Putrajaya International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta 2015~ The Night Glow

so here comes again the Putrajaya Hot Air Balloon festival from 12th-15th March. I went it once 2 years ago ( missed it out last year due to professional exam 2), and this year, here I come again together with him. To make it special, I booked the night glow ticket on 15th March a month before the festival. The night glow session is limited to 300 people per session, and the price is RM20 per person. There is 2 sessions available on Sat and Sun night from 6pm to 10pm. 

The location of hot air balloon festival is still the same place like 2 years ago in Monumen Alaf Baru, Precinct 2, Putrajaya. And this time, we went there by car. Shit the horrible traffic jam we stucked in the jam for about 30 minutes ( yupp im so inpatient and irritable VERY EASILY in traffic jam). One thing about the issues here is the irresponsible manner from the drivers who park their cars on the roadside and blocked the road badly. This has become a very terrible tradition in Malaysia especially when there is a happening around. Hope that the authority can give some attention in this issues, perhaps more frequent shuttle bus service from Putrajaya Sentral or provide more parking space. Actually I think this event need traffic control the most LOL

okay back to topic

Tadaaa!! these were the hot air balloons for exhibition at the launching field. if im not mistaken, there were around 10 in total, but only 4 of them into the air. the penguin hot air balloon is the focus of the day! 

So we went there around 5pm ( after traffic jam, about 5.30pm). we were given a time slot from 4pm-6pm to redeem our tickets from the merchant counter near the entrance of the launching field. The launching field is in the blue zone, while the merchant counter is in the red zone. There is 7 zones in total, which are: 

Purple Zone for food and beverage. 
There were plenty varieties of food truck available in this zone with limited seats, such as KFC, Kenny Rogers, pizza hut etc. We had 2 pastas ( aglio olio and bolognese) at RM5 each and a kebab. drinks are available too but quite pricey as compared to outside. So, no worries for dinner 

Get myself a photo with the board of food truck valley. We seldom have the chance to see food truck around us don we?

and the other zones are: 
  • red zone    -   myballoonfiesta center
  • orange zone- helicopter joy ride ( RM 150 per ride, with 6 seater chopper) 
  • yellow zone- bazaar zone ( most crowded zone to me) 
  • pink zone - picnic area ( RM30 for an adult is available to have breakfast and view the hot air balloon, and pick a beanbag of the choice) 
  • green zone - for extreme games, list of games and price will be listed later
Last but not least~ 


The Blue Zone, which include the launching area and cold inflation area. 
As we bought the night glow ticket, we can enter the launching area at 6pm and had a great view on how the balloon were inflated before they set into the air, met with the balloonist, took picture and had a close contact with any balloon, and most importantly, some of the balloonists do allow us to get into the big basket and try out the burner! it sounds so awesome to us with the price of RM20 only. 

launching field access is avaible for morning session too from 7am till 9am with RM12, priority to the first 300 visitors for each session. erm, sounds too early to me haha. 

The burner heat up the balloon
So how the hot air balloon actually works? here is some information I got from google: 

The burner uses propane gas to heat up the air in the envelope to move the balloon off the ground and into the air. The pilot must keep firing the burner at regular intervals throughout the flight to ensure that the balloon continues to be stable. Naturally, the hot air will not escape from the hole at the very bottom of the envelope as firstly, hot air rises and secondly, the buoyancy keeps it moving up. 

I really wish I get the chance to ride a hot air balloon this coming June T..T

Here we are with the hot air balloon~ 
Dating in a shopping mall is just too ordinary and we look for stg special haha. Thanks for being my companion of the day

And we can touch the hot air balloon ( when it is partially inflated with cold inflation)
Don worry, the staff will stop us to do so when they felt it is dangerous to the public. We had to keep a distance from the hot air balloon when it was ready to rise

there is a lot of hot air balloons joined the event!
however, most of the hot air balloons were in the traditional shape and decoration, not really as special as I thought it will be. 

Roar the fire!! the burner was heating up the so the envelope of hot air balloon can rise up 
Ps:: hot air balloon can only rise when the weather is cold ( not freezing cold, what I meant was early morning or late in the evening when the weather is not so bloodily hot) becoz the hot air balloon works when the warmer air rises in the cooler air. This is because the hot air is lighter than the cool air. So do come here early in the morning or late in the evening after 5pm, no people will inflate a hot air balloon in the afternoon. 

To inflate a hot air balloon, teamwork is very essential. A balloonist cant set a hot air balloon into the air on his own effort. 

we need to put on the blue wristband after we redeemed our tickets at the counter to prove that we bought the night glow ticket. The security will check on the wristband before letting us go into the launching field. Multiple entries is allowed. for those who do not have the blue wristband, they have to squeeze themselves outside the fence to grab a good spot for hot air balloon like sardin. Luckily we bought the tickets =..= we can enjoy the view freely in the launching field haha

here it is!! Some of the hot air balloon rise in the air! everyone in the blue zone cheered and applause when each of the hot air balloon launched into the air
they wont landed in the launching field so we went out for a dinner in the purple zone for a short break before we get into the launching area for night glow session

another balloon in the air! 
wonder how is it feel like to be in the air~ will try it out someday
I actually did some homework for best spot to ride a hot air balloon, and here is some of the place that i want to ride hot air balloon in future~ 
Yarra Valley in Melbourne ( vintage view), Cappadocia ( star war shooting scene) and Dubai ( the incredible city and desert view). 

the hot air balloon is just sooooo big!! Im so excited to get myself so close to hot air balloon. Was late for the launching session during my last visit to hot air balloon fiesta. 

The cute giant penguin which used up about 30 minutes just for the cold inflation! 
the cute outlook of this adorable hot air balloon just grab everyone heart and it is so popular

Together with him~and lots of hot air balloon as the beautiful background

which one is ur favorite? 
can see how crowded the place was from this picture, I meant from the fence. 

guess how does this hot air balloon look like after the inflation? 

they arranged the hot air balloon nicely first before they inflated it up. 

Guess who I met in the event? Little Joyce!! 
actually I knew I will meet her there becoz we talked about this event a day before haha

let's have a photo together with the colourful hot air balloons

another unique hot air balloon for exhibition in the launching field~ the Man face

this is how the balloon looked like after it was inflated
however this balloon did not stay long~ it did not set into the air, just for exhibition

a happy pose before the day end! I meant the evening session, night glow is coming up next! 

the night glow started at 9pm. The balloonist started to inflate and rise the hot air balloon from 8pm. So what is the night glow? 
night glow is the highlight of every hot air balloon fiesta, it gives visitors the opportunity to see hot air balloon being light up at night as the pilots ignite their burners and transform the launching are into a psychedelic giant light bulbs in the sky, all synchronised to the sound of music and topped off with spectacular fireworks finale

well, do not put too much high expectation for it, becoz it just did not amazed me as it should. 

The balloonist ignite the burner at night. It looked more striking in the dark. 
It was so challenging to take picture at night, while I was using a Nikon compact camera

the giant light bulb in the sky

yeah you!! i waited for this hot air balloon for such a long time and finally it appeared at night! 
again, it became the focus of the night becoz of its unique appearance as compared to the traditional hot air balloon. 

this hot air balloon looked more stunning with its rainbow colour at night than day time

this is how the hot air balloon looked after inflated. another giant light bulb

Meet with the balloonist and take picture with them!
they can ignite the burner so we can take picture with it, thank you so much haha
BTW, it was really hot to stay so close with the burner, but it was fun! 

not much description, photos will explain the story then.
the balloons should actually 'danced' according to the song, but I could not see the pattern of synchronisation of the balloons with the music. every balloon just ignite the fire on their own preference. whatever, as long as it looked pretty.  





and the fireworks pushed the atmosphere to a peak! 
not very impressive but who dont love fireworks? haha

the fireworks just lasted for about.... arrr..... less than 5 minutes? even shorter than the other festival celebration LOL. 

Goodbye Putrajaya Hot Air Balloon fiesta 2015 and see you next year again before I graduate! 
next time, I will take public transport to get here becoz im enuf with the horrible traffic jam here. 

FYI, Penang just had it first international hot air balloon fiesta too during Chinese New Year~ 

Additional information about the green zone extreme games area price list ( just some of it) : 
  • outdoor laser tag RM15 for 2 games
  • paintball RM10 for 50 pallets
  • roller orb RM 15 for adult, RM10 for kids
  • hamster roll Rm15 for adult
  • wind chamber RM20 for 5 mins
  • kids inflatable park RM 5 for 20 mins
There is another activity in blue zone which is the COLD INFLATION, cost RM 5 for a 3 minutes walk into a gigantic balloon envelope, open to all from 9am to 12pm, and 3pm to 6pm with shoes off

Thanks for reading and look forward for more interesting event in future~ 



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2 comments:

  1. I missed the night glow this year and last year, I guess next year I should stay up till the night! =]

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    Replies
    1. Yupp u should! Haha don forget to purchase the ticket, although a bit pricey but really worth for it ^^

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