10th Nov – Day 4, Oda Town

Woke up at 5:40am and thought I could sleep longer, but 6 minutes before the alarm rang, I was up. I remembered to do some warm up today. Went down to the bridge to pray. Took out my name slips and the pigeon thought I had food for them. There were many huge fish on the river too.

By 7:12am, I started off my journey again. Passed by a shop and smell some really nice fried fish. Along the way, there were many schools as well. Thought I better stop greeting everyone who passed by me, like a crazy man. But wait! Crazy was what I wanted to be. That was what this trip was about! =] Out of no way, I suddenly got a wifi access! Anyway, I just moved on. Saw a public phone and thought I should stop to call the accommodation and it was about an hour walk already as well. But the phone was faulty. The “almost work” theory doesn't seem to apply to me. I had already hit 3 failures out of maybe 6 that I’d used!

Today, the path was pretty easy, and I did not get lost for the first time. It was mainly following the main road. I tried to save my watch’s battery in order to use the GPS continuously. But after 4 hours plus, the GPS switched off automatically due to low battery. I guessed it was not full charged.

Although I don’t have the henro gear, I thought I had my own attire instead. My near transparent poncho looked like the white vest (hakui), the umbrella represented the walking staff (kongozue) and my water bottle kept banging on my backpack as I walked, creating sound like a bell (jirei)! I realized one more thing. When I was going uphill, I needed to use “low gear”, which was my hand or shoulder to support the weight of my backpack. On flat road, I can use “high gear” where my hips and legs could provide more support. When you are walking for too long, you tend to think a lot of funny things.

I found another phone, but still 12min near my rest time. Thought I should make the call since it was 9am already. Did not check it out first and unload my backpack. Coincidently, it was not working too!! My 4th one! Soon, I met the 5th one. But I was smarter now and checked it first before I unload. You see, everytime I unload, it took some effort to pick it up again. I felt like a weight-lifter whenever I did that. By the 7th phone, I guessed I had no luck with public phones in Japan. The percentage now could already qualified that the public phones here were “almost not working” for me!

Today, I really met the first walking henro!! She was a Japanese lady from Tokushima, Shikoku, in late 30! That was before I asked her age. She was already 60!! I sweared she was 60 years old because she said age of 60 was a yakudoshi (unlucky/critical year) for Japanese. She was doing the pilgrimage to pray for better. She started from Temple 1 near her place and I thought I heard she mentioned she had been walking for 40days already! The lady henro was fast. After I rested my 5 minutes, she caught up pretty soon later. In fact, we were almost on the same speed. Except maybe my steps were big only. That was before I realized I was wrong. At one point in time, we were walking together and chatted for a while. She didn’t want to hold me back and suggested me to go first. But in actual fact, I could hardly keep up with her pace!! Soon, she was out of my sight!! I finally saw her, but we went for a different path. There were 2 ways to Temple 44. Route 379 and Route 380. That was when I realized what 379 and 380 she was talking about earlier. Her plan actually covered my original 2 days itinerary!

It was 12pm caused I heard the bell rang somewhere. My stomach’s bell had also rung. Had an apple to tame it first! There weren’t any restaurants for lunch along the way at all, and no convenience stores as well. By 1pm, I had already reached my intended lodging area. Since it was still early to walk further, I went for Route 380 path. I guess that was why I didn’t get to call the lodging this morning. I wouldn’t need to stay there anyway. Although Route 380 was 3km longer, I’d checked out the free lodging guide and noticed there was one called Doyama Daishi Hall, over at a small town, Oda, which was also nearer.

I also met another Japanese henro, in his late 40 (I did not ask his age, but maybe I should guess late 50 instead after the experience from the lady henro earlier). He was doing his pilgrimage in bicycle. He also mentioned he had done the trail 5 times!! He looked very experience and professional, and I noticed his wrist had a Suunto watch as well =]

It was a cool and cloudy day. Today’s trail had been following this Oda river, which was really clear and clean. Felt like jumping in for a swim!! While I was on the Route 380 highway, I realized one more thing. The shoulders were the strongest, but once they were tired, it was very hard to continue because it felt very uncomfortable. By now, I was already half dead. I had my “pump it up” playlist turned on in my iTune to distract me. I just smiled to each driver that drove passed me. Some of them noticed! I was crazy.

After what I had two days ago, camping wasn’t seemed so fun anymore. I was hoping I could find the free lodging. Finally, I reached the town area and noticed the town office (to ask where Doyama Daishi Hall) was one more km away only. I pressed my “accelerator” but the speed of my legs remained constant. Saw a group of school kids, and yell “Konnichiwa” (hello) to them. They just stared at me in amazed. Soon, I saw the Doyama Daishi Hall sign! Needless to go the town office anymore, I asked for direction and bingo! It was just very close by. Holy cow! I had walked about 27.9km today, and the tiredness of my calves and shoulders and the bottom of my feet were beyond explanation!

The free lodging used to be a great place. There was a TV and kitchen as well, besides those I had at Bangai 8 last night. But when I was there, the place had become very run down. I guessed no one was maintaining it anymore. I tried to use the vacuum cleaner to tidy up but it was not working. Luckily, there was still a clean area, where the Doyama Daishi statue was. Anyway, anything more than a place to sleep for free, was a bonus for me! The TV was still working! Not that I was keen to watch it. Left my stuff there and checked out the area for food. Nothing was left opened after 3:30pm. Got a couple of hot potato cakes with a cup of coffee, but great enough to fill up the stomach. Went back to clean up and got my bed (ground sheet with a mat and sleeping bag) ready. Then, came out for dinner. Tested out the 8th public phone. I wondered when would I find a working one! Couldn’t believe I found a free wifi at a restaurant. Quickly went back to get my laptop and did my big business in a clean toilet on the way. The milk and yogurt had been very helpful indeed. I could do it as smooth as the skin of a Miss Universe already. Had an udon and spent 2 hours there until it closed at 8pm.

It was a very cold night. Even with the heater around me, I was still shivering! Finally done with my blog and went to bed at 10:30pm.