February 3rd, 2025
Before arriving in Vang Vieng, I did a bit of
online research of activities to do, apart from the once infamous “tipsy
tubing” (which I didn’t bother with). Something
that came up and piqued my interest was hot air ballooning. For some reason, perhaps due to the
topography and the weather conditions, Vang Vieng is a hotspot for ballooning
and is one of the cheapest places in the world to try it.
You might be surprised to hear this…but I’ve never been on a
hot air balloon ride. I contemplated it
last year in the Serengeti, but in the end decided not to. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to
try flying in the “slowest aircraft in the world”, with paragliders being the
second slowest (which I often tell my students). I’ve always thought that hot air ballooning
is a bit crazy in that the pilot can control up and down, but they can’t turn
left or right. The aviator has to be in
tune with the winds and know what the wind is doing at different altitudes in
order to go where they want to go. About
9 years ago, when I first started to teach paragliding in Lumby, a hot air
balloon landed in downtown the nearby city of Vernon, in a parking lot of a
grocery store! I’m sure that wasn’t in
the flight plan.
After a bit of research online, it seemed like “Above Laos” was the best outfit in town,
which was reinforced by the fact that they were quite booked up, but luckily I
secured a spot on my second morning in Vang Vieng. Last paragliding season in Canada, I had a
student from Ottawa, Alain, who designs custom hot air balloons and is an
accomplished balloon pilot and even helps to regulate the sport. I pinged Alain the day before my flight and
he recommended that Above Laos was the best company to fly with…nice, I had
made the right decision. In fact, he
said that he knew one of the pilots there and sent me a photo of the pilot’s
Facebook profile pic which had Alain and his wife standing in the background! Alain had flown with Arliu just before Covid
broke out.
I was picked up and the bright and ugly hour of 5:30 am and I was given a plastic card that stated I was going to be flying on a balloon called “Ha-ha”. The van shuttle stopped at 3-4 other hotels, picking up other clientele. Arriving at the office/headquarters for Above Laos, there were four tables, each of which were designated for a specific balloon. We were served some tea/coffee and a little snack followed by a safety briefing. By chance, my balloon was going to be piloted by Arliu, the guy who knew my student Alain. I showed him the photo that Alain had sent me of Arliu’s FB profile pic, which created an instant connection between us.
Each group had their own table at Above Laos' headquarters with a sign showing you who your pilot was going to be.
As the morning light started to brighten, the Above Laos
crews started to go to work, initially inflating the four balloons with fans
before kicking in the propane burners to cause the balloons to tilt the big
baskets upright. It was an impressive
sight, and so were the sounds of the burners…like a dragon breathing!
One by one, we climbed into the basket with our respective
pilots and after a some more blasts from the burner, we lifted off of terra firma
and took to the air. Wow, it was so smooth
and gentle.
The rectangular basket consists of three “compartments”. At one end there is the pilot’s area with a wall
topped with padding that runs from one long end to the other. The propane tanks were located in this
section. From the middle of that wall,
there’s a longer wall that runs parallel to the long sides, dividing the rest
of the basket into two sections for four passengers on each side. Everyone stands throughout the flight, but we
had been briefed on how to crouch down, place your back square against one wall,
brace your knees against the other wall and hold on to some holy shit
handles. This would only be necessary if
you were landing in strong winds which would increase the chances of the basket
tipping over on touchdown. Arliu assured
us that we wouldn’t need the “bracing position” today as the winds were light,
but it’s good that they still briefed us on it.
I was the last one to get in our basket, so I was at the
opposite end to Arliu in his pilot section.
Five minutes into the flight, Arliu called me over to stand next to him. Since I knew Alain and I had told him that I
teach paragliding, he explained what was happening during the flight from a pilot’s
perspective, which I appreciated. It
allowed me to ask him lots of questions too.
A few things surprised me.
The awesome roar of the burner, as I previously mentioned, was like a
dragon breathing…and damn hot too. I think
standing by Arliu caused me to be in closer proximity to the flame than the
other side of the basket. I had to shed
some layers part way through the flight.
Additionally, I was impressed with our ascent rate at times…sometimes
over 3 meters per second up, which in the paragliding world is the equivalent
of going up in a decent thermal.
The winds were light, but pushed us west, down the valley
which is pretty much lined with mountains on all sides which makes the balloon
flying here all that more impressive.
The pilots really have to know what they are doing. We passed over the Nam Xay viewpoint and could
also see the little plane that has been hauled up to the other viewpoint.
Soon, it was time to head down, and all four balloons
descended into a dried-up rice paddy field.
Arliu’s skill shone here as not only did we have a soft landing, but he
put us down near the main road so we wouldn’t have to walk far, and the chase
truck didn’t have to drive across someone’s field to pack up the balloon. The other three balloons were further out in
the field. Our flight had been an
amazing 55 minutes long!
After touchdown, Arliu asked the two passengers furthest away
from him to climb out of the balloon.
One German woman said that she couldn’t, she felt dizzy, had tunnel
vision and looked as white as a ghost. She
was close to fainting. After a few
minutes, and with a bit of help, she exited the basket. I suggested that she lie down on the massive
tarp that had been laid down for the balloon and get her legs up to get some
blood back in her head. I’ve fainted a
lot in the past and it’s the best thing to do.
My advice wasn’t quite heeded, instead they got her to sit in the truck,
which is better than standing, but it’s still not the quickest way to solve the
problem. She claimed that she felt better
about 5 minutes later. Her partner later
said that she wasn’t feeling too well the day before, combine that with the intermittent
heat from the burner and the slow flying in the sky…that was enough to make her
dizzy.
We returned to the Above Laos office and since we landed by
the road, we were the first group to return.
We were treated to a light breakfast of fruit, coffee/tea and Arliu even
popped a bottle of champagne which about half of the group enjoyed (remember it
was only 8 am!).
The shuttle van returned us to our respective hotels by 9
am. I felt like I’d already experienced
a full day…so much so, that I didn’t do too much for the rest of the morning
and afternoon, apart from a well-deserved nap.
Since it was my last full day in Vang Vieng, I returned to
the Elevate 9 rooftop patio for sunset to enjoy the evening’s activities of hot
air balloons and paramotor trikes flying about.
I had a new appreciation of what the tourists were experiencing in their
hot air balloons. Since the wind was
flowing in a different direction than a couple of days ago, the balloon
companies in town were not going very high.
However, I could see the four balloons of Above Laos, in the other
valley, super high up. Yup, they were
definitely the best ballooning outfit in town.
Thanks Vang Vieng and thanks Above Laos!
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