A Weekend Of Everything That Flies

The 17th Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta this year was held during my birthday weekend (February 9-12, 2012) at Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga. Last year, we weren’t able to catch the hot air balloons since the morning flight was too early (or we were too lazy.hehe) and it was too windy during the afternoon/night flight (read about it here). This year, we promised ourselves to go back early morning just for the hot air balloons and go home right after to catch up with sleep. So that was the plan, to go there on Sunday, which perfectly fell on my birthday.

The night before, Wilex invited us (and the rest of the tropa) for his advanced birthday treat and a movie after. Even though we had already planned to leave Manila at around 3AM the next day, we went anyway and just thought worst case, we won’t have any sleep before leaving for Clark, Pampanga.

While having dinner, the conversation just steered towards our plans for the hot air balloon fiesta. The original plan was just for me and Yza to go but we thought why not invite the rest of the tropa. It was treated as a joke at first but because it was brought up in the conversations all throughout the night -- after dinner, before the movie (we watched Chronicle that night), after the movie – the group thought about it and decided that it’s a GO (well, except for Jay.. KJ! hehe). Yza and I would still have went there regardless, but having more people join us would just be more fun!

A few minutes past 1AM, we started the long drive to Clark, straight from Greenbelt, without any sleep. With all the traffic, we arrived around 3AM. We had snacks for a while then lined up for an hour before the gates were opened. Entrance fee was P200.

Yza dragging the very sleepy Billy!

Around a few minutes past 5AM, we were inside, waiting for the show to start. May I just say that everyone was already very sleepy at this point and we had to play Pinoy Henyo just to keep us awake!

The show finally started around 6AM, kicked off by a paraglider (not sure if this is the right term. haha) holding a Philippine flag.



Then, the balloons were inflated and started to rise one by one. It was a happy moment despite the groggy-ness.


We headed home around 8AM, feeling like zombies. Everyone thought it’s a nice idea to go back next year but with enough sleep so we can enjoy it more, stay for the rest of the day and take part in all the other activities.

Next year, the hot air balloon fiesta won’t fall on my birthday anymore (just an assumption since my birthday will fall on a Tuesday) but we will definitely make it a point to stop by and enjoy another weekend of everything that flies.

*Some photos courtesy of Billy Andrew Sy.

Cheers,