we started early for this trip. dodi picked us up at exactly 7:30 AM, punctual as always. it was going to be a two-hour drive to get there. after a long drive and a rugged 200 meter bumpy ride to jomblang resort, we got off and picked our rubber boots and red helmet. we're ready for action!
goa jomblang cave is in fact a cave complex where we are to be lowered through a sinkhole, about 50 meters ~ 15 stories down. from there, we take the muddy stairs towards the dark muddy track in a 300 meter cave tunnel and to the end of it is where the treasure will be - the light of heaven.
there were a lot of adventurers though, and we were group 19 in the queue. we had a lot of time to kill, and i didn't want to spend all that time in those smelly boots and smelly helmet haha. i took them off as i sat at the edge of the sinkhole to watch people rappel down and disappear to the jungle down there. we were admiring this dad who is traveling with his 2 teenage girls (and their girl friend) and going all-out stage dad on them: adjusting one of the girl's go pro snapped onto her helmet, fixing the other's harness and photographing every single move they make. talk about #dadgoals :-D
i was carefully watching the process of them lowering people down via those ropes. i was impressed that they work very fast while making sure everything is safe. they would let the next batch of people sit down first, and when it's their turn, two guys would immediately attach their safety ropes to each person. as they come closer to the platform, the safety rope is attached to the back side of their harness, before the first rope attachment is removed. and then, they would position them and pull up their harness in front a little bit (must've hurt for the guys) so they can put lock the main rope in place. then it's go time.
when it was finally our turn it was already 10:45 am. there is a cameraman from the tour company who ensures that people's moments are captured as they abseil down. however, there are those who want to take their own photos, so a lot of selfie sticks were present. we didn't have one, but jasmine managed to take this cute short video haha
i also took some photos as we zoomed down. i couldn't resist it (no selfies though). you'd think a 50-meter-down glide would take some time, but we were going down so fast most of the other photos were blurred!
a guide was waiting for us as we landed. he told us to trek down, walk through the tunnel where there's a bit of light (but we had to use our phones too) and we'd know when we get to the end. before we went, we waited for the next set of people to descend to see what it was like.
it was really muddy and slippery, so there were ropes to hold on to as you walk down the stairs. the guide told jasmine to walk backwards and hold onto the rope to avoid slipping. i did not listen
here's a photo for you to appreciate how dark it was going to be in the tunnel.
there were a few spotlights inside the tunnel but they were not enough. my new phone (which Lovro calls "mama's phone not broken anymore") came in handy.
and then i could see the light at the end of the tunnel, literally. along with that, the exciting sound of rapids. there was indeed a river system here. as there were a lot of people who were there ahead of us, we had enough subjects to take photos of.
this is my favorite photo.
 |
| the human evolution |
it was nice that the tour operators got things orderly and in control. it was wet and slippery everywhere, and there is this spot where everybody wants to go and take photos of the light of heaven. so they assembled people to queue and allowed only about a handful at a time, to avoid accidents.
and then finally, it was our turn. as we moved forward, the sun shone brightly and the sunbeams piercing through the cave came brighter and stronger and therefore awesome for photos. the previous group awww'd in unison as they missed out. poor guys.
 |
| wait for it... |
 |
| hello there! |
it was so heavenly. i swear this angelic sound was playing in my head. (yes, you need to play it.)
there were a lot of ingenuous people who were setting up tripod and their own lighting to take the perfect photos and people posing with their arms stretched out. i'm pretty sure they were pretending to depict jesus christ's second coming.
for people like me with normal photography skills, we can only manage to do portraits with a noisy light background, or do silhouettes.
after all that fun, we were ushered to go back along with everyone else. and then it was queueing time again! the same was as going down, only two people can be pulled up at a time. but first, a bunch of people went astray. i followed them as they seemed to have stumbled upon something. it was some sort of graffiti.
earlier before we got down, dodi told us that it takes only one person to get two people down, but about 30 to pull up. we made sure that we weren't the last in the queue so we'd get a chance to see it in action.
i didn't count if there were in fact 30 of them, but there sure were a lot! they also take turns, a different group of guys would do the pull alternately. it must be exhausting! they seem to be having fun doing it though. that's definitely the attitude you want the boys to have if you're hanging on a rope and your life depends on them :)
we finished our adventure around 1pm, and i was starving. i was so happy to learn that they were providing lunch! yeaaah!
after a satisfying morning, we headed to our next and final sight-seeing for this trip.
No comments:
Post a Comment