10th Dec – Day 34, Temple 20 to 22 (Kakurinji, Tairyuuji, Byoudouji)

I had my alarm at 5:30am but was so tired and could only wake up an hour later. Set off at 7:55am. Early in the morning, I started the trail to Temple 20 on upslope! The map said 1.6km, but my GPS captured 2.5km instead! It was a tough morning and I stopped numerous times. Finally, I reached the temple at 480m a.s.l. after about an hour. On the way down, I met Kimiyo-san who was doing her pilgrimage at Tokushima only. She was from Ehime-ken but stayed in Tokyo now after she got married. (Sounds like my Japanese was pretty good. I was just guessing only, in fact!)

Around 10:30am, I reached a hut and saw some fellow o-henro-san having their lunch. They invited me to join as well. One of the ladies gave me a sushi rice. They were in a big group walking together with a leader. I got an “o-settai” drink from the bus driver who followed them. It was a good choice to stop for lunch indeed. Soon after, the trail began to go upslope steadily for 2.2km. Then, it was the harsh 1.67km stretch from 174m to 489m a.s.l. The Queen Korogashi Dragon at Temple 21 came for her son’s revenge! But, she was not as fearless as the legend had described. And I could strongly understand the point from an o-henro-san at Temple 60. I couldn’t agree with him more that Temple 60 was definitely harder than this. When I met the bus driver again at Temple 21, he looked shock to see me! Like I could teleport! I was amazed by myself too.

At Temple 21, I met a French, Guillaume (pronounced as “Giom”)! He was 27 and did his pilgrimage the second time!! We planned to meet at Temple 22 where there was a free lodging. Didn’t want to slow him down, I moved on first, after loitering around at the temple for an hour. I met Kimiyo-san again who was on her way up. I told her that she was just 200m away to give her the motivation.

The 5.5km way down was very much more comfortable. I reached the junction and thought of checking out the Michi-no-eki (rest area) just 200m away. Nothing really special, but I met an old lady who gave me a name card and an “o-settai” of 1000yen!! I was so happy to get another “life-line” for my accommodation! I thanked her very much and saw Guillaume just in front of me at a rest hut! We then walked together to Temple 22. Guillaume was in coin history research industry! He likes fencing and studied Japanese during his free time. We chatted a lot and it made the trip much easier and faster for me! Luckily, there wasn’t much up slope, or else I wouldn’t be able to catch up!

At Temple 22, the staff guided us to the free lodging with a map and it was really a nice place with my favourite coin shower as well!! We headed to a nearby Lawson to get our meals. I bought a pen and my solution for contact lenses as well. Then, we stopped for dinner at a ramen shop along the way, and were treated with an “o-settai”!! We didn’t know if it was the owner who gave us the treat or one of the patrons who paid for us. We gave the patron our name slips anyway, and left, a happy man!

I thought I could use a 100yen for 5 minutes shower, since I could do it in 3 minutes before. Just when I was applying my hair with the shampoo, the water stopped! Luckily, I had a 100yen coin ready on the shelf, instead of digging one from my pouch!

Guillaume went to bed early at 8pm. I continued to update my blog and slept around 9pm, because couldn’t resist the obsession to get a hot coffee from the vending machine again! Today, I walked another 21.5km for my pilgrimage, and found out I was on par with the schedule of an American o-henro-san that I was trying to follow. If I could continue to hold on with that pace, I would be complete in 20 days on New Year Day, 1st of January 2011!!