Ironwulf.net Ver 6: En Route - Philippines, Travel, Photography

I think the Philippines is the Festival Capital of the world on the first quarter of the calendar year. There’s the Sinulog, Ati-atihan, and Dinagyang to name a few which happens at the same time if not one after another. But to those in the metro who’s not able to fly to those places where these festivals are held, there’s one closer to home. Makati’s Caracol Festival, now on its second year was held on the 20th of January, third week of the month at the same time with Kalibo’s Ati-atihan. It might not be as wild and crazy as the latter, but it does add a color of revelry to the streets of Makati.

When I heard the night before that there’s gonna be an Ati-atihan Festival on our last day of stay on the island, I got excited and really hoped that the weather would clear up tomorrow. I never really got to shoot that much festivals so I was looking forward to this. And it’s not often I get to witness a festival by the beach. That morning, as if the Gods and the Saints were listening to the people, we finally got clear blue skies and sunny weather. Amen to that!

It’s the Philippine Hot Air Balloon Fiesta once again and this annual event is now on its 11th year. I really had plans on going back here once again since I enjoyed last year’s spectacle. At first I wasn’t sure if I could make this trip since a friend of mine who originally invited me to come suddenly backed out due to an unforeseen gig scheduled at that time. Fortunately, another friend texted, asking me for some info about the event. It turns out she’ll be going with her friends and I asked if I could join in. Everything was last minute though, as we had to leave that Friday night since we were going to stay at a villa in Mimosa. No one from the group wanted to wake up and drive early morning. So from the office, I hurried home, pulled out a small bag, grabbed a few clothes, took my camera equipments, dashed through my dinner and hurried to the place where they’ll pick me up.

I noticed since I was young, Halloween here in the Philippines has been greatly influenced by the American culture. Adorned in many houses especially in subdivisions, are numerous decorations from pumpkins, spiders, cobwebs and the usual monsters we grew up liking to fear like Dracula, Frankenstein, witches and the local mix of Aswangs, tikbalan, manananggal and white ladies. Those talk of ghost and other supernatural phenomenon that seems to populate our TV screens and print media whenever Halloween approaches have waned my interest recently. I used to like them growing up.

We had no idea there would a festival in Hué at this time of the year. The Guide Books nor the internet doesn’t have any information on this, so we felt fortunate to have witnessed their celebration of the Chao Mung Festival 2006 in Hué. We were also worried at first since we don’t have any reservations in any hotel there. Thanks to Lee Tien, one of the Easy Riders, a group of Motorcyclist we met in Da Nang, he managed to book us a Hotel in Hué since there was an influx of tourists who are also attending the festival, most popular lodgings are taken. They booked us a double bed room in Ngoc Mai hotel, a bit distant from the central city but manageable enough and the rooms are elegant and cheap for $12 USD per night.

I was wide eyed when I woke up about 2:45 in Sunday morning. Pulling myself out of bed was effort enough but I have to get up if we were to catch the annual Hot Air Ballon Fiesta in Clark, Pampanga in time. It was the first time for me to attend this spectacle of an event and with free complimentary tickets to boot. It was an event not to miss, lest I have to wait again another year.

Higantes (giants) Festival is what the people of Angono, Rizal calls this grand celebration. It’s a bit ironic coming from a town whose name came from a dwarf (”Ang Nuno“). I’ve been trying to catch this event every 23rd of November but failed miserably. Either I’m also out of town or it’s a work day. Finally, finally I was able to experience this gigantic celebration on this famed Artist Village.