In celebration of our 2nd Valentine's together, Ced and I decided to go out of town since Valentines fell on a Saturday and any mall in the city would be the last place we'd want to be in.
Our deliberation led us to the idea of going to Clark. So after years of wanting to go, I finally made it to the famous annual Hot Air Balloon Fiesta!
It was a pretty funny experience since we were in such a hurry that we barely slept to beat sunrise. Ced came knocking on our door straight from work at 2:30am with a bouquet and chocolates in tow. We slept for two hours then left at 5:30am, which turned out to be a bad idea because we got there at around 10am and discovered that they only inflate the hot air balloons at 5:30am and 5:30pm- which means we were both too late and too early. We had to wait the whole morning and afternoon eating junk and camping out on the field just to see the hot air balloons.
The waiting game almost became futile as the emcee was announcing that the hot air balloon night glow is a fair weather activity. If the drizzle doesn't stop and the wind level doesn't normalize, then they'd have to postpone the inflation of hot air balloons. I was able to take this photo so obviously it wasn't postponed. Bad news is that it took until dusk for the weather to cooperate so the beautiful "instagrammable" view did not turn out as expected.
But even if the hot air balloon part was a minor failure, I honestly enjoyed the 8-hour wait. Looking back at yesterday, I realized those eight hours actually paved way for the greatest parts of the day.
We thought of going out to tour Clark while waiting, but thinking about the traffic going in and out of the Freeport Zone (along with not wanting to let go of our nicely secured parking slot), we decided to just stay inside and make the most out of the festival. The thing about Ced and I is that we are always hungry, so making the most out of something means food. Lots and lots of food.
After walking around and devouring pizza, burgers, fries, smoothies and all things we've been depriving ourselves of, we decided to "camp" and watch the activities laid out for the entire afternoon. Thanks to our bloated tummies and lack of sleep, we passed out on the field and slept for an hour or two.
It was probably the most serene I've felt in weeks. I felt a surge of relief just lying down on the field, watching the grays and blues of clouds, kites, and paragliders hover above us. We also got to witness combat plane exhibitions, which by the way reminded me of Pearl Harbor - and revived my blind inexplicable love for pilots and their sexy profession.
Despite having dirty sneakers, dust-coated hair, and having to pee in nose-scrunching portalets, it was an amazing experience!
All thanks to my Valentine who manages to make each day a special one.
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