Balloon Fiesta

Last year we debated attending the balloon fiesta at Clark Airfield, but decided a 5-month old might not enjoy it so much. But our now 17-month old loves all things that fly, so we decided to brave the crowds. We bought tickets in advance at SM - P250 per person per entry - hoping we could avoid long lines. A friend recommended the Lewis Grand Hotel and an executive room was only $100. Angeles City doesn't have the best reputation - think a great location for a bachelor party - but we preferred to be closer, instead of trying to leave Manila at 4am to see the balloon launch at 6:30am. The NLEX was clear until we got stuck for an hour due to a very bad accident. 

Our room had a great view and the air seemed a lot cleaner that Manila. Granted the room smelled a little like smoke and they sold condoms in the room (no coffee...), but overall it was ok. Toto spent a while in the pool, and the food was pretty good. Not to mention the FREE beer when we arrived. Nice touch, Lewis Grand.

View from our room. Some big mountain.

We woke up at 5am on Sunday morning and drove about 10 minutes to a parking lot, then walked with the hordes about another 10 minutes to the airfield entrance. The crowds were big, but they managed to get us inside pretty quickly. We found a nice spot and set up a blanket. The balloons were colorful and Toto loved them. About as much as she loved all the pieces of trash that needed investigating. A man on a motorized flying thing flew the flag and Toto yelled "Yaya" because, well, that's Yaya's flag. Side note: she can identify the flags of the U.S., Philippines, Bahrain, and Qatar.

We stayed until about 8am then headed back to the hotel for breakfast. Next year I think we'll pack food, drinks, chairs, and maybe a tent so we can stay out a bit longer to see the other attractions.