Hokkaido Day 4- Ashikawa (旭川)

This was taken outside the hot spring hotel we stayed the night before. There is a nice river and the morning air was rejuvenating!

This morning we went to Patchwork Road(拼布之路) in Asahikawa, the second largest city in Hokkaido. The fields are filled with different colors of plantation and it resembles the traditional patchwork blanket, thus the name.

We then went to Sinei Hill(新榮之丘) and there was a 360 degree viewing stand to look at the potatoes, corn and wheat plantations. Just next to the viewing stand, the tour guide recommended a special corn called Sunny Fruit. It has to be eaten raw(once cooked will be like normal corn) and it was very sweet and crunchy. I don’t fancy corns, but this was the best corn I have eaten. The tomato was huge but not as sweet as I thought it could be.

We then went to the Furano(富良野) for the famous Lavender farm called Farm Tomita(富田農場). The place smell of Lavender all the time, even in the toilet. It also sells all kinds of Lavender products and food stuff. I don't use cosmetic or beauty products, so no money spend. It was a pity that most of the Lavender plants had already withered or harvested. The best time to visit should be in July.

Next stop was a world famous Otokoyama Sake Brewery Museum(男山酒厂). This sake fetched many Gold awards in International competition and we can see the equipment used for sake brewery in the olden days. At the entrance, the public can fill up bottles of chilled mineral water used to make the sake.

Last stop and the most exciting one of the day, was shopping again! This tour guide was great and he knew exactly what excite the ladies. He brought us to Jusco(similar to the one in JB but bigger), a huge shopping mall with retails shops and a departmental store within. We were given only 2 hours. After all the shopping, we went for dinner at a Ramen street.

Tonight hotel was Hotel Crescent and finally was had a nice cooling room. We repacked all our purchases and luggage and that took us quite a while.