Putrajaya Hot Air Balloon Trip (17 & 20 March 2011)

We were there on the first day evening (Thursday, 17Mar2011) hopping to catch the 6pm hot air balloon. The kids were excited bringing along their raincoat and boots (like Pua Chu Kang but in blue instead of yellow). The raincoat was too big for AL.

We arrived there about 4plus pm and Sharon also arrived about the same time. Together with the kids, we went walking around exploring the place while waiting for 6pm. It started to drizzle about 545pm. PaPa went to the car to take umbrella and the kids’ raincoat. We were sitting down the area near where the hot balloons were supposed to be released with our umbrellas. All of a sudden, a staff was walking along the path asking everyone to get shelter because a heavy thunderstorm was on the way and it was just 5 minutes before 6pm. The announcement said that the hot balloon would be postponed to 8pm.

We couldn’t wait till 8pm because we had to go for our family prayer meeting that night. So we decided to walk back to the car. It drizzled and it turned into heavy thunderstorm in just a split seconds. JL was well protected with his raincoat and boots. We decided to wrap AL with the oversized raincoat. I was carrying AL with PaPa carrying a big golf umbrella. However, the rain was so strong that by the time we arrive our car, we were drenched from top to toe. Sharon and her 2 kids were also wet. We decided to cancel our dinner together and to go home as everyone needed to take shower to change. On the way home, the kids were hiding themselves in the blanket which we kept in the car. It would be great to hide ourselves in a heated blanket to keep ourselves warm.

JL still wanted to see the hot air balloon. Our weekend was tight with JL’s activities and birthday. So the only slot we had was on the last day where we decided the early morning would be a better option than evening since it usually rained in the evening. We left home just before 6am on Sunday morning with both kids half asleep. We arrived there just before the parking lots were full. Some people had come as early as 4am just to get tickets to ride the hot air balloon.

At last the kids got the chance to see the big hot air balloon. There was also helicopter ride which was too pricey. We bought 2 battery operated bubbles guns for the kids for RM15 each which we found was cheaper than getting from toys r us (which was almost RM50 each).

We let the kids play with the bubbles for a while near the parking lot before we proceed to Alamanda for our breakfast in McD. We did a fast grocery in Carrefour and let the kids walk around toys r us before we went home to rest.