6th Nov – Unomachi, Shikoku – Trial Pilgrimage!

Could not sleep well the whole night. Woke up once at 2am and 5am, probably worrying I would overslept. At 5am, I was already eager to wake up. By 6am, it was still an hour and half before my alarm would ring, but decided to wake up since my eyes were already very wide opened.

Had a nice shower and was trying to put my contact lense, but the right one didn't feel comfortable, so I took it off and "oops", it felt on the shower floor. Couldn't locate the needle from the deep sea, I had to give up and used a new one.

Had a heavy breakfast. A milk, banana, 2 bun of raisin bread and a coffee. After a dosage of yogurt and milk as suggested by Nick, my constipation problem was slightly better off this morning. Should had stuffed in more yogurt last night.

Continued to upload more photos on my blog. It was about time to leave and I tried to catch up the time and uploaded 6 more pictures only to find out it failed later!! Perhaps that was the sign to leave already. Said goodbye to my beloved guest house with deep feeling.

Still I managed to catch the 830am bus and was an hour early at the ferry terminal. It wasn't crowded at all. Amazingly, I managed to fill up the Japanese form!! All thanks to my little ability to read some Chinese characters. Only could not confirm the Kanji 才for "age" which I guessed correctly after asking a fellow passenger. Got my 3020yen ticket and waited patiently.

Soon it was time and we boarded like going up the famous Titanic!! There were 3 decks and there wasn't any seat for 2nd class area but actually a large matted floor for passengers to lie down and rest! I looked around the different levels and took pictures. Then, read my lonely planet and rest till 1130 to get some coffee and had my yummy raisin bread!!

On the ferry, I was on my iTune and suddenly I thought. We have earphone already. Why don't we have a mouthphone too!! So that you can sing it out and won't disturb the others. (for your info, all rights are reserved and I'm patenting this creation, sorry!!)

I read and noticed this suna-bashiri (sand run) at Mt Fuji where rocks were like sand and the mountain like big dune!! I missed that on my 1st hike!! I couldn't help but immediately thought of doing it again in July or August!!!

3 hours were quick. After snack, the announcement made that we had arrived at Shikoku. A long walk to the train station. Taking the bus would cost 160yen, the same from Beppu station to the ferry terminal. That was how long the walk was. The next train was still 45minutes to go. I could pay an extra 310yen for the express which come 20min earlier. But why the waste?! That was just exactly enough for me to have an udon soup just next door! =]

It was really true that you can find power sockets almost anywhere outside. I saw one at the wooden staircase that connects the train platforms! I had seen those on the ceiling next to vending machines as well.

Saw a basin with a mirror at the platform. Think it was for those rushing to work, to brush their teeth and comb set hair! Reached Unomachi exactly at 2pm. I had 3 hours to find my accommodation before it started to get dark. Walked and walked but saw nothing close to any kind of place to stay! Called the Temple 43 but there don’t provide accommodation, although the guide said otherwise. So, I thought I probably had to resort to one of the place I called at Ogata which cost 4300yen to check out if meals were provided. Just when I wanted to find a public phone, there were none to be seen. Finally, found one at a department store, and the chances of it not working was the negative of “almost”, but yet I hit it. Walked further and found a working one in the end!! Unfortunately, the place I called had no more rooms available for the day! The guy on the phone was very nice and still hold on to the line, even thought I had a very long pause, thinking what should I do. I almost forgotten I was on the line too. So, I called the 5300yen hotel and they agreed to cut down to 5000yen. However, I had set a rule myself for this pilgrimage that I would avoid paying anything more than 3000yen for a night of accommodation. As a result, my mind already wandered off to the thought of sleeping out. So, I tried to walk to Temple 43 first to check out the stuffs I need to buy and see if I could get any help there. Already had a taste of the actual pilgrimage before it started. But, overall, the walk wasn’t that bad. I managed to free both of my hands by having my waist pouch on my waist and my jacket covering the top of my backpack. I was like Buzz Lightyear, carrying a spaceship-like wings behind me.

Just outside the temple, I managed to get the name slips and the stamp books. I had to get separate books for the actual 88 temples and the 20 unnumbered temples, called “bangai”, in which some may also covered these in their pilgrimage to make the holy number of 108. I got the smaller “bangai” stamp book, although the bigger was nicer with descriptions of each “bangai”. But it was too big to fit into my waist pouch. I spent a long time with the owner on the stamp books. I was trying to get one which included both. He was very patience trying to explain in English using his phone which converts anything that you said in Japanese, and vice versa. After that, I realized there was a city office, which actually help tourist on information. Too bad, I was already at the temple. It was 4pm and the city office closed at 5. The walk to the city office would be half an hour. I decided to try and ask the owner first if there was any cheap accommodation around. The lady boss suggested one which was also in my guide. I called but they were charging 5000yen too. Then, I turned back and thought of checking out the temple. The owner saw me again and suggested to camp near the toilet at the temple. I asked the temple in charge, but he said it was not allowed. After I came out, the shop owner even went upstair with me again to talk to the temple in charge. But, it was still not allowed. However, he suggested a place, at a park, behind the train station. I bowed and thanked both of them very much.

When I reached there, I spotted the perfect location. There was a toilet with water. When I found out that there was even toilet paper, the feeling was like hitting the lottery! One problem was solved. But, I didn’t use it in the end. So it was like hitting the lottery but did not buy! I thought of walking to the nearby vending machine to rest a while and then get my dinner before I set up my tent. Met a couple there who suggested I could get cheap food opposite at the department store. They had been to Malaysia and Singapore before. The husband also walked the pilgrimage previously and he said I could leave my backpack behind a hide-out area to get my dinner. They wished me all the best on my trail and left. I did a daredevil again and left all my “properties” there to go to the department store. It was also getting dark and I was racing against time to get my bread for breakfast, yogurt, milk and my dinner. I was pretty excited actually at the thought of setting up my tent for the first time! I was just hoping the weather will not be too cruel to me.

When I came back, everything was still in tact. Time to set up the tent. I looked around and saw a corner which was less obvious to passerby. But it was next to the swing. I hesitated a moment. I thought those things usually were there. I couldn’t be bothered much. It was 5:30pm already and almost dark. I quickly tried to get my headlight, and what a time to run out of battery. So, I clumsily ransacked out almost all my stuffs from the backpack in order to retrieve the extra batteries. After a tedious and gawky 45minutes, I was so proud to set up my very first tent in my life, thought there many room for improvement!!

Next was meal time. I walked over to the bench at the opposite of the road, where there was street light. So there I was. Sitting on the side of the road, seeing cars passing by, having my dinner, no, 370yen of cold rice, a skewer of cold chicken and cold fish. Yet, everything was still very tasty!! It was amazing how cold weather could do to your appetite!! The people in the cars could be thinking I must be crazy! Yes!! This was all about it!! Being crazy!! And I think I made it today!! Tonight was definitely one of the craziest things I’d done in my life!!

After my splendid dinner, I went to my “study room”. The bench next to the vending machine, with a power plug, to write all my thoughts before I forget! And also to charge my phone. Then, I read up on the proper etiquette at the temple and prepared my name slips (osame-fuda) to be placed at the Main and Daishi Halls at the temples. The moment I couldn’t get a cheap accommodation, I thought it would only be wise to bring forward my pilgrimage and start tomorrow!!! Yes, tomorrow was it!!

It got colder already and bought a hot oo-loong tea from the machine to heat up myself a bit. The next task was tough! Cleaning up using cold water!! I thought for a long while and decide it would be better to clean up. Saw a guy in the toilet, who was probably surprised to see someone washing up in a public toilet. He told me one whole lot of things but I could only picked up “park” and “the light will go off”! He probably suggested some other better places. And yes, at 10pm, the toilet light went off!! Luckily I was already packing up.

My backpack was too bulky to sleep with me inside the tent. Leaving it outside was too obvious and wasn’t any better than the place I left it previously. So, I took out my laptop and camera with me and left my backpack there again with a note. “Watashi wa henro desu. Ben desu. Shingaporu kara. ‘Please do not steal’. Domo arigatou gozaimasu!” (I’m a pilgrim. My name is Ben and I’m from Singapore. Please do not steal. Thank you very much”).

I went inside my tent. It was pretty cosy. The weather had been very kind to me so far. It wasn’t cold at all and I didn’t even need to use my sleeping bag yet. I was well prepared and took out my gloves, scarf, pom pom hat and the heat packets for standby. Not too long, I dozed off, but was woken up by the rain at 1:30am! It was pretty heavy and I was worried the tent would collapsed! And it started to get very cold. I put on my hat, wore another sweater, tuck in my gloves and slipped myself into the sleeping bag. The sound of the rain drops made it tough to get back into sleep, but eventually I did after many turns.