7th Dec – Day 31, Bangai 2 (Dougakuji), Temple 13 to 16 (Dainichiji, Jourakuji, Kokubunji, Kan-onji)

Had a great rest for almost 9 hours! Left the lodging around 6:30am. The road was wet. Must had rained last night. I could still felt water droplets falling on my face! I walked to the trail that I planned yesterday. It was dark and upslope. I saw the other option. Bright down slope tar road! Didn’t want to get sweat so early of the day, I decided to change my plan and went for the 4km longer route. Glad I made the choice, because the view along the river was great, and it would probably be very wet and slippery at the jungle path.

My eye sight seemed to get poorer! I couldn’t see the wording on the road signs from far!! Bought a cold coffee again from the vending machine! Luckily, the guy at convenient store just ahead was nice enough to exchange for me. Actually this town was just half an hour away from my “nabe” place! Should had stayed here instead with a lot more options on food and a convenient store as well!! Didn’t see the map clearer again.

On the way, I saw an accident, which probably had just happened. Luckily no one was injured, but the cars were pretty badly damaged! Soon, I reached a Michi-no-eki (rest area). Made a couple of calls to check out the lodging prices, but all were out of questions. Then, I saw a very misleading sign although I wouldn't say it was wrong. Right at a junction, the sign was pointing left exactly at the left turn, when the correct path was actually straight ahead!

Around 8:30am, it started to drizzle! I found a spot to put on the backpack’s original cover but “Ah Wing” had grown fatter and it just couldn’t fit! So, it had to wear the poncho after all and since then I was also handicapped by one hand using the umbrella. Even though I tried very hard to shelter my shoe from the rain, the surface was just too wet to walk on. Very soon, my right shoe was damp and half an hour later, my left leg turned soggy as well. Glad to past a short tunnel to avoid the rain for a while. Thought it would stop after that but only for seconds.

About 10:30am, I stopped outside a nice toilet for lunch and hoped the rain would stop. By noon, the rain finally stopped completely. As usual, I wasn’t surprised by Bangai 2 with an extra of 1km walk as compared to the map guide. 2km instead, in order to turn back to the route leading to Temple 13.

On the way, one of the resident’s dog was not tied up and running very quickly towards me. I just pretended I didn’t see him! Glad I wasn’t pounced on! I met an o-henro-san who was walking the opposite direction as well. It seemed like many were doing the reverse order too. My Chief Commander-in-charge really lived up his name! The lighting-dry feature of my New Balance worked like magic and both side of my shoes were almost as dry as it was after going through the dryer!

I tried to call the free lodging at Sakae Taxi twice using different phones but somehow the line would get cut off the moment it got through. At Temple 13, I tried the 3rd time, but there wasn’t any answer. When I was leaving, I went down a steep slope that was meant for the car instead. The road was very slippery. I lost control and “bang”, I fell hard on the ground! I was grateful it didn’t happen during one of the jungle trails instead! Surprisingly, I hurt my palm in the process.

At Temple 15, I got 2 drinks as “o-settai”. It was getting late at 4:05pm and started to drizzle again on the way to my final temple of the day, Temple 16. At that moment, the morale was super low with no fixed place to spend the night yet. The park, where I could possibly camp, was 45min walk away! I could probably take the train but it seemed troublesome to come back again.

Relieved to reach Temple 16 on time. Was worn out for the day. At the temple, there was a very nice a guy who asked me where I would be staying for the night. I wanted to say “I don't know” but simply mentioned “Sakae Taxi”. It seemed like a popular place! He knew immediately and directed me to the lodging which was, thankfully, not too far away. And it was easily found as well. I went in but couldn’t see anyone. There was a phone there and I tried to call the owner numerous times but couldn’t get through. So, I just left my bag hidden at a corner inside the room and walked around looking for food! Eating Japanese food in Chinese places, many had done before. Eating Chinese food in Japan, have you try before?! I passed by one again and thought why not. Hong Kong shrimp fried rice with a meat bun. For 930yen, it was only so-so.

I came back and tried to call again, but still couldn’t get through. I did my planning for the following day and wrote my slips, but the owner didn’t look like he would be back at all. I checked out the area and found the shower as mentioned in the guide. And, there was hot water as well!!! As I was preparing myself to the shower, I met a couple who were o-henro-san staying at the place!! They were actually at second level, with two other o-henro-san. I quickly had my bath and joined them upstairs. One of them was asleep. The others were the couple, Ako-chan (29, from Chiba near Narita airport) and Nori-chan (28, from a town near Nagoya) and another lady, Noriko-chan (31, from Kyoto). The couple started from Temple 52, while Noriko-chan was a biker travelling around Japan for 9 months and Shikoku was her last stop. She did the pilgrimage on her bike! We chatted for a long time! Ako-chan and Nori-chan were surfers!! And they could speak English very well. They had been to Australia and New Zealand on working-holiday visa for 2 years. Many Japanese did that to travel around, like Yumi-chan as well. In between, the owner came back and joined us for some time. And so, I met the famous owner with the huge reputation of approaching any female who stayed there, as mentioned in the guide! He was indeed a unique guy, taking every opportunity, in a conversation, to talk about sex and throw a lewd joke! Nevertheless, the couple who were there for 3 nights (today was their 3rd night) suggested he was a nice guy, and drove them around for sight-seeing as well!

Indeed, the Sakae Taxi was a very nice free lodging for o-henro-san with even hot shower! It was also very conveniently located. The convenient store was just next to it and the supermarket was not far away too. There were many restaurants around as well, and one was opened till 12am! I thought I would drop by for supper, but I wasn’t hungry. At around 10pm, we called it a day and went to our nice and warm beds.

With 5 temples, today was another 30-plus-kilometer-day. I had 31.8km lesser to complete my pilgrimage!