Finally I had a warm night sleep, and woke up super fresh! Felt very confident that I could stay on the road for 8.5 hours today to complete the 34km distance! And so, I set off at 7am and was able to walk slightly faster again. The first 19km was actually going the opposite direction of what I had gone through the last couple of days. Around an hour later, an old lady stopped her car to say hi. She remembered me but I could not recall where did I meet her! She wished me good luck and drove on. I met her again later (She was driving the opposite direction this time round) and she waved and said “Goodbye”! That was when it brought to my mind that she was the old lady at the laundry near Temple 37!
After the 2nd hour, I stopped briefly to have some biscuits and a can of coffee! The next two hours, I felt like a marathon runner. Just concentrating fully on my breathing and the walk. At 11am (4th hour), I passed by the school where I spent the night 2 days ago and soon reached the convenient store to have my lunch. I had to buy my dinner and breakfast as well, since the map had nothing on food throughout the journey except at this store! Around 11:45am, I continued again and completed the first 19km 15minutes ahead of schedule! The remaining hours were essentially walking on the quiet Route 346 and Route 46. There were hardly any cars passing by.
Suddenly, I started to panic, realizing I was going to finish my pilgrimage but had not reflected anything on my life yet! It was like those school kids who were given the summer homework, but did not work on them until the last few days when the school’s new term was about to resume! But, In fact, I had already done my “homework” before the “holiday” actually started! Kind of know how to live the rest of my life. And being crazy… and stupid were definitely part of it!
In between the hours, I stopped another 15 minutes to have my tea break. Then, I met another road closure! And they made the pedestrians to detour for nearly 1km, following the path for the cars!! I wondered why couldn’t they just build a small path to cut through instead! One kilometer!! That was about 15minutes walk!! Very often, you could walk for 1 hour to the bath house or half an hour to the supermarket, but not 15minutes of detour!!
At 4:45pm, I finally made it to the lodging! The exterior wasn’t something I hoped for. There wasn’t anyone around but a phone number. I couldn’t find a public phone and had to make the call using my iPhone. 
The owner had left the key in the letter box! I went in, picked the best room that I like most, and enjoyed my hot shower! The washing machine and dryer was only 200yen! Today was the perfect day to do my laundry. While I was preparing some hot water, the owner came home. I returned his key and paid my money. He returned 500yen lesser. I thought he agreed to have it at 3000yen! He explained that the rate was after 6pm!! What a crap!! When I called using my mobile, it was already 5 plus!! And I swore that the longest sentence that he said this morning, (after I’d asked him to reduce to 3000yen), was only “Yes” and “Ok” in Japanese!! And that stupid public phone had even eaten my phone card still worth of more than 20 local calls!!
After dinner, I planned the remaining 4 days of my pilgrimage!! I couldn’t believe I had only 6 temples left, including the last unnumbered temple, Bangai 6 and Temple 43 where I started, in order to complete the circle!! 55 days seemed so short to me!! It looked as if I had just begun my walk yesterday!! I tried not to think about that for the time being and went to bed around 10pm.
Today was the longest walk that I had for this pilgrimage at 34.2km!
After the 2nd hour, I stopped briefly to have some biscuits and a can of coffee! The next two hours, I felt like a marathon runner. Just concentrating fully on my breathing and the walk. At 11am (4th hour), I passed by the school where I spent the night 2 days ago and soon reached the convenient store to have my lunch. I had to buy my dinner and breakfast as well, since the map had nothing on food throughout the journey except at this store! Around 11:45am, I continued again and completed the first 19km 15minutes ahead of schedule! The remaining hours were essentially walking on the quiet Route 346 and Route 46. There were hardly any cars passing by.
Suddenly, I started to panic, realizing I was going to finish my pilgrimage but had not reflected anything on my life yet! It was like those school kids who were given the summer homework, but did not work on them until the last few days when the school’s new term was about to resume! But, In fact, I had already done my “homework” before the “holiday” actually started! Kind of know how to live the rest of my life. And being crazy… and stupid were definitely part of it!In between the hours, I stopped another 15 minutes to have my tea break. Then, I met another road closure! And they made the pedestrians to detour for nearly 1km, following the path for the cars!! I wondered why couldn’t they just build a small path to cut through instead! One kilometer!! That was about 15minutes walk!! Very often, you could walk for 1 hour to the bath house or half an hour to the supermarket, but not 15minutes of detour!!
At 4:45pm, I finally made it to the lodging! The exterior wasn’t something I hoped for. There wasn’t anyone around but a phone number. I couldn’t find a public phone and had to make the call using my iPhone. 
The owner had left the key in the letter box! I went in, picked the best room that I like most, and enjoyed my hot shower! The washing machine and dryer was only 200yen! Today was the perfect day to do my laundry. While I was preparing some hot water, the owner came home. I returned his key and paid my money. He returned 500yen lesser. I thought he agreed to have it at 3000yen! He explained that the rate was after 6pm!! What a crap!! When I called using my mobile, it was already 5 plus!! And I swore that the longest sentence that he said this morning, (after I’d asked him to reduce to 3000yen), was only “Yes” and “Ok” in Japanese!! And that stupid public phone had even eaten my phone card still worth of more than 20 local calls!!After dinner, I planned the remaining 4 days of my pilgrimage!! I couldn’t believe I had only 6 temples left, including the last unnumbered temple, Bangai 6 and Temple 43 where I started, in order to complete the circle!! 55 days seemed so short to me!! It looked as if I had just begun my walk yesterday!! I tried not to think about that for the time being and went to bed around 10pm.
Today was the longest walk that I had for this pilgrimage at 34.2km!
Wah, this is the first time i hear of a dishonest Japanese. hmmph. dislike. 4 more days to go and you'll be graduatign! excites! kuan.x
ReplyDeletehaha.. yes, and I could even get a certificate too !!
ReplyDelete