21st Dec – Day 45, Bangai 5 (Daizenji)

Could only wake up at 7am today although I had set my alarm at 6am. Went down for my Pacific Ocean Breakfast set, which consisted of a banana, a 180g yogurt with cereal, a 500ml milk, 2 slices of bread with butter and cheese and a can of coffee! I noticed I wasn’t very environmental friendly at all. Got very paranoid of keeping plenty of plastic bags, and this morning, I realized my cereal was packed with 3 layers of it!!

I bid the staff farewell and began my walk only at 8:50am!! The rain had already started, but I decided to go with my New Balance. After about half an hour, I thought I could actually wrap my shoe with plastic bags! The timing was almost pre-planned and I found a shelter (someone’s home garage) and did exactly that! After half an hour, it worked without flaw! I thought I had found the ultimate solution for my wet shoes and painful toes!! Regrettably, it didn’t last longer than that. My right foot already had the damp feeling and slowly forming a pond! Within 10 minutes later, small bugs were already there for a swim! Perhaps, I did not tied up the plastic bag tightly on my right shoe, because my left foot was still pretty ok so far. Until when I was happily enjoying the great view of the Pacific Ocean, I wasn’t aware of a puddle in front, and created another swimming pond for the small bugs! Luckily it wasn’t very cold today, or else my feet would be frozen already. Nevertheless, soaking for 45minutes didn’t make much difference too! That was how long before I could reach a sheltered area to get change. Basically, the first half of the day was walking along the highway and the road had hardly any place for you to sit or rest! I tried to turn on my iTune for some music, but realized I did not complete my synchronization last night after upgrading the software! And so, I had to entertain myself singing! Almost reaching the highest pitch, the poncho suddenly got hooked onto a tree branch and came off from the backpack!! I had to unload and fix it again!!

Finally around 11, I reached the toilet and changed to my Nikko. There was a vending machine as well and so I had my lunch too. It was a frustrating moment! I had to dig all the way down inside my backpack to get my thinnest socks, and then, couldn’t find my towel to dry my feet again! After I’ve placed everything back neatly, I had to take out everything again to get my can of sardine!

Around an hour later, I continued my walk. Although it was raining, it wasn’t that cold and I didn’t need my gloves at all. Thankfully, it wasn’t very windy too! Else, I would have a hard time keeping my poncho still to cover the backpack! And, my Nikko seemed to work fine with the thin socks! But I was not sure if there was a defect with the Goretex material! My right foot seemed to be wet after 2 and half hours!!

I kept walking in the rain. Sometimes it got lighter, sometimes it got heavier. I was grateful my shoulders were in perfect conditions! For more than 5 hours, I also did not speak at all, or even a chance to greet anyone on the street! Then, a big truck drove passed and wet my pants! Luckily, my pouch was just a little splashed.

After 6 hours plus, I finally reached Bangai 5. The last half an hour was horrible. Probably, the rain drops added on weight to the baggage!! The temple was empty and quite different from the others. The stamp office was located slightly off the way, and you could actually take an elevator from the Main Hall to the stamp office for 200yen a trip! What a new to make money!

I felt very hungry after getting my stamp and needed to eat some rice very desperately! So I went into a ramen restaurant and ordered a stirred fried chicken set dinner with soup and a bowl of rice! It was lovely! The rain had finally stopped after my meal. It was already 4:30pm! I dragged myself to the Michi-no-eki 1km away, but when I was there, the place wasn’t very convincing. There wasn’t any decent place to put up a tent or benches suitable for sleep out. I tried to call the accommodation that the dormitory staff recommended several times but there were no answer! I tried another lodging close to that, but there was no vacancy today! I just sat down motionless inside the Michi-no-eki, feeling lost. I could walked back to the temple where there was a toilet to look for a spot for my tent. Or I could just walk to the accommodation which was an hour away and barge in as before! I pondered over it. I could hardly walk further for the day, and the rain made me very moody to sleep out tonight! Then, I studied the map again and saw a business hotel near the Mochi-no-eki! Tried my luck again, and 4000yen was the best I could get, and I had no more life-line! But it was Christmas period!!! So, I just added a new rule that said “You get a free life-line for Christmas celebration.”!

The business hotel was just so-so. And there wasn’t any light in the toilet. Too lazy to ask for a change, I took my shower immediately and rest for a while. Around 7:30pm, I walked over to the supermarket just opposite to look for bargain again for my supper! Had my favourite white rice with diced chicken for 200yen! Then, I got a couple of thinner socks from the 100yen shop upstairs! I just love 100yen shop so much! Continued downstairs to shop for food again! Bought the same dessert cake again and some interesting vegetable-based cereal for my breakfast tomorrow! Tried some new rye bread as well. Also bought an egg bun. And with my usual yogurt and milk, I thought I bought too much for breakfast tomorrow! In the end, I was too full to have my dessert cake and had to save them for breakfast as well! I wanted to sleep, but got distracted by a Japanese TV show! It was quite an interesting performance contest, and some of the contestants were really funny and entertaining!

Today, I had 23.2km but it seemed tiring than usual!