The sleep was good. Woke up only once around 5 but my alarm was set at 6am. When it finally rang, I was still deep in my dream. Set a new alarm half an hour later and went back to sleep. 6:30am, it rang again, but I was still pretty blur! Set the alarm again for another half an hour and continued my dream. Eventually, I had to wake up at 7am, the latest so far! I told the staff yesterday that I would be gone by 7am, but I was still having my breakfast when she came in to clean up at 8am! I left around 8:42am, the slackest so far! I tried my instant coffee with the new cup that I bought yesterday! It tasted more like milk than coffee, but at least I could hold the cup to warm my palms!
This morning was like going through a storm in the ocean! At the early stage of the journey, it was very noisy with many cars along the path that I walked, and I was still kind of adjusting my backpack to a comfortable position. Then, I suddenly came to a very quiet passage and also at the same time, found my comfy spot for the baggage. My vessel survived the storm and the weather got stable again!
Saw a group of young baseball team having their jog with the trainer in front. Today, I realized you could actually tell roughly when the other person started his or her day through the way they greeted. If it was an “Ohayo Gozaimasu” around 9:30am or so, the person had probably just woke up not long ago! If the person greeted “Konnichiwa” instead at about the same time, he or she must have a long morning already!
About an hour and half, I reached Tem
ple 29. It was so plain that not even the Main Hall and Daishi Hall were worth taking a picture. Anyway, I took one for consistency sake. Had a quick tea break and carried on t
o Temple 30. Saw a group playing soccer and my legs got very itchy! Somehow, the water in the drains here was always so clean, while those back home could be totally black sometimes!! Saw a group playing tennis and my hands got very itchy! About an hour and half, I was at Temple 30. Didn’t want to have a heavy lunch, I had a heavier tea break instead with 2 slices of my remaining raisin bread on butter and cheese! After that, I made 
more than 10 calls to various accommodations at the Kochi city centre, but the cheapest was still the first one I called at 3400yen. All the lodging had no laundry service! Still deciding, I resumed my walk. Would love to spend a night at the city and go online again. Besides, tomorrow happened to be a Sunday, and there was a famous Sunday market in the town.
Along the way, I saw a group of oldies having a lawn bowl competition! Some of the players were really old!! Amazing Japanese! Stopped at a traffic light and suddenly noticed a left-hand drive car passing by!! When I was almost at Temple 31, a car stopped in front and a guy in “Men In Black” suit offered to fetch me there instead! He said the road to the temple was close! For a moment, I really thought the walking henro path could be closed! But, I told him I would have a look instead since I couldn’t understand much of the re
st that he said. He left disappointed. Maybe he was trying to recruit me to kill some bad monsters and aliens!
There was a distance of uphill, but only a piece of cake, for Benro, the Korogashi Dragon Slayer! When I reached the top, there was a nice café with beautiful Christmas decoration and cool jazzy Christmas tunes on play! I nearly wanted to dance to the beat! There was a taxi driver asking if I was finishing for the day and going downtown. I said “Yeah”. By now, I had decided to stay in the town to do my laundry too. He invited me to take his cab! Business must be bad for him!
After my prayer, I called up the first option, but it was full!! Thought for a moment, and called the 2nd option, but it was also full! Even the distant Youth Hostel was full as well!! I remembered reading a note, by chance, in the guide this morning. It said “Every year between November and February, some professional baseball teams hold training camp at places between Aki and Kochi city. As a result, it might be difficult to bo
ok a hotel room in this area due to the many visiting fans and media-related staff.”!!
I saw a couple of toilets near Temple 32 and rushed there before it got too dark to view the site. Around 5:10pm, I found the first toilet. Good spot with flat ground! I walked further to the next toilet which was closer to the supermarket and convenient store. It was even better with bigger toilet and nicer field! Left my backpack in the toilet, I wanted to get something hot to eat at the convenient store. Unfortunately, it wasn’t there as shown in the map anymore. Probably it had closed down. Luckily the supermarket was still around. Had something light, so that I could have the bargain later before it closed at 9pm. Glad there was a sitting area to hang around. Around 8, I walked over to the food section and most of the stuffs had already been snatched away! But I still managed to grab a drumstick and a set of tempura for half price. Wanted to have some rice, but all were sold out. Had to settle with instant Udon again.
I walked back to the park close by, cleaned up and built my tent! The ground was perfect for my pegs and they held the tent very well. Probably my best tent! I wrote my name slips just outside my tent and finished off my coffee before going into my camp at 10:30pm. I wished I had a convertible top so that I could view the beautiful starry sky tonight!
Today, I walked more than 24.7km to reach the park.
This morning was like going through a storm in the ocean! At the early stage of the journey, it was very noisy with many cars along the path that I walked, and I was still kind of adjusting my backpack to a comfortable position. Then, I suddenly came to a very quiet passage and also at the same time, found my comfy spot for the baggage. My vessel survived the storm and the weather got stable again!
Saw a group of young baseball team having their jog with the trainer in front. Today, I realized you could actually tell roughly when the other person started his or her day through the way they greeted. If it was an “Ohayo Gozaimasu” around 9:30am or so, the person had probably just woke up not long ago! If the person greeted “Konnichiwa” instead at about the same time, he or she must have a long morning already!About an hour and half, I reached Tem
ple 29. It was so plain that not even the Main Hall and Daishi Hall were worth taking a picture. Anyway, I took one for consistency sake. Had a quick tea break and carried on t
o Temple 30. Saw a group playing soccer and my legs got very itchy! Somehow, the water in the drains here was always so clean, while those back home could be totally black sometimes!! Saw a group playing tennis and my hands got very itchy! About an hour and half, I was at Temple 30. Didn’t want to have a heavy lunch, I had a heavier tea break instead with 2 slices of my remaining raisin bread on butter and cheese! After that, I made 
more than 10 calls to various accommodations at the Kochi city centre, but the cheapest was still the first one I called at 3400yen. All the lodging had no laundry service! Still deciding, I resumed my walk. Would love to spend a night at the city and go online again. Besides, tomorrow happened to be a Sunday, and there was a famous Sunday market in the town.
Along the way, I saw a group of oldies having a lawn bowl competition! Some of the players were really old!! Amazing Japanese! Stopped at a traffic light and suddenly noticed a left-hand drive car passing by!! When I was almost at Temple 31, a car stopped in front and a guy in “Men In Black” suit offered to fetch me there instead! He said the road to the temple was close! For a moment, I really thought the walking henro path could be closed! But, I told him I would have a look instead since I couldn’t understand much of the re
st that he said. He left disappointed. Maybe he was trying to recruit me to kill some bad monsters and aliens!
There was a distance of uphill, but only a piece of cake, for Benro, the Korogashi Dragon Slayer! When I reached the top, there was a nice café with beautiful Christmas decoration and cool jazzy Christmas tunes on play! I nearly wanted to dance to the beat! There was a taxi driver asking if I was finishing for the day and going downtown. I said “Yeah”. By now, I had decided to stay in the town to do my laundry too. He invited me to take his cab! Business must be bad for him!After my prayer, I called up the first option, but it was full!! Thought for a moment, and called the 2nd option, but it was also full! Even the distant Youth Hostel was full as well!! I remembered reading a note, by chance, in the guide this morning. It said “Every year between November and February, some professional baseball teams hold training camp at places between Aki and Kochi city. As a result, it might be difficult to bo
ok a hotel room in this area due to the many visiting fans and media-related staff.”!!I saw a couple of toilets near Temple 32 and rushed there before it got too dark to view the site. Around 5:10pm, I found the first toilet. Good spot with flat ground! I walked further to the next toilet which was closer to the supermarket and convenient store. It was even better with bigger toilet and nicer field! Left my backpack in the toilet, I wanted to get something hot to eat at the convenient store. Unfortunately, it wasn’t there as shown in the map anymore. Probably it had closed down. Luckily the supermarket was still around. Had something light, so that I could have the bargain later before it closed at 9pm. Glad there was a sitting area to hang around. Around 8, I walked over to the food section and most of the stuffs had already been snatched away! But I still managed to grab a drumstick and a set of tempura for half price. Wanted to have some rice, but all were sold out. Had to settle with instant Udon again.
I walked back to the park close by, cleaned up and built my tent! The ground was perfect for my pegs and they held the tent very well. Probably my best tent! I wrote my name slips just outside my tent and finished off my coffee before going into my camp at 10:30pm. I wished I had a convertible top so that I could view the beautiful starry sky tonight!
Today, I walked more than 24.7km to reach the park.
Great job! Hang on!
ReplyDeletethanks bro.. 10 more days to go probably!
ReplyDelete