Another Scarecrow Festival

These scarecrows were lined up in Saga.

There were many scarecrows representing a bunch of different nations...

...and the underworld.

Balloon School... the second year.

It's that time of year again... time for the Saga International Balloon Festival!

The Festival features balloonists from all over the world. It also features visitors from afar. We were grabbed for an interview on a radio station broadcasting live. No hard-hitting questions, only confirming to the hosts what they already know. Yes, Kyushu is very beautiful. Yes, the people are very nice. No, my Japanese is not as good as it should be.

People leaving the field after the Balloon Fantasia. That bumble bee doing a back bend was coming down for the day.

It was very, very crowded!!! This year we went on a Saturday. I really preferred going during the week last year. During the week, they most of the same features, with far shorter lines! Here is my post from the Balloon Festival last year.

In the picture above, the balloons are to the left. The open field was being used for kids on motorbikes. There was also a professional Honda motorbike show farther down the road. There were too many people crowded around, so we only saw bits and pieces. Luckily, they were also had a live broadcast on video screens in the middle of where the tents are in the picture above.

The announcers over the loud speakers said, "Bye-bye! Have a nice flight!" in English to this balloon as it left.

Okay, now leave! You'll be invited onto the field for Balloon School, but you'll also be told when to leave so that they may bring these balloons down. They make announcements in Japanese and English, but you can't miss the mass exodus of people leaving the launch field.

It's pretty easy to find the festival... just look to the sky! Them balloons are racing.

For a different perspective of the balloons, you can take a dragon boat down the canal. It costs 500-yen for adults and 300-yen for kids.

The taste of European Cheese... in a Kit Kat

I supposed they kind of taste like cheese. Actually they taste just like the soy sauce Kit Kats. That means, they mostly taste like white chocolate. Each little bar is only 25 calories though.
This was my first time seeing these in strawberry.

Kinako... again.

Halloween Parade at Huis ten Bosch

The brochure for the Halloween parade at Huis ten Bosch shows ghouls and goblins dancing around these floats as they parade throughout the park. The day we were there, there were only the vehicles.

I took these photos near the wine tasting, so maybe they thought people would have had enough to drink to see ghouls and goblins.

Well, at least they have bubbles.

They'll do this through Halloween.

Waiin Tasting at Huis ten Bosch

I meant to get this posted last week sometime, but I forgot and now the tasting is over. It ended on the 24th. It does seem like they have beer and wine festivals often though so hopefully the information will be similar. This particular one was part of the World Autumn Festival at Huis ten Bosch. They offered a variety of tickets. The one we bought was only good for this St. James tasting. It cost 1000-yen for wine or 500-yen for juice. The photo above is the wine, and below is the juice.

The juice was all fizzy and very sugary. The wine was the standard fare.

We could have bought a more expensive ticket that would have allowed tastings at multiple locations as well as a food voucher.

Aboard the Kanko Maru

The brochure at Huis ten Bosch states that the Kanko Maru will give riders a first hand taste of sailing on an Edo-era ship. It was fun, but I wasn't exactly transported in time.

For 800-yen (500-yen with the annual pass), you get a 35-minute trip out and back from the Free Zone area at Huis ten Bosch. Shortly after leaving the dock, the boat's crew will open up the bow area for guests 4 and up to scale up and and back down. The first picture on this post is a view from the top.

I would advise flat shoes for this. You have to balance on a rope to get to the top.

Don't worry, there's a net to catch you if you fall. The net won't catch your camera though. I had a death grip on mine.

Coming back in. Below deck there are several displays relating to the original Kanko Maru's history. There's also a coin machine where you can engrave your name and the date you visited.

A couple of parks in Isahaya

This park is called Nozomi Park.

The park is well maintained, but that thing above doesn't work well.

I supposed this park may be more geared toward younger kids though there is a mini golf course and a roller skating are there too. I didn't go to the mini golf because the maintenance workers were burning a lot of brush down there that day.

That's the roller rink. You can rent skates too.

On the way back, we followed the signs for Hidake park. It doesn't have a playground, but it has a beautiful view and trails that weave through flower bushes. If you're going in late summer, bring a large stick to bat away the spider webs!