This weekend we managed to do a little more sightseeing around Sasebo. Having chosen our house, we started doing some shopping around for a dining room set, and decorative accents. Nothing's been bought yet, but we are starting to get some ideas and prices on things. After all this, we hit up the kaiten-zushi place for some more all-you-can-eat sushi. Then we were off on another adventure. Our adventures consist of driving until we feel lost, and then driving some more until we know where we are again. Thank goodness Hubby is doing the driving right now, or our adventures would be much shorter and more stressful. Anyhow, after a lot of going to and fro, we ended up at the Pearl Sea Resort with the hopes of catching one of the boats to take a tour of the 99 Islands. However, Aria was firmly set against this whim of ours. She couldn't tell us WHY she didn't want to ride the boat, but she kept crying "noooo! I don't want to ride on the boat. We are not going to ride on the boat." So we scrapped the idea until we could do more planning and prepping with her. Still determined to make the most of being there, we walked around a nature trail near the water. Suddenly, we heard the sounds of a crowd and exuberant announcer nearby. The Pearl Sea Resort includes and aquarium, at which there are live dolphin shows every day. And we were at the top of the ridge closest to the dolphin pool. Taking our cue from a couple other hikers, we stood atop a fence and looked down at the leaping sea mammals below. Hubby, aiming for the title of "super dad," balanced on the fence while holding Aria. I was only moderately terrified.
After we spent some time watching the lovely show, we continued our hike up the trail until we came across this sign, which was relatively easy to comprehend in spite of the kanji. That is, except for the picture second from the bottom left, which we could only interpret as "do not karate chop the trees."
Aria's life was made much better when we got back down toward the main resort and encountered a particularly patient, kind, and friendly kitty cat. She spent a solid 2 minutes "gentle-ing" (her term for gently petting or gently touching) the cat, and it did not budge an inch. She also was able to pet a very chubby corgi named Sandy. Not a bad day, animal-wise.
Saturday night we went to bed with the plan to visit Fukuoka by "blue bus" (the Navy's Sasebo-Fukuoka shuttle) and see a SoftBank Hawks baseball game on Sunday. All we had to do was catch the bus by 8.
After the pricing and scheming and thinking it over was done, we realized going to Fukuoka wasn't really in the cards. So we hit the highway and decided instead to get off the next exit up from our usual (Daito), and explore the Mikawachi area of Sasebo. This area is particularly famous for its pottery and porcelain. We didn't know where the factories were. We didn't know where anything was. But as is our way, we just drove until we saw something. And sure enough, after 20 minutes of driving, we saw a sign that read "China on the Park." So there we went. We parked, and walked up a staircase to what we thought would be an exhibition area. Or a factory. Or a festival. Or literally anything other than an office building... which is what it was. Despondent and confused, we wandered around... until we discovered this "outlet" at the back. Small as it was, it looked, as Hubby said, "Like Pottery Barn on steroids." This place was roughly 1,000 square feet of beautiful, stunning porcelain pieces. Dishes, tea cups, vases, all beautifully painted and glazed and immaculately crafted. I only got a couple pics before I was asked not to take any pictures, but if you do a web-based image search for "Fukagawa China" you will see much of what we saw, since this particular outlet and gallery (oh yes, there was a breathtaking gallery of insanely valuable original pieces) specialized in pieces by the Fukagawa design house. Just so you know, at the current exchange rate, this tea cup and saucer below costs about $193. The pieces in the show gallery were upwards of $10, 000 at least.
Having coveted the various pieces of fine china for a decent length of time, we decided to go find a place at which we might dine. After a rousing game of "wait-slow-down-I-can't-read-the-signs-fast-enough-what-did-that-say?-it-said-'udon'-well-it's-too-late-now-wait-that-looks-like-a-restaurant-no-it's-a-hair-salon-keep-going-wait-what-did-that-one-say?" we ended up at a tiny ramen shop next to a train track. And this, was the view from the parking lot:
There was also a beautiful pair of elegant herons, strikingly white against the deep jade backdrop of the tree-covered mountain. This is how we learned it's hard to properly slurp your ramen when your breath is being taken away. Certainly a wonderful view to dine by.
And the food was pretty tasty. :)
Tummies full, we drove up to a beautiful building up on a hill about 10 minutes away from the ramen shop. As is the case with most of our adventures, we saw something, asked aloud "what's that?" and when neither of us had the answer, we drove toward it to find out. The building itself turned out to be an expo center/gallery of sorts. But we didn't go in, because we spotted something much more up Aria's alley. A playground. Right there on a hill, nestled in a mountainous town, was an adorable playground.
With this being the view below:
The best part, was that the park was actually much larger than we thought. There were separate playgrounds scattered over maybe a square 1/2 mile. Some plastic. Some wooden. All fun. And all throughout the park, there was an incredible smell floating through the air. Something that smelled like a cross between ripe, sweet tangerines and happy, sunshine-kissed, rainbows. It was, easily, one of the top 3 most wonderful floral scents I have ever experienced. And below, is the plant responsible. The fragrant orange tea olive:
Through my research, I believe the Japanese name for this plant is "kinmokusei," which puts me in the wonderful position of now being able to purchase a large number of them for my new house. :-D
Also on the list of pretty plants were these wild... crocuses? They look a bit like crocuses though I don't actually know what they are.
After an hour or so of playing, we took a stroll around the rest of the park, and came across a semi-circle of stone statues. I don't know whether or not they are supposed to be dieties, but Aria was a very big fan of them. She decided to hug every single ones. For a moment, I was concerned that we were doing something irreverent in allowing her to hug them, but she was SO happy. And we concluded that if they WERE gods, they would probably be quite glad to receive hugs from a sincere and loving toddler. So we let it happen, and got a couple adorable pictures out of it.
Finally, as we were heading toward the parking lot, we came across a grasshopper. Aria was immediately enamored with this insect, who she called "my little green guy." She spent the next 10 minutes "teaching it how to hop," gently petting it with one finger, and just delighting in watching it jump. She kept crouching over it, like she was creating a tent with her body. And for all the skittishness I expected from the grasshopper, it seemed shockingly calm having Aria around. She really does have a way with animals.
It was a wonderful day, with no shortage of beautiful memories. As we drove away from the park, we saw the fields of rice everywhere throughout the valley. The emerald paddies are turning golden brown, with hundreds of tiny grains clinging to the waving tendrils of each plant. I cannot wait to take advantage of the new harvest, because nothing tastes quite like "new crop" rice. :)
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