ON THE REBOUND
Bungy-jumping may be a no-brainer, but it’s still one of the most extreme adrenalin highs you can get. As local bungy operators will gleefully tell you, many a hardcore surfer who unflinchingly rides 8ft waves over Bali’s razor-sharp coral reefs has become jelly-kneed when standing at the top of the tower trying to summon up the courage to jump.
Bungy-jumping is also the most conspicuous example of the rapid expansion of the adventure industry in Bali. There are now no less than four bungy operations on the island, with three towers in the Kutal Legian area and a fourth at a waterfall in Gianyar. If you’ve never tried bungy-jumping before, this is one experience that really lives up to the advertising hype. You stand on a platform some 45m or more above the ground. If you’re jumping in Kuta/Legian, you’ll see the two neighbouring bungy platforms rising high above the surrounding landscape like watchtowers guarding some invisible frontier. Then, inevitably, you do the one thing you’re not supposed to: you look down. The pool below you looks so tiny that you feel sick, and you start to wonder if you can really go through with this. Now; ankles bound tightly together, you shuffle awkwardly out onto the ledge, listen to the jump-master count down ‘live, four, three, two, one. . .”, take a deep breath, wonder for a final instant what on earth you’re doing, and jump. They say time stands still during the initial instants after take-off, but perhaps the most vivid part of the whole experience is the confusing feeling of your body instinctively expecting an impact, even just a violent pull on the rope, and never getting one. After you reach the bottom and rebound upwards, realizing you’re still alive, you start to relax and enjoy the sensations of speed, gravity, acceleration and deceleration until you gradually yo-yo to a standstill, hanging upside down over the pool.
If plain bungy-jumping gets boring, there are alternatives. For example, The Adrenalin Park (which also goes by the splendid name “Taman Adrenalin”) also offers a ‘slingshot’ jump— a bungy-jump in reverse in which passengers are catapulted 52m upwards into the air — and an artificial climbing wall. But for many people. probably the best and most extreme complement to throwing yourself off a tower is an evenings mayhem in the bars of Kuta. Although much maligned. the wild child of Bali tourism has a chaotic irreverence to it that’s strangely charming. This is still one of the very best places in Asia for a big night out. Just leave your political correctness at the door.
Fittingly, for those who like to take instant gratification to extremes, you
can now do it all in a single day (and night), with an exhausting special package
called “Bali’s Big Day Out”, offered by Bali Bungy Co. The
day starts with rafting; then goes into a choice of either watersports at Tanjung
Benoa or paintball combat; follows with a bungy jump; and finally climaxes in
the evening with ... what else, a pub crawl through Kuta.