Saga Balloon Festival Japan

In the neighboring city to Kurume we were able to go to an International Hot Air Balloon Festival.  A bunch of friends and us drove an hour east to Saga, while always being on the constant look out for balloons in the sky.  Still not having seen any balloons we arrive to the river area where the Festival is being held.  There were so many spectators around, oh did I mention that this day happened to be a national holiday Culture Day.  So with the day off, everyone has come to view this unique event, Samantha even saw some fellow students and mothers from Kurume.  There were hundreds of food stalls, with a large variety of cheap carnival like food.  We then come to find out that the Balloons launch at 2 different times, once at 8 am and the other at 3 pm.  So having just missed the first batch we decided why not wait for 3 or 4 hours.  Well the longer we waited the hotter it got, I mean hot! It was Nov 3 and at least 70-80 degrees, and yet so many people around had on sweaters, long sleeve Ts, and coats.  Well after this long hot wait, the announcer comes on saying “Folks, there is too much wind, sorry we have to cancel.”  What?! We couldn’t believe it, it was such great weather and so many people were here.  So we were only able to see one demonstration balloon.

BUT, luckily Tyler travels out to this exact area everyday for work. So the next day he practically had front row seats to see the morning and afternoon launches.  And strangely it was way more cloudy than the day before. 

Here is a little poster thing I made for this occasion.