What a high!

By Chen Liang (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-05-07 09:51

Hot air balloons dot the Haikou city skyline.

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."

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