Our next morning was even earlier.
Our guide picked us up at
our hotel at 5:10. Yes, AM as in so early that the call to prayer had not
yet sounded, and that happens an hour before sunrise. Today we were to
participate in one of the most well-known attractions of the area, hot air
balloon rides.
We were dropped off at a central meeting spot where many balloon
companies take their patrons for a bit of hot tea and coffee, a snack, and a bathroom break before heading to the takeoff spot.
As we drove toward the area where our balloon was being
inflated, the sky was filled with balloons that had already launched. The sun
had not yet peeked over the mountains yet the early morning light exposed a
horizon of silhouetted ovals ascending into the sky. We passed dozens of
balloons still on the ground, in varying stages of deployment. Some were just
boarding their passengers, many were partially inflated and still laying on the
ground, and other companies were just arriving in their vehicles to unload
their large packages and unroll them on the ground.
There were more balloons than we could count. Sometime rows
of partially inflated balloons lay on the ground in such close formation they were touching sides.
When the balloons were mostly inflated, the skilled teams would release the grounding ropes and the
massive bubbles would rise up and the waiting passengers
would quickly scramble inside the baskets. As ours popped up overhead, we climbed a small ladder and clumsily made our way into one of the four passenger chambers in the basket. Without fanfare, the
balloon lifted into the air so smoothly it didn’t even feel like we were
moving.
Our basket was full with five people in each quarter of the
basket. In the middle, the solo pilot had an area to himself. Our pilot was a
young, cheerful Turkish man probably in his 30's. He spoke good English and had
a nice sense of humor. He introduced himself and gave the official name of his balloon, then claimed it was nicknamed the Titanic. Immediately afterwards the song “My
Heart will go on” began to play on his phone, which is the iconic theme song to the movie Titanic.
He gave us a brief speech which included the fact that 150
balloons go up every single day carrying an average of 3000. This
was the biggest tourist attraction in the area, and people came from all over the world to partake of this amazing experience. In the basket with us were people from
Taiwan, Hong Kong, Portugal, Kurdistan, Japan and India.
Balloons continued to rise after ours until the entire sky
was filled with the floating wonders, each with a different color scheme and design. Some
had company logos and websites, others fun and lively pictures, and others just had varying degrees of color. Besides the occasional roar of the fire being blown
into the cavernous chamber above us, there were no other sounds. The sun
eventually came up and quietly climbed over the rocky horizon. The first rays of the morning light illuminated the colors of the balloons, and created a
As our time came to a close, the team could be seen below us following the balloon in their truck, with open trailer behind it. As we slowly
sank, we watched the team as they anticipated the exact touchdown spot and
parked the trailer accordingly. Our pilot skillfully managed to navigate the
balloon to that exact spot, and then we plopped down precisely on the flatbed
trailer. The balloon collapsed and the team of men managed to direct it off to
one side. By the time we all climbed out of the basket they were already
flattening out the balloon on the ground to roll into one long cylindrical formation, preparing it for storage until the next trip.
Our transport van arrived and set up a table with champagne. We all celebrated
the successful ride and were given certificates signed by the pilot showing our
participation. We were transported back
to the hotel and arrived at 8:30 AM, right on time for our breakfast buffet.
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