January 5 marked the first day of the 2nd World Pyrolympics. The event was originally scheduled for December 2006 as the first pyrolympics was December 2005. At least the event pushed through despite a month's delay.
A lot of restaurants facing the bay took advantage and closed off the balcony to non-paying people. It meant you have to eat at a restaurant to get to the balcony and see the show.
Seeing a long line of people, we asked around and found out that if one buys a minimum of PHP100, the guards will allow you to watch the fireworks on the bridge going to the manila bay grounds. Given the number of people lining up, I didn't think we'll get a good place to see the show.
Jon and I went to the ground floor near the parked cars where we had a good view of the fireworks nonetheless.
Australia is the first of two entries for the night. Below is a part of their display:
We ate at Bizu, the only decent restaurant open past 9PM.
Roamed around the mall taking pictures of the Christmas decors that will soon be taken down:
One of the several Tall plastic Christmas trees. At daytime, the skylight provides ample light.
The ceiling above the olympic sized ice skating rink.
The carousel is part of the mall all year long, but it looks more festive with the added Christmas decorations.
Had some coffee at Bo's Cafe and realized that once you buy coffee there, you get access to one of those closed off areas that give a view of the bay.
We didn't plan to watch for Poland's entry because it was getting late. However, as we were waiting for a bus, the show started. Everyone waiting for buses or jeepneys turned around to watch whatever is visible of the display.
The fireworks as seen from the entrance of SM Mall of Asia:
July 13, Saturday
As July 13 was the last day of the 2nd World Pyrolympics, Sam insisted that we stay to watch.
This time, it was not enough to eat in the restaurants located near the bay to be able to stay there. One must avail of their special pyromlympics packages ... where you pay a big amount to get seated at the balcony overlooking the bay. Once you've paid, you can stay there as long as you want (till closing time anyway) and some restaurants even have "eat all you can" packages. We found the prices really high ... and some of the restaurants, like Italianni's, are so far from the actual fireworks venue, that I wonder if I'm going to see much of the fireworks at all.
We went to the grounds and decided we'll just watch the fireworks from the parking lot. As we were too early, we decided to eat first. Many of the restaurants are full, and when I saw empty corner seats on the mezannine of Chaikofi Cafe, I went in. Loved that corner ... it's a good place to hang out.
We had to rush out when the entry for China started. After China came the exhibition of the host country, Philippines. Below is part of the Philippines' fireworks display.
As many people went to the mall just to catch the last day, hundreds thronged out towards EDSA after the competition. It was like being part of a parade. There was even a group of bikers with loud music to keep things lively. It was impossible to get a ride home unless you want to stand in the bus the whole trip. Since we expect we'd be standing on the street a long time just to get a decent ride, I suggested that we might as well hang around at the Lobby Lounge of Heritage Hotel till after midnight, when we're sure we can get seats on the bus ride home.
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