whimsically.: The small town of Biei

View from the train: paddy fields that reflected the sky

Our last day in Hokkaido, we decided to take the train out from Asahikawa to a small town called Biei, known for being quaint and pretty, to do some cycling.

Front of the train station

The first thing we saw when we alighted was the little train station and it looked very quaint indeed, unlike most of the train stations we had seen so far. Picked up some maps of the local area at the train station; one good thing about train stations in Japan is they seem to all have handy maps of the local area. It was a perfect day for cycling; the temperatures were low and the winds were cool, but it was bright and sunny. We spotted the bike rental shop near the train station and headed over to rent ourselves bikes for the day. The friendly ojiisan whipped out another cutesy hand-drawn map for us and suggested the preferred route for that time of the year and started planning our route for us, rattling off advice in rapid-fire Japanese and I struggled to catch up with him as he warned us of the upslopes and downslopes in the trail and the landmarks to look out for. And then we were on our way, stopping by the konbini to grab some snacks and lunchboxes for our adventure in the countryside.

Our first "stop" on a bridge - to admire the view of the snow-capped Daisetzusan mountain range, and also to shed some clothes because it was getting a little too warm from cycling

The view was amazing throughout the entire trail; rolling fields with clusters of bare trees in the distance, rustic-looking country homes...and we never lost sight of the mountain range

Quaint-looking little cafe we cycled past - there were actually several of these places along the route, even though houses were few and far between.

A short stop by the roadside to try to capture the amazing view

This was our view as we had our lunch at a rest stop

The country roads were empty mostly and we could cycle however we wanted and it felt like freedom

One thing though - we got normal manual bikes instead of electric bikes and that was probably a mistake. Some parts of the trail the slopes were inclined rather steeply, as the ojiisan had warned, and I had no choice but to get off and push the bike. Grossly overestimated my physique and stamina (-_-")

The first iconic tree of our trail - I forgot the name of our trail but basically it had all these iconic trees that had appeared in dramas and commercials along the trail and they were guiding landmarks.

Fields not yet in bloom, but with their own kind of beauty

Near the Calbee farm and factory where we got lost momentarily and had to approach some workers for directions

A vending machine in the middle of nowhere - very considerate for people on the road...

These are known as the parents and child trees! Two trees with a sapling in the middle

Love the colors

Our final rest stop - an observatory named "飞翔" which translates to "flight" or "flying" I guess.

View from the observatory, with the town in the distance

The main street of Biei - the particular thing about the houses and buildings on the main street is that they all have their year of construction stated on the front of the house/building. And all buildings/houses have sloping roofs.