Couldn’t wake up on time again. “Check-out” at 7:30am and reached Temple 76 about an hour later. There was a very nice tsuyado (free lodging), with cooking facilities and a washing machine too!!! I just had no luck with free lodging these days. Always missed those good ones in my plan. Tidied up my temple charm slips and noticed I had misplaced the slips for Temple 55 and Temple 58 =[
Temple 77 was just another hour away and also time for a tea break. Every day, after each meal, I was only thinking about when was the next munch! When I was about to reach, I heard someone yelling from behind. I turned back and a guy came after me and passed me a small Kobo Daishi statue. I thanked him and gave him a name slip.
I was 6 minutes ahead of schedule. More time for my tea break! I was cleverer now and looked before I pressed for my coffee! Oh my raisin butter bread was just heavenly! After the break, I felt so much powerful and walked as swiftly as a horse! The next 2 hours were straight road all the way. It was great since I didn’t have to see the map for a while. I was a lazy pilgrim! There were nice stones around for a good “landing” of my baggage to tempt me for an early break. I wasn’t tired at all.
No doubt I saw a lot of animal clinics around, but today I saw an animal hospital too!! Passed by Marugame City. It was a bigger city with many restaurants and shops. Saw a toy shop too. Wished I had a night at the city. Before even 12pm, my stomach had already started to grumble again! A very tough fellow to satisfy!
At Temple 78, there was a very nice Kannon (Kwan Yin) statue. Went in to a small underground passage and saw thousands of Kannon statues surrounding many different Buddha statues. There were a lot of offering as well, including sweets, snacks and even toys!
After that, I had a cow for lunch! Udon of course! I was so full I could hardly walk! I was backed to my pace where I had my Nikko’s on. Then I met a 65-year-old henro and stopped to talk to him. He started from Temple 1 and as expected, he did it in the reverse direction. His moustache and beard almost covered his whole face! He asked if I was not shaving for the whole pilgrimage too. I told him yes, but mine was pathetically little! I had a pledge before the trail to keep my beard and moustache until I finished the walk. (I have beard and moustache ok! Some of my friends had been teasing me when I shaved in front of them. They would say “Eh, you have meh*?!” *meh is a slang in Chinese to add more tone in a sentence or question)
Although I had been applying cream like a lady, my fingers still cracked so badly that they looked like ghoul’s! Some of the path to Temple 79 went through a park and a shopping street as well. Then, I overshot the temple and got to turn back for it. It was supposed to be my final stop for the day, but unfortunately the staff said there was no free lodging! I saw the map and there was no toilet or park around until the next few temples! The nearest was a hut with a convenient store just opposite it. When I was there, it turned out to be a house serving the henro and it was probably closed for the day. There was no one around in the house and it was not locked!! There was a Love Hotel just next to it and I went over to check it out since I saw 3000yen. I was reading the charges menu and thought of asking someone on how to check in. Saw a middle aged couple probably just finished their lovely session walking to the car. I called out to ask but they shoved me away and left in haste. Maybe they thought I was a private detective! Then, a staff came down to explain to me, but the 3000yen only applied from 9pm!
I left my baggage at the hut and went to both convenient stores around but none of them had any seats available. So, I ended up having my dinner outside in the cold. Tonight was very windy. Shortly, the shop attendant came out and gave me a whole bag full of sushi rice which was going to expire in an hour! I had 2 of them immediately. I thanked him very much and gave him my name slip. I wouldn’t mind if they were expired for hours anyway. My supper was well taken care of!!
After that, I finally called home and spoke to mom. Went back to the hut and saw the owner was already home. Didn’t want to barge in to someone’s house, I took my bag and went to a nearby restaurant for a sheltered place. I parked my car, I meant my bag, outside the restaurant and went in. Although I just had my dinner and still very full, I just ordered the cheapest item from the menu under the chef recommendation, not knowing what it really was. It came out to be just great! Salad and vegetables was what I needed. It was very delicious too. And so, I waited inside the restaurant until 9pm feeling embarrassed for occupying a space there. The lady owner later shifted me to a corner. There was wifi at the restaurant too, but was unstable.
At 9pm, I walked over to check in into a Love Hotel for the first time, bursting with curiosity! I went in, the phone rang. I picked up and the attendant came over to collect the rent. I was rather disappointed. I was expecting some “tools” and “toys” lying around! Turned on the TV and the program wasn’t what I expected too. Nothing much else interesting, I had my great hot bath, ate my supper and got ready the stuffs for tomorrow. And holy cow!! I realized another disaster! I had left both my Nike socks at the Temple 75 lodging! I still remembered that I said it was not an issue that they were not fully dried. It ended up to mattered a lot!! And I didn’t even say I hate socks too. Now, I was left with the thicker socks. My 2 other thinner ones were used up. Something was not right. I had lost 3 different things in 3 days continuously! Went to bed at 11pm thinking how to cure my clumsiness!
Today, I missed my target by a mere 0.8km at 19.2km. Actually I walked around 1.4km more, but to make the calculation easier, I parked them under tomorrow coverage.
No comments:
Post a Comment