3rd November 2012
Woke up early to go to the
Saga Balloon Festival, due to parking issues, me and my friends missed out the hot air balloons on the sky. Since the next session would be on 3 p.m., we decided to go to the Yoshinogari remains 吉野ヶ里 first.
According to the
JNTO website, this Yoshinogari remains are one of the largest archaeological remains in Japan and there is a possibility that the Japanese originated from Saga. Interesting!
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| Yoshinogari Remains 吉野ヶ里歴史公園 |
When I first saw the reconstructed buildings in the site, I felt that it looks like a scene from an African village. (Influence from movie!)
The first structure that greeted us was a field of stakes. It was a way to protect a place from would be attackers.
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| stakes 逆茂木(乱杭) |
Visit to this Yoshinogari Remains was very educational. However, it was so big! So tiring! Well, there was bus services, however, the schedule didn't match our time. At the end, we walked through all the exhibitions in that area.
First, there are houses for the king, queen, children, etc. The height inside the house is very low, have to lower the body when go inside the house. Well, most probably the people from that era were shorter.
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| different types of houses from Yoshinogari era |
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| houses in the Yoshinogari era |
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| interior of houses from the Yoshinogari era |
Then, there are many types of reconstructed buildings. There are warehouses, administration buildings, etc.
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| reconstructed buildings in Yoshinogari Remains |
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| reconstructed buildings in Yoshinogari Remains |
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| reconstructed buildings in Yoshinogari Remains |
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| reconstructed buildings in Yoshinogari Remains |
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| reconstructed buildings in Yoshinogari Remains |
One of the special buildings in that area is a administrative building, it has a cow horn liked structure at the top. A bit of Minangkabao style. Hahaha! This Minangkabau originated from Indonesia and this area is in Japan, but both shared some similarities.
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| administration center for the Yoshinogari Era |
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| only building with cow horn liked structure |
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| meeting with the king (I think!) |
We visited a museum inside that Yoshinogari remains area too. Well, I felt a little bit uncomfortable because graves were unearthed. After museum, we left that area and there was a big field of red flowers, so beautiful!
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| a flower field (so calming!) |
Since we would go back to the Balloon Festival, we decided to just have lunch in the restaurant in that area. Luckily, we ate first before going back the festival. Again, jammed! Waited for a long time for a parking lot. We waited until night time, however, due to the bad weather, we never had the chance to see the hot balloon flying in the sky.
Went to hotel with a disappointing heart. For traveling, weather is a very important aspect!
4th November 2012
Went to a town called Okawachiyama 大川内山 in Imari City 伊万里市. Imari is famous for Imari porcelain or also known as Arita porcelain 有田焼. Every year during Golden Week, there will be a ceramic market in Arita, a lot of ceramic / porcelain vendors will ply their wares in the market. It's not cheap though.
However, if one wants to lay his or her hands on Arita porcelain, the easiest way is to go to a Daiso store (100 yen shop). Yupe, Daiso! In Japan, Daiso sells a lot of ceramic wares, some made in China, some made in Thailand, some made in Japan, etc. Most of the time, the price is 105 yen (100 yen + 5 yen tax). Daiso sells Arita porcelain too, but the price is a bit more expensive, normally around 210 yen to 315 yen. It's easy to recognize the Arita porcelain, just look for the word "有田焼". For me, I would just buy the cheapest 105 yen ceramic wares.
Well, Okawachiyama is a town / village with many structures decorated with broken porcelain pieces, quite special! The porcelain decorated bridge greeted us once we got out from the car, wow, the artists who built this must be very patient.
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| bridge leading to the Okawachiyama 大川内山 |
Then, we kept walking and reached the road where we could see a chimney. Well, if you visit the websites that promote Okawachiyama, chances are you will see something like the photo below. However, I over edited, the road is actually grayish.
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| main road to the Okawachiyama |
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| another tranquil road |
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| another tranquil road |
There's a spot where old ceramic kiln was found. It was operated in that area around 1660 ~ 70. Now, the only remain is a few pieces of broken ceramic, kind of sad, actually!
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| Spot where a former kiln was located |
After walking through the Okawachiyama streets, we came to a forest hiking area. Kept walking and reached a structure decorated with broken porcelain pieces. From afar, it's quite good looking.
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| a nicely decorated structure |
That time was red leaves season too, so we could see red leaves!!!
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| plants in Okawachiyama |
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| riverbanks decorated with porcelain pieces |
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| a walk in nature |
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| gorgeous trees |
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| gorgeous trees |
After the jungle walk, we went to the souvenir shops. There are many china wares shop in that area. I bought chopsticks rest. At first, I intended to use it, however, until now, almost a year, the chopsticks rest still beautifully wrapped inside a box. Ah, too troublesome to use that. One of my friends bought a plate as a wedding gift for his friend. That's a very cute plate bearing a couple in traditional Japanese wedding attires!
Then, we left for Higashiyoka 東与賀町, a place near the sea. The place has a unique plant named shichimensou シチメンソウ. During autumn, it will change to red colour. This shichimensou (Suaeda Japonica, source:
Saga Sightseeing) is something like mangrove, it can survive in salty soil. Interesting plant! It was so overwhelming to look at the sea of red. So good.
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| the life cycle of shichimensou |
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| people admiring the sea |
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| the red shichimensou |
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| the red shichimensou |
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| maybe a species of crab? |
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| Higashiyoka 東与賀 |
After admiring the work of nature, time for food. We went to a restaurant that's famous for Unagi rice 鰻丼. I had fried unagi bones there, very crunchy. So fulfilling!
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| Unagi! |
Next, before we ended our trip, we went to Tosu Premium Outlet. Well, I didn't buy anything. Many winter clothes were on sales that time, I had all winter gear already. My friend bought a down jacket from Gap though, quite cheap, only 6000 yen. The premium outlet is quite big, however, for me, nothing to buy !(^^)!
Anyway, that marked the end of our trip. Had to go back and prepared for next day work!
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