To soar like an eagle (and to crash-land like a flight-less penguin; Hot-air ballooning over Angkor)

At 4:30 pm  a minivan picks me up at the hotel entrance.  Already in the van are 5 East Indians in their 50s or 60s having a great time and giggling a lot, two American or British women in their 40s (they don't say much, and I only noticed them because of their night-at-the-opera-style face make-up; I mean, who in their right mind curls their eye lashes before going on a balloon ride?), and two English-speakers that are just TOO weird, so I won't even bother to describe them.

The outskirts of Siem Reap

We drive out of Siem Reap, over poorer and poorer roads, until we stop next to a harvested field.

the Axe Man cometh !

The other fliers hang out on the sidelines while I & the camera crisscross the field

testing the burners

All that balloon commotion has brought out the village children

With the baskets laid sideways and additional blowers, the monsters are slowly inflating

For the kids, this is GREAT fun.  

He looks like he SOOO wants to fly too ...

It's time.  Time to climb into the basket

After climbing into the basket (6 on each side of the central burner compartment) my own anxiety is reflected in the children's faces.  So far so good, but these things actually FLY ???

And just like the faces of the kids become more and more astonished, after all the anxiety I can't really tell the exact instant when the floor of the basket looses contact with the ground.  But the changing angle to the children's faces is a strong indicator: I'm flying !

And then it happens.  But you can't feel it happen.  There is no 'lift-off' moment.  A short moment after you lift off you just realize that you can't really be on the ground anymore.

At some point I get this strange feeling of HEAT on the top of my head. I'm not talking warmth here, but BURNING HEAT.

When I check the top of my head in my cell phone camera, I realize that NOW would be the time to submit my picture to that odd web-site  HOT or NOT.

Because I AM HOT.

Some might say that I am FLAMING hot.

No need to panic. It's not actually my remaining hair that is on fire; there is a metal plate between me and the fire ;-)

what is he looking at?

The organizers were supposed to have provided us with candy to throw down at the kids.  No candy though.  Money will have to do ;-)

One method to slow down a balloon before landing (you don't want to move over ground too fast when landing) is to let the basket scrape the very tops of bushes.  That's what our pilot tried to do when landing. Tried is the relevant word here :-(

One of the other balloons just before touch down.  They land without problems.

Blogger doesn't let me upload the video (too large), so FOLLOW THIS LINK TO YOUTUBE to watch the landing.

My co-crash victims are 5 East Indians, one man and 4 women, one of whom happens to be a doctor. I am the worst scratched up because I had my arm outside the basket when we hit the bush and the bush made sure the arm stayed outside and stripped my Hopi Bear bracelet in the process.  Here is a picture of that bracelet on my arm in Cuba in January of 2013.  For at least the last 3 years it never left my wrist and now it is a treasure to be found in the countryside of Cambodia.

I WILL MISS that bracelet!  
So I'm the worse hurt, all the helpers stream towards the stranded gondola, and I motion for them to open the gate.  They don't want to and expect us to remain in the basket until our pilot gets airborne out of the bush again and can attempt another landing.    
OPEN THE GATE, I do NOT want to fly with him again.  Then the pilot chimes in "Only 1 or 2 people can leave".  The choice words that the East Indian women directed at him after that can NOT be printed here.  
They have to let all of our half of the gondola out.  When a manager shows up, my companions instantly start shouting "We demand our money back, or we call the police" To me at this point it is an adventure survived with minor scratches and something I will remember for a looong time. 
It would never have  occurred to me to ask for a refund. Shit happens and I should have kept my arm INSIDE the gondola ;-)

But then the US$ 100 might get me a new cuff bracelet in the future (it will cost $180 CAD).  And I'm sure I'm going to end up spending the money with people who will need it more than the balloon people.  So I take the money.


Time lapse:  

The picture above shows the arm after the blood has been washed off.  Note the missing bracelet (the white band across my wrist ;-(