OAP: "[10TH Hot Air Balloon Fiesta #2] All Balloons Pumped Up, Up, Up and Away!"

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[10TH Hot Air Balloon Fiesta #2] All Balloons Pumped Up, Up, Up and Away!

If you don't wake-up early, this is the awesome scene that you will miss. During this time, I was with my brother, Rommel (who took some of the photos in this series) and his barkada. The highlight for me was this big pedigree dog who asserted his big presence among all the other balloons. Even the so-called Newspaper balloon did not stand a match for this dog. On the last day, the race is all about a lead balloon who takes off 30 minutes earlier before the other balloon will start to beat that balloon to the finish line. That is why by 7am, all the balloons have taken off already and all of them leave one after another. I'll take you through the launch of these balloons and hopefully convince you that this is another one of those world class events that you shouldn't miss next time in Manila :)

hotairballoon, Pampanga, Philippines

Valentines amidst the balloons. Nice foreground as two lovers watch the awesome balloons. How I wish that my wife and Aidan would have joined me in this event... next year :)

Here is the lead balloon with a Philippine flag taking off. The race is on!

Firing up the balloons! All set guys?

We have lift off Ladies and Gentlemen!!

One of the first balloons to leave... Nice White and Blue Balloon. This is the scene that you will see when you look up.

Oh no, Nescape is still down :( Can you see the newspaper balloon right in the back?

I love the color... Animo La Salle!

Lift off for the pedigree balloon... Go dogs!

It's a bird, It's a plane, no it's a whiska balloon :)

Newspaper in the sky :)

I intended to really capture the dog in this scene to give you a perspective on how big it is relative to the people :)

One of the last balloons to take off...

Flying through the sunrise... Goodbye Balloons :)

The Total Balloon was really meant to be left behind and it just goes up and goes down. It gave us also an opportunity to take last minute pictures with this balloon in the background.