A Chinese man in his 40s, identified only as Hu, and his partner were picking pine nuts in a forest park in Heilongjiang province in northeastern China on Sept. 4 using an unconventional method: They were perched in the basket of a tethered hydrogen balloon.

Which might have been fine, but the balloon became untethered, CBS News reported. The second person jumped to the ground, but Hu was aloft in the balloon for two days and traveled more than 200 miles before rescuers reached him by cellphone and instructed him about how to slowly deflate the balloon and land safely.

By that time, he was close to the border with Russia. Hu was reportedly in good health aside from having back pain from standing so long.