very nice baristas we managed to find a hotel for the night!!  Thank god!!  A person can only stand around sweating for so long!

No palaces, no North Tower, but we managed to shower and head out for some drinks!  

The next day we woke to rain.  Lots of rain.  So we decided our best plan would be to stay indoors, indoors at The War Memorial of Korea Musuem (pictures on Facebook).  

Following the museum we grabbed a quick bit to eat before it was time to say goodbye.  

Nearly 8 years since high school and as Josh said it took "~7,000 miles away from home for us to hang out".  But it was worth the wait.  It was a good weekend, despite all the setbacks!