My Flying Dreams Come True

Remember the Circus? Remember those flexible people hanging and swinging above a huge net wearing fancy glittery costumes called the Flying Trapeze? I remembered growing up enjoying watching circus shows on TV (they normally show on Singapore channel during school hols!)and i particularly enjoyed the Flying Trapeze acts the most!

Growing up, the excitement came back when i found out that Club Med Cherating offers the Flying Trapeze as one of their things-to-do. Ive always wanted to go but with the price of staying there equivalent to a trip to Bali, it's just not worth it. Well, i couldnt sell it to my travelling buddies. :p But it's always been on my to-do list.

Then i got married and moved here and haven't been thinking about it. Then, last November when we've got visitors from M'sia, we took them to Sydney Olympic Park and just opposite the stadium where we parked our car, we saw Flying Trapeze swings and net set up and that got me all excited! I made a quick comment about how i've always wanted to do that but never thought much about it after that. See, dream kinda dies off a little especially knowing that with age comes less flexibility (unless yoga is involved) and i am not a fit active person anyway. Just looking at the ladder leading up to the platform where u jump was just so high up, i struggled every morning going up 73 stairs of my home man! :p

Michael, being the "I give best presents" kinda person that he is, remembered that little comment i made and ta-daa! Got me a voucher for a 1 and 1/2 hr workshop of Flying Trapeze for Christmas (remember i told u ive got good xmas prezzies? this was one of em! woohoo!) I WAS THRILLED!!!!!!!!

I hafta admit that eventhough i was truly excited, a part of me was just so scared having to do it! After weeks of full bookings and cancellations cos of the rainy weekends, we finally made it to the Olympic Park last Saturday morning. The weather was perfect but the whole experience was intense! We arrived early, so we got to see some advanced students doing flips and turns, most without their safety wires on! I was sooooooooooo nervous! Then it was time.......

There's about 10 of us for that 11 am lesson, most have done trapezing lessons there as beginners before and only 4 of us were newcomers. Rodrigo, the head instructor with a sexy Mexican accent, took us stretching a bit and then went straight on the practice bar. He took us one by one and for newbies like me, he taught what is called the 'knee hang' trick, where we hook our knees on the bar and hang upside down. When i saw the demo by this tiny flexy girl, i thot, i can't do this man! I can't even hang onto the monkey bars for more than 5 seconds!

Rodrigo helped me raised my knees up and hooked it and when he asked me to get my hands off the bar, i said, what?? gila ke ape (dalam hati le :p) i hesitated but he forced my hands off the bar and i was hanging upside down. Then put my hands back on the bar, took the knees off the hook and i was on the ground again. OK, this will take a while, i need more practice! But nope!! "You can go to the trapeze now" Rodrigo said. HAAAA?????????????????????? he's craaaaaaaazy!

We all went to the trapeze after that one practice session and i was shaking all over! These people did not waste any time at all! Everything happened so fast. One instructor was putting a safety belt and harness and another was giving instructions on how to climb the ladder and when to stop and turn and step on platform bla bla. All's just a blur to me at the time cos i was so kering tekak. They didn't give us time to think at all!

I took my time climbing cos so ngeri! It was so much higher than i thot. Once up there, another instructor hook me on to a different safety wires and asked me to grab the bar with the right hand first, then the left. That was NOT easy. I have to stand with my toes over at the end of the platform and lean forward to grab the bar. The instructor kept saying that she's holding on to my back and it's REALLY OK to lean further to grab the bar. Then, i jumped! (well, she had to push me :p)

While i was swinging i couldnt even think of what i was supposed to do. I was very dependent on the instructor's voice below shouting for what i should be doing and when, cos timing's everything! "legs up now", i lifted my knees, "hook it on now, ", struggling to hook, "let go now", WHAT?? "let go now...NOW, NOW" i think i let go of my hands more cos i was shocked with her screaming voice! Then i grabbed the bar, unhooked my legs, let go, and i fell face forward on the bouncy net. Getting off the net, they taught us this cool trick where we roll upside down. I can't believe i did all that. The feeling was AMAZING!!! The rush and how everything happened so quickly, i can't believe we did that knee hang trick the very first attempt!!

For the 2nd round, they added the back flip for the landing. Again, i was all blurry when they gave instructions and didnt manage to swing my legs forwards and backwards for the back flip. I managed to do it on the 3rd round and so were the others, so they added a new trick - the catch! We'd do the same knee hang trick to begin with but instead of grabbing back the bar the catcher at the other end will catch us while we're swinging upside down. This is my favorite part ever!!!!!! I really didn't think they'd make us do this trick the very first lesson but I'm glad they did! I was so so excited, especially when Rodrigo sent one of his professional trapeze up on the other end as the catcher - the cute shirtless Freddy..hehehehe

By this time i was getting a bit dizzy climbing up the ladder cos of the hot sun and the after effects of hanging upside down while swinging. So the 4th round, i failed to hook my knees on the first swing and the momentum was lost for the catch to happen. Then came the 5th and final round. Michael, supportive as ever, even asked me to concentrate on the thought of being catched by shirtless Freddy :p

I soo wanna make this catch. I have to cos it's my LAST one! With all the encouragement from other instructors, i gave it ALL that i've got! With the help of Rodrigo himself manouvering my safety wires while shouting the instructions from below, i finally DID IT!!! :)

Here's my Flying Trapeze act on YouTube guys! ENJOY! ;) Michael recorded all 5 swings plus the practice bar and my nervous interview before the lesson but this was to me, the one that Im most proud of! I'll put some pics on Facebook too.

It is definitely one of the BEST things i've ever done! It was hard work and i am still sore all over but it was all worth it and so so so much of fun!!

Thanks sooooooo much babe, for making my dreams come true! :))