15th Hot Air Balloon Fiesta
February 18, 2010 Leave a comment
“A Weekend of Everything that Flies” – This was the slogan used for the 15th Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta held at Clark Freeport Zone in Angeles City, Pampanga. And why not? By far, this is the simplest and yet most sensible slogans I ever heard used in an event. And of all things that fly, one type stands out, balloon flying.
We all started appreciating balloons when we were young. Toy balloons, of course. from our first birthday, these cute fliers are “a must have” in a birthday party. And I have never seen a baby cry or crawl away from a toy balloon. Somehow, it is our instinct to enjoy them. And us we grow up, we become less interested with those toy balloons. When was the last time, if there ever was a time, that we saw grown ups strutting around with a balloon tied on their wrist? Although we have outgrown our enthusiasm with these trinkets, there is this one type of balloon that at a first glance until the end of our breath, we would never get tired of appreciating, the hot air balloon. And who said that cute stuffs do not come in big packages? These balloons not just big, they are huge. They are not just toys, they are rides. And above all, they do not just pop and drop on the ground, they last for a lifetime, even in our memories.
This year’s event was just as exciting as the past hot air balloon festivals. We just do not ever get tired watching these cute giants fly. Maybe because we are amazed and curious about being able to ride them and fly, surrendering its direction to the blow of the wind, or just maybe because of their stunning and cute designs. Regardless of the reason, there is one thing we all have in common, we LOVE them so much and we will always enjoy watching them and hopefully, ride in them.
Just how excited and eager we are to see these hot air balloons? Well, just enough to wake up at 2:00 to 3:00 in the morning and waiting for hours in lines stretching in meters up to the main road.
There were horses around without eye covers (or whatever you wanna call them) so I opted not to take shots using flash. But once we got inside, we quickly occupied the front area which only took minutes to be filled by spectators. And at last, the preparation for the event started at 5:45 AM.
To officially open the event, members of the Philippine Sky Diving Team did a sky dive with the Philippine flag, in sync with the Philippine National Anthem.
After the flag landed and folded by the army, a dance performance was held, with the dancers dressed in bird-like costumes, they were not able to fly, though.
But they pulled out some acrobatic moves.
A few moments later, the fancy balloons began to take shape. They were really cute.
Start your morning with a beer? Yeah right.
At around 7:00, all balloons were fully inflated and ready to fly.
And the moment all spectators have been waiting for, the balloons began to ascend one after the other.
The sun is up.
And so is turtle. Uhm is that supposed to be a butt-hole?
While most of the balloons flew far above the spectators,
one of them dared to hover above us and was just within our reach. Great control.
But there were these balloons that almost went out of control, colliding at each other, but thank goodness the balloonists managed to maneuver the balloons away from each other.
There were other attractions and activities that kept us busy during our stay.
Like having your picture taken with an airplane as your background.
With live bullets? Whoa.
Or even inside one.
And what is good about everyone having their picture taken in a whole bunch of crowd doing the same? Capturing somebody else doing some monkey business. Like this dude in red. Haha.
The Navy personnel and the pilots were very accommodating. Until now, I could still not believe they were that hospitable and courteous.
A big salute to all of them.
They were just as joyful as they could be, not the typical “Sir, yes, sir” soldier in the field. Clearly, they were also enjoying being there and part of the event.
