| [Volume 9 Issue 8, #1936] | ||||||
| Hokkaidō Trip Summer 2014 - DAY 4C of 8 Tranquil Greens in Biei (美瑛) | ||||||
中文讀者請注意: 因為篇幅問題, 這一系列日本遊記只有英語版本, 敬請見諒.. | ||||||
| the garden hopping trip in Furano (富良野) earlier in the afternoon has given me such a great experience to learn about how the colors of different flowers can bring delights to our lives.. this was the first time i see millions of stalks of flowers at once with my bare eyes, though the gardens are all manmade, i actually felt so close to the nature already.. as we continue our journey to Biei (美瑛) after that, we continued to get close to the nature through a different kind of experience - the Biei Patchwork Road (美瑛パッチワークの路 Biei Patchi-wāku no michi).. | ||||||
Show me: Full Version Short Version | ||||||
 #4C-F1 ■ ■ after Farm Tomita (ファーム富田 Fāmu Tomita), our friend let us choose one between two options: (1) drive further to see more flower fields, or (2) head back to Asahikawa (旭川) and see some other beautiful sceneries on the way as featured in TV commercials.. we thought: (1) would be paiseh to get him to drive any further and (2) two flower fields were good enough and subsequent ones may not excite us anymore.. so we opted for the option (2) and there we were, heading to Biei (美瑛) which is about 20min drive away.. without the expected image of flower fields in our minds, it got us more excited about where our friend would bring us to, you get what i mean??  #4C-F2 ■ ■ the first stop we made was Hokusei Hill Observatory Park (北西の丘展望公園 Hokusei-no-oka Tenbō Kōen) and in the photo, the observatory deck (展望台 tenbōdai) with a very unique pyramid structure.. i just stayed up there for a brief 3 minutes and left to avoid the crowd.. afterall it is not a tall one, probably just a 10m, so it actually made not much difference looking out from the deck or from the ground.. also as the park is already on a hill, the view was superb enough and i could roam more freely on the ground rather than contained myself on the deck.. :) #4C-F3 ■ ■ and you wonder what it was like looking out from the observatory park?? standing on the hill with cooling breeze, overlooking the rural landscape and mountains at the backdrop, i felt what was captured right in my eyes was such a great blend of masterpiece by both nature and mankind on the surface of Mother Earth.. it was certainly not colorful like the flower fields in Furano (富良野) but the greens i saw was definitely giving more impact on how serenity was felt.. #4C-F4 ■ ■ from the top of Hokusei Hill (北西の丘 Hokusei-no-oka) we enjoyed a bird's eye view of the landscape.. an "overview" which was then followed by us driving on the road through the crops and vegetation fields of Biei (美瑛).. there were rice fields, wheat fields, potato farms, corn fields, buckwheat (蕎麦 soba) fields etc interlacing on the land like forming a piece of patch art, hence the name "Biei Patchwork Road" (美瑛パッチワークの路 Biei Patchi-wāku no michi).. different from the serenity felt overlooking from the top, passing through these fields made me felt myself dwindling into this vast tranquil creation..  #4C-F5 ■ ■ another highlight along the Biei Patchwork Road (美瑛パッチワークの路 Biei Patchi-wāku no michi) are a few trees that were featured in commercials and commonly recognized by the (Japanese) people.. one of those famous trees is this "Tree of Ken & Mary" (ケンとメリーの木 Ken to Merī no ki), a poplar which is now 91 years old, featured in one of the Nissan Skyline (日産スカイライン) TV commercials in 1972.. it was named after the actor and actress of the commercial, and since then this spot has become a tourist attraction of Biei (美瑛).. interesting huh?? this was the video i found on the web, but can anyone please enlightened us where this tree was seen?? :p  #4C-F6 ■ ■ the next famous tree was this "Tree of Seven Stars" (セブンスターの木 Sebun-Sutā no ki), an oak, which was once printed on the packaging of the Seven Stars Tobacco.. and again, since then this spot has become a tourist attraction of Biei (美瑛).. unfortunately, as we reached the place, two groups of tourists (from "Singland") were there making lots of noise and a middle-aged man among them even went to pluck the leaves from the tree, no qualms of what he was doing yet showing off what he got to his groupmates like he was the hero!! what an unsightly thing that spoilt the beauty of the place!! @#$%^&*  #4C-F7 ■ ■ the famous trees marked the end of our driving trip on the Biei Patchwork Road (美瑛パッチワークの路 Biei Patchi-wāku no michi).. while you thought our "garden hopping" was over, on the way back to Asahikawa (旭川), we did a very final one at this Zeburu Hills (ゼブルの丘 Zeburu no oka).. colorful flowers and beautiful blossoms which we never get tired of, and thank god this was not packed like Farm Tomita (ファーム富田 Fāmu Tomita).. i am not posting individual photos of the flower fields as this post is more on the serene side of Biei (美瑛), anyway you can actually see similar photos in my previous post.. #4C-F8 ■ ■ we were back to Asahikawa (旭川) around 6pm after a very amazing trip getting close to the flora of Furano (富良野) and Biei (美瑛), one delightful and one serene perfectly balanced.. just the right timing for another round of dinner at home, today we had shabu-shabu (しゃぶしゃぶ) and Hokkaido beer (ビール bīru) and desserts (more melons!!).. needless to say, it was a sumptuous and scrumptious dinner, a very felt-warm one too as we picked food from the pot for each other and kanpai (乾杯 - toast) for friendships.. oh, we also selfied using selfie-stick with remote shutter (no photo shown due to privacy reason), and this "technology" seemed to impress everyone, it's one fun part during the dinner, haha!! :D to the friend and family, i am so grateful for their hospitality and would like to say お世話に なりました (osewani narimashita) to show how much i appreciate all that were done.. | ||||||
| so that was day 4, started off with a serene morning and then half a day of well-balanced delight and serenity, before it ended with a very happy and warm dinner.. this put an end to our 2-day stay in the Northen area of Hokkaido, and the next day we were going to travel to Southern Hokkaido.. stay tuned for day 5 in the coming post!! :) travelogue posts in this series: |
Showing posts with label 美瑛 Biei. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 美瑛 Biei. Show all posts
2014.08.29 | 北海道夏(4C)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)