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| 17th Hot Air Balloon Festival - Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga |
The
Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Festival is a sports aviation event held in
Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga. The event's being held annually since 1994 to help boost the local economy (following the devastating Mt. Pinatubo eruption) and to make the Philippines one of the leading sports aviation and travel destinations in the Asia Pacific Region (
source: Wikipedia). It is usually held during the early part of the first quarter of every year. It features hot air ballooning, aeromodelling, kite flying, aircraft competitions, paragliding, skydiving, dancing helicopters and more.
When I heard about the festival and its schedule this year, I asked my friend to accompany me to Clark to watch this event. I had a previous plan with office friends but it didn't push through so I just invited one of the office friends who's part of the original plan to go with us instead.
We left Manila at around 4AM and reached Clark at past 6 in the morning. We made a wrong turn somewhere in Mabalacat so it took us a little longer to reach the site. We were late so we're not able to witness the start of the event. The festival ground is full of people and a lot of balloons were already up in the air so we're not able to get a lot of shots. Just the same, we're happy to witness it. My friend's son enjoyed it a lot, too. He's so amazed with the balloons and all the flying air crafts particularly the helicopters.
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| 17th Hot Air Balloon Festival |
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| 17th Hot Air Balloon Festival |
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| 17th Hot Air Balloon Festival - the Cake! |
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| 17th Hot Air Balloon Festival - the Sunflower! |
We stayed on the festival ground a little longer to take some photos of the exhibited air crafts and to allow my friend's son to enjoy more the flying helicopters he so love to watch. We also made a bee-line for the air craft so we would be able to take a photo of him as he posed as a little pilot. We planned to go to Nayong Pilipino and Zoocobia/Paradise Ranch later on so we left the ground immediately after the picture taking. I'll post about our visit to the Nayong Pilipino and Zoocobia/Paradise Ranch some other time.
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| 17th Hot Air Balloon Festival - American aircraft on display |
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| 17th Hot Air Balloon Festival - aircraft display/exhibition |
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| Little Maverick! :D |
I wasn't able to watch the festival night glow so I'm hoping to come back here next year. Till the next hot air balloon festival... :)
Date of Visit: February 11, 2012
Entrance Fee: PhP200.00/person
Uy nagpunta din kami dyan! kelan kayo nagpunta? Feb 10 kami e.
ReplyDeleteGanda noh? Feb. 11 kami eh, di pwede weekday, hirap mag-absent sa work. :)
Deletehey...
ReplyDeletenandiyan din ako nung Sat ng umaga! ang cute nung flower!
Hi Eli! Mukhang marming u-bloggers ang nasa Clark last Saturday, EB eto! Kaya lang sa dami ng tao hindi nagkita-kita...hehe!
DeleteSalamat nga pala sa pag-add ng blog ko sa blogroll mo. :)
I missed the hot air balloon festival this year, hopefully I'll get to catch it next year. Great shots, and thanks for visiting my blog!
ReplyDeleteAnd you missed half of your life...hehe, jowk! Thanks for being here too, the food dude. :)
DeleteMay reason tayo para bumalik sa next year's hot air balloon festival. :D
ReplyDeletethanks for dropping by, following you now, also added your blog on my blogroll (badges & links). :)
galing din kami dyan. nakakapagod lang talaga ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks Donnie! Saw your post about hot air balloon, astig mga photos mo, may story pa. :)
DeleteWish I could've gone to this!
ReplyDeletehttp://wonderwomanrises.blogspot.com
Hi Wonder Woman! It's an annual event, so you'll have your chance next year. ;) Thanks for visiting, visited your blog already but will comment tomorrow, need to sleep now eh. :)
DeleteSo your one of the many bloggers who joined this one, haha. Never experienced this. Work issues :<
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm one of them but am not with any of them, heheh!
DeleteWow, di ko pa naexperienced to... Sana next year...
ReplyDeleteHi Mar! It's fun, feeling bata lang kapag andun ka at pinapanood mga balloons, punta ka next year. :)
DeleteWow, what a great event! My ancestors are from Mabalacat. We still have a house there, it's the one with a tower but this is the first time I have heard of a balloon festival in Clark. I would love to see that...Christine
ReplyDeleteHi Christine! The event's being held annually since 1994, they say to boost the tourism industry in Pampanga. And it's quite successful as a lot of people go there to witness it. When you come back here in the Phils, schedule it during the early first quarter of the year so you may be able to attend the festival. :)
Deleteang ganda naman nyan.. kakainggit... sabi ko nga one day, makikita ko din yan..
ReplyDeletesalamat sa pagbisita sis..:)
Hi Sis, try mo next year, sarap ng feeling, parang bata lang ulit. :)
Deletegood for you to experience it yourself. super envy much! BTW, if you want some free sb tumblr, might wanna check this.. http://ferreroandfate.blogspot.com/2012/02/sb-tumbler-anyone.html
ReplyDeleteJC
ferreroandfate.blogspot.com
Hi JC! It's an annual event so you still have next year to witness it. About your giveaway, I'm still thinking of a witty answer to your question eh, but I love the SB mug. Thanks for visiting. :)
DeleteHi, new to your blog! I so miss the Philippines! Haven't been to Pampangga, but I feel that I miss it very much... :-)
ReplyDeleteHi Chandy! Hope you can come visit the Philippines again soon, we have a lot of beautiful places here for everyone to explore. Anyway, thanks for visiting here. :)
Deletenaku, ilang beses ko na plan umattend nyan...kaso di talaga pwede. lol. hopefully next year. lol. palaging hopeful. :D
ReplyDeleteoo nga, maraming bloggers nga pumunta dyan...nabasa ko sa mga blogs nila. ganda ng shots!
Alang sinabi photos ko sa mga photos mo Maiylah, gaganda ng mga kuha mo eh. Sana next year makapunta ka na rin sa balloon fest, am sure mas bongga maging mga pics mo dun. :)
DeleteWow,and you took a good picture.pwede ba masakyan yan, dito mayroon silang hot air balloon festival,di pa ako naka-attend.pwede ka sumukay kung gusto mo.here 's my another adventure.
ReplyDeleteHi Mhie! Pwede rin naman sumakay dito kaya lang it's too pricey, US$200 lang naman...hehe!
Deletehahaha, grabe naman ka mura, anoh? sa totoo lang kung ganyan ang price, di na ako magsakay! bili na lang ako gatas ng anak ko.Buti marami din ang naka afford sumakay sa hot air balloon nila. I will see this year if we'd have chance to see a hot air balloon, parang affordable dito.
DeleteNext year na ulit Mhie, hehe! Meron naman ata sumasakay, yun mga can afford, hindi kase namin keri kaya hanggang nood na lang kami. :)
DeleteNice naman! Sana mainvite ako one time dyan kahit sagot ko na food hehe, ganda kasi. Pangarap ko makawitness ng ganyan. Ewan ko ba parang ansarap siguro ng pakiramdam, siguro if andyan ako wala nakatulala nalang sa ganda ng nakikita o kaya naman maglulundag sa tuwa hehe praning mode lang *toinks!
ReplyDeleteHi Gracie! haha, kelangan call natin attention ng PIHABF admin, pa-invite tayo para sa'yo...haha! Uwi ka early next year para makapanood ka ng balloon fest...hehe!
Delete... at kelangan kasama ako dyan sa plan na yan he he lalo na pag sagot ni gracie ang food lol...
Deletenagstart na ako mag-back read para tuklasin :) inuna ko etog basahin TPW, kala ko sayo yung marriage proposal na nagyari dyan eh he he
haha, sorry naman Balut, di mo matatagpuan dito ang hinahanap mo, hehehe...
DeleteWe have a balloon festival every Oct. here and it is a fun event. I bet the balloons there are very colorful and nice. Thank you for praying for my sister...Christine
ReplyDeleteWelcome Christine. Yes, it's fun and colorful here too. :)
DeleteAwesome balloons! I wanted to go but hubby said no cos we went to Cebu the same week. Hayy, next year nalang!
ReplyDeleteAwww, sayang naman! Pero it's a yearly event naman kaya may next year ka pa, the year after kung sablay pa rin...hehe. Thanks PM! :)
DeleteSana'y maka-join din ako sa festival na yan. I'm sure maraming opportunities diyan to take pictures. Hmn, anogn taon kaya? Kailangan makapag-abang ng mga promo ng airlines hehehe
ReplyDeleteBy the way, as regards your comment at my blog, mas practical if you fly from Manila to Catarman rather than going the Sorsogon route. Mas malapit kasi kung manggagaling kayo ng Catarman to Biri, at mas madali rin. From Sorsosogon, kailangan pa ninyong mag-ferry.
Hi Ms. N! Kaya yan, abang na ngayon pa lang ng promos at sigurado maganda lahat ng pics mo, ganda ng pics sa blog site mo eh. :)
DeleteAbout our Samar trip, no definite plans yet, am just asking my office mate kung ano maganda, but I'll mention to her the Manila-Catarman direct flight, sana makapag-save at makahanap din ng promo. Thanks Ms. N. :)
Sincerity is like traveling on a plain, beaten road, which commonly brings a man sooner to his journey's end than by-ways, in which men often lose themselves.
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wow. this is nice. i witnessed the event too and it was a great experience.
ReplyDeleteHot air balloon is coming! sana makagawa ka ulit ng blog about sa event. Personally I really love your blog. Thanks for sharing
ReplyDelete