11-9-19 - Birthday Ballooning In Bagan
/Day 146. Kyle & Leanne joint blog. Bagan, Myanmar.
It’s Kyle’s birthday today and we have a great activity planned to start off the day’s festivities. Hot air ballooning over Bagan. It’s definitely “the thing” to do here in Bagan beside visiting the temples. It has been something Kyle has mentioned several times over the last two months apparently trying to drop the hint to Leanne go book it. Despite these (maybe) not so obvious hints, Leanne only just arranged the booking yesterday. In fact, we nearly were shut out altogether and it took some extra maneuvering by Leanne to finally secure the last seven spots in Bagan for Saturday’s sunrise ride. Lucky break. Kyle notes that he will have to make his “hints” a lot more obvious in the future.
The teens rise nicely for the 5 am pickup time and we board a beautifully restored circa 1960s wooden school bus with a shiny wooden bar on each seat enabling us to hold on tight. The vintage bus takes us down the bumpy, foliage-filled dirt roads that barely qualify as one lane. Banana leaves flap on the bus’ outer windows unapologetically reminding us we are now in their space. We continue bouncing and bopping for what feels like miles.
At one point, the bus has to maneuver around a tight turn onto a pitch black, one lane dirt path in the jungle. Apparently, the maneuvering was not good enough as the bus rams into the cement divider, the bus thumps down, the light go off and the engine stalls out. Kyle looks at Leanne and says, “are you sure you didn’t sign us up for the simulated terrorist kidnapping adventure by mistake?” Leanne smacks Kyle’s arm as the group of French people who we are sharing the bus with and who look terrified are definitely not amused by Kyle’s jokes. The driver gets the bus alive and moving again and the road finally unveils a clearing.
When we step off the bus, still pitch dark, we feel as if we entered one well-organized military operation. As far as our dilated eyes can see, the field is filled with headlamps and camping lanterns and folding stools, all lined up in perfect circles.
There are two dozen pilots each with their own crews assigned to each 16-passenger basket. In all, we estimate hundreds of workers milling around the now-brightening field in an orderly synchronized manner, conducting the same equipment checks, moving similar propane tanks and checking the same massive torches. Every few minutes a huge blast of fire up to 20 feet high lights up its immediate area in a different part of the field. In a few minutes time, those same flames will be our lifeline. These are the pre-ops of readying 26 hot air balloons to hoist up 400 sleepy tourists over Bagan’s 2,200-plus 12th century pagodas each morning
We sit in our makeshift area enjoying coffee waiting to meet our pilot. A tall enthusiastic guy named Moses introduces himself. At first glance, Kyle and Leanne immediately think “American Navy SEAL” for sure as his fit stature and commanding confident stance suggested. He exudes this “everything is completely under control” look as his crew whips past us grabbing this tool or pulling that rope. Yes, Moses immediately gave us the feeling we were in good hands.
Huge electric fans start filling the massive balloons, now spread out over the field like bedcovers. As the balloons pop upright one-by-one over the field, they look like soldiers standing for attention, ready for takeoff.
A couple of the teens gripe a bit out of either sheer fear or just normal teenage angst; we suppose the early time wasn’t as agreeable as we originally thought. We complete a safety briefing with Leanne noting that apparently if anything goes horribly wrong, the passengers don’t have much to do but smash like bananas on the ground? Kyle asks Moses if we get parachutes in the event the balloon goes plummeting toward the ground. Leanne smacks Kyle on the arm and the French people definitely do not like Kyle’s jokes. Now fully trained passengers, we crawl into our wicker basket and ready for one gentle rising takeoff.
We sail upwards ever so slowly like a birthday balloon that breaks free from your 3-year old hand. We float into the now lighter sky and start viewing from high above the major temples we saw yesterday amongst hundreds of mostly red brick temples scattered through fields, on hilltops and even smack dab next to each other. In every temple, protected inside is at least one sitting Buddha, but often four are found facing each cardinal direction.
Turns out we were dead wrong on the Navy SEAL, but Moses was flattered by our guess. Moses is a 40-ish Canadian pilot with over 25 years ballooning experience all over the world including Kenya where Kyle and I first ballooned in 2001 during the wildebeest migration. It’s a true passion as Moses becomes even more alive once in the sky. He puts his hands out wide calling the sky “his office.” With his Infectious positivity, he is fun to chat with and he absolutely loved hearing about our travel adventure.
During the flight, Kyle asked him like 50 questions... How long did it take to do your first solo flight? (6 months)? How long to take your first passengers out solo? (2 years) How long you’ve been a balloon pilot? (25 years) How high are we? (~250 meters) How many balloons are out with us? (26 total balloons) How many companies offer this? (4 with one having just recently started)? What do you do in the 6 month offseason? (hot air ballooning back in Canada) How long have you ballooned in Bagan? (4 years) What type of fuel do you burn? (butane), How much fuel will we use on the flight (~1/2 of the 4 tanks)? How do you steer? (you actually can cause rotation but there is no steering just navigating the wind), How do you land? (there are vents to allow air out but still need to heat air going in or you will drop too quickly). This was about 50 more questions than all the remaining 13 passengers combined felt the need to ask! We love Kyle’s inquisitive nature.
From the sky, the scene above is just simply magical as we float alongside the other balloons over the wakening fields and temples. It’s so peaceful with noted exception of when the blowtorch gets used which is a necessity to keep us afloat — soon you realize exactly why they give you a free hat - to prevent your hair from singeing your hair. Although Kyle, who was closest to the blowtorch, points out that he will have to regrow his neck hairs.
In all seriousness, we are full of tremendous joy here high in the sky. We snap tons of photos, panos, portraits, and videos. It is incredibly peaceful and the wind and light is just perfect for the thousands of photos we take. Moses’ positivity makes the flight so uber enjoyable that we half consider signing up again for the next day.
Flying in the balloon and landing it are two very different experiences. Moses shares his current Plan A to try to land on a rectangle of land about 2 meters wide before the river. Plan B would be on the island in the middle of approaching Irrawaddy River. Snake island which we can see in the distance is a flat uninhabited slice of land that resembles a sand dune everyone forgot existed. Kyle asks Moses if Plan C involves swimming which results in a smack on the arm from Leanne and yet another cross sideways glance from the French group.
“The crew REALLY doesn’t like landing on Snake Island, so we will try to land on the mainland instead,” Shares Moses. Given there is nothing the eye can see on Snake Island, just pure sand and long green gas, Leanne is pretty sure she knows why even the locals don’t want to go there. “Yes, they have tons of vipers,” shares Moses. “You just have to avoid grass.” Since 90 percent the land looks covered with tall grass, seems as if this one epic occupational hazard. If the locals don’t go there, why would we?
Leanne is still hoping having a pilot named Moses is our God’s sign that we won’t perish on Kyle’s birthday via snake bite or any other unforeseen misfortune.
Moses instructs us to assume the landing position. Kyle jokes “otherwise known as the crash position,” which earns yet another smack on the arm, which is now turning black and blue, from Leanne. The French group looks as if they would like nothing more than to dump Kyle out of the balloon into a waiting pile of snake vipers.
The winds picked up a bit and Moses aborts the landing attempt on the mainland and heads straight over the river for Snake Island. Moses radios the crew waiting down below for us. The crew - who was at the mainland landing spot - now has to leave the mainland via boat, dock the boat, and then run through Snake Island to “catch” our now descending fast balloon. The crew of 8 scampers like mad towards us. It’s their daily race to bear their balloon and they are, as we witness, darn good at it.
Fortunately the crew of eight Men reaches us in perfect timing and starts pulling our balloon towards the beach of Snake Island before the basket hits the ground. It isn’t the first nor last time we see locals risking their own safety so freely for our own, humbling us and touching our hearts. Because they are all there, our balloon hits ground gentler than I put my laundry baskets down at home.
Seven faces hold ear to ear grins — especially Kyle who by now looks to be seriously considering a second career as a ballooner. At the riverbank, a boat awaits our arrival with champagne, fresh banana, sliced papaya and freshly baked banana bread. We feel utterly spoiled. It’s only 8:30 am and our daily adventure bucket is already full.
As we get off the boat onto the mainland, a boy who looks no older than 7 approaches holding 4 small childlike drawings for sale. We have been strictly advised not to give the children money in Myanmar as it only hurts their situation, encouraging them not to attend school. It is so hard to do as the reality is that this country is so impoverished. 1,000 Kyat later, Leanne is proud owner of a set of hand drawn postcards leaving one little girl beaming from ear to ear.
Moses is super interested in the story of our year-long travel adventure and we exchange information so he can follow our travels. Hi Moses – great job of the balloon ride!
For the rest of the day, we let the birthday boy lead our flow. That meant (in this order) breakfast, nap, pool games, rest, massage, watching Amazing Race, more pool time, happy hour and finally a family dinner by the pool. By now, the restaurant waitress Wai Wai knows our favorite drink and dish (a Myanmar tomato salad with lime, garlic, onion, tomatoes and roasted crushed peanuts). When we returned to the room after our massage, the staff had decorated our room with balloons, lights, and handmade signs. For his birthday request, Kyle asked us all to make their top 5 lists of favorite countries, museums, attractions, experiences, cultural shows, cities, places of worship, etc. with nearly 30 countries under our belt on this trip, there’s plenty of choice. We surprise him at dinner with a heartfelt video from us all and presents that included a Myanmar Longyi, the long batik worn by a majority of Burmese men. In Dartmouth Green colors at that.
There have been times in this trip it’s hard to know if the teens truly get how special this experience is. It weighs on our minds from time to time. Teens aren’t effusive with their reactions all the time like overly-enthusiastic Kyle and Leanne are. Plus they have all sacrificed much for this trip. For example, Corey is missing his basketball season and John won’t graduate with his senior class. While they seem like small prices to pay with the lense of 50 years of wisdom, they are still huge asks of teens.
But it’s times like these when we sit down as a family and deeply reflect on all we have done and experienced thus far in these five months. Times like this make all the sacrifice well worth it. The joy in their faces when they talk about how they felt at the top of a mountain ... or making a local smile ....or seeing Everest after five days of altitude sickness give Kyle the well-deserved smile he needs to know this trip has been life changing for all.
They name churches Leanne and Kyle can’t even remember visiting, they recount funny stories we may not have even blogged about, they bring up moments that changed their perspectives on the world.
Kyle is full for the night with warm memories and his gifts of jade, the Burmese longyi and his very own Buddha. He is even more excited about the well wishes from his first ever Facebook birthday (meaning he’s only recently joined) and he plows through thanking each and every one.
Before the family dispersed for the night, Kyle asks a guy standing nearby to take our family’s photo. Somehow, we strike up a conversation with the gregarious young man. We hear his French accent, inquire, and invite him to take a seat. Little does he realize he will be subjected to Kyle and Leanne’s version of the show 50 Questions where we pretend to be investigative journalists with the unsuspecting guest now in the hot seat. For example, Moses from this morning was our last guest!
He shares that he used to work in this hotel in Guest Relations which led us do our typical 50 questions of who you are and what makes you tick. Turns out the young man is 30-ish, speaks French, Burmese and English, is an aspiring hotelier looking to build a local boutique hotel nearby. His heritage is from Italian but he grew up in Monaco, so French is his first language. He decided to leave Monaco and head for SE. After visiting several countries, he fell in love with Bagan and made it his permanent residence. Now living here in Bagan, he married a woman from Myanmar and is a father of an 18 month old.
Since he’s a budding entrepreneur, we immediately go into even more question mode. How hard is it to build here? How big of a property? Why do you want to do that? Do you think tourism is a good sector right now? We pepper and pepper with questions, so much so he is about to head into the kitchen to find the restaurant’s grinder. He answers the interrogation quite well and we are super impressed with his passion for his venture.
We start telling him that about the other wonderful folks we met in Bagan whom he might want to meet. Leanne asks “Maybe you know him?” After mentioning one name, he gives a puzzling response. “Well, he, ....yes he, well, .....he definitely knows me,” shares the young man confidently but not overly so. “Really, why?” Responses Leanne. Sheepishly he shares “well, I’m kind of a celebrity. Well around here.” “You mean in Bagan?” Leanne asks. “In Myanmar,” he shares. “Celebrity?” Says a perplexed Leanne. “What kind? Do you sing?” “Yes” “What kind of music?” “Burmese. I also dance, traditional Burmese dancing that is.”
He then pulls out his cellphone to show me photos of him on TV, his 3 million Facebook likes on his last post, and an images of him on the Myanmar version of Dancing With the Stars. He’s incredibly humble about the whole thing.
Kyle has been off at the bathroom when the whole celebrity thing comes up. From Kyle’s perspective, he went to the bathroom thinking Olivier was a real-estate entrepreneur half-expecting him to ask if we wanted to invest in his hotel venture. When Kyle returns to the table, Olivier the entrepreneur has transformed into Olivier Cottone, the dancing with the stars, Myanmar mega-celebrity. Go figure.
So we head to bed having met someone “big” ... “kind of big”.....well “I’m big in Myanmar” big. A quick google search brings up our newly met celebrity’s videos - Olivier Cottone. Sure enough he’s big in Myanmar. So life lesson for today is forget the selfie, as you just might meet a Burmese celebrity when you ask a stranger to snap your photo.
