Day 3 of our vacation ~ Early in the morning, we headed to the cheese workshop, where we saw various kind of cheese products like cheese ice-cream, cheese biscuits as well as how these products were being produced.
Although the cheesecake and milk were very creamy, I was expecting a more milky texture... Its probably because the cheese factory imported milk from the dairy farms elsewhere and as such the milky taste was not as fresh and delicious as I imagined it to be.
We also dropped by the neighbouring ice cream and pizza factories. There was no time to learn about the processes of ice cream and pizza making, BUT we had enough time to try some of the different exotic flavours such as the pumpkin-flavoured and grape-flavoured ice cream. Mmmmm~~
After lunch we headed to Biei. The title of this post may have led you to think about those Bollywood movies where they have the male and female leads dancing around a coconut tree. Let me reassure you now that it has nothing to do with coconut trees or Bollywood movies. It's actually in relation to Japanese commercials.
Biei is famous for its views of wide fields and hills which is used as a backdrop for many Japanese commercials and TV programmes. The bright colours of its fields attract thousands of visitors per year. But unfortunately the place was mostly just brown and green fields during our visit. Perhaps it wasn't the season for the flowers to bloom yet?
Nevertheless, we could still take photos with the "Ken & Mary" tree. One of the commercial programmes of the Nissan sport car was filmed there and it has now become a famous photo spot for tourists. One can even pay a 100 yen admission fee to see the Ken & Mary pension house and sport car from the commercial. None of us paid the admission fee except for the honeymoon couple in our tour group, heehee.
The main attraction is actually the one single lonely tree standing in the vast plain flat fields, which makes it a uniquely strange sight that attracts photographers and videographers.
Lastly, before dinner, we entered the world of ice in Ice Pavilion. The temperature inside is kept at -20 degree Celsius throughout the year. Even though it was nearly summer in Hokkaido, stepping into the icy palace in thick coats still brought a shiver down our spine! (My fingers were frozen stiff, hence there were no photos taken within the world of ice...)
Yup you are not seeing wrongly, this is indeed a photo of a toilet. In fact, this is a toilet museum located right outside the ice pavilion which features many strange but creative art pieces and designs in both the male and female toilets.
Aside from the toilet museum, there were other interesting features such as the mini fish tank that was home to many microscopic fishes (i.e. the bright orange dots).
At the exit, there was also a shop for visitors to purchase gifts for their loved ones, including the extremely famous "Three Brothers French Fries". The french fries are delicious but a tad too salty for those who may be health-conscious.
An obasan even recommended the sugared sweet potatoes to me, exclaiming repeatedly that it was "Sugoi"!! To prove her point, she purchased about 8 packets of the snack! But I wasn't really keen on having anything sweet so I didn't buy it. If you do try it, please don't forget to let me know if it was as good as what the obasan claims!
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