Day 292: Just when you're expecting cricket...

Day 292: ...you get a festival

Today I planned to go and watch a cricket match but I couldn't get a confirmation from the organisers about whether or not it was on and it was a long way to go if it wasn't...

...so we thought we might make a return trip to Yanba Dam where I went to do some fieldwork a few years ago. It had a along history behind opposition to its construction, then it was stopped, then it was started again. When we searched a little about it, turned out there was really nothing there except perhaps the new train station (the old one closed since it is about to be submerged...).

I suggested we head up the road train track to Kawagoe, a city which occasionally ends up on TV for its old buildings and traditional sweets; it is a little bit of 19th century Japan a twenty minute train ride away. 

One of the dashi

As we walked past

Something to haul

Genki ippai

Quite magnificent

I don't think there were vampires

A dagwood dog equivalent: choc bananas

Back to the station

So we went. Only to find the city alive to its annual festival. It was quite something with over 21 traditional 'dashi', being hauled around by locals. 

Very crowded, but it was a sight we didn't expect to see. 

Serendipity is everywhere, some days, it seems.

[Camera : Canon EOS 60D, 28-80mm; iPhone 6, 12.30pm-5.42pm]