I wake very easily this morning, simply because I haven't even really slept at all. Which is really yikes!, because I know I was terribly beat by the time I flopped on the bed last night.
It was probably the fear of oversleeping that resulted in the sleeplessness.
Yikes.
I am out of the room by 6.30. I am so nervous about catching the first train out at 6.53, I don't even think about food for breakfast.
I have to start my day early today. There are long trips to make, places far and away to see. And I have to make it back to Sapporo before dusk.
The skies are looking gloomy outside.
For one, it perhaps is still too early. My eyes are still dry, my head is spinning, and my stomach is starting to feel the emptiness.
Two, it is bad weather from the forecast today. Rain. Eighty percent.
I am deciding whether to read a book and stay awake, or to take a nap for the next 49 minutes. I can't miss this stop, because I can't miss the next train, otherwise the whole schedule's gonna be all screwed up.
I'd better stay awake.
I make a very, very quick pit-stop at Takikawa. Quick enough to only spend more money at the vending machine.
I am quite addicted to the milk tea.
I hop onto the next train, and it is the tiniest train I've ever seen. It reminds me of Thomas the train engine and all his friends. Within another 63 minutes, I arrive at Furano - the starting point for today's adventure.
Furano is dead quiet. Like, really dead.
Yes, it's only nine in the morning. Still, no town should look this dead. Pretty, but chilling.
Nothing to distract me here, so I will have to now decide on the next route. Too many ideas, too little time.
And my stomach's finally screaming. But thank God this is Hokkaido.
Here, you find little standing kiosks selling hot noodles or bento sets in every single freakin' train station - inside and outside.
This one is "outside".
And this one's kinda a cheat. Cooking instant udon from a packet. Well, it still feels good to have hot soup warming up your chilled body.
I finally decide I will travel up from Furano to Naka-furano, to Biei, then finally to Asahikawa - where more food awaits.
Apparently, that's how I will get to see some of the most beautiful bits of Hokkaido. I only want to see autumn leaves, 'cos all my life, I have only seen green leaves and no-leaves.
"Naka-furano" means the middle of Furano.
And I think the whole of Furano is about flowers. Like different, various kinds of flowers that bloom in every different season.
Before I see those flowers though, I see at first that Furano is almost exactly that kind of quiet, peaceful, beautiful place I want to live in when I finally decide to write a book. Well, not that I'm really thinking of writing a book, but this is how I feel being in Furano.
No real map to help me here, so I am going to have to rely on my guesses.
And I realize I've made a wrong guess only after walking for fifteen minutes, stopping occasionally to smell the flowers and take some pictures.
So I turn back, and pick up my speed. Till I finally see the first flower garden - what they call the "Lavendar Park".
I think the lavender season is way over, so I don't get to see the flowers in their best bloom. Or, blame it on my lousy photography skill. And I can blame it on my lousy camera.
If there's anything I could really say to any one of these Naka-furano-ites (once I have mastered the language, of course), it would be: "I want your house."
Why not?
It faces either the rolling fields of flowers, or the mountains. It is not sitting right smack in front of the neighbor's face. It looks quirky, to the point of being ugly - but ugliness in the beautiful way. It comes in colors that only people in this country would approve of.
If I can't have that red container, I would like to build one with blue walls and a white roof.
I hope I am not invading private property by talking about them all here.
I think by now I have been walking for almost 45 minutes. What with all the stopping to smell flowers and take pictures.
I can start to feel it. The ache in my legs.
I finally see the last signboard that is leading me to Farm Tomita.
Farm Tomita is probably one of the must-see tourist attractions in Hokkaido, and loadfuls of tour coaches drive in and out by the hour.
Lucky them.
Other than a huge plot of land where flowers grow, there are also shops that sell lavender potpourri, foodstuffs made of lavendar, stationery made with lavender fragrance and of lavender designs, and most of all, lavender ice-cream.
I don't know why I would bother to walk all that distance to visit Farm Tomita since I am not into flower photography nor lavender potpourri.
Oh, I know. They say, you have to try lavender ice-cream.
MMmmmMMmmmMMmmmmm. Orgasmic.
There must have been some misjudgement of timing on my part, because all of a sudden, it's half-past-one and I am running out of time.
And now, I have just missed the next train out of Naka-furano. Which means, I have to wait for another whole hour for the next one to come by.
It takes some skill to make quick decisions in situations like this, but I make up my mind rather easily.
Skip the rest and go straight for the food. So my stomach says.
Asahikawa is a city in central Hokkaido that is the starting point to some of the most beautiful mountains and onsens of Japan. And it purportedly is the coldest part of the country. Temperatures here can go as much as ten degrees lower than in Sapporo.
I think I am feeling that already today. Darn the stupid rain too.
Maybe it's the dreary weather, but no one seems to be out on the main street of Asahikawa. The shops look quiet, but they don't interest me today.
I have only one goal here. They say, yes it's true, you can find some of the ramen in Hokkaido, and especially in Asahiwara.
And the same "they" also say, I should be looking for this shop call Tenkin - without giving any address.
Thank God, I can be rather smart.
Don't ask me how I find it. Just walk around cluelessly in and around streets - you will see it.
I am trying something different today. I will do the shoyu ramen, since that would usually be my favorite choice.
Let's put the soup difference aside - well, this Tenkin stuff has got to be the best ramen I have ever tasted. From the texture, to the chewiness, to the flavor of the noodle.
I should rightfully give up on instant noodles.
Very lovely folks too. I have slurped the last of the noodles (but I just cannot bring myself to finish the salty soup), paid for my happy stomach, and am about to leave the shop. I have to run, because there is a train in half an hour I need to catch.
"Would you like to take an umbrella?"
My heart feels quite warm now, and I give the obasan my widest grin.
Daijiobu.
*****
I am back safely in Sapporo, and the weather here is just as terrible.
There is one other place I have wanted to go to, and it's now, or never. But seriously, I am getting really, really bloated.
Should I? Should I? Should I?
Okay, the map says I can just follow the main road right where my hotel is, and just go down a few streets.
That sounds walkable. And pretty close.
If not for the silly rain, this might've been a more pleasant walk.
Okay I cannot lie now, at this point.
This is the real reason why I've always wanted to come to Sapporo, and why I am finally here.
The birthplace of the biru.
Well, apparently, another of Hokkaido's most famous dishes is this weird-sounding one called ジンギスカン. Or Jingisukan. Which really is "Genghis Khan".
Unlike the beef yakiniku I so love from the rest of Japan (and Korea), ジンギスカン specializes in lamb.
And I don't do no lamb at all.
Still. I have flown all the way here. And I darn well try some lamb. And I'll order some beef as well - just in case...
I finish all the beef.
I finish all the lamb. And I think the beef sucks. But the lamb is awesome.
Did they switch the meat around?
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