Who would have thought a height-phobic person like me would fight tooth and nail to be whisked away in a hot air balloon.
But that was exactly what happened last Thursday.
I crawled out of bed at the crack of dawn. Drove endless rounds in Putrajaya because in addition to being height-phobic, I’m also directionally-challenged.
The last thing I expected after all my efforts to get my tush on the Putrajaya International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta was this:
“Oh, I’m sorry. The list is all full. First come first serve, you see,” the lady at the counter said without looking the slightest bit sorry.
Seats were limited as a single balloon can only accommodate about 4-6 pax. There were only 25 balloons flying the in the fiesta from different countries, shapes and sizes.
Still I couldn’t believe my ears. This was preposterous. Totally unacceptable. I confirmed my attendance as a media representative to the event days ago. Nothing was said about this first-come-first-serve bull of a policy.
And so I flashed my name card. Told her who my photographer colleague and I were representing. Said that my assignment totally depended on me being in one of those hot air balloons.
She blinked once. Then twice. And came to a decision.
“Ok, I shall scrap the rep from Paper A and put your name on the list. But your colleague can’t come along,” she said smugly. “See, I scrapped Paper A for you.”
It could have been worse. She could have been a total pain. So I mustered a grateful smile and thanked her. By hook or by crook, I’ll get my photographer up in the air before the day is over – or die trying.
But in the mean time, I had a hot air balloon ride to catch.
The Perfect Weather
The weather was good – no thunder, lightning nor rain and strong winds. The sun was bright and the sky was brilliant blue. In other words, this was perfect flying weather. Hot air balloons are highly vulnerable and dependent upon the weather conditions. We had to fly and land before 10am when the sun gets hotter and the weather gets thermic.
As I was walking into the field where the hot air balloons were parked and were being inflated, a chirpy lady by the name of Maria Griffiths grabbed my hand and hurriedly ushered me towards a hot air balloon.
“Quick, our pilot wants to take off now when the weather is fine!” she yelled over the din of hot air balloons being inflated by the large gas tanks.
Getting into the Basket
I followed her to a 105 cubic square sized balloon basket which will carry the 4 of us. It was made of rattan as they are hardy and bouncy things, ideal for a hot air balloon basket. Ignoramus that I was, I was expecting a door or something to let me in. But no door was to be seen on the basket. The pilot just smiled and asked me to hop in. I spotted some foot holds and hoisted myself flailing legs and all into the basket.
It was a good thing that I was wearing knee-length shorts!
A Participatory Sport
Hot air ballooning is a participatory sport – you just can’t do it alone. At least two people (crew) had to push the balloon from the ground and two others came to fetch us and our balloon where we eventually landed. And passengers are expected to help out with the packing of the balloon and basket upon landing. So there were a lot of communications going on and the pilot regularly used his walkie talkie and handphone to coordinate with his ground crew.
The Take-Off
So anyway, the pilot, who by the way is Michel Bonnet from France, revved up the gas that blazed hotly above our heads – and we were off!
As we ascended and the people and balloons on the ground started looking miniscule, I felt so surreal and euphoric. I had dreams of floating in the air before but nothing can compare to actually floating off the ground like a balloon IN a balloon.
Everyone started smiling like loons, we just felt so happy!
Splash and Dash
As we floated over the lake, we saw some balloons dipping into the waters before taking off again. Maria excitedly asked Michel if he could take us for a bout of Splash and Dash.
“Alright! Let’s go splashing!” Michel grinned cheekily and brought us down to the lake waters.
“Bend your knees as we hit the water. There’s going to be some impact!” Maria warned us.
The calm and tepid lake waters received us as gently a mother receives her baby. Water sloshed into the woven rattan basket, swirling our legs right up to the knees. I’ve dipped my legs over river banks and sides of the boat but never in a balloon’s rattan basket. It felt like soaking my feet in a narrow and shallow well. Pretty weird but nevertheless FANTASTIC!
Oh and, thank goodness I was wearing slippers! Shorts and waterproof shoes/slippers are simply the stuff to wear when you are unsure of what adventures you might face in a hot air balloon ride.
I’m Like a Bird
Soon we took off again, rising past buildings and almost touching the clouds. Putrajaya with its impressive buildings always looked majestic and imposing from the ground. But from an aerial view, they looked like a very real 3D architect’s impression of a miniscule well-structured city. Everything is in its place amidst lush landscaping. How fortunate that birds can see this every day so effortlessly!
The Landing
All too soon (about 5-8 minutes after take-off), it was time to land. Again we were told to bend our knees and brace ourselves for the landing. This is normally the part I fear the most when taking flights. The feeling of my stomach taking a nosedive is distinctly unpleasant to my height phobic self.
However, no such rapid descent feeling came upon me. In fact, the whole journey was gentle and I felt very safe within the solid rattan basket.
Still, landing in a hot air balloon has quite a few surprises that knocked the socks off my slippers.
It was rough and the impact rocked and bounced us around the basket. We hit the ground twice before coming to a stop. As the balloon above hovered and swayed with the reduced gas, it dragged the basket along and tipped it at a crazy angle – almost spilling its contents out – that’s us! I would have fallen upon the pilot had I not gripped the sides of the baskets tightly.
The experienced Michel soon righted the basket and then we clambered out to help him pack the deflating balloon into the 4WD that the ground crew brought to our location.
I’d say the packing up of everything took much longer than the ride itself. Ordinarily, paying customers get at least 1 hour up in the sky. But at the fiesta, only short rides are on the offer.
But oh, to have my moment in the cloud was worth every bit the hassle, and then some. My photographer had his moment in the evening time courtesy of someone else from the organising committee who knew how to treat media. He ended up floating longer up in the air but didn’t manage to splash and dash over the lake. Just goes to show how unpredictable hot air ballooning can be.
I’m so glad I ‘fought’ for it.
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