What a high!

Safety is our primary concern when I and photographer Lu Zhongqiu prepare for a hot air balloon ride. "Is it safe?" Lu asks Zhu Qingchen, president of Topsun Communications Group.

Both Lu and I are a bit nervous but Zhu allays our fears saying: "It's safer than almost any other forms of flying. I have been ballooning for nearly 10 years and have never come close to any real danger."

An ardent ballooner, Zhu initiated the First Haikou Hot Air Balloon Festival last year and is one of the organizers of this year's festival. "Last year we had only 10 balloons," he says. "This year, the number stands at 40, from all over the country."

As part of the festival in Haikou, capital of Hainan province, the 2008 H1 Hot Air Balloon Challenge China was also launched on April 25, bringing competitors from different parts of the country for a balloon race across the Qiongzhou Strait.

When we land in Haikou, the weather there is a light drizzle falling on the seaside city all day. However, the opening ceremony goes without a hitch at verdant Wanlu Park. The flying is postponed a day. "We need a much nicer day, with little wind," Zhu explains.

The next morning we arrive at the launch site of more than 30 balloons - an abandoned airport on the outskirts of Haikou.

Two professional ballooners from the China Aviation Sports Association (CASA) use special equipment to determine the direction and speed of the wind and brief the chief pilots. A dozen journalists are assigned to the different pilots.

I am teamed up with Zhan Qingzhong, his assistant Wang Zhen and three others, who will follow the balloon by car to its landing site.

Zhan, 40, tells us he has been doing the sport for five years. Originally a hotel manager in Tianjin, the lanky man gave up his stable job soon after he got his CASA pilot license and opened a commercial ballooning company in Yangshuo, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

"I have a bigger balloon which can accommodate eight guests," Zhan says. "I came here for the challenge and fun."

Finding an empty space at the airport overgrown with weeds, we start unloading the balloon's envelope, basket and two gas tanks from the car.

After spreading out the huge envelope on the lawn, the crew begins blowing air into it with an air-blower. Slowly a huge balloon takes shape. Soon the airport is filled with colorful balloons.

As the air has almost filled up the balloon, Wang moves the burner, which is positioned above the basket, toward the envelope's opening and lights it. "Whoops!" Wang cries. He has moved the burner a little too close to the envelope and the first flame from the burner burns a hole in it.

"Can we continue to fly?" I ask, worried.

"Sure, it's not a big deal and happens from time to time. We can patch it up later after the race," Wang says, a little embarrassed.

Later, he tells me that he used to work with an advertising in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, and started ballooning only a year ago. He reveals that he has spent 70,000 yuan ($10,000) to buy the balloon we are using.

As the flames heat the air inside the envelope, the hot air rises and the cold air sinks, making the balloon stand on the lawn. Zhan, Wang and I board the basket below the envelope and the other three throw their body weight on the basket to prevent the balloon from becoming airborne.

After we get the signal, the balloon is allowed to lift off. Once airborne, Zhan lights the burner from time to time to keep heating the air inside the envelope.

The airport, roads and cars on the ground become smaller and smaller. Soon, we were higher than all the other balloons floating in the sky. Zhan says he wants to follow and approach the balloon piloted by his teacher, which is already hundreds of meters from us.

"Though we can't steer the balloon, we can move up and down to find a layer of air that will allow the balloon to gain speed or change direction," Zhan explains. "The air is in layers, and the air in different layers has different windspeeds and may be moving in different directions."

He is right. In the higher layers, our balloon moves faster, quickly passing by other balloons and nearing his teacher's white balloon. Zhan then turns off the burner and descends dozens of meters. Now in the same layer as the other balloons, ours just floats with the wind.

My heart initially mirrors the up-and-down movement of the balloon. But after I calm down, I really start enjoying the ride.

I begin to understand why Zhan would give up his job and Wang spends so much on a hobby - it is truly intoxicating. Floating with the balloon, I feel like a hawk circling above the city at a very slow speed. Everything is below me, apartment buildings, highways, cars, pedestrians and even white egrets and swifts. And they often look tiny.

Downtown Haikou, with all its high-rises, looks like an awesome cement forest. With the colorful balloons, the city presents a pretty sight.

Zhan seems to enjoy the dazzling display of his skills. Under his control, our balloon often comes too close to the buildings below us. I can see the excited faces of onlookers in those buildings and become a part of their pictures.

After a 30-minute ride, Zhan says we should prepare to land.

The landing site is at Wanglu Park. As the lawns at the park are not big enough for all of the balloons to land, a few have to land on an unused construction site near the park.

"Can we land inside the park?" I ask. Zhan says yes and we descend quickly after passing a hotel facing the park. Soon our balloon is crossing a lake in the park. At one point, I think we are just a meter above the water. After this dazzling display, Zhan lands our balloon in the center of the lawn. Perfect!

"The route we followed is very close to the race route I was given this morning," Zhan says looking at his GPS. "I think we will rank among the top three. We can qualify for the cross-strait race."

Later, I meet Lu Zhongqiu. His balloon landed at the construction site. The unlucky man had to clamber over the wall to get out.

I tell him about how amazing Zhan is and he decides to follow Zhan for another ride in the afternoon.

He returns in the evening and tells me Zhan landed at a construction site even further away than the first one. "We landed so close to a residential building that the windows of an apartment cut the envelope and left two scars on it. Scary!"

And he had to climb over a gate to get out of the site and return to our hotel by taxi.

Back in Beijing, I get an SMS from Zhan Qingzhong: "No 6 in the cross-strait race, No 1 - personal score."

(China Daily 05/07/2008 page19)