Thailand. Northern Thailand is mountainous and mysterious, at least from my point of view. Drug running, elephants and suspension bridges make my list of terrifying things (although elephants have definitely moved to the magical side).
Suspension bridges have always held a morbid fascination for me. Along the same lines as airplanes. How do they stay in the air and since I am deathly afraid of heights…Well, they don’t always, as evidenced by the spectacular collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge into the Puget Sound 4 months after it opened in 1940. No people were killed but a poor dog named Tubby bit the rescuer trying to save him and died.
The longest suspension bridge in the world is located in Japan at almost 13,000 feet which is over 2.5 miles. China has 4 of the top 10 longest and the US has one in the top 10. The double-decker (gee, one deck is bad enough but 2?), Verrazano Narrows connects Staten Island to Brooklyn. The famous Golden Gate comes in at #11.
So back to this suspension bridge. Feeling emboldened by my elephant ride, I decided to walk over this bridge by myself. Having never stepped foot on one before, I was hardly breathing. The faster I walked, the more it swayed so I had to slow down, breathe and I did it – both ways! With no one watching. Amazing.