Up, Up and Away in their Beautiful Balloons
(First of a series of travelogues)

Clark Air Base has become one of the best tourist spots of Pampanga since the Americans left 14 years ago.

Last Saturday, February 12, 2005, we - the GP team - went to Clark to witness the 9th Hot air balloon festival. We departed from our office in Alabang at 3 am and reached our destination – the Omni Aviation Center – at 5:15 am. The sun was yet to shine, but there were a lot of reporters who were already on their feet. When we entered the Omni premises, the cameramen of premier local stations, ABS-CBN, GMA 7 and ABC 5 were already installing their gears on the big open field of the Omni Aviation Center.

We went around the field while dozens of food stalls were still closed. There were exhibits of American Muscle Cars of the late 60s up to the Mid 70s like the ’68 Dodge Charger, ’67 Chevy Chevelle and ’70 Chevy El Camino. War jeeps from the Second World War like MB and GPW, and Korean War vehicles M38 and CJ7 were also displayed. The American Vehicle exhibit became very helpful to us because it bought about 40 minutes of our time. It could have been a very dragging one hour wait for the hot air balloons if there was no American Vehicle exhibit.

At exactly 6 am, a couple of vintage Land Cruisers and off-road vehicles started to go inside the restricted premises of the open field – the place where the balloons are supposed to take off. The off-road vehicles pulled trailers of different sizes. Each trailer carried one hot-air balloon and installation equipments.

At 6:30 am., the spectators started to crowd the makeshift fence and pointed at the balloons of various sizes and color combinations. The participants started to inflate their balloons and before long, the red and white balloon came up first. It was followed by the green, then yellow and so forth. A total of 25 hot-air balloons went up. They were like giant mushrooms floating in the air - becoming smaller as they went closer to the blue sky.

Loudspeakers were placed on strategic places on the field to allow everyone to hear what the emcee was saying. He shared several information about the hot-air balloon. We found out that to turn it to a different direction, one has to stop the flame or turn it (the flame) to the direction where he wants to go.

The balloons’ landing ground was somewhere in the Mabalacat area and they wouldn’t be back till 6pm. At around 7 am, we went around several food stalls and looked for meals that would satisfy our rumbling stomachs. Pampanga is known for various delicious dishes and the stall we chose to eat did not disappoint us.

We chose Bulalo – the stall owner’s specialty, and barbecued chicken. The Bulalo was served the way it should be – very hot. We put some Bulalo soup on our rice before we started to devour the cow and chicken meat like we were a pack of wolves. We were already awake by 1 am to fix our equipment and we haven’t eaten a single meal prior to our hearty breakfast. From 7:30 to 10:30 am we went around the field. It was so big; it could accommodate five separate football games at the same time!

The grass was golden brown, perhaps because of heat due to the coming summer season. Although it was very hot, the wind tried to do its best to keep us from burning. The trade-off was we had to bite the dust. And before we had our lunch, we felt like we had a mud pack on our faces. There were a lot of people who came to the event; from students to elderly men and women who want to recall their experiences during the Second World War.

The whole day event also exhibited several World War I and II equipments. At around 10:30 am, there was an exhibition of radio controlled World War I replica jets. The owners of the two replica jets showed the crowd how “dog fighting” was done during the late 1920’s. The replica may be about 50 times smaller, but from afar, no one can really tell if the planes were real or not.

After the replica plane exhibition, a paragliding show followed immediately. The four paragliders jumped from an aircraft that was more than a thousand feet high from the ground. From the aircraft, the four persons were as small as an ant. They started to become bigger as they came closer to the ground. They made a free fall for about 300 feet before they pulled the trigger for their parachutes to launch.

One of the spectators, Alma Escaño, who lives Magalang Pampanga, told us she attends the festival every year. She admitted that this year’s festival is the best she has seen. She also accompanied her seven year old daughter who was with her classmates for their annual field trip.

At around 12:00 pm, we ate our lunch at Jollibee located inside Pure Gold - one of the many outlets inside Clark. We noticed that the outlet has deteriorated in terms of facilities. The comfort room wasn’t as clean as it was eight to ten years ago. The tiles have a lot of stains and there was a stench of urine right before one could enter the door. The grocery items for sale weren’t as unique as it were about a decade ago. Before, there were items that could only either be bought in Clark, Subic or Duty Free. Today, most, if not all, of the items inside Pure Gold could be purchased at your nearest supermarket at about the same price.

If you live somewhere in the southern part of Luzon, we don’t suggest Clark as a place to shop. Globalization has allowed goods to be distributed at various locations while maintaining the same prices. Clark is a good place for those who want to catch a glimpse of history. American architecture is still very evident on the structures of the establishments in the former American Base. History offers us a glimpse of the past and lessons for the future.

After we ate our lunch, we went back to the Omni Airfield and visited the other exhibits. There was a big warehouse that featured exhibits on airplanes. Patt’s school of Aeronautics and Airlink exhibited various tools for aircraft maintenance and body repair. Pneumatic tools and riveting guns were common inside the warehouse cum display center. Replicas of vintage planes were also on display. The specs for every plane were placed beside it.

At around 2 pm, we decided to sleep inside the car because we haven’t slept for nearly 24 hours! It was very hot on the Omni Airfield. At about the same time, most of the spectators were inside food booths to quench their thirst and eat some snacks. The air-con inside the vehicle kept the temperature low. We were able to sleep for two hours – enough time for us to recharge and be prepared when the balloons go back to the airfield at 6 pm.

Our photographers had their cameras ready before 6 pm. At about 10 minutes before 6 pm, several balloons could be seen at the eastern part of the field. The balloon participants/pilots or whatever they are called had a contest; the one who could descend and throw a rock with yarn nearest to a particular area in the field will be declared as the winner. It may look easy, but balloons are very hard to control. Balloons depend mainly on the direction and strength of the wind. It is therefore very hard for a balloon pilot to make his balloon land on an exact location. The person manning the green and white balloon won, while the yellow balloon with a red logo failed to land on the airfield, instead, it landed on the street parallel to the field. Fixing or packing it became a challenge for the team of the said balloon.

When all of the balloons have landed, we decided to call it a day. We headed for home - a two hour drive from Pampanga. The four hour back and forth travel to Central Luzon was worth it. We were able to catch a glimpse of American influence to the Pampangueños and how it affected their lives 14 years after the Americans left Clark Air Base.

Click here for more pictures.