will i am's delayed diary

On our third day in Furano, we visited the Furano Cheese Factory , and it's sister factories, the Furano Pizzeria and Furano Ice Milk factory. Truth be told, they are just that, shops that sell cheese, pizza and ice cream. For an up close look, one needs to arrange for paid workshops. Furano's local cheese tastes mild in my opinion. The weirdest thing they have is a squid ink cheese. We just tried a slice of their cheese tart. Pizza wasn't on our list so we went straight for the ice cream. The place was mobbed by a whole bunch of Japanese high school kids. With a double scoop of cheese and tomato milk ice cream, we went people-watching at the picnic area. Some school kids napped on the benches, some talked with their friends and a rare few guys started ballroom dancing on the grass! Many young parents also came with toddlers, and it was fun watching their kids play in the fields and pick wild flowers. We had no idea where to go next, so KH consulted the ma...

KH had planned a day of physical exertion on Mount Asahi-dake . Before leaving Furano, we topped up our fuel. Our first experience was at a full-service Japanese petrol station by Idemitsu. Upon driving in, grim-looking staff gave a deep bow and directed us to an available island. While one guy was filling our tank, another jumped to the front and started to rub our windscreen rigorously. Bug splatter is really difficult to clean. When we were ready to go, they gave us another deep bow. Didn't even need to get out of the car. Fantastic. The drive up to Asahi-dake Ropeway was quite leisurely with many slopes and tunnels. The slopes have timber fencing at regular intervals to avoid snowfall from inundating roads during winter. Along the way are also parking areas where drivers can stop to put on snow chains on their wheels. The gondolas at the Asahi-dake Ropeway were large and empty. Perhaps not the season to be at Asahi-dake. But even in spring, the snow on Mount Asah...

The Natulux Furano Hotel provided pajamas which were like button up night gowns. Such a design made it easy for early morning skank sessions. Once that was ticked off the list, we freshened up and went looking for breakfast. In Japan, one can't see stalls of pork noodles or  wantan noodles so we had our first meal of the day at McDonald's ! Ordered the most babi-fied item on the menu which was a Double Sausage McMuffin with bacon, cheese and egg. With a McMuffin in had, we sat at the counter staring out at the vast parking lot that it shared with Homec. Interesting to note that the NanoBlock thingy was still going on in Japan and they use manga style illustrations for recruitment posters. First stop was the Furano Winery which is Japan's Northern-most winery. Before heading to up to the hill, we stopped by the river for a short morning walk where we could hold hands and enjoy the cool air. As expected, there wasn't much of anything to see at the winery. One co...