The flight of the colorful balloons at 19th Philippine Hot Air Balloon Festival–part 3

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5..4..3..2..1.. fly!!! at around 6am, we saw the hot air balloons started to fly one by one. There are too many balloons on the ground and its hard to choose which is the best to take a photo, but for me, my new favorite is the octopus balloon from Japan team.

At first I thought that the balloons will fly at around 5:30am, but my calculations is not accurate because its still dark around that time. Its cute to take a photo of the balloons in the dark, because they will glow whenever a fire burst is released inside the balloon, but its better also to take a photo of the balloons when the sun is up, I might be facing the sun during its sun rise when doing the photo coverage, but I still got some good photo to show for everyone.

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At sunrise, the crew started to inflate the balloons and get it ready for flight. The audience are so excited to see the colorful balloons.

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Here’s Kuya Eli behind the golden sunrise
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The octopus balloon is now up
here’s the photo of the sun flower balloon, also one of my favorite. I waited for the rise of this balloon but there was an accident when it inflated, read my next blog post about the story

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I joked and posted a photo of this octopus balloon in my Instagram and I shouted “kaiju!” means giant monster in Japanese.

Others mentioned that it looks like Octo-1 from the Voltes V series.

When I saw this….takoyaki pops out from my mind hahah.
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Here I also spotted ABS CBN reporter and journalist Atom Araullo covering the flight of the hot air balloon. Its awesome to see him in action and shooting with him side by side. I want to talk to him but I rather not to disturb him
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After taking some photos with his Canon dslr, he pops out an iPhone 5 to take some pics for his Instagram
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After the flight of the octopus, my attention is now here at the puppy balloon, its funny to see the puppy balloon inflate in the air, its like the puppy is sleeping on its side and then it rose up like a real puppy.

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The upside balloon is back!!
Also I spotted an elephant balloon and a lovers balloon

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The rise of the puppy balloon


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Fire up more hot air to speed up the inflating
the pilots carefully calculate the amount of hot air needed for the balloon.

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Twin balloons

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Spotted a passenger of a hot air balloon.
She will ride together with her partner.

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Smile!!! Japan team!

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The male balloon is now up!!!

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The barn house is back!!!


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Up in the air….

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I started to panic because balloons started to fly in the air, I lost plenty of time in 5 balloons and I didn’t noticed the others.

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The barn house is ready to fly
Then I saw a big crowd gathering around it, I went there to check it and investigate who’s the celebrity person there.

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Ready to fly!!
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Oh the octopus wants to say hello!
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Spotted again Atom Araullo taking another photo for his Instagram
follow him at www.instagram.com/atomaraullo

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Here’s the celebrity of the day --- Kim Chiu

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Kim Chiu rides the balloon with her partner Xian Lim
Its for their Valentines Day date to ride in a hot air balloon.

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Hot Air Balloons in the air.
I think the flight is around 30 minutes going to other side of the city.

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Kim and Xian’s balloon is now up!!!
check out my photo coverage of their adventure - http://azraelsmerryland.blogspot.com/2015/02/kim-chiu-and-xian-lim-rides-hot-air_12.html

and also video - http://azraelsmerryland.blogspot.com/2015/02/video-kimxi-kim-chiu-and-xian-lim-hot.html

I posted it in a separate entry because the KimXi fans are excited to see my coverage of the celebrity couple.

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I’m happy to see a SEGA balloon and ohh its Sonic the hedgeog
my son shouted SEGA!! when he saw this photo at home.

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Here’s a cool balloon from Bavaria, it’s a head design that comes from a real painting.
promoting balloon flight and also art.


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I think this is the most detailed balloon that I have seen.
Granny’s shoe house is one of the best hot air balloon for this year.

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Looks like there’s another character is about to rise
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The couples balloon is now up!!!
getting ready to fly, at first I thought that they are holding hands.

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Sega balloon is now up in the air.
ok let’s shout…. SEGA!!!
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Devil boy balloon is also up!!!
I spotted a female foreigner sitting on the grass watching the flight of this balloon.

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What a blast!!!! it’s a successful day 1 for all of us here at the hot air balloon fest.

Read my next blog post about the accident in the sun flower hot air balloon.



19TH PHILIPPINE-INTERNATIONAL HOT AIR BALLOON FESTIVAL 2015website: www.philballoonfest.net
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/pihabf
Official hashtag: #19thballoonfestPH