Ballooning over the ancient pagodas is a very popular
tourist activity which is not to be missed.
World War II era buses with wood lined ceilings pick up tourists from
their hotels predawn to take them to the take-off locations. We used Balloons Over Bagan which uses pilots
that have been trained in western countries, ours was from England, that travel
the ride balloon circuit(Australia, Africa, England) and locals for crew they
employ year round to insure they have a well-trained employees.
After our safety talk, we watched the field of balloons as
they were inflated using large fans at first and four propane burners later
right before standing them up. These are
big ride balloons holding 400,000 cubic feet of air and 16 riders plus the
pilot. They run during the dry season
when the winds are predictable.
We took off and floated over the ancient city while the sun
rose in the east. The pagodas and
temples took on a special glow with the early morning light. There’s a limit to the number of balloons
that are given a license to fly over the heart of the city and today there were
21 afloat. If you have never taken a
ride I highly recommend it. The silence
is only broken by the firing of the burners giving a sense of peace. Locals up early to start their day wave and
welcome the riders.
After the main part
of the city is crossed over, the pilot starts looking for a place to land. We ended up landing on a sandbar in the
Irrawaddy River. Waiting for our crew to
arrive we watched the local activities of tending to the fields. Irrigation consists of a man with two
watering cans attached by a stick that is dipped in the river then carried to
the fields to sprinkle them. Workers
weeded the rows of plants. We shared a
champagne toast celebrating the flight before returning to our hotel.
Our 4th class started right after noon. The level of photography had increased
notably from our first class. The
critique sessions last a little over an hour with additional time spent on
instruction. These trips are not meant
to teach you how to use your camera but focus on finding the right composition,
lighting, and moments.
We boarded a bus mid-afternoon traveling to Mount
Poppa. The temple sits atop a mountain
and can be reached by climbing 777 steps.
About half of our group took the challenge, climbing to the top while the
rest of us roamed the little village.
There are hundreds of semi-wild monkeys that inhabit the area and many of
them perch on the walls waiting for possible food handouts. Women sell little paper wrapped tubes of nuts
to hand out to them. Apparently they are
quite aggressive, stealing anything loose such as sunglasses, beer, souvenirs,
etc. We had willing models for photos so
we had more options for our critique.
We next headed to a resort for a drink and also to set-up
for a sunset shoot of the temple in the distance. As the sun dropped, the lights shone on the
temple giving it a golden glow. Sitting
alone on the top of the mountain it made for a very nice shot. We packed up our gear to make the 2 1/2 hour
trek back to our hotel.
Tomorrow: Our last early morning
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