3rd Dec – Day 27, Temple 1 to Temple 3 (Ryouzenji, Gokurakuji, Konsenji)

I had a great 7 hours uninterrupted sleep last night and woke up at 3:30am! Since it was still so early, I rested another hour and half and felt really fresh after that. I was so glad there was a shower area to spend the night, or else I would be iceman and have to save the world as a superhero! The wind was so fierce last night that I thought my tent would fly off! Luckily it stood firm till the next morning.

I bid the owner farewell and set off at 7:04am. It was a very comfortable morning with nice cool breeze and wasn’t cold at all. Soon, I reached the up slope jungle path. It kept going up and up that I thought I had gone the wrong way. The path stretched all the way to 442m above sea level, just to come down right away! After the down slope, it was a 3.1km of small road and then another 5.1km of tar road with 35minutes of up slope till 324m before it started to go down and down. The whole morning was perfect, until around 11:30am, when the wind suddenly got very strong! I looked up the sky and the colour didn’t seem like a mid day’s! I moved faster and hoped for the best, but soon it started to drizzle. Luckily I found a spot to unload and wore the poncho for “Ah Wing”. I overshot the earlier henro turn and came to the Michi-no-eki (rest area). It was next to a tourist spot, German House, where German prisoners were held there during World War 1. Not surprisingly, there was a German restaurant at the rest area and I had a sausage for lunch, and couldn’t resist a bottle of beer for my dinner later.

15 minutes later, I reached Temple 1. The full henro gears could be found there, including the English guide that I was using! While the temple staff was writing the stamp for me, she explained that the wordings were actually the name of the temple. I bought 10 souvenirs there and got one free from the shop attendant, and I thought I got a bargain but found out later that Temple 2 was actually selling 100yen cheaper each!!

By now, the rain had stopped but the wind didn’t. If I wasn’t carrying “Ah Wing”, I would probably be blown away! Temple 2 was just another 15 minutes away. I met an o-henro-san who must be wanted to meet a Filipino maid badly!
“Where are you from?”
“I come from Singapore.”
“Oh.. Philippines!”
“No, Singapore”
“Oh, Singapore! I’m going there in January. Your Japanese is not bad”
“Haha.. Not really. I studied in Singapore.”
“Oh.. Philippines!”
“No, Singapore”
“So, you will go back to Philippines after this?”
“No, Singapore.”
“Oh Singapore, I’m very sorry.”
“It’s ok”
“Is Philippine is very hot? Can I just wear short sleeve?”
Anyway!! The temple staff who did my stamp was really pretty with long eyelashes!! Didn’t want to make it too obvious, I just had a few glimpse once a while! And oh, I saw the wedding ring! Almost wanted to pray again and come back for my stamp another round!

On the way to Temple 3, I saw a free lodging-like place, but it was way too far from Temple 2. Thought I could end the day at Temple 3, but sadly again, the staff said there wasn’t any free lodging around until Temple 10! I decided to trust the guide again and went to Temple 5 (which was very near Temple 4 as well) and to give it a try. Managed to be there by 4 plus, and thankfully there was one about 1km away for 300yen. The place was pretty old but at least it was sheltered. I got a free prune for the stay! I think I was lucky to be just on time because the owner would probably had left by 5pm. On the way to Temple 5, I used my sunglasses for the first time in Japan! Not only did it shield the direct sunlight, the sunglasses also protected me from the strong wind which kept blowing particles to my eyes. And, oh! I looked cool on it! =]

Since I was too smelly after so many hikes, I cleaned up myself first before I went to a Udon restaurant that I saw on the way to the temple. There wasn’t any soup Udon to go with my tempura and settled with fried udon. It was delicious and the owner gave me a sushi rice as “o-settai”. After my meal, she passed me 3 more sushi rice for breakfast tomorrow! I thanked her very much with a name slip and left just half an hour later because they were closed at 6pm! I pop over to the convenient store just opposite and thankfully, there were seats available. A guy saw me writing my name slip and asked if I was a henro. If I didn’t understand wrongly, I think he was a priest who did those praying for o-henro-san at the temples! He later got me a fried chicken as “o-settai”.

Today, I had left Kagawa Prefecture for good and came to Tokushima Prefecture. Goodbye Udon and Hello Ramen. Sato-san told me that the four prefectures in Shikoku had something famous of their own. Kagawa-ken was Udon, and Tokushima-ken was well-known for their Ramen! Kochi-ken was unique for it’s sashimi called Sawachi Ryouri, while Ehime-ken’s mikan (orange) was a must-eat there!

I finished my blog and wasn’t hungry yet to eat my tempura which was going to expire tomorrow! Soon, the smell of the instant noodle from the guy next to me, instilled my appetite again! After my supper, I went back to the lodging and slept at 9:30pm!

Today, I added another 26.5km to my pilgrimage.