Photo of the Day 9/10
by Sean on Sep.10, 2009, under China, Photos
Hot Air Balloon Ride in Yangshuo
Imagine one minute having your feet firmly on the ground, and the next feeling like you’re floating in mid-air. The air trapped in the balloon above your head is heated, and at once you leave the safety of the ground. The heater reminds you of a flame thrower, and the heat is so intense you begin to sweat. You slowly rise to 20m…30m…100m. You can see people on the ground quickly becoming smaller and more distant. They look like ants for a brief moment, and then fade away. The sky lights up in brilliant colors as the sun begins to set over the mountains. The only sound you can hear is that of the flamethrower ensuring your safety.
The man controlling the behemoth constantly speaks gibberish into his walkie-talkie. You continue to snap as many pictures as you can before your brief stint with the sky ends at an alarmingly fast rate. You reach 500m..600m..700m (2,300ft). You are now literally hanging in the sky without a lifeline, floating aimlessly over the jagged mountains dotting the surface below. What seems like a lifetime dancing in the sky from within your balloon in reality is only about 30 minutes, but by the time you descend back to earth, you are glad to be back.
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November 14th, 2009 on 11:34 am
[...] Balloon 1After lunch we went back to our hostel (Monkey Jane’s Guesthouse) and prepared for the 480rmb per person hot air balloon ride operated by a famous Australian company which recently purchased the company here. They picked us up in front of our hostel and took us by van to a field outside of town where we got to watch them heat up the balloons. Once the balloons were full of hot air, we got in and took off. The experience was amazing, frightening, exhilarating, and made me feel a mix of a million other emotions all at once! You can read much more about it by clicking here. [...]