Saga International Balloon Fiesta 2009

The Saga International Balloon Fiesta (佐賀インターナショナルバルーンフェスタ, Saga Intānashonaru Barūn Fesuta) is held at the beginning of November every year in Saga Prefecture, Japan.

For this year, it was held between October 30th - November 3rd. The fiesta is held just outside of Saga city, along the Kase River. It has gained a reputation as one of the top ballooning competitions in the world.

We went to the fiesta on the break of the dawn of Saturday 31st October 09 *okeh tipu jer, sebenarnya lepas Subuh baru bangun*. It took us about 1hour to reach the place at 7.30a.m and we missed the launching moment of the balloon as it was performed on 7a.m.

(bincang strategi nak menang eheh)

Upon arriving to the place, view of scattered hot air balloons floating into the sky greeted us. These splendid scenery of floating balloons were nicely captured from the bridge while we were walking from the parking area to the launching area.

(nazhan wat muka jakun tgk belon sampai pakcik kat sebelah tu tersengih)

We joined other Malaysians friend after bumped into them nearby the launching area. We had a nice picnic and makan2 while watching the balloon.

(geng Bujang-tak-lapok)

(Nazhan borak2 dengan Abg Paan)

Although we'd missed the launching process of the balloon competition, we had another blast of joy upon enjoying the Balloon Fantasia where all the interesting balloons assemble at the launch site!. A lot of anime characters and cute animals line up alongside the river.

There were ballons of characters from big-fat-tonggek-Doraemon, hantu jepun, pirate, pokok berhantu, sotong tako, yellow cow, cat and the ballon that I love the most is of course the New-Beetle-Volkswagon-car balloon. It seems like I enjoy the balloon more than baby SN did eheh.

As the weather was nice that day, we were permitted to enter the launch area, which is not usually open to the public. We were able to see these extraordinary gigantic balloons close up and even feels the heat of the fire. Shafiq Nazhan seems to enjoy being in the balloon cage while being held by a Japanese girl *suka lah tu Nazhan tsk3x*.

(nasib baik ada Lost Child Center nih..dpt mommy jumpa balik dengan Nazhan kui3x)

There were also exhibition and some booth at the end of the field where baby SN and I took the chance to have a Honda sticker on our cheek..kawaii. Most of the visitors coming to watch the fiesta were well equipped with DSLR camera enhanced with spectacular lense to capture the view..*bapak besar godang2 sume lense, hohoho*.

(tepek2 kat pipi...chomeyl kan?)

Mood baby SN sangat2 ok sepanjang hari tu, siap posing dengan cheeky smile lagi...I like (^_^). Here's some shot of baby SN at the fiesta...geram nak cubit2 pipi labuh dia eheh.

Pssstt : kalau tak silap I, kat Malaysia pun ada kan hot air balloon fiesta cam ni?

# kalau tak puas tengok gambar2 belon kat sini, singgah kat blog Paan & Syamim untuk ngintai lebih banyak gambar belon#