Up in the Air - Clark & Angeles Pampanga

This blog is not about the comedy-drama film of George Clooney but the weekend of everything that flies.

It was 6AM in the morning of February 23, 2013 when me and my high-school friends met up somewhere in GMA Mother Ignacia for another epic road trip. I am excited for this trip because Abegail, one of my best friends is coming with us and it's been five years since we saw each other. This time we are not bound to somewhere cool and refreshing but to a vivacious and populous place. 

Just before the summer kicks off , the 18th Philippine International Hot Air Balloon was held last February 21-23, 2013 in Clark Airbase Pampanga.  It was our first time to attend this kind of event. The ticket for the event is P250 for the whole day event which includes the Balloon flight, para-gliding and sky diving exhibition, night glow, concert featuring the Country's popular OPM Bands, etc.

En route

The balloons took off early morning, around 6AM when we're just about to leave the metro. The plan actually was to attend the festival on sunday morning and we'll just roam around Pampanga on Saturday.  But while on the road we decided to attend the festival since it's a whole day event and at night we witnessed the concert. It was around 9AM when we arrived at Clark Airbase and we have to park the car away from the main event venue because there were no longer available parking space near the venue.

I thought the weather would be friendly. I even thought of bringing a jacket because February wind is usually cold but I was wrong. Then finally after enduring a long walk and the harshness of the sun, we entered Omni Aviation Complex. While walking is quite tiring, we enjoyed watching other events like what I've mentioned earlier and the car drifting show as shown below. If you are planning to attend this event next year, better bring sunscreen lotion, umbrellas, and picnic pad (or any ground cloth/tarp). We were able to visit different booths inside the field, displays and food concessions that were in line. Around 1PM we searched for a place to stay and rested for a while then we went back at 4PM.

I was only able to see the balloon during the night glow.  It was awesome and I felt like a kid again when I saw these brightly colored balloons getting ready to be lifted up into the air. But again, Hot air balloons were not able to fly during the night glow due to the windy weather. :( Listening to live music in the open air at night was a great fun also. 

The trip became more special because I had the chance to be with my old funny friends that are dear to me.  We left Omni Aviation without seeing Gloc-9, sad because he is one of my idols in Philippine music industry :(. It was already too late so we decided to leave and start a drinking session at the Hotel.

A must-try dishes of Angeles City is the Original Sisig. You can't go wrong sampling a unique blend of grilled and chopped pigs' cheek, liver, onions, vinegar and calamansi right where it was invented by the sisig queen, Aling Lucing. 

Hearing these people giggles, exchanging jokes and experiences, reminiscing the past is just too great. Catching up with old friends is always fun plus being able to see each other again as if no amount of time has passed between them is an amazing feeling to experience. It shows that you’re still comfortable enough with each other to pick up where you left off, no matter how much time you’ve spent apart from that person. 

The Wandering Gangster

The next day we decided to visit Subic. :) (next post)