Exploring Philippines 63 - Clark, Pampanga (Post 2 - Hot Air Balloon Festival)

As Cha patiently queued for our hot air balloon ride, we roamed around. Elias, the son of Raul and Cha, strut around as we explore the open field. I knew I had to keep my eyes on him and let him do things his way for me to be able to capture him at his best moments. Eventually, my patience with him paid off.

Elias and me reached a restricted part of the field where non-paying visitors were not allowed to cross the improvised fence. Guards were posted in order to deter visitors to cross the fence and maintain order of the place as the festivities took place.  The guards were not really that strict because they allowed visitors to cross over the fence but only to a certain distance for their picture taking activities.

I instructed Elias to cross over the fence so that I can have his picture taken near the balloon.  He eagerly followed me and it looked like he was invisible to the eyes of the guard. I was about to follow him but the moment he gained distance from me, he ran back towards my direction. Haha. Epic fail plan.

Anyway, after some time, we came across a tent with resting group of professional air soft players together with their family. I began asking questions about the game, about their group, and about the different tournaments they had joined. I was glad that they were friendly also and they proudly shared their stories about the game.  We were allowed to try their gadgets but we were not allowed to fire any of their guns.

The youngest member of the group (maybe he was 5 or 6 years old then) proved to be hospitable also and he knew how to show around. The moment I asked him for a pose, he readily obliged much to my delight. The kid was amazing because he knew how to deliver a good pose. It seemed like he had already learned to embrace the art of air soft. It did not took us that long with their group because when they began to dress up and prepare for the tournament, it was our cue to leave them.

After our brief encounter with the air soft players, we went to Cha and fall in line likewise. We were excited because we were several heads away from experiencing our first ever hot air balloon ride. When we were nearing the entrance, exactly with three people before us, the person in charge of the gate announced that they could no longer accommodate those who were still in the line (including us) because the air soft tournament was about to begin. Ouch. That hurts. We were almost there. We simply laughed off the frustrating situation and went to visit the booths in the area instead.

more pics