News Updates from now on will be on Saturdays, if at all.  F-ed by me at 8:57 PM | 0 comments

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Biei - Asahikawa - Sapporo (Part 2) Continuing from the previous post...




Actually there were some other flowers as well in the greenhouse but obviously the stars of the show were the lavenders. There were several gift shops there as well (duh...). Wah they even sell lavenders in pots! Not too expensive though, but a bit crazy to lug that pot around when we still had more than a wk to travel. Anyway, yeah lots and lots of lavender merchandise. They even had rankings on which is the most popular souvenirs. :P

After Farm Tomita we realized it was really late and couldn't afford the time to visit other places anymore. If it was summer, I am sure we could easily spend the entire day there. So we drove back to Biei to return our car. This time around we were smarter and pumped our fuel maybe 20km before we returned the car. Funny thing happened at the petrol station. We couldn't find the lever to open the fuel inlet! After some fumbling around (in embarrassment), it was found situated beside the handbrake. -_-" I am sure the attendants had a good laugh. Anyway later on I dropped our stuff and KS at the Biei JR station and I drove the car back to return. Bought a drink as we were waiting for the train to arrive. At this point, our luggage was reaching worrying weight and the tissue I stuffed into my shoes to ease the blister didn't help much.


Reached Asahikawa soon after and with our JR pass we could reserve Reserved Seats for our ride to Sapporo. Reserved seats are obviously seats which you reserve. Without the JR pass, it would cost extra to reserve them over the original ticket price. Other than the fact that they guarantee you seats on a packed train, the seats were also more spacious and had more leg room. But later as we found out, the train was rather empty, though the reserved section seemed rather full. We didn't had time for a proper meal so we bought bentos to eat on the train. Initially I didn't want to eat because of the buffet later at night, but wat the heck la. KS's bento looked good and because of peer pressure I bought a bento too. :P


The train ride was smooth enough, with pretty attendants pushing carts of food for sale occasionally. The amusing thing was that once they reach the end of the carriage, they will face in our direction and make a small bow before leaving the carriage. Hehe...

Several hours later we finally reached Sapporo. Our first touch with a modern city after several days in the wilderness. Made our way to the Toyoko Inn beside the ANA Hotel. Had some difficulty in finding it because it was situated in an alley! This was our first Toyoko for this trip and it was pretty good! Prices were cheap and there was additional discount due to the low season. The twin room was interestingly divided into 2 sections with a toilet in between. So basically it felt like we were each in our own rooms. There was double of everything, including 2 TVs (but no 2 fridges though).

Next stop, Sapporo Beer Museum. Actually there's another place called Sapporo Beer Factory, but it's actually a shopping center, so take note of that. We took the subway there but we still had to walk a distance. Silly me did not leave my backpack (with notebook in it) at the hotel lobby. So it was a forgettable walk. Oh, we couldn't leave our bags in the room yet because the check-in time was 4pm and we were still early. So we left our trolley bags in the lobby instead. This would be a recurrent theme throughout our stays in Toyoko.

The museum actually was rather small. Other than some small figurines showing the various processes of making beer and old Sapporo beer cans and bottles, there wasn't much. But still I guess this is a must-visit place in Sapporo anyway to get a sense of the history of Sapporo beer. At the end of our visit there was a bar. Unfortunately no free tasting of beer. We could order a tiny glass or a normal glass of beer. They come with tiny snacks too. There was a also a 3 glass sampler set which includes normal Sapporo, dark beer and local beer. Anyway we ordered a tiny glass of Kaitakushi (local) beer each. Very refreshing! I think KS took the beer coaster. :P


Oh yeah and it was here that I realized that Ebisu is actually the premium range of beer under the Sapporo range of beers. Ebisu dark beer, is actually one of my favorite beers, together with Asahi Super Dry. But hey, here in Sapporo (or in Hokkaido for that matter), you are not supposed to drink any other beer other than Sapporo. Hehe... Oh and it was here that I realized that the Sapporo beer can had a new design. Apparently they changed the design every year or so. There was also 2 new beers just released around the time we were there. One thing about the Japs is that they release new beers like all the time. Basically they just alter the alcohol percentage, malt percentage, hops percentage and package it as a new beer.

Ok we were supposed to eat our Genghis Khan buffet here tonight but as it was still early we took the bus back to Sapporo station and then back to our hotel to slack for a while. It was when we wanted to head out for dinner when the next major fiasco happened. KS lost his camera! Wah can tell he really panicked lor, though outwardly it wasn't very obvious. So a bit sian, this kinda thing happen, but no choice we went to the subway, train and bus station office to enquire. No sign of it. But KS left our hotel address with them. Then we headed to the bus to bring us to the Sapporo Beer Musuem. KS asked the driver but no news also. The situation very dampened liao. Then we just got on the bus lor. Then LO AND BEHOLD, we found the camera under the seat which KS sat on earlier on our way back from the museum! Hoho... he was a happy pea. But he didn't treat dinner that night though. :P

The bus brought us right to the front of the museum. Saw damn lots of students in uniforms there. I think it was some friendship gathering dinner or something. Japan always got this kind of thing one. Matchmaking cum knowing more people events. Sux... SG don't have such things. Anyway it was here that KS realized we were having buffet tonight. After a little fuss over it, we headed to the shopping center just beside to find some cheap shoes for me. Found a pair of cheap denim loafers eventually at around Y2500. My pain was eased. Actually earlier on, when we first went to the Bier Garten, we were told to come back about 30mins later coz no seats. So by the time we went back there were seats already. Oh and guess what. Being the smarty pants tourist that I was, I found coupons for the restaurant online at GNavi. My Jap fren would later tell me that G means Gourmet (and he was impressed too that I managed to find this site). Anyway it's a damn good guide for restaurants throughout Japan. For each restaurant they would have the menu, map, promotions and coupons! Only thing is it's all in Jap. :P But anyway if I could navigate it, you could too! But I am sure I couldn't harness the full power of it without knowing more Jap.

Yeah anyway so we had a 5% or 10% discount (can't remember the exact figure actually) with that voucher. Oh and one thing which had me stumped before the trip was the Sapporo Bier Garten's website. The photos show 2 types of lamb buffets. One meat is circular, kinda like ham and the other is more normal looking meat. It was only there that I realized the circular one is frozen lamb and the other is fresh lamb. Needless to say, we ordered the fresh lamb buffet with free flow of drinks (nomihodai). Needless to say we only ordered beer and more beer. I think I had like 1.5L in total while KS had 2.5L. -_-"


My fave beer must be the half-and-half. Basically you mix half normal beer with half dark beer. Yum! The Japs know best! Oh and the lamb was really good as well. Initially we didn't on the table BBQ heat up high but later when we did the lamb came out well smoked and slightly burnt which goes real well with the beer. There was also the dipping sauce which complements the lamb brilliantly. Buffets in Jap always come with time limits. For this case, 100 mins. But trust us. After the first 30 mins of relentless lamb, our pace slowed down a lot. The restaurant also serves ala-carte and other kinds of buffet but I guess for most tourist the Genghis Khan (lamb BBQ) with free flow of beer is definitely the must try. And based on KS's observations, only tourist will relentlessly devour the meat in the first 30 mins. The Japs basically treat it like any normal meal and eat at their own pace.



After the huge meal, we took the bus back. And finally I was able to get access to the internet in our room with my notebook while KS used the free internet in the lobby. I can't believe ANA Hotel charged Y100 for 10 minutes while this cheapo budget hotel has free wireless in the lobby, wired LAN in their rooms and at least 2 free computers to access internet in the lobby! Anyway after some chatting and emailing, its goodnight Sapporo!

  F-ed by me at 10:37 AM | 2 comments

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Biei - Asahikawa - Sapporo (Part 1) Believe me, waking up at 3.45am after a long day is a heroic task. BUT the series of photos in this post is probably the best out of all the days.

And rushing out to the car in a bid to catch the sunrise is equally commendable. But in that rush I forgot to bring out my tripod as well as the 70-300 lens. :P And surprise, surprise, the husband/owner actually was up to let us out of the door! Man... I felt so bad. Working hard the whole day and still have to wake at 3-4am is just torture.

Anyway, so I stepped on the accelerator pronto, and rushed to the nearest photogenic spot indicated by the map given to us by the kind owners of Tomte Rum. Unfortunately because we did not have the time to stake out the places beforehand, we weren't able to find any spots with spectacular sunrise before the sun rose. -_-"


After taking the previous photo we drove on to the nearest tree. Heh... the Biei region is actually famous for "trees". The trees will be named and become a tourist attraction! Haha... for some background, actually a lot of stunning tree-sceneries are taken here at Biei because the trees fit so well into the surroundings. So this tree we went to is the Tree of Seven Stars. Not so sure about the meaning of the name, but you can probably research on it online. Another observation is that the trees are all botak (bald)! It would have been better to see such trees in the winter with snow all around it. Or alternatively in summer when the trees would be lush green in color. So actually spring is not such a good time to visit Biei. :P


Then we drove up the hill to see this place where the owner said (in his humble opinion) is his favourite spot. Well indeed it is stunning, but as before I think summer/winter would be the best. Along the way there we also saw the Tree of Ken & Mary. Initially we had some difficulty finding this tree coz we couldn't find 2 trees near each other. Eventually, we realized Mary is actually "hiding" right beside Ken. Because Ken is so big, it hid Mary. Haha... For those who are going there, it's right beside the Pension of Ken & Mary. KS also said he saw cows blowing steam out of their nostrils...




And finally, we had to return back for our breakfast, we saw this fox near our pension! Didn't have my 70-300 lens on so the below photo was the best I could do. It was actually running across the road, running towards the distance and then turning back and stared at us. Then it just kept running to and fro until eventually it disappeared.



Since we had some time, we explored the hill behind the pension. The owner was walking his dog behind there and dunno why the dog suddenly sprinted towards me. Anyway there was a lone tree there as well, and no prize to guess that it's the Tomte Rum Tree. Hehe...



Ok back inside the pension, we packed our stuff and felt kinda nostalgic. Next was breakfast where they let you choose between 2 time slots. 7.30am and 8am. We chose the former. Can see the breakfast spread below and the items which stood out were the rolls and the asparagus. The bread was so light and fragrant and the asparagus had this nutty taste which was totally unique! A healthy and filling breakfast to start the day. Oh and free flow of Hokkaido milk, orange juice and coffee. Of coz everyone there drank copious amount of milk. One lady even added a tiny bit of coffee in her milk to make coffee flavored milk. Oh the yoghurt with jam seems like a very Jap thingy. Last time in my Jap fren's house I also saw his father adding jam to plain yoghurt and mixing the whole thing up.






OK, finally it was time to leave. I bought a bottle of Tomte Rum labelled beer from them too. Oh yeah before we left we wanted to visit the "bread factory" (a tiny cottage) just next door but of all days it had to rest on that day. FYI, they get their bread from this factory. So we all took photos together outside the pension. Then we packed our stuff into the car and bade farewell with tears welling (nearly). The owners waved to us even as we drove off into the horizon. I knew then that I had to return to Biei/Furano and Tomte Rum one day (hopefully twice, in winter and summer :P).

Along the road again, we headed towards Furano. Destination, the famous Farm Tomita. I am sure you all have seen photos of lavender fields before and more likely than not it is from Farm Tomita. Something like this:

But what we saw was this (LOL):



It was pretty empty when we reached, no doubt due to the low season. There were some colorful flowers around but the majority of the flowers have not bloomed yet. There was a greenhouse though, and inside we got to see real lavender in bloom. Wow...

To be continued...  F-ed by me at 10:36 AM | 0 comments

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