2022
The Forgotten Recap - Become one with the wind: Dambulla Photo Fly ππππ
I was going through my meetup list and I suddenly noticed I have not written a recap for the Dambulla Photo Fly (Photo Walk), which was an amazing experience for Sri Lanka Local Guides. This may be the first time a meetup was held on a hot air balloon. It was hosted by Sri Lanka Local Guides on November 4, 2017.
I was nervous
This meetup was held just after I returned from the Google Local Guides Summit 2017. When I published this meetup, I was wondering whether anyone would turn up as you must pay Rs. 15,000( roughly US$ 100) to participate. When I first post this on Google Local Guide Meetup site for approval, it was rejected as there was payment to made. After I spoke to a Googler during a one of the monthly Google Community moderator hangouts, it was approved (I resubmitted the meetup for approval). I must thank Mareena from Sun Rise Balloning for giving a good discount for the Sri Lanka Local Guides. The normal price was Rs 22,000/=(US$ 145) per head.
The response I was waiting πππ
As soon as I posted it I got a call from Seedra saying she would join. I was happy, if there are two local guides, it is going to be a awesome meetup. After few days I got another call from Uditha saying that he would join us. I was so happy.
I went to Dambulla day before the meetup as the balloon launches around 5.30 in the morning to catch the sun rise.
On the day of flight
I waked up around 4.30 in the morning and around 5.00 I got a call from organizers saying that they would come and pick me. Uditha came to the hotel around 5.00 and we were waiting for the organizers. Then I contacted Seedra and she was still about 30 minutes from Dambulla. I asked her to come to the launching place.
A van came to pick us around 5.05 am. There were few other foreigners in the van who are going to travel with us. We were welcomed by the organizers and they took us to the launching place. When we arrived, the staff was preparing the balloon to launch. It is a team work and there were around 20 members. It was a new experience to us. While we were there Seedra came to the launching pad and my family also came with her. They wanted to see the launch.
The preparation of balloon ππ
We took some nice photos of preparation of balloon and around 5.30 they started to launch. Then we got into the balloon. The pilot of the balloon gave us a small briefing about the safety measurements and steps we must follow.
Preparation of balloon
Became one with the wind π¨π¨π¨
We wanted to see the sunrise from the Sigiriya World Heritage Site, unfortunately the wind was in other direction. We started our fly and we were flying towards the Dambulla town. The first sight of sunrise was amazing although it was a cloudy day.
Three Sri Lanka Local Guides...
When we were passing the houses kids and others were waving at us. Kids were very excited and they were shouting. It was a nice experience to see all of this from above.
As I mentioned in the meetup banner we became one with the wind.
Photos and Fun...
We took some amazing photos from the balloon. Today when I check my photos, I came to know a photo I took during this meetup is having highest number of views for my photos. It was a photo of Dambulla Fish Breeding Center.
Dambulla Town...
The landing...
The balloon passed the Dambulla town and it went over the Ibbankatuwa Wewa(a large tank). When we just passed it, the pilot informed us we are going to land. He was looking for a playground to land. The supporting staff on the ground found a place to land. The pilot was very experienced one and he was spending his 12th year in Sri Lanka as a hot air balloon pilot. This was his final season in Sri Lanka. He landed the balloon safely. When the balloon was landing there were large crowd gathered in the ground to see the landing.
After landing....
The toast
We came out of the balloon. Then the flight was toasted with a glass of champagne. Juice and chilled water. We enjoyed it and took some photos with others. Then the pilot distributed the certificate of participation to all participants.
Seedra receiving the certificate...
Finally, we took a group photo with the team. Then they dropped us to the hotel.
Sri Lanka Local Guides withe the Team
Although this is a very late recap, I hope everyone enjoyed it.
@IlankovanT Please join us next time. @SoniaK Come to Sri Lanka for a hot air balloon flight....
Become one with the wind and flew over the birds.... It was an amazing experience
Photo Album
Please follow this link to see the Google Photo Album of the meetup.
Recap Video
This is the recap video.
@Seedra @udithaw Rhank you for the participation, photos and videos...
