What a high!

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

Zhan Qingzhong (2nd from left) readies his balloon.

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.

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