9 mountains - 19.5.11 (Day 2 - Sunrise-less Taishan!)

It was really a challenge to fall asleep. Probably I still needed some time to tune my clock. At 4:10am, my alarm rang out loud. Struggled for a while before I started getting changed. Soon the staff came to wake everyone at 4:20am as promised.

Sunrise-less dejected look!

Waiting patiently for the sunrise!

After getting my share of the toilet, I still had to wait for the rest of the group to get ready. When many started to get impatient, the tour guide told us not to worry. He guaranteed we would get to see the sunrise. While waiting, I saw a few tents set up just outside the hotel!! Soon many gave up and moved on first. I followed suit since everyone was going the same direction.

Knitting in process..

Taishan heavenly stone steps!

When we all reached the viewing point, it was roughly the time for sunrise. Half an hour later, the sun was still hiding behind the cloudy sky. Many started to return to their lodging. I hung around enjoying the breeze, till I started to feel cold. Walked back to my bed dejected. It was 6am. I jumped right back to sleep for a solid 3.5hours!! Woke up to find a place for my breakfast. The area was already crowded again with many tour groups.

There was some competition going on. Some hikers in couple were wearing the running number on their shirts.

I decided to walk up to the pavilion on top for a better view while having my bread. Sweat up all the way only to have a couple of bites. After which, I had a very strong urge and rushed down to my lodging again for the toilet!

Wasn't hungry anymore, I started my descend at 10:40am. Stopped shortly for a watermelon.

Famous tree at Taishan

Huge incense!

There was no sun today. So, it was a cooling stroll down. Reached the middle point at 12pm and decided to eat something first. I realized the beef noodle was all the same up in the mountains!!

Natural my foot reflexology

My disciple from Taishan!

I already planned to go the western route. According to the map, it should be following the bus path. After getting some direction, I started strolling down the slope on the main road at 12:20pm. It was very relaxing since it was down slope all the way until I reached a jungle path. It looked promising and I decided to be adventurous. It wasn't too bad and I started to enjoy my walk. At least the view was better but the best part was getting away from the crowd. After some 10min or so I reached the main road again. Took a short break and saw some locals picking wild berries and vegetable. The lady told me something about the berries which I couldn't catch much of wha she said. She pointed up the tree. I told her I saw some over a corner. She replied those were not ripe yet. They directed me to the jungle path again. After a short while, I reached the main road once again and met the river. The water was very tempting. Quickly find my way down, I took off my boots and dipped into the freezing water!! Hardly could last for 10sec for each dip! Took some pictures and dried up to move on. My feet felt so refreshed and powered up.

Along the way, i saw a very beautiful bird with feather on the head. Before I could take out my camera, it flew off.

Check out the beers chilling in the pond!!

The swimmer was damn cool!

Soon I reached a bus stop and checked out the map there. I could follow a hiking trail from here all the way down! And so I went to Wuji temple. Crossed the Longevity Bridge. Passed the Black Dragon Pool, ventured through a bee hive and finally reached a dam! Down at the pool, I saw a couple having a dip too while enjoying some cold beer!! Wished I were there. The dam was huge and many were seen swimming! As I walked further down, I saw many were on the way up carrying tongs to fill them up with water!

Beehive and the owner!

At around 2:30pm, I eventually reached the town. Saw the main road which would lead to the railway station. Followed along for a while and came to an Internet cafe! Since I still have heaps of time before my train depart at 10:15pm, I spent an hour there checking out my next destination.

Taishan's Thor!!

After that I walked to the city centre hoping to look for a shopping centre with wifi access. Unfortunately, I had no luck. Got hungry and stopped at a noodle shop. It was not bad and the green tea was most refreshing. It was icy cold!!! After that, I went to get a towel to clean up in case I couldn't find a place to take a shower. Spent the next 1.5hours in the Internet cafe. It was really cheap in China for rmb2-3 an hour. Popped into a restaurant next door and glad I made that choice! Great dinner finally!! Local mushroom chicken. I think they cooked the whole chicken! The serving was so huge that I couldn’t finish my rice! Very tempted to drink beer when the owner asked me for the 2nd time. I noticed some patrons even bargained in the restaurant when paying the bill!! My rice was free!!

The uncle's private swimming pool!

I went back to the small lodging I asked earlier looking to get an hour rest and take a shower. However they didn't accept foreigners! I went to another wrong lodging before that and they didn't accept foreigners too.

I tried my luck at a big lodging which wanted rmb60 initially. I managed to bargain for 20rmb discount instead. Couldn't complain too much. The room with the toilet was clean and I get to use a towel as well. After my shower, there was still time for some update on NBA playoff on TV.

Half an hour before departure, I walked across to the train station. This train looked cleaner. It was from Qingdao all the way to Chengdu! I managed to get a lower berth but it seemed to be smaller than the upper berth! Planned my trip for tomorrow and knocked off to bed at 11pm. I tend to have this phobia of falling asleep now. I think only around 12am I started my dream!

9 mountains - 18.5.11 (Day 1 - One with Eyes Must Know Taishan!)

5:25am! I was well awoken by my alarm set. Surprisingly I didn't feel sleepy at all. Only the head was spinning a bit. Quickly brushed my teeth and got ready to alight.

Taishan hero!

Amazing feat!

The adventure began! Finding the bus stop while avoiding all the invading tout as I trying to act I know the way. Round 1 wasn't that bad because at least I knew there was public bus which goes to the mountain entrance. After asking a couple of strangers, I was at the road with the right name based on my lonely planet. You know you need to ask a few times in China because, you would usually just get a one-sentence answer, "there", and pray they don't actually pointing you the wrong way. On the road, I couldn't find the "right" person to ask again. It was on the left, but my sense of direction did not surprise me and I took the right turn. I ended at the long distance bus stop. Anyway, it was just a half an hour walk when I finally walked back and found the bus stop. Thinking the bus no 3 would not come so soon since I saw a couple of them just passed by, I had my breakfast at a stall next to the bus stop. Sad beef noodle. The beef was probably canned meat. The soya bean was still not too bad. While ordering, I saw another bus no 3!! Luckily the bus was pretty frequent. The ride was about 15-20minutes. I reached the main entrance and started my hike at 7:30am.

Young worshipers looking
for 8 trillion charm!

Amazing worshipers
hiking all the way up!

There were as many souvenir shops as there were tourists!! After about 15minutes walk, I reached the ticket office. There really wasn't much view along this central route. There were 2 more routes but only the other western route was more popular where people usually descend from. Noticed a lot of babies and kids where all their pants were baring the backside. Also saw some people kneeling down to pray after every start of a series of steps!! It had to be the most daunting task to reach to the top!!

A man told me along the way, "The bird is calling hai hao hai hao. (still ok in mandarin)"! Interestingly, the birds really made it sound like that. Stopped for a rest after 1.5hours. Rested again after 10 minutes walk more. I started to feel the strenuous!! Finally I reached the mid point in 1hour and 45min. There wasn't much a view at all along the hike. Mainly stones, temples, more stones and more temples! Took a 10min break and started my hike up again.
I told myself, "What is Taishan, when you can see ladies in high heel and skirts strolling up like the others?!"

Famous bridge rocks!

Interesting hotel!

Took a break half an hour later. It was 10am already but it was so sunny that made the hike up a very sweaty task. The hikers really came in all ranges, from couples, family with young kids, young girls carrying joss sticks on their back and even 80-90years old grandma and grandpa!!

Again there wasn't much view on the way up. Mainly only stones, temples, more stones and more temples. Whenever you reach a temple, someone would toss you a joss stick, hoping you would pray and pay a donation.

Steps view from the peak!

Taishan highest point!

After 1.5hours under the very hot sun, I finally struggled to the south gate at the peak! As I did the final 200 steps or so, I could see others stopping besides me panting just like myself. I could not even finished the last 20 steps without stopping. I lost count the number of times I had stopped to catch my breath.

My den at the peak!

After taking a long break, I began to explore the area and checked out two of the lodging. Both had ran out of dorm (which I doubted so) and charged rmb150 for a single bed. Both bathroom were equally bad. I settled one with a lockable room. The bed sheet and pillow case must have been there since they started business. Luckily the attendant changed them gladly when I asked, although I would wish they changed the blanket too.

Salty wild vege!

After settling down my stuffs, I went for lunch. The beef noodle was worse than my breakfast. It didn't even looked like beef at all!!! The owner also persuaded me to order a Taishan wild vegetables. It wasn't that bad except too salty and pricy. In fact, the other 2 lady customers came over to my table when they were leaving, and told me that it was expensive but I was still willing to eat. They said if I told my girlfriend about this, she would definitely marry me!!!
Managed to finish off 90% of the vegetables until my beef noodle soup became salty as well!! Left with a big stomach!!

Taishan lovely couple!

Taishan red wall!

It was still very sunny but not as hot since the peak was windy. After walking around and took some pictures, I met a girl from Fujian. We chatted for an hour and half! She was 23! She told me about how the match-making by her parents were done! She told me how Chinese parents didn't like their son-in-law to be too much older than their daughter! She told me about her boyfriend wanting to leave her! She told me how she regretted not listening to her parents! She came alone by the cable car! She left the same way.

Taishan's view!

Taishan at the peak

After being a part-time counsellor, I continued to explore the rest of the peak! Covered almost all the area, including the highest point of Taishan at 1545m! Came to an isolated area and sat there taking a rest, listening to the beautiful sound of a bird and the wind. By now, I noticed my camera battery was one bar lesser. 2 bars more to go. Initially my plan was just 3 mountains. Now that I was covering 9, I guess my camera couldn't last till the end of the trip, without the changer along.

I hung around a little more before going back to have an early shower at 5pm. After that, I was too exhausted and took a nap. Only woke up 2 hours later to have my dinner. Didn't feel too well. I guess I was in shorts earlier on and the chill had me. But after the meal, I felt better.

Brushed my teeth and wrote this till now at 9:46pm!! Time to get some sleep again. Tomorrow would need to wake up at 4:20am for the sunrise!! Hope it would be a good one =]

9 mountains - 17.5.11 (Day 0 - Traveling in the train)

My dear sister present!

My sister gave me a very nice notebook, titled 化骨绵掌! For me to fill it up my craziness where ever I go. I wanted so much to write on them. But in the end, I could not resist the technology temptation and used my iPhone instead. I didnt like this excuse but my writing sucks as well especially when I write in a hurry. Often I can't remember what I wrote later!

So here am I again after months since my first adventure at Shikoku for the 88 temples pilgrimage. After slacking for a month at Shanghai, I finally had to get out of my comfort zone and start my overdued adventure!! You know it's not an easy endeavor when you noticed the huge gap between the changes. Before was getting drunk everyday and lazied at the sofa the next afternoon. And now, I would be dealing with many uncertainties of getting lost and scammed, not to mention the physical demand to reach the peaks!

I already started panting on my way walking to the next subway station. I guessed my weekly gym sessions had all gone down the drain by those beer!

My cosy upper bunk for the night ride!

I reached Shanghai railway station just about the timing. After a 5 minutes wait, we were allowed to board. I wondered why the train wasn't labelled. After a few rounds of asking the officers, I finally reached mine and found my ward. The lower berth wasn't too bad but I could only get the upper one when I bought the ticket last night. Probably the fault of last minute's job. But then, this whole trip was going to be all last minute's work!! There wasn't any stair but just a step for you to support yourself up. Too bad there wasn't any nice babe in the 4-berth sharing cabin.

At 9:52pm the train departed on time. Estimated arrival at Taishan station was 5:59am. I started to worry if I would miss the stop! Yes, my first stop was Taishan. Then it would followed by Songshan, Wutaishan, Hengshan (north), Huashan, Emeishan, Hengshan (south), Jiuhuashan, and finally Putuoshan before taking the train back to Shanghai around one month later. According to my raw schedule. Very raw indeed. No accommodation booked. Not even sure how to go to most of the mountains, I have a big task ahead especially when one was traveling in China!! Actually, my initial plan was just to cover Taishan, Songshan and Huashan!! I just decided this morning that I might as well do the rest at the same time!!!

After reading up on Yap's very much outdated lonely planet, I started to get bored at 10:17pm.
Trying hard to go to bed at 10:30pm. The earliest since I was in China!! As expected, it was a struggle. Hardly could get any sleep. Not to mention the fear of overslept. Last saw my watch, it said 3:40am!!

3rd Jan – Mission 2 (Bangai 14)

I woke up fresh although still doubtful on my endeavor! Walked over to enjoy my breakfast at mcD.

Wasn't really sure what to do but obviously I knew I needed a good sign! Had seen it so many times in those Hollywood movies. So I went online and typed "hitch hiking in japan" on Google! Found a fellow hitch-hiker website and there was an old saying he wrote that really hit me and built up my confidence especially. "If there is a will, there is a way!"

I quickly went back to the lodging, made my sign, and raring to go and try my luck. I had two places written on a piece of paper slightly bigger than A4 size. One side was my final destination, Kawanoe and the other was the next nearest town, Matsuyama, both in Kanji letters!! I learned from the website that nearer destination could increase my chances of getting a ride! So I planned to try Kawanoe for 30minutes before I switch to Matsuyama. It was around 9am. To the Americans or the westerners, this could be very normal. But for me, I couldn't believe I was actually standing beside the roadside, holding a sign and pointing my thumb to the desired direction!!! None of the cars going into the expressway making any eye contact. Then a car going straight to Uchiko direction turned and waved to me at the traffic light. I quickly ran over and he was willing to pick me!!! This was amazing!! I was waiting for less than 5minutes!!

Akiyama- san was 67. He mentioned Uchiko, which was a town just slightly further up! I wasn't bothered how short the ride would be caused I was so thrilled to have my first hitch-hiked!! When I found out later he was actually passing by my destination, I felt like the luckiest guy on earth!!

When I asked about his job, Akiyama-san just placed his index finger on the lip, and said it was a secret!! Very interesting indeed!! He said Japan's economy is going down, while Malaysia was on the way up!!

We stopped for a toilet break and had some fried potato and coffee! Akiyama-san told me their GPS was using satellite too but theirs worked so well in tunnels and sheltered areas!!

It was a very quick 2 hours ride! Akiyama-san dropped me at the town area. I kept bowing until his car was out of sight! I hate myself again for missing the chance to get his contact or at least take a picture!!

I felt so excited! My mission was half done!! I grabbed a quick lunch and made my way to the Kawanoe train station 3km away! I walked passed a shopping street. The atmosphere felt like Chinese New Year. Only a handful of shops were opened!

Finally when I was at the station, the staff mentioned that there wasn't any bus on service to the temple that day! The only way besides cab was to walk 5km! And I had to come back to the station again to take the train to Takamatsu! I timed myself for the return trip and checked the train schedule! Left a voice message for Hajime-chan on my expected arrival time in the evening, and started walking very happily to the temple!

On the way, I saw a young lady sitting very shyly at the back of a bicycle. The guy was riding confidently and looked back to make sure she was ok! Saw another lady smiling very joyfully on her bicycle. I thought she must have received a great news from her boyfriend!

About 1.4km later I saw a man in a car and tried my hitch-hiking luck again. He waved a no sign and pointed to the post office just shortly in front. He was going to the post office. After he parked his car, I met him on my way! We exchanged the usual greeting questions and then he offered to send me all the way to the temple!! Takaaki Ishizu-san was 71years old! He even offered to bring me back to the train station after my visit to the temple!! I was really stunned by his generosity!!

At the temple, the staff remembered me too! I passed him my nameslip. Ishizu-san walked over to chat. Coincidently, the staff knew his wife! The staff also gave us each a charm as gift!

Ishizu-san worked at Koden electronic and was an expert in electronic waves and wireless equipment! He had his own shop now for 40years, Arco, dealing with air conditioner! Before that, he had been to Singapore and KL many times. His wife is a congresswoman for Kawanoe!! Had been in service for 12 years, where there was an election once every 2 years! He was speaking English most of the time. He said he had not had the chance to speak for 30years in Japan.

At the train station, he sent me off. I couldn't thanked him more and wished him all the best. He said he looked forward to seeing me again! I hope so too.

About an hour, I reached Takamatsu train station. Hajime-chan was already at the station to pick me!! I could see my remaining days in Japan to be drown by intoxication!!

“So, that’s it!! This is really the end of my story! Sad to end my blog here but once again thank you to all for your well wishes and support in order for me to complete this expedition at ease. I'm glad you are enjoying the reading. I really hope to blog again soon for a new series!!! Till then, be crazy!!!”

2nd Jan – Mission 1 (Bangai 7)

Finally I woke up not having to rush! Honda-san and I went to get our breakfast at Lawson and had it back at the Bangai. Shortly after, Honda-san left to continue his pilgrimage. I finished off my bread and started cracking my head on the next trip to Kawanoe! Didn't know Bangai 14 was about 100km away! Anyway, the mission that I was mentioning and hinting during my early part of the pilgrimage was to get back to the places where I had forgotten about the osame-fuda (nameslip)! Today I was going to Bangai 7, and Bangai 14 was the other. The latter was rather tricky because taking the public transport there would defeat the purposes of the o-settai I received from the temple. And so hitch hiking was the only option but I didn't know how difficult it would be and I had not done it before. The other solution was the easy way out. Forgot about it altogether!

Today was more straight-forward. I took a train from where I stopped last evening to the station Iyo-Hirano, nearest to Bangai 7. I was very lucky to come to the station just 7min before the train arrived at 10:27am! If I would miss this, I would have to walk all the way to my destination! The next scheduled train was at 1pm!! It was a short ride. I reached Iyo-Hirano. Next, I had to find a place to keep my backpack before I hiked up to the temple. Checked out the train station but there wasn’t a good spot. Remembered the grocery shop I passed by previously and wanted to try that, but it was closed for New Year! Thinking I couldn’t possibly carry 20kg up the hill to 800m asl again, I hid it at a corner and left a note as usual!

And so, I started testing my luck on my first hitch hiking attempt!! I walked and turned around occasionally to look out for cars passing by. I pointed my thumb towards the direction they were going. The 3rd car actually stopped!! But he wasn’t going very far. Another car stopped but he was just checking. I turned to a small road. Bad move! I saw a couple of cars and missed the chances. Back to the main road, number 7th and 8th drove passed me. Suddenly, I had a wifi access. I sent a Yak message to my fellow buddies. Then, the 9th car stopped!!! They were two old ladies. I showed them my best smile. They were probably trying to test and make sure I wasn’t some sicko serial killer, before picking me up!!! On the way, I realized they were actually going to the temple too!!! I was overjoyed!! I always believe when the heart is true, things will go your way to help you!! And we should always try to do something sincerely and not just because we wanted something else in return!

There were many people at the temple today! Japanese goes to the temple for praying during New Year. I saw the temple staff again. Passed him the name slips I owed them. We chatted. They took my pictures, but somehow I didn’t take their!! One of the old man even filmed me using his video camera! I went to have my Udon for lunch and met the lady boss. She remembered me before I needed to explain. I passed her the nameslip. She gave me another package of rice as o-settai. I returned with another slip. After a short stay, I bid them farewell and headed back.

I took the same jungle path I came up from two months ago. Walking along the main road would be too far if I failed to get hitch-hiked. I noticed people left things behind along the trail too. I saw a glove and a folded sock on the way down. As soon as the jungle path met the road again, I tried my luck on hitch hiking again. After a successful first attempt, I was more confident. Not many cars were going down. 1st car, no good. 2nd car, no good. 3rd car, no good. By now, I had walked an hour plus. Stopped to take a break and had the rice from the restaurant lady’s boss. I was really a sucker not even knowing their names!!

Then I came down to the main road again. Saw a car and a youngster. He was going down the way!!! I was so glad I didn’t have to walk further! Save a few more kilometers! He was picking up his friend. And his friend was wondering who was this alien in the car!

When I was at the station, I missed the train by just 10min. The next one was 1.5hours later!! I decided to walk to the next two stations which I supposed there should have more trains! In the end, I took the same train it would be from the original location, Iyo-Hirano! And I was so proud of myself to walk 54min for saving 10yen on the train ride!!!!! Anyway, it was all worth it because I saw, not one, but two Miss Japan beauty contestants, working at the train control station together! Of course not true la. But if I were the judge, they would have gone into the Finals!

I reached Bangai 8 lodging again, and got the permission to stay another night. Had my bath at the ofuro nearby and then a simple dinner at the restaurant with the wifi access. I could not wait for supper at the Mac and dropped dead on the bed at 10pm!!

1st Jan – Day 56 (Last Day), Temple 41 to 43 (Ryuukouji, Butsumokuji, Meisekiji)

Happy New Year!! The first day of 2011! And the last day of my crazy expedition! After 55 days of craziness, I was left with only one final day!! I had lost all senses. The excitement had not hit me yet! In fact, I felt more miserable instead and was going to miss the adventure very much!

I started at 8:07am and it was another snowing day. It was much tougher to walk on the snow, and it got thicker along the pedestrian path as I went further! At some slope, the cars couldn’t move as well. I was very worried about my shoe getting wet, because the snows were basically covering my whole feet! Finally I think the cold moisture managed to slip through and my toes had a hard time since. My fingers and toes seemed to take turns feeling the pain! About an hour plus, I took a break at a shelter to stay away from the heavy snow for a while. After another break, I finally reached Temple 41 in three hours! The temple staff had fallen asleep. I tried to alert the old lady a few times but she couldn't seem to hear. So I waited patiently for the old lady to wake up. Luckily it wasn’t for too long. It must have been tough for her to work on New Year day!

I moved on to Temple 42 and came to a jungle path. The view was breath-taking!! Too beautiful to describe in words, that I had it recorded! Throughout the walk, I had been playing with the snows on and off, like a kid. I just couldn’t refuse the invitation because they were so white and clean and beautiful!! After an hour, I arrived at the last 108th temple of my pilgrimage! The snow had created a scenic around the temple and I took quite a number of shots. Met a few people at the temple, including a cyclist o-henro-san, and boasted around that I was finishing the pilgrimage today!!

Finally to complete the circle and ultimately end my expedition, I made my way to temple 43 again. It was a long and final 10.9km!! I had been following a foot step along the main road that brought me to a jungle path. It must have been a fellow o-henro-san, since the jungle path was a henro path! I took many pictures and a couple of video too! At 389 a.s.l., it started to go downwards. Had a few scary moments, but managed to maintain my balance and avoided a fall! But, the jungle down slope was fun. You wouldn’t know if you were going to plunge into a hole!! Every step I took, my whole feet were basically inside the snow! And, I like my Goretex! The falling snow hit my pants and rebounded like bullets bouncing off from a superman skin!!

Soon, I started to see signs indicating the distance to the temple. 7.7km, 7.0km, 5.1km, 4.6km, 3.2km! All the memories flashed back!! Like I had never started my journey yet at all!! The junctions to the Museum, the high school! Everywhere looked so familiar except this time, the places were covered with snows! As I had not eaten anything since breakfast, I stopped at Lawson to have probably my last convenient store’s bento set for this trip! Moved on again at 3:30pm. 0.8km, 0.6km and finally the last 400m upslope to the car park!! I saw many people coming down after their visit to the temple. I did my last prayer! Walked over to the temple stamp office and met the same staff! After some reminder, he recalled! He asked for my name. I got my last temple stamp and officially ended my Shikoku 88 Temples Pilgrimage (Shikoku Hachiju-Hakka sho) on 1st January 2011 at 4:44pm!! I got a little excited and sent a SMS to my sister!! I went over to the shop near the temple and to pay the owner a visit. He was as usual standing at the entrance greeting everyone passing by! He congratulated me and invited me in for a drink. I apologized because I had to rush to Bangai 8 where I was planning to spend the night at the free lodging next to the Bangai. I hurried to the Unomachi train station, but the next train was only at 6pm. While I was catching my breath, I realized I’d left behind one more thing in this pilgrimage! My mat! Probably at the snowy jungle path on my way down at the slope! Anyway, at least, I wasn’t naked as I initially thought I would be!

Slightly before an hour, I reached Gorou station. According to the map, it looked pretty close. Luckily there were signs in the dark to follow. The Mac Donald sign! The temple was closed to the restaurant. Reached around 7:30pm and met the same guy I saw at Uwajima! Honda-san, from Saitama too, was on holidays. I could not recognize him initially until he reminded me! I excused myself soon to have dinner and bath before they closed. Celebrated my completion with a steak rice! After shower, I was dead tired and could hardly open my eyes. Wanted to stay up longer, but as soon as I dropped on the futon, I was gone…..

Today was the last day of my pilgrimage and I ended it with the final 26.5km!

“And that was how the story ended. It was an amazing journey, with many ups and downs. I walked during day and night. I walked on sunny and rainy days. I walked through windy and snowy days! I spent nights at many amazing free lodging, in my tent, on the benches and even toilets! It was never the destination but the experience along the way. I could not expressed in words how thankful I was to meet so many great people throughout the pilgrimage. But the most important of all… was everyone of you who had been coming back to this blog for more. It was you who kept me going from one temple to another! I did not expect my crazy daily routine could bring laughter and entertainment to anyone! Every day I was so looking forward to the next opportunity to upload my stories! And 56 days seemed like 56 hours! At one end, I was thrilled and proud of myself for making this crazy trip a reality. On the other end, I somehow felt heavy hearted that the pilgrimage had ended because I would not be able bring anymore laughter to my fellow readers! Till the next craziness, thanks again to everyone for spending the time here and I hope you had a crazy time just like I did !! Kio tsuketene !”

31st Dec – Day 55, Bangai 6 (Ryuukouin)

It was a great sleep last night. Couldn't wake up this morning!! Around 7:15am, I had to pinch my butt to get out of the bed! My schedule was hay-wired!! When I was having my breakfast, I was shocked to see outside the window that everywhere was covered with snows!!!

The owner, Asada-san was a very delicate and thoughtful person. Even our slippers were organized nicely outside the dining room, although we kept going in and out! He would also help to heat up your food and volunteer to keep your things in the fridge and prepared everything well organized for you! This youth hostel was really well maintained by him and his wife. Later I even noticed all the hand towels around were changed daily!!

I finally left the hostel at 9:30am! There was a park just besides it with a nice view of the city! Could even catch a glimpse of the famous Uwajima Castle, one of those still remain at its original form since 400 years ago!

I was walking to this sex museum and it was still snowing lightly! The snow fell gently on my face and it was pretty cool, for someone like me who came from outer space! I was really enjoying my walk feeling very thrilled seeing heavy snows in the city! I thought of enjoying the view all the way, but soon it got very heavy that I had to get sheltered before I was buried with snows! Today, I felt more like a tourist and almost forgotten I was still a walking henro!

After a short half an hour walk, I reached the museum. Paid the 800yen entrance fee and felt excited about what I was going to discover inside! It was a three storey museum, but I really thought one level would already be sufficient! Kind of not what I expected. I was looking for something more educational, but it turned out to be more artistic instead. There were many paintings and pictures; artifacts and statues. Nevertheless, I took my time to make the 800yen worth! After around an hour, I almost read the fine-print as well! Left discontented! Went to look for lunch and just stepped in one not too expensive to avoid the heavy snow! But after the 700yen meal, I was still hungry and unhappy again!!

I walked over to the train station to check out the fare and distance to various destinations for my next mission after the pilgrimage tomorrow! By now, it was already 12pm and I was basically inclined to stay another night at the hostel. It might have been better to walk further 8km to sleep out at a Michi-no-eki so that tomorrow would be a more relaxing day! But I thought maybe I should not be too harsh to myself to cross the New Year Day in a toilet again!!

And so I started my pilgrimage today at 12:30pm and ended it in 30 minutes later!! I walked over to Bangai 6, which was pretty nice! I supposed so since it was situated in the center of the city and became a tourist attraction. Probably if I dropped by slightly earlier or later of the day, it would be even more scenic with the thicker snow! I came right at the time when it was sunny and with melted snow everywhere around. The temple staff was very friendly and spoke English with me! He knew Asada-san too and complimented him a very nice guy as well! He later passed me an envelope as o-settai, which I thought it contained only the charm. I thanked him with the name slip and left to find out that he actually returned me the 300yen temple stamp fee too!! I felt more obliged to complete my next mission after the pilgrimage!

After the temple visit, I was pretty aimless and my basic instinct just brought me to the Mc Donald to eat again! I got myself another key strap! And this time round, with a hot drink!! Who said you must have LARGE cold drink to get the key strap?!

Next, I realized I had a problem! I had run out of money and the banks were closing for 3 to 4 days due to the New Year! Glad the post office has an ATM that accepted PLUS bank card, and I was many thousands yen richer again!!

Didn’t know where to go next, I just sat outside the shopping mall to go online and waited for the time to get my dinner and breakfast. Saw a couple of ladies from China speaking mandarin. I tried to impress with a few of my own, but obviously I failed miserably! They left uninterested!

Around 3:30pm, I tried to go back to the stall selling 250yen meal box. Couldn't find it initially and went in a supermarket instead. There weren’t many choices for dinner. Decided to go back to Sunshine supermarket that I went yesterday. On the way, I found the 250yen shop but sadly it was already closed! Just when I was about to reach the supermarket, I saw a stall selling set meals and got my dinner there instead. Walked back to the hostel in heavy snow again! Wanted to count the 600 steps again but I missed the sign!

Today, there were many more guests at the hostel. And the owners were preparing special dinners for them. So, I waited to have dinner together. I had my showered and started enjoying my internet access. When it was time for meal, the host made some announcements that there would be some celebration at the shrine nearby at 11:30pm. Dinner was served shortly and I also treated a bottle of Asahi beer and a bowl of Udon with lots of ingredients as “o-settai”!! There was even a music performance from the hosts! Asada-san and his kids were playing the music instruments! I was so full after the meal!

I spent the rest of the night uploading my blog using the dead slow access, drinking the boozes and eating junk food to celebrate the New Year! Around 11:40pm, Asada-san gathered everyone to the shrine but only 6 brave souls dared the cold outside, including Asada-san and his daughter! We went to the temple first. Asada-san explained that it was a custom to ring the bell there twice to purify yourself before New Year. Kind of like getting rid of all the bad things behind and start afresh in the new year! Then, we walked over to the shrine to pray for good year ahead! There were many people at the shrine, and the staffs were handling out hot sweet sake for free! I tried some and it tasted like “bo bo cha cha” (A kind of Chinese hot dessert)! After a brief stay, we went back to the hostel where we pop a cracker each and wished everyone “Happy New Year”! I thanked Asada-san very much for inviting me to join them, and dived into my bed at 1am!

Today was the 2nd last day and I had a wonderful 1.5km walk for my pilgrimage, thanks to the “interesting” Sex Museum!