The flight of colorful balloons at 20th Philippine-International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta 2016 (day 1 coverage)

The flight of colorful balloons started yesterday at the 1st day of the 20th Philippine-International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta. We went there to cover and also get another wow moments viewing the inflation and flight of these colorful hot air balloons that came from different parts of the world.

The event started yesterday Feb 11, 2016 and the show will run til Feb 14, 2016 at Clark Field Pampanga.Im excited for this year because it’s the inaugural flight of the Philippine flag theme hot air balloon named “Flag of Fire”.

I have more details about the show and some tips
visit my post here to read more - http://azraelsmerryland.blogspot.com/2016/01/20th-philippine-international-hot-air.html

For program schedule, just visit http://www.philballoonfest.net/2016-official-program/

This year, I was with my fellow blogger friends Enzo Luna of www.juanmanilaexpress.com and Ted Claudio of www.wazzup.ph (Tess, wife of Ted was with us too)

I partnered with them to do a travel and food blog project, we named it based on the first letter of our name, after the Island Cove trip, we named our group – #EATgetaway . This is our 3rd travel project under the #EATgetaway banner. Thanks also to Tourism Board of the Philippines and Globe for this awesome t-shirt, this will be now our uniform when we roam around the country.

Thanks to Capt. Joy Roa, Sarah Cada and a PR friend for our media access inside the ramp.

Okay here are my photo story and coverage of the 1st day of 20th Philippine-International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta

We entered the ramp with the rest of the media group at past 5:30am, I was freaking out already because the sun is coming out and we’re not yet allowed to enter the ramp area.

My agenda that morning is to capture long exposure shots of the balloon basket and the chase cars.
I also plan to do a repeat group shot that we did from last year.

I didn’t got my shot, because I panic already when I got inside the ramp.

But the silhouette of the balloon team are nearly good..but I got a hard time to do composition because I started to panic already haha.

Beautiful sunrise view facing the Mt. Arayat
I mistakenly named it Mt. Pinatubo, but I was corrected when the event host mentioned that we are facing Mt. Arayat.

The sun rises so fast
I didn’t got a time to transfer to another location just to capture one awesome photo because any minute, the sun will be in its highest and brightest point

so here’s another silhouette shot.

I took my Nikon D5300 with 200mm lens, and I took this shot while I was away from it.
I panic again when I hear fire burst from the burner of the hot air balloon

The ramp was crowded already because the program is about the start.
Here I met the lady pilot of the ABS CBN hot air balloon.

The program started with the marching bands of the Philippine Air Force and then was followed by the Philippine national anthem and the sky dive of an air force pilot carrying our national flag.

It was a fast hover in sync with the national anthem. I took a video of it but then ended my video capture when I learned that I can’t take photos and video at the same time. I quit my recording and took one snap shot more of our flag before it drops to the group.

The mighty sun rises….
it means that the balloons will fly any minute.

One last sky diver preps to land on the Clark Field grounds
btw, the Mt Arayat and glow of the sun is awesome at this minute

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Pilots starts to burst some flames to their balloons
It will take for some minutes to fill the entire balloon with hot air

The top of the hot air balloon starts to inflate
one of the hot air balloon staff checks the support lines around the balloon

One of the pilot of the hot air balloon is interviewed by ABS CBN reporter

The sun is already up…
The pilots are still finishing the burst of flames

Capt. Joy Roa and a pilot team did the burst of flame ceremony in one of the hot air balloons

The twin balloons are seen again for the 2nd time.

At first, I didn’t know that it was a ABS CBN balloon behind me
Kaya pala yung mga taga GMA 7 nasa kabila side ng ramp

ABS CBN hot air balloon now ready to fly
I wonder how much they pay for this advertisement?

The sun shines through the hot air balloon

Selfie muna….

Oh it’s a SEGA hot air balloon
See that Sonic the hedgehog character?

Another selfie….

Above me…
two hot air balloons will kiss together

Size comparison
These balloons are so huge!

Flag of Fire, the Philippine flag inspired hot air balloon is ready for flight
This is the debut of the balloon to fly in our skies, the balloon is custom made from abroad and was shipped here in our country last January 2016.

Congratulations to the crew and team of Flag of Fire for launching a balloon for the Philippines.

Flag of fire now fully filled with hot air
now ready to fly…

Some of the hot air balloons are trying to catch up each other

Sarah Cada, blogger friend and also part of the hot air balloon fiesta team

Here’s my new favorite
the baby dinosaur hot air balloon
its so cute..and its like a Godzilla creature hahaha

The scarecrow hot air balloon made me giggle like a kid
its so cute..even that Im looking at its back hahaha

The baby dinosaur is now ready to fly
It feels like that its alive, the head and hands moves when being blown by the wind

SM Supermall’s hot air balloon are now being prepared to join the flight of the colorful balloons
The sun is in its highest position and I feel some sunburns already.

Meet my new friend..
the baby dinosaur hahaah

I saw this devil balloon from last year
Its great to see that it will fly again.

The entire balloon squad are ready to fly..
Its so hard to pick an area when taking photos of these balloons
They are so many and I can’t decide where I can plant myself to stay in one place to watch the balloons fly.

My other new fave…the cute yellow scarecrow hot air balloon

SM Supermalls hot air balloon glows at mid day….thanks to the rays of the sun behind it

The visitors of the event are at the other side of the fence
Ahhh.. enjoying the shadow of the balloon

I did stay here just to shade myself away from the heat of the sun

Prepare to launch…
there are no countdowns…. we just wait for one of the balloons to fly and then followed by others

Flag of Fire flew first (behind)
and then was followed by that dragon balloon and here you can see that the scare crow is flying 20 feet already

Amazing site and view of colorful hot air balloons in Clark Field Pampanga.

What design is this?
Micro creature or some kind of bacteria hot air balloon ?

The balloons from the other side waits for their go signal….
the sky experienced some heavy traffic due to the flight of balloons

The flight is on…..

The clown hot air balloon

Spotted the Inquirer hot air balloon
also I caught a glimpse of the Manila Bulletin hot air balloon near the entrance area, I think its for the visitors to try ride the balloon with harness.

SM Supermalls hot air balloon

Scarecrow

Flag of fire….

I also like the design of this hot air balloon

The Flag of fire landed at the other side of the field, I was worried when it almost touch the ground
but the pilot and crew manage to burst more flames and then we saw the balloon floats slowly up in the sky.