9TH BALLOON FIESTA @ DESA PARK CITY

Regene Photography ^.^

Hello there!

Last month, our friend Flor invited us to this event, the 9Th Balloon Fiesta at Desa Park City, Kuala Lumpur, formerly known as The Annual International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta. It will be the first time that this event will be held in Desa Park not in Putrajaya. Flor bought our tickets via online to avail the Early Bird Promotional Price for only 16RM instead of the standard 30RM for General Admission, pretty reasonable,right?!

Me, being excited, I searched some informations online about the said event and saw a lot of beautiful hot air balloon photos and made me more excited! Can't wait to take a bunch of photos and it's definitely gonna be fun.

March11, Saturday, we hit the road around 8am on the way to Kuala Lumpur. Since the gate for General Admission will only open starting at 3:30 PM, we decided to go to Ikea first and have our lunch there before going to Desa Park. 

Together with other Pinoys(expat) from Seremban whom are Flor and Dennis's friends/former co-worker from OnSemi Seremban, we drove from Ikea to Desa Park and parked at the Waterfront Carpark which cost 3RM(first 2 hours and 1RM for the succeeding hours).

After claiming our wrist band from the On Site Ticket Counter, we proceed to the park where the event was held. Upon entering, we were welcomed with several food carts, from known shops like Pizza Hut and Starbucks, then there's a long stretch of tents called the "Foodgasmfest", where you can purchase and try  a wide variety of snacks from drinks, sandwiches, ice creams, local foods and different kinds of cookies at a reasonable price.

The crowd consists of locals and foreign tourists from different countries coming from different walks of life, old and young.

Walking to the event location, this is the first balloon to see. From Philippines ^.^

This Balloon is from the Bayan ng Lubao, Lalawigan ng Pampanga
It's so nice to see something presenting our country.Proud Filipino here ^.^

Hot air balloon festival like this is an annual event celebration also in Philippines. They just had the said event last February, sadly we're here in Malaysia and we've never got the chance to witness this amazing event. For more information, just click →A Weekend of Everything That Flies - see from the event name itself, it's pretty convincing that it was fun and amazzing..

Seeing the balloons(giant ones!) feels like I was a kid again.
This is our(Hubby and I) first time to witness this type of event and it's pretty amazing though they only have five hot air balloons on site. And I may say, it's really hot whenever they fire the burner to keep the balloons afloat. But this did not kept us from taking photos closely beside the balloons. As you can see at the photos, people are busy looking for the right angle where they can capture a good shot. 
On the other side, there's a big tent and a stage where the program is being held and had some games so viewers can win prizes. You can also purchase merchandises on the site like shirts, umbrellas, toys and event souvenirs.
If you're the type of person who wants to just relax and enjoy/observe what's happening around you, there's a place for you, there's a set-up where they place big pillows/mats that you can sit and hang out. 

As the sky turned dark, they performed a Balloon Glow Show synchronizing with the music. It was fun, people are dancing and having a good time. And lastly, the event ended with a spectacular fireworks array which lasted for about three minutes ^.^

But there were some minor downsides that needs mentioning here. Since it rained earlier that day, it made the park muddy and slippery. Which made it difficult to walk around. Also, we were expecting different kinds of balloons. I was told, that last year they have balloons that portrayed some movie characters, different shapes and colors. And none of them was present during the event. Since the park is quite smaller compared to Putrajaya, it's a bit over crowded. Anyways, this is my first time in this type of event so I can't personally make a comparison, but it would be much nicer if it was just like the previous years' set up. We just enjoyed what's there to enjoy. Still I can say, we had fun and great time. And we are really grateful to our friends who invited us to this event. We will definitely attend again next year.

At times like this, I don't look only to what's in front of me. The experience/time that we shared together with friends, the stories/laughters'/ relationships that you built with your friends, is what matters most. 

Huli ang blogger ^.^

All photos displayed above are from Regene Photography 

Gear: Sony a300 10.2mp/Sony DT 1.8/50SAM/Tamron 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3

My Photographer ^.^ Ako naman ang kumuha nito. Using my SonyTX10.

Go Pro Hero4
Wearing our favorite Outdoor Outfit (Lagalag for Him and Lakambini for Her)
Long Sleeves and Pants

Capturing the Photographers

L-R Flor, Dennis, Rene

Together with the group. Posted from FB ^.^

Expat Pinoys from Seremban and Muar

All in all, we had a great time together. It's not only the event that we're after, It's the gathering of friends and gaining new friends as well. Developing bonds that we'll surely treasure. Looking forward to another trip with you guys! Cheers to good life and friendship.

 Surround yourself with people who makes you a better person.

See you on my next post!

Renelah