Balloons over Vang Vieng

Week 83

Day 579

Koh Tao

10.1000° N, 99.8381° E

Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve always been intrigued by hot air balloons.

The obsession started probably around the time I could talk.

My family was living in the bay area and we would often drive up to Napa on the weekends to stay with my grandparents.  Their house was right in the heart of Napa and one of my favorite activities was to run out by my grandparents pool and “hunt” for balloons.

My patient grandmother would always search for the balloons with me.  As I now know, the balloons are only around early morning, but I have distinct memories of my grandmother driving me up the valley searching for balloons when I couldn’t find them by the pool mid day.

27 years later I found my first oppertunity to ride in a hot air balloon in Vang Vieng.

We may have run across hot air balloon rides on previous trips, but the cost of entry didn’t seem justifiable so I’ve always decided to hold out for when I one day go to Cappadocia.   When I saw the affordable cost for the flight in Vang Vieng ($80 a person is WAY better than the $300+ rides in Bagan!) I knew we had to see the beautiful landscape via one of those colorful baskets.  We booked through our hotel Maylyn’s Guesthouse for the same price tourist agencies were selling the trip for in town.

The sunset over the magnificent Kaarst mountains of Vang Vieng definitely didn’t disappoint, if anything it left me wanting more.  Here are some of our pictures from the adventure.

Have you ever rode in a Hot Air Balloon?

Where did you take your ride?  Leave us a comment and tell us how it was!