The Human-Powered Wheel of the Fearless

They are young boys who give their lives every night to put the fair on fire. It requires no electricity or generator (only the lamps operate electrical), just a bunch of fearless chaps and passengers. First I was flabbergasted, later terrified. This wheel was bigger and higher than any we saw before. This is how they roll in Myanmar.

Unlike other human powered ferris wheels we had seen (on the internet or live), this one was bigger. This wheel has fourteen open air cages that can, and at a certain point did, carry 14 x 4 = 56 adults. Fully loaded it has a weight to carry of about 3500 kilograms, if you take 60 kilo as the average weight of Myanmarese people and Mandy (the Myanmarese and Mandy are not so heavy, my weight on the other hand took up the average a bit). I was already flabbergasted by looking at the moving wheel from a distance. You should have seen the metal of that thing and how it was welded from up close. You would have been as frightened as we were. Sitting in the wobbly cage, we were sweating like crazy!

Those guys who put the wheel in motion, however, risk their lives every day. With a full load I counted six daredevils who climb to the top of the wheel. The height of the wheel must have been about 12-15 meters. From the top they would let gravity do its job. When the guys, hanging on a bar, reached the surface, they would jump off and keep running for a few meters to cope with the speed. As if that wasn’t enough spectacle, certain guys let themselves take up (while the wheel was in full swing) again, to perform some show elements. That was a most stunning sight, but I also though they were probably tired of life. It may nevertheless be almost inevitable that this ‘show’ occasionally goes wrong and perhaps with fatal ending.

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One of the boys is upside down while the wheel is turning fast
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On top of the ferris wheel
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Doing tricks while the wheel is turning
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The boat next to the ferris wheel is also run by manpower
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Comments

One response to “The Human-Powered Wheel of the Fearless”

  1. awesome!!
    In India you can find wheels like this at any fair, but with mechanical concept omg!. Guys the way you take photos keen my interest in it.
    go for more adventures, maybe you both may find some more like this.