16th Hot Air Balloon Fiesta in Clark Pampanga!

the 16th Philippine International hot Air Balloon Fiesta in Clark Pampanga Philippines was the next travel. So last Friday afternoon, Don Fitz and I went to Clark Pampanga to catch the early morning flight of the colorful balloons in the former US Airbase.

We arrived in Dau around 8PM. Usually I stay in with my uncle during the event becuase his place is very near the Clark Airbase and hotels are always fullybooked by this time. This year, the three of us stayed in my uncle’s place. We woke up at 4:30AM to catch the balloons.

At around 5AM, traffic is already building up at the highway leading to the festival site. Kaloka! ang daming tao! Oh well, it is not a surprise since we went there on a Saturday when most of the yuppies no long have office work in Metro Manila. Before, I would normally go to Pampanga during the opening day on a Thursday because only a few people comes to the venue since its still a business day.

Just in time after we claimed our Media IDs, we then headed straight to the entrance gate for the photographers and the media. Most of the balloons were already half filled with warm air when we got inside. Perfect timing! But there was no blue sky nor golden sun last saturday. the skies looked gloomy. But that didn’t stop the photographers from taking photos, not the poeple from enjoying the sight. The wind was a bit strong at that time but we’re just so lucky that our of the 25(?) balloons that participated from various countries, only two or three weren’t able to fly. Too bad, though, that my favorite Darth Vader balloon is one of them

There was a time, I think three years ago, when I covered the event, when all of the balloons we’re able to take off due to very strong winds. Some people even told us that last Friday there was a heavy downpour in the afternoon.

I am so delighted to see new balloons joining every year. The barn house balloon is back, New this year is the Frosty the Snowman balloon and the Darth Vader Balloon. I’m just a little bit sad that the hot air balloon with the sun design is no longer around. It could have added more shine to this gloomy morning.

After seeing this event for quite some time now, I hope to see more balloon designs in the near future. I want to see hot ait balloons with car designs, or a bucket of flowers or how about guitar shaped balloon? I hope that the Philippine International hot Air Balloon Fiesta would continuously grow where, one day, we can already compare it to the magnitude the Albuquerque hot Air Balloon Fiesta! Congratulations to the PIHABF 2011 organizers for successfully staging the 16th edition of this event! Looking forward to cover this evnt again next year!

Postscript: Apologies for the poor quality of the photos, I’m still using my phone cam, as my DSLR is still busted. I need a sponsor!