It was another sleepless night because of the wintry weather! I remembered looking at the time once at 2:50am and heard someone getting a drink from the vending machine in the middle of the night! Woke up around 5 and found small cubes of ice all over my tent!! It was similarly freezing in the morning, that it hurt my nose when I breathed in too deep!!
Around 7:30am, I started walking to Temple 37 which was about 3km away. It was all well, until when I was almost there. The urge suddenly came very quickly and without much warning! Even though I was just a few more minutes away, I could not walk at all and it felt like it was going to burst!! I got to a corner, threw my pouch and tried to pull down my pant! Before I could completely do that, I had already pee on my pant!! I still couldn’t believe it myself too!! After more than 30 years, I did it again!! I wondered if it happened 30 years earlier! I changed at the temple and had to do my laundry one day earlier again!
At the coin laundry, I met a couple of old ladies and started chatting as usual. One of them recommended the restaurant just opposite because it was famous for giving out big serving! Then, the restaurant owner came in and joined the chat. She then passed me a packet of red-bean rice as “o-settai”, but looked amused, like she was seeing the name slip for the first time in her life! She then returned me something else, which I wasn’t sure what it was, inside an envelope. The two ladies were discussing and explained to me that it was probably a courteous in return for the name slip! Shortly later, the restaurant owner came back and handed me a notebook with a pen instead, realizing she had given me the wrong thing earlier! We all laughed together! The other lady also gave me a bunch of banana, and she was surprised to see the name slip too. I had to tell her what it was instead!!
It was amazing how cold this morning was, but by 9:30am, the sun was already burning hot even inside the laundry! I resumed my walk only after 10:30am. About 3 hours later, I stopped at a rest hut for my “o-settai” lunch. After that, it was a tough battle exactly like yesterday! I rested after every half an hour instead of my usual 60minutes! My legs were weary, my shoulders were worn out, my back was painful and my bag was heavy!! During my last break just before the final 2.7km, I suddenly saw a chicken out of no way and walked very close towards me!
Around 3:30pm, I finally ended my day at a convenient store. I checked out the toilet nearby as shown on the map, and it was pretty decent. There was a patch for me to set up my tent, but I supposed I need to get some permission from the Jinja because it was just outside the shrine. However, I couldn’t find anyone there. I walked back to the convenient store to have my tea break first and wondered if I should walk further to the park 3km away! Eventually, I decided to stay put since there was convenient store around. I hung around inside the convenient store to avoid the cold outside. Then I saw an area where I could sit on the floor! I asked the shop attendant. She went in to get permission and the lady boss came out puzzled at my request! I just kept smiling and it seemed to work! She invited me to sit inside the staff area instead! She then introduced her husband, the boss and we all sat down and chatted. The lady boss then cut me a big bowl of apples and passed me some oranges and a bread! She also gave me a bag of the heating packets, which seemed to work better than the one I bought! Later I met one of their son working with them. They gave me their name cards. After that, the lady boss told me she had called the guy in-charge of the shrine and I could actually sleep inside the Jinja later!! I was overjoyed to hear the news and thanked them very very much!
About 6pm, the lady boss drove me over to meet the Jinja’s in-charge, Kotaro-san. I was so blessed to meet the family. I thought he would be bringing me over to the shrine, but instead he invited me in to his house! Kotaro-san and his wife Mieko-san was 31. They had 3 kids, the eldest daughter Komati (“ti” was pronounced as “chi”) at 6, second son Kinichiro at 4 and Anzou at 2! They actually invited me for dinner, offered me shower, and a room to sleep inside their house!!!! I could not believe it and lost for words! They treated me like a friend whom they had not met for a long time! I could only kept saying “Domo arigatou gozaimasu” and “Domo arigatou gozaimasu” and “Domo arigatou gozaimasu”!
The dinner was splendid!! Mieko-san cooked tempura! And I had 2 bowls of rice!!! Kotaro-san kept filling up my glass with the Asahi beer. The house was very clean and beautiful! After a great shower (I could even play with the kid’s water gun in the tub!!), we played an interesting Japanese chess game, called… (oh, Kin-chan played with my phone and accidentally deleted the photo I took). Very simple animal chess game with each player having only, a lion, an elephant, a giraffe and a chick. The objective of the game was to cross your lion over to the opponent side or eat your opponent’s lion! Lion could move in any direction. Elephant moved diagonally, while Giraffe vertically and horizontally only. The little chick could only move forward, but if it gets to the other end, it turned into a hen, and could walk backwards! We also played the Japanese famous finger pointing directional game! It was really fun and enjoyable! =]
Kin-chan liked to stick around with me and played with my iPhone too. The moment I came in to the house, he offered me his bag of sweets, showing me the different colours he had and slotted them inside the side pocket of my backpack! Then, he showed interest in my water bottle! I told him it was just plain water, but he was still persistent, until I told him it was from the toilet!! When his mom called for bath, I asked if he likes bathing since there was toy in the bath. He said he disliked it! =] He was cute, but also very mischievous!
Anzou liked to eat a lot! He kept eating and had a fat tummy!! He cried when his brother and sister took some of the chocolates from him. Mieko-san, then, brought three small bowls to split them up. An-chan was very clever and poured everything into his first and left the remaining that could fill up his bowl for his siblings!!
Komati-chan hurt her leg and was limping the whole night poorly! During the dinner, she drew a picture of the six persons in the house and gave me as a present! She asked me what do I drink usually!? Somehow the first word that popped up in my mind was “beer”! But, I did not say that immediately, and replied “water, milk, juices…. And beer!” =]
Just before bed, I walked to the convenient store to get my breakfast and some gifts for the family for such a warm hospitality! Updated my blog and went to bed around 11:16pm. I was still jolly in disbelieve!! Even the blankets smelled soooo nice!!!
Today was an amazing day to stop at 20.4km!
Around 7:30am, I started walking to Temple 37 which was about 3km away. It was all well, until when I was almost there. The urge suddenly came very quickly and without much warning! Even though I was just a few more minutes away, I could not walk at all and it felt like it was going to burst!! I got to a corner, threw my pouch and tried to pull down my pant! Before I could completely do that, I had already pee on my pant!! I still couldn’t believe it myself too!! After more than 30 years, I did it again!! I wondered if it happened 30 years earlier! I changed at the temple and had to do my laundry one day earlier again!
At the coin laundry, I met a couple of old ladies and started chatting as usual. One of them recommended the restaurant just opposite because it was famous for giving out big serving! Then, the restaurant owner came in and joined the chat. She then passed me a packet of red-bean rice as “o-settai”, but looked amused, like she was seeing the name slip for the first time in her life! She then returned me something else, which I wasn’t sure what it was, inside an envelope. The two ladies were discussing and explained to me that it was probably a courteous in return for the name slip! Shortly later, the restaurant owner came back and handed me a notebook with a pen instead, realizing she had given me the wrong thing earlier! We all laughed together! The other lady also gave me a bunch of banana, and she was surprised to see the name slip too. I had to tell her what it was instead!!
It was amazing how cold this morning was, but by 9:30am, the sun was already burning hot even inside the laundry! I resumed my walk only after 10:30am. About 3 hours later, I stopped at a rest hut for my “o-settai” lunch. After that, it was a tough battle exactly like yesterday! I rested after every half an hour instead of my usual 60minutes! My legs were weary, my shoulders were worn out, my back was painful and my bag was heavy!! During my last break just before the final 2.7km, I suddenly saw a chicken out of no way and walked very close towards me!Around 3:30pm, I finally ended my day at a convenient store. I checked out the toilet nearby as shown on the map, and it was pretty decent. There was a patch for me to set up my tent, but I supposed I need to get some permission from the Jinja because it was just outside the shrine. However, I couldn’t find anyone there. I walked back to the convenient store to have my tea break first and wondered if I should walk further to the park 3km away! Eventually, I decided to stay put since there was convenient store around. I hung around inside the convenient store to avoid the cold outside. Then I saw an area where I could sit on the floor! I asked the shop attendant. She went in to get permission and the lady boss came out puzzled at my request! I just kept smiling and it seemed to work! She invited me to sit inside the staff area instead! She then introduced her husband, the boss and we all sat down and chatted. The lady boss then cut me a big bowl of apples and passed me some oranges and a bread! She also gave me a bag of the heating packets, which seemed to work better than the one I bought! Later I met one of their son working with them. They gave me their name cards. After that, the lady boss told me she had called the guy in-charge of the shrine and I could actually sleep inside the Jinja later!! I was overjoyed to hear the news and thanked them very very much!
About 6pm, the lady boss drove me over to meet the Jinja’s in-charge, Kotaro-san. I was so blessed to meet the family. I thought he would be bringing me over to the shrine, but instead he invited me in to his house! Kotaro-san and his wife Mieko-san was 31. They had 3 kids, the eldest daughter Komati (“ti” was pronounced as “chi”) at 6, second son Kinichiro at 4 and Anzou at 2! They actually invited me for dinner, offered me shower, and a room to sleep inside their house!!!! I could not believe it and lost for words! They treated me like a friend whom they had not met for a long time! I could only kept saying “Domo arigatou gozaimasu” and “Domo arigatou gozaimasu” and “Domo arigatou gozaimasu”!
The dinner was splendid!! Mieko-san cooked tempura! And I had 2 bowls of rice!!! Kotaro-san kept filling up my glass with the Asahi beer. The house was very clean and beautiful! After a great shower (I could even play with the kid’s water gun in the tub!!), we played an interesting Japanese chess game, called… (oh, Kin-chan played with my phone and accidentally deleted the photo I took). Very simple animal chess game with each player having only, a lion, an elephant, a giraffe and a chick. The objective of the game was to cross your lion over to the opponent side or eat your opponent’s lion! Lion could move in any direction. Elephant moved diagonally, while Giraffe vertically and horizontally only. The little chick could only move forward, but if it gets to the other end, it turned into a hen, and could walk backwards! We also played the Japanese famous finger pointing directional game! It was really fun and enjoyable! =]
Kin-chan liked to stick around with me and played with my iPhone too. The moment I came in to the house, he offered me his bag of sweets, showing me the different colours he had and slotted them inside the side pocket of my backpack! Then, he showed interest in my water bottle! I told him it was just plain water, but he was still persistent, until I told him it was from the toilet!! When his mom called for bath, I asked if he likes bathing since there was toy in the bath. He said he disliked it! =] He was cute, but also very mischievous!
Anzou liked to eat a lot! He kept eating and had a fat tummy!! He cried when his brother and sister took some of the chocolates from him. Mieko-san, then, brought three small bowls to split them up. An-chan was very clever and poured everything into his first and left the remaining that could fill up his bowl for his siblings!!
Komati-chan hurt her leg and was limping the whole night poorly! During the dinner, she drew a picture of the six persons in the house and gave me as a present! She asked me what do I drink usually!? Somehow the first word that popped up in my mind was “beer”! But, I did not say that immediately, and replied “water, milk, juices…. And beer!” =]
Just before bed, I walked to the convenient store to get my breakfast and some gifts for the family for such a warm hospitality! Updated my blog and went to bed around 11:16pm. I was still jolly in disbelieve!! Even the blankets smelled soooo nice!!!Today was an amazing day to stop at 20.4km!
Have a blessed Christmas and hope you reached the next Temple in time. Looking forward to your regular updates.
ReplyDeleteremember to give me a name slip for the "o-settai" sms :p
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kotaro-san and family! Oh the kids are so cute! Kuan.xx
ReplyDeletehaha.. KM, sure! my pleasure!
ReplyDeletethanks a lot Steven!! Finally, i'm finishing the pilgrimage!! cant believe it !
I'm suddenly curious. You have seen so many vending machines. Have you seen one being replenished?
ReplyDeleteYes, Hiew!! In fact, I saw a few times and wanted to take a picture at one along the highway and posted it up for the great deed of what these people had done! =]
ReplyDelete