Failure To Launch
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
I’ve been wanting so much to see (and even ride) a hot air balloon ever since I heard about the festival. But it was only last Sunday (February 15, 2009), when me and my friends went to Clark for the 14th Hot Air Balloon Festival.
Excited, we left at around 3:00 am and had a short pitstop at an NLEX oasis (that’s what I call gas stations in the highway) to have breakfast. Despite our early arrival at Clark (5:30 am), we already got stuck in traffic! Well, this was the first time we would be seeing the festival so we didn’t have any idea what it was like.
Anyway, while we were stuck in traffic, we saw that the hot air balloons were being inflated already! It was a bit upsetting because that was what I wanted to see! By the time we had parked our rides, the balloons were already high up in the sky. But it wasn’t that bad because there were still events and planes to see anyway. Be always optimistic – it’s a key to happy traveling!
Some Hot Air Balloon Facts:
- it was the Chinese who first used the hot air balloon which is used for military signaling. It is called Konming Lanterns.
- the famous Montgolfier Brothers was the first to adapt the concept of Konming lanterns to carry humans and use it for navigation.
- it was invented during the reign of King Louis XVI of France the husband of the ever famous Marie Antoinette of Austria.
- the basket is made of wicker, the same material used for gondolas.
We went inside and saw a showcase of (according to the slogan) everything that flies. We saw a few not-so-ancient warfare aircrafts, mini-planes and 2 hot air balloons left on the grounds. There were also skydivers. They were actually pretty good. They ran around the sky with an enormous fan at their backs that propels their direction and a chute to stay afloat in the air.
There were jets that made an aerial exhibition. I wasn’t able to watch all of it though. We were kinda busy shooting. To continue, we lined up to ride the not-so-ancient aircraft and what annoyed me is that some people are really inconsiderate. There was this long line of people who wanted to ride the plane and yet there was this woman (who was so lazy to fall in line) cutting in. She even shouted at her kid and told her to climb the plane right away. It pissed me off. If parents are setting that kind of example to their kids, I won’t be surprised why there are lots of undisciplined people nowadays.
Anyway, ’nuff said, I think there was this kite exhibition thing going on at the time. when we got bored we decided to leave and have lunch, bought chocolates and went to Subic Tree Top Adventure… Haha… And that’s another story to tell for another time.
What we realized when we got home is that we should have brought a copy of the schedule or we should have asked around… We could have gotten back in the evening for another round of the balloon flight. Sigh… maybe next time.
It was a very tiring weekend of everything that flies. Even our minds are floating, tired and sleepless, I felt giddy and all but still it’s a weekend to remember. 
