Hanoi paragliding

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My flight from Hong Kong arrived in Hanoi on time. It was a sunny afternoon. After the immigration formalities, I came out with my luggage. There he was, Steve from HTS to pick me up from the airport. A young, cheerful Vietnamese man…we talked a lot on the way from the airport. It was my first time in Vietnam, I was absorbing everything around me. Cars are too expensive to buy in Vietnam, hundreds of motor cycles and scooters are zigzagging on the road. Steve brought me to the Pearl hotel near the old quarter. HTS travel and transport service is only 2 minute walk from there. It’s a decent hotel, although located in a congested area, but nice service. After I checked in, I went to HTS office to pay my dues. Alice and Leila were there. I have to mention one thing here. I am indebted to Lily (Linh) for arranging my tours in Hanoi, Sapa and Halong Bay. Linh did a wonderful job, no flaws and everything was booked perfect. Linh left HTS to start her own business in Hoi An. But before she left she made sure that all booking are complete and perfect. Whenever I had any doubt about the tours, she always said “Don’t worry, Tab. Trust me. You won’t have any problem”. I trusted her and she didn’t fail. I owe her a big salute for her professionalism. Atta Girl! After she left HTS, Alice took over. She made sure everything went smooth during the tours. Anyway, I paid my dues, and chatted with the girls and left. My other travel agent from Hanoi, Julie from Travelsense Asia, was supposed to visit me in the hotel. This is a standard practice in this part of the world. We pay some advances, then the TAs visit you in the hotel to explain the tours and you pay them the balance. Julie and I went out for dinner and then went to the lake area to a roof-top restaurant for a nice coconut drink and ice-cream. The evening was pleasant, the place swarmed with people. Young folks parked their motorcycles and were just hanging around. Once back in the hotel, I called Milu from Hanoi paragliding club. We planned for a jump on the next day from Doi Bu mountain.

The next morning, I rented a car through Linh to go to Doi Bu, some 50 km away from the city. Milu came to my hotel in right time. I am an early riser. So, I was ready. Duong came with Milu in his scooter. Duong is an ex-pilot from Vietnam air force. We all went together. Milu joined me in my car and Duong was riding his scooter. We met with other folks in a coffee shop…HPGC’s usual ghetto. We went to pick up more people in another shopping mall. Miho, a Japanese girl working at UN and her friend Phil from UK also joined us. We went out in two cars to Doi Bu.

We travelled towards the airport for a while. Then the road turned to a different direction, and we were driving through the small towns in the outskirts of Hanoi. We took a dirt road and finally we stopped outside a village. Farm land started after that. Milu already arranged two guys with motorcycles to carry us on the mountain top with our jumping gears. They were waiting for us. But we saw a thick blanket of fog covered the top of the mountain. That was a bad news. Unless you can see the landing zone, it is difficult to jump from a tall mountain. Every chance is that you may drift away. We waited and waited. Finally, Duong decided to climb up the mountain to check it from the top. As Duong and I would jump in tandem, we started on motorcycles to go up the mountain. The road was steep, muddy and full of rocks. We slipped few times. Duong and his rider were lucky, they went ahead. My motor cycle could not carry the driver and me with my gears. We started slipping heavily. I told the guy to go ahead without me…just to carry my gear. He left and I started climbing on the desolate mountain road, stopping once in a while to catch my breath. I checked around…there are dense jungles on both sides of the road. I don’t know what kind of animals live in there. It was totally silent. I hurried up…I had a feeling I shouldn’t be there for a long time…at least I wanted to go to an opening…walking so close to dense jungles may not be the safest game after all. Duong called my name from high above. I was nowhere near him. I tried to climb up faster. My calf muscles were aching. I carried on. I saw my motorcycle ride was waiting at a distance for me. The climb was less steeper now, so the motorcycle could carry both of us. I rode the bike through grassland now. We reached a plateau after 15 minutes. The fog was thick, visibility was almost zero. Duong and I sat and waited. He was checking the wind direction. If the wind flows in the right direction, fog clears out. But wind was erratic this mid-morning. Grass, shrubs and bushes were all wet from the fog…water was dripping down from some plants. No wonder, vegetation growth is so great here! Duong smoked few cigarettes in the meantime. We ate our packed lunch. Around 1:30 pm, Duong decided that there is no hope. He talked to Milu from his cell. We made a decision to go to a different mountain and give it a last chance. They knew my schedule, I was to leave for Sapa that night.

We climbed down the mountain on motor cycle. We had some rough moments in the rock and mud, but we reached the ground safely. Milu paid the motorcycle guys and they were gone. We drove in two cars. When we reached near the second mountain, fog rolled in here too. We couldn’t see the top of the mountain…all fog covered. Shit, I said! I lost one valuable day in my schedule. We were supposed to see Hanoi after paragliding. That didn’t work. So, I was desperate for a jump…just to make it happen. It was late in the afternoon. We started climbing up on foot. Milu, Miho, Phil went ahead. Two boys carried our gear. I was slow. The previous climb has sucked all my energy from my legs. Every few steps, the muscles were aching. I regularly practice climbing hills in Calgary in summer times, but this was no match. The mountain was steeper. After a while, Duong took a short cut through the shrubs…no roads but small trees, and shrubs. He asked me to follow him. I was grabbing small plants and trees to get leverage and prop me up, hoping that the trees won’t give away. The grass below is soaking wet from the dew. My running shoes and socks were so wet that it could easily supply a bottle of water. Duong was climbing up like a mountain goat. I told him to go ahead. But he wouldn’t. He grabbed my arm to drag me up…Bravo Duong. Finally we were up the mountain. I was gasping for air. Milu came to me and told,

“Tab, it’s getting dark. Visibility is not good. We have at the most 10 minutes to decide. Do you want to jump”?

I was perplexed. I asked her, “well, you know the terrain better. What would you have done if you are to make a decision”.

“I wouldn’t. Besides, you are our guest”, Milu said.

“What do you say Duong”, I asked.

“Well, I can make it”, Duong said

“Well, if Duong can make it, so can I”, I declared.

We got ready and started the run. Unlike other places where I jumped previously, there was no clean slope here for a clear run. The ground was full of bush and shrubs. Water was dripping from the shrubs. I started the run, but I was not running straight. I was doing zigzag to avoid the bushes. Duong shouted “Abort, abort”. We had to abort in few seconds. Milu came running to me and said,

“Tab, make a straight run, you know the rule”.

“I sure do, but how am I going to make a straight run, look at the ground…”, I said

Milu smiled. “Well, it is what it is. Come here”, she grabbed my arm.

“When I run, you run with me. Then I move aside, you carry on, ok”, Milu said.

We made the second attempt. Within a few seconds I could feel the draft….I lifted my legs up. We were airborne. We floated and drifted, we couldn’t see a thing. Duong was talking. He asked me if I am okay. I said I am fine. What a marvelous feeling… I could see the silhouette hills at a distance, I could feel the sudden gush of air when the parachute was making a turn and we drifted and floated forever. It seems to be eternity. We slowly came out from the cloud and we could see the ground far below, the grassland, lakes, trees, some huts here and there. Duong asked me, “Can you see the drop zone”? I couldn’t see it. Duong has trained eyes. Besides, they jump here so often. Duong pointed towards a parked car…it’s like a dot. It was our car. The field next to it was the drop zone. I could see it now. The wind was not blowing in the right direction. So we circled the field slowly to come down. Duong was fantastic in controlling the chute. Finally, I could see our driver and couple of other guys. Touchdown; we landed. I am always bit lousy in landing. I am supposed to run. I skidded and fell on my back. But I was fine and I was not hurt. I untangled myself and I was up. I was in all smiles. Milu and the gang came down after a while. Hugs and congratulations were due anyway. Milu told me that I could now travel to Sapa with pride. I said,

“I don’t think so”.

“What do you mean”? Milu asked. I showed them the condition of my running shoes, wet like a water tank.

Milu said, “No way, you can’t miss Sapa, it’s a beautiful place, Tab”.

“But how can I go…I cannot go there with a sandal. Sapa is cold.”, I sounded disappointed.

Milu asked, “Well, can you try my brother’s running shoes”?

Oh, my, my! “How on earth do I know if the shoes would fit me”, I laughed.

Milu phoned her brother, “what’s your shoe size”, she asked on the phone.

“42”, the answer came back. “Will 42 fit you”, Milu asked me.

“Don’t know. Shoe sizes are different in Canada”, I said. Milu seemed to be more confident than me. She asked her brother to ride his scooter and drop a pair of shoes to my hotel. When I went back to my hotel, I found a pair of shoes were waiting for me. And OMG, they really did fit so well! I traveled that night to Sapa wearing those shoes. This is the kind of affection and friendship I received wherever I traveled in Vietnam!

I am in touch with Milu and Duong. Duong has a brother who lives in Vancouver. He is hoping to travel there sometime. “Calgary is not far away from Vancouver, Duong. May be we could do skydiving together”, I told him! He gave me a lovely smile. Milu travels a lot. We wanted to share our travel stories after paragliding that day. We didn’t get a chance! Some other time! I felt bad for Miho and Phil. Poor guys couldn’t jump that day. I hope they made the jumps another day.

Next is Sapa!

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