30th Nov – Day 24, Mima City (Natsuko Hut)

I took it slow today. Managed to catch some good rest and woke up around 6:30am. I started off my breakfast first and then Yumi-chan joined in. Hajime-chan cooked us some soup too! After our meal, Hajime-chan drove us all to our last stop point. On the way, I heard Andy Hui’s “喜欢你是你” and Jacky Cheung’s 每天爱你多一些” in Japanese version on Hajime-chan’s iPod.

I was sent off first at Temple 87. We took pictures together there and soon it was time to say goodbye. We all hugged and wished each other best of wishes. I bowed and thanked Hajime-chan very much for everything!!

As we were about to part, Hajime-chan’s car engine suddenly couldn’t start! The car missed me! Luckily, there was another vehicle came into the temple very soon later. With the help of the battery charger, his car managed to start immediately. We bid each other farewell again, and soon it was left with me and myself! All those o-henro-san whom I met had already completed their pilgrimage and I still had a long long way to go. I had lost some motivation.

After many days in the town and city area, the following 3 to 4 days will be outskirt and less convenience, especially to get food. Today I would need to stay at a hut with nothing around, before I set off to Bangai 20 early the following morning. So, at the last convenience store, I stopped and got all my meals for 2 days. The store owner gave me another set of bread as “o-settai”! I passed him my name slip. He said he had been to Singapore 10 years ago!

There was a Pilgrim Community Center just another 500m away. As suggested by the gang, I went in to check out the place and saw Hajime-chan there!! This place is called Maeyama Ohenro Koryu Salon, where walking henro who completed the trail may get a certificate!! Hajime-chan was there to help me to talk to the staff if I could get one, since I had not completed yet. The staff was very kind to suggest sending him the certificate once I informed them that I had completed at Temple 43 (Meisekiji), and Hajime-chan volunteered to send the certificate to me!! I couldn’t thank him more! Hajime-chan was the 1200th henro who completed the walk since the Salon had started (not sure when), and Yumi-chan was the next one! I wondered if I could get a number too!!

We met a 79 year-old man there, who attempted to carry my bag! Ishika-san had walked many different countries including some Eastern Europe as well! He had also walked around the coastal of whole Japan for 4 months and wrote 3 books on that, which were available in the library! He gave us a name card! I also saw the same cyclist o-henro-san that I met on Day 4, 10th Nov, but did not talk to him. Hajime-chan and I also got a treat from the Salon with a bowl of wonderful Udon soup! Soon after the nice meal, I set off and we bid each other farewell once again for the 3rd time! Just opposite, I saw a public phone and tried my luck on the lodging near Bangai 20. They were way too expensive.

Too lazy to turn back for the original henro path, I took the main road which was pretty straight forward for an extra 1.2km. The main road sloped up to 300m gradually, but I probably skipped the tougher uphill at the jungle trail. After just 11 minutes, I already looked at my watch to see when was the next time to take a break! At a junction, I took the “short cut” and continued the main road instead of the longer henro path based on the map! I wondered why. Usually, the map would show the shortest possible path.

Today, I crossed over to Tokushima Prefecture, but only temporary since Bangai 20 and Temple 88 were still in Kagawa-ken. Along the way, I thought I might not get a vending machine and bought a coffee for my tea break later. Instead, there were still many around along the main road. Along the way, I passed by a house, and an old lady gave me two fruits. I thanked her and gave her my name slip. She was surprised and gave me two more of the fruits! I had 2 of them and they were very sweet.

Feeling rather bored, I turned on my iTune. “It’s a Sing along Song, that’s that too long.. it’s when I think about you, that I hear songs….” “Sing along Song” by Khalil Fong. Next number was Smooth Criminal and I couldn’t help dancing and did the MJ’s walk along the empty highway, like I was filming a MTV!

Very soon at around 3:20pm, I reached the hut after passing by some very nice view of the dam nearby, and finished for the day. The hut wasn’t too bad, except there wasn’t a vending machine, but at least I got the power plug inside the toilet. There was a small shop just next to the hut but only hot coffee was my interest. There was also a stall outside which was selling the rice cereal. I bought one after test tasting it out and thought I could have it with my milk too! But later, the husband gave me three full bags of different rice cereal as “o-settai”!! It was a little too much for myself but I couldn’t reject and gave him my name slip.

After a long overdue delay, I finally took the time to “operate” on my general’s wound! The “operation” went pretty smoothly except a couple of hiccups when the thread came off and the needle poked the surgeon a couple of times! It lasted for half an hour and I was proud of myself. Unfortunately, the joy didn’t last long. While I was setting up my tent, my 30 minutes hard sweat was only workable for 20 minutes! I’d torn it again when I was squatting. But, this time I finally remembered to take a photo of my tent!

Wanted to get a hot coffee for my dinner, but the shop had already closed at 5pm. After my meal, I planned my trip and wrote the name slips. Then, I went into the toilet to clean up and changed to warmer clothing. It was another cold night even without the wind! Since the power plug was there, I spent the next hour or so inside the toilet, updating my blog! The shop owner was looking for me! She said she was calling out in front of my tent for a while only to find me in the toilet!! She gave me a corn soup and another lady with her gave me a fried tempura!! I thanked them very much, gave them my name slips and saw them off in their respective cars. I went back in to the toilet and stop my update at 8:30pm to sleep early. Tomorrow I had to walk more than 30km again to reach a decent place to sleep at Temple 88! Besides, I wouldn’t want to scare the hell out of those who came into the toilet. The lights would go off after a while and I almost scared one who came in. Then, on the second occasion, I was too late to get up from my seat to turn the sensor light on again, and when the guy came in, he was shocked and got frighten! I apologized many times.

Today, I took the shorter path and did not manage to meet the 20km target, but walked about 18.9km.