The Pinay Solo Backpacker

1st Philippine International Pyromusical Competition was held at SM Mall of Asia or MOA.  It aims to showcase delightful displays of the world’s leading pyrotechnic events.  Participating countries  were: Philippines, Malaysia, USA, UK, China, Japan, France, and Singapore.  It is best viewed over sumptuous dinners at SM Mall of Asia‘s San Miguel bay and the Veranda restaurants.

1st 2 photos courtesy of Jun

On it’s 3rd week, I decided to go with my long lost childhood friends.  But it was a short notice so only Jayson showed up. I saw  the awesome pictures of Chat taken at the Folk Arts theater, I tried to locate it while I was in Manila but I failed. My sister who had attended it can’t join me either nor give me directions because she doesn’t know how they got there. I  ended up roaming and taking pictures in Roxas Blvd when I got a text from Jayson saying he’s already off to MOA to find a good location. I immediately took a cab somewhere in the busy streets of Manila.  It was already 7pm, Jayson paid Php 150 at one of the veranda restaurants to get a good shot of the event.  The cab driver who claims his name is John was the one who convinced me not to go to CCP saying it’s too far. Good thing the traffic was quite manageable because the event was about to start so probably most people were in MOA already at that time.

I have no idea where is this in Manila but I ended up here when i crossed Roxas blvd trying to get a cab

I  enjoyed the ride because the cab driver was able to show me how Manila looks at night now.  I can’t even remember the last time I was there.  He was concerned about my security as it was dark and there’s no people at CCP area so he insisted on taking me “somewhere“.  I asked him to no longer take me to MOA when I noticed I’m running out of time since MOA is still far but because he knew I haven’t been to the said mall , he kept saying, ” I will take you to a good location“.  I only realized he actually took me to MOA when I saw the huge glittery ad ball in front of the mall. He knew We were laughing during the entire ride, he witnessed how excited I was to finally be in MOA. Yes, I know, shame on me, I haven’t been to MOA! I was so amazed with the gigantic mall that I started taking pictures of it.  Jayson then texted saying he’s already set up at a certain restaurant and I can meet him up there. He asked me to just ask the guards for directions since he knew it’s my 1st time there. It was a long walk from the busy road in front of MOA towards the bay. Unfortunately, the fireworks display started while I was walking hurriedly. I can’t find the entrance towards the restaurant, so I ended up at the far end of the bay. I wasn’t able to set up my camera and tripod, so I took some poor shots and decided to watch the entire show that night. I didn’t know there were 2 countries for that night so when Jayson said he’s headed back to the mall and I saw most people leaving, I left as well, not knowing another show was about to begin. I only learned about the 2nd show on our quick dinner . Toinks! Okay, so it’s the 4th and the final show, I need to go back.  The show was about to start again I can’t find the entrance to the veranda restaurants so I run hurriedly towards the far end of the bay where there’s no fee.  I looked for a post where I can stand, saw perhaps the only small space left there but my tripod cant even fit there, so I decided to hop down towards the huge rocks close to the sea. Yes! I ended up at the far dark side of the bay, far from the spectators. I was the only one there with my heavy tripod and I am wearing a dress. haha  So just imagine how hard it was for me to climb back  that my elbow got wounded.  The 1st Philippine International Pyromusical Competition 2010 was indeed a blast, I have never seen such majestic  fireworks display before, only on TV. It is true people applauds fireworks but never a sunrise… Here’s a few pictures. It’s my 1st attempt,  forgive my lousy shots. I used manual mode, ISO 100 and played with aperture (8-16) and shutter speed (2-13).

How to get to MOA : from Buendia (Gil Puyat LRT station) there are multi-cabs  for Php7 per person,  headed directly to MOA. thepinaysolobackpacker would like to thank Chat for the tips and instructions as well as my bro EG and Jayson for the company.

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