The Longest 4Minutes of my life

It's been awhile since the last time I dragged myself into some nerve-stimulating action. A self-confessed acrophobic (someone with a fear of heights or high places), I decided to try out the rides at Crown Regency Hotel Towers for a taste of fear and excitement. What did it for me was their massive marketing strategy to entice adrenaline junkies like yours truly, ranging from publishing the rides on local magazines, to featuring it on sports show and tv comic stints, to simply word of mouth and mere curiosity.

They say curiosity kills the cat, and in this case, I fell into the trap. After months of discussing plans with some friends we get on board on our first leg of adventure this year. And because I suck at story telling, I opted to incorporate pictures to make the tale easier. So ride on and feel the adrenaline rush.

At around 11 o'clock on a Sunday morning we arrived at the Crown Regency Hotel, one of Cebu's prominent skyscraper claiming to be the country's tallest hotel tower. A busy receiving area full of travelers seated on the couch with handful luggage greeted us as we ushered our way to the elevator. The reception is not as classy and large as I presumed, it had a simple huge sofa, rounding stairs, chandeliers and quite expensive paintings on the wall. We went up to the 19th floor of Tower 2 to pay for our tickets. Since it's almost lunch time, we proceeded to a restaurant that serves authentic Chinese cuisine. It's a buffet style so you can pretty much eat whatever you want. We settled on a table for three at the corner and headed on. The food is well, OK. Alright, delicious but not the mouthwatering kind. Most of the dishes were dry and fried, some looked familiar like the lumpia shanghai, pancit, fried chicken. There were only a couple vegetable dish and what the hell is a century egg by the way? I also have to re-read the tag when I came across with the word "jellyfish"? I didn't know it was edible so to satisfy my ignorance I put a spoonful serving on my plate.

The restaurant had a terrace for you to take on the view of Cebu City while enjoying the cool breeze of the wind making it nearly perfect for an afternoon nap. I bet the place is romantic at night with the city lights combined by the small fountain on the center and the small temple-like structures placed around the handrail with light bulbs on it.

Next stop was the Prana Medispa for my first ever diamond peel. We also tried the 4D theater which was really fun! I've gone to watch movies in 3D but I tell you, you can hardly tell the diference between a regular movie and a 3D (except that the screen becomes closer). But with 4D, movie-going has never been this good.

We still have time to kill before getting on the rides so we explored around the hotel checking out the pool and other areas of interest before finally going up to the sky observatory deck on the 38th floor. There you can see a closer view of Cebu landmarks using a coin operated binocular. When dusk began to settle down, we started moving in for the kill - that is to ride the edge coaster. The thought of getting on that ride moving around the outer rim of the building brings shiver to my spine. Since its already dusky I won't be able to see the busy streets of Jones Avenue right under my nose, where my brains would definitely scatter if God forbids the cable will snap and I will be staring down at death in no time. Oh well the management assured safety is 100% guaranteed. Yet who knows if I'm the most ill-fated person on this planet. Geezz, I'm having morbid thoughts again. Well, I've always been brave even on circumstances when I knew I should have backed out. So with a dauntless mind, which of course is just a facade, I took a seat on the coaster, safely and tightly fastened. Note: the edge coaster will revolve around the 38th floor literally on the edge of the building for approximately 4 minutes. A normal, functioning person would say, oh just 4 minutes? Easy... But mind you, that ought to be the longest 4 minutes of my life.

Here are some pics during the heart stopping ride.

As the coaster began to tilt downward it felt like I'm flying and falling from my seat. I should have intoxicated myself with alcohol so I won't be clinching my hand to the side like a fool trying to hold on for dear life. I wanted to punch the crew right on his face and curse him when he tilted it to 55 degrees. Some thrill seekers might actually love it, looking from the top enjoying Cebu's spectacular panoramic view at dusk time. But in my case, so much for this bravado coz I'm really scared and wanted to cry right there and then. After the ride we were given a certificate for completing the adventure.

As if the edge-hanging ride wasn't good enough, we were itching to try out the skywalk. The skywalk is located at the 37th floor where skywalkers are to wear jumpsuits attached to harnesses and get to walk around the building on metal flooring (there's a glass portion though) which is about half a meter wide. Here's the catch : the flooring is also at the outer rim of the building, no walls or handrails to hold plus the fact that you can't go walk hand in hand with your companion as they won't allow it and should maintain a one arm distance from the person on your front. You've got nothing to hold on to but your scared self. If you're extremely afraid of heights I suggest you skip on this one coz if I were to compare the fear factor of the skywalk and edge coaster, the former has more on it.






To tell you frankly I was more scared on this. The moment I stepped on the flooring my knees went wobbling, I felt dizzy and nauseated. Whenever I try to look down it would feel like an unforeseen force is trying to pull me. We have guides and were very helpful in giving instructions and precautions. The only fun part is the picture taking which is done on designated areas. By the way, bringing of digital cameras are prohibited so we have no choice but to hire the service of their photographer just for a keepsake of this fear conquering stint. If you noticed our stunts - it's all their ideas or should I say those are standard poses. The part where you have to stand one leg at the edge with arms raised, hell, I couldn't bring myself to that. And when we acted like skydiving, I didn't bother to look down (hahaha too afraid).

Anyhow, that was one hella experience. It's worth a try and worth the money in your pocket. If you're gonna ask me if I'd still gonna do it? I think I wanna save my ass to live longer. Besides, I don't wanna end up bones breaking and skull cracking.ü