Balloons over Bagan

At 5.30am on the dot we were picked up in an old van and driven to the take-off spot which changes daily depending on the wind. The British pilot rushed through the security briefing while we downed a cup of coffee. We'd been forced to pay extra for the premium eight-person balloon as it was all they had left, so we had a mini basket to ourselves. There were around 10 other balloons filling up around us with the temples in the distance. We had been told that the average flight time is about 45 minutes but it was totally dependant on the weather conditions so we were hoping to get our money's worth.

We got up in to the air quickly and enjoyed the peaceful ride with amazing views of the sunrise over the temples with balloons dotted around. I had three different cameras and took literally hundreds of shots. The ride was smooth and felt really safe the entire time. The pilot was in regular contact with the other balloons as we kept changing altitude for different spectacular viewpoints. After 55 minutes in the air, we descended and watched as the ground team sprang in to action, closely followed by groups of children from the nearby village who either wanted to sell us their goods or say hello. The younger children were only interested in our free souvenir hats, which they made clear by repeatedly patting their heads and saying "Hello! Hat!"

We had a glass of champagne and some fruit while we reflected on the amazing once-in-a-lifetime experience. The rest of the day was pretty lazy due to how tired we were from the early wake-up but in the afternoon we rented bikes again and did a few more temples before watching the sun go down over the water at a fancy resort.