Got lazy and woke up half an hour later. Had a cup of Nescafe at the lodging and it was great! Realised my daily contact lenses were running out soon, and I thought I had 40 of them. Wore the monthly one today. Started off around 7:03am and reached Temple 4 shortly. Temple 5 was just half hour after that. There was a very nice big tree at the temple with all the leaves in yellow. Took many pictures of it.The next one, which was a Bangai, was the tough one, as usual. After an hour walk, I stopped for tea break to get ready for the tougher hike in the next hour. The sky was very clear and beautiful today. After some struggle, I’d almost forgotten the phrase and took a minute break! The one minute rest gave me so much strength to finish the rest of the path so much faster and easier! When I reached the main gate, there were 240 steps more welcoming me!
After the prayer, I left in a hurry to get away from the cold up at the temple. I was very busy with the camera on the way down. Taking it out and putting it back again into my jacket. The journey down was following the same path and it took only half the time it was to go up! My next destination was a detour to the coin laundry, but I had to pass by a supermarket to get my lunch first. Got a couple of fishes, a box of vegetable and a can drink. The microwave machine was a bonus. I could even heat up my rice that I had as “o-settai” last night.
The coin laundry was really small and old, with only 3 machines working. I had my lunch while waiting. After the grief lost of my Chief Commander-in-charge days ago, there hadn’t been any replacement since. Today, I appointed my New Balance shoe with the post since it was a well deserved promotion for its achievement so far in such a short period. I thought the celebration ceremony had to hold back because there wasn’t any shoe washer at the small and deserted coin laundry. But, there was actually another coin laundry just 5 minutes away which had it. I came back in the evening to celebrate the joyous day with my new Chief Commander-in-charge!!
It was very sunny in the afternoon and my back was burning through glass door. After my laundry, which I thought I had just done it like yesterday, I moved on to Temple 6, in t-shirt. It was a short walk and as the guide mentioned, there was really a free lodging up at the bell tower! Unfortunately, it wasn’t fully sheltered and nothing else but a square area and blankets. Anyway, I couldn’t ask for more. I asked the nearest place for food and there was a convenient store 20 minutes away. It was just 2:30pm when I ended the day. There was a phone at the temple and I was really glad to confirm my free lodging tomorrow at an onsen! They provide free lodging for walking henro! Next, I tried to call Temple 12 for the following day lodging but I wasn’t so lucky this time. I asked the staff and found out that the journey from Temple 11 to 12 would take 6 hours!! That was for “normal” walking henro, but for an abnormal or crazy henro like me with 20kg behind my back, I believed I needed to add 2 more hours for buffer. This path was one of the famous tough routes (called korogashi) in the pilgrimage with repeated uphill and downhill. And that would be when my first real test was.
There was a café just next to the temple and I managed to tap a wifi access!! Since it was still very early for dinner, I hanged around for my tea break and enjoyed the internet access. Around 5:30pm before it got darker, I went to the convenience store for my dinner. Nowadays, when I didn’t have my backpack on, I felt like I could beat Usian Bolt in 100m dash! Had the most expensive “konbini” meal! For 648yen, I could eat in a restaurant! Unfortunately, there wasn’t any seat available there. So, I bought my breakfast after that and went to the coin laundry instead for a sheltered place to sit and write my name slips. And of course, to commemorate the new Chief Commander-in-charge! After the wash, my New Balance looked like brand new! =]
It was a starry night and the night had been kind to me, so far. Saw a couple of planes and wondered when I would be looking down instead. As I was updating my blog, I suddenly got a wifi access at the laundry but it was very weak. Decided to go back to the temple and cleaned up. Too dark and overshot the turn. Prepared my bed and went to the café again to fully utilize the internet access. Thought of uploading a few photos for my fans who were yearning to see some pictures! It started to get cold and I went to bed around 11pm.
Today, I thought I had a 20km at least but just only 17.1km! Based on my latest schedule, I would need to cover 24.5km a day starting from tomorrow in order to complete the pilgrimage in 60 days! I needed to buck up again!
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