Another activity that we tried (yes, we managed to fit a lot into a 4 day weekend) was hot air ballooning. Every morning at dawn we could see hot air balloons drift over the area and land in the fields opposite our hotel. Olivia is a little obsessed with balloons would point them out excitedly about 20 times, all before 7am! What great scenery to do this especially as none of us had ever been hot air ballooning before.
We ended up with the five of us (including Olivia) plus two pilots in our basket. Honestly, it was too many, we were very cramped. At the beginning we were worried that we were too heavy as the balloon had some trouble taking off and we skimmed a few fruit trees on the way. But after about 10 minutes we gained some serious height and checked out the local area. Unfortunately Olivia was freaked out by the burners, she was very unhappy for the entire ride so I spent the whole time at the bottom of the basket with her clinging to me. I peeked out at the view through the small holes in the rattan. Not ideal.
Apparently it was quite spectacular. Olivia is not showing any long term aversion to balloons after the experience; I think that it was so traumatic for her, she has already wiped it from her memory!
1 comment:
What unbelievable photos! I love reading about what you guys are doing. It looks like you are making the most of your time in China. How much longer are you guys there?? I can't wait to see you again. When you return, we should be well settled in Tahoe and would love to have you out for a visit. Maybe Olivia can teach Max Chinese! :-)
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