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!

30th Dec – Day 54, Uwajima City (Uwajima Youth Hostel)

The night wasn’t that bad. It was cold but I seemed to have a good rest. In fact, I woke up at 1am, thinking it was already bright! Started my walk around 7:05am but it was still pretty dimmed like it was only 6:15am a month ago! There were many vending machines along the way, but I managed to resist the urge of having my coffee! Thought I could outclass my mind and walked without one the whole morning. In the end, I was still the loser and had one around 9am!! It got colder now, but half an hour later, it became better. Around 10am, it became colder again. I stopped for my tea break at a convenient store.

Had been seeing a lot of open burning around. Some were used to fertilize the soil, some for other reasons. I wondered why the Japanese did not invent some machine to suck the smoke into a container and then recycle them!!

Very soon, it began to drizzle and quickly developed into heavy rain. I had to stop outside someone’s house to change my shoe! Walked for another two and half hours and my knees couldn’t go further anymore. So, I had my lunch at an Udon restaurant. Nothing fancy. Should had moved slightly further up to try the Joyfull restaurant that I’d always been seeing around. Looked like Udon always made my eyes heavy. Almost dozed off in my seat. After 45 minutes, I dragged myself to move on. The rain was again making me very reluctant to sleep out. So, I decided to call up a few Business Hotels. Earlier, I had tried one but it was too expensive and the Youth Hostel’s number was not valid. Before I checked on those business hotels, I had a look at my Lonely Planet and saw the recommended Youth Hostel as well. Tried that number and it worked! For only 2100yen with free internet, I couldn’t find a better reason to decline, although it was rather out of the way!

While I was browsing the Lonely Planet, I happened to notice this famous sex museum at Uwajima! I thought ever since I was on this pilgrimage, I had been missing a number of chances to visit great sight-seeing places around. And why not going to an interesting sex museum instead!! Since I was already here, I thought I may as well paid the visit first instead of travelling more than 10km back to this city again if I planned to complete my pilgrimage tomorrow. And that was how my last day was pushed forward to next year, on New Year day!!

Since I would pass by the junction to the Youth Hostel before reaching Bangai 6, I decided to call it a day and headed down to the lodging instead. The way to the Youth Hostel was pretty tricky. There were so many twists and turns. It was like a maze, and even cutting through a shrine! But, I must compliment the map for being so accurate on those small paths. After some help from the locals on the direction, I managed to find the place. There was even an interesting sign which indicated the distance was about 600 steps more!! And I was really there at the 597th step!

The owner was on his way out soon, and so I quickly borrowed a bicycle from him to go downtown to get my food! Thought of having my dose of McPork and Big Mac first, but the route back to the hostel was too confusing, especially more in the dark! So, I just rode and found a huge supermarket, Sunshine, to get my stuff! I got so many things that I could have a picnic! The supermarket was very crowded like there was a sale! Rushed back to the hostel on time before it got dark!

Had my shower. Did my laundry. Ate my dinner. And it was “wow” time!! Going online!!!! But, somehow I just could not upload my photos to my blog!! And the machine was crawling… I was really exhausted as well and the plan to visit the sex museum kind of screwing up my schedule’s tomorrow! The TV was showing a live Japanese music award program and one of the winners was a group with easily 20 people!! I wondered how much winning would be left divided among them! Or maybe my eyes were too weary and saw double figures!

Eventually I gave up at 11pm and went to bed, trying to get my daily 7 hours of sleep.

29th Dec – Day 53, Temple 40, (Kanjizaiji)

I had a good sleep last night, woke up fresh and raring to go again! After breakfast, I went straight back to Route 56 at around 7:10am, and continued along the same road until 4:15pm!

After two hours of walk, I was almost at the temple but got distracted for a while checking on my messages online. Had a toilet break and my corn soup at the convenient store before I arrived at Temple 40 around 9:45am. Besides the usual prayer, I also prayed that Nick, my school mate, would get well soon!

Since I still had time, I decided to find a place to go online in order to book my flight home earlier before the tickets run out. Sometimes, you felt so fortunate that somehow things were pre-planned ahead just like it was in the movies. We always said after a typical scene, “有无干巧啊!?” (meaning “Could it be so coincident!?” in Cantonese). It was indeed “就是干巧!” (meaning “Exactly so coincident!” in Cantonese). I found one at a perfect place where I could even hide away from the wind outdoor! It was inside a rice-cleaning machine booth! But, unfortunately, it could not last for long. Someone needed to use the machine, and I had to move out. (The booth could only fit in 1 person and the rice bags perhaps.) Very soon, he was done and I went in again. Just when I was about to sit down, another user came. I gave up and squatted outside the booth instead. I quickly get my online reservation done and packed up, because the wind was strong and too cold to stay stationary!

I was trying to look for a restaurant as soon as I could. Finally, I saw a giant supermarket instead. Went in and saw nice seats and tables! Dropped my baggage and hunted for my lunch at once! Had a feast of bargain! The huge drumstick was only 150yen! The large soba fish 105yen! Had another plate of vegetables to go with my rice! Finished off with a half-priced milk of 30yen!! Once my stomach was taken care, it was time to shop for dinner and breakfast! Had a hard time making up my mind on the fish or chicken sushi! It’s a tough job shopping for food at supermarket, especially big one! I was always finding it tricky to stay focused and not engrossed by other food and snacks!

I continued my walk and saw a sign to warn drivers of strong wind. There was a picture of a car being blown away! I thought if a car could be blown off, what about me then weighting 7kg lesser!! The next two and a half hour was much tougher. Firstly, it must be the heavy lunch. And secondly, the timing of the day always made you felt drowsy! Finally, I reached a small village Uchiumi at 2:45pm and stopped for my tea break. I still had only about an hour of walk more to go to reach the onsen. And today, the Lady Luck was especially nice to me. I found another internet access where I could sit at the bus stop to avoid the wind! I took the opportunity again to upload my blog but time was flying like a rocket! Didn’t want to rush later, I moved on around 3:30pm. Within 45 minutes, I reached the park and the onsen. As usual, it was time to check out the toilets. Glad to have another decent handicapped toilet around. Got ready for my onsen, and noticed it was still early. Walked to the beach and hung around to view the sunset! It was around 5pm. Within a minute or so, it went out of sight pretty quickly, especially at the last few seconds.

The onsen was cheap and clean, but it was too crowded! Accordingly to Yumi-chan, this place was unique because the water was from the sea and supposed to be good for skin! After the bath, I checked out the restaurant and had my dinner there instead. Perhaps, I picked the wrong order. The chicken was just so-so. I went up to the rest area and updated my blog. The news reported that the next two days were going to snow again! Another patron there confirmed again with me later. I thought it just had to be a bit tougher towards the end!

While I was updating my blog, the TV was showing a program and there was this black guy, like those rappers, speaking Japanese so fluently that it looked funny!! I was still too full to have my sushi! Soon, it was already 9:30pm and time to go back to my “hotel”. My eyes were pretty tired. Got ready my “bed” and knocked down at 10pm!

28th Dec – Day 52, Temple 39 (Enkouji)

It was a good sleep and as always I woke up only after the alarm had snoozed many times. Today it was 4 times! I bid the owner farewell and left at 7:30am exactly! The morning was refreshing. The temperature was around 2 degree but it wasn’t that cold. And I had a good walk all the way until I had forgotten to stop for the hour break! When I was almost at the temple, I went for a toilet break at the train station. I saw a guy in the toilet and after my session, he was still there waiting for me! He wanted to give me the pamphlet on some Christianity. I just took it and thanked him.

Half an hour later, I reached the temple which was inside some residential area. After that, I continued to Temple 40’s direction along a jungle path. Had not been on the jungle path for so long and just a little slope, I had already complaining to myself! When in doubt, I usually check my compass to make sure I was in the right direction. This time, it showed South-East!! Which was exactly the opposite of what I expected!! Luckily there was a sign soon enough, pointing to Temple 40, to pacify me! Soon, I reached the main road, Route 56, and passing through the town into the city centre. There were many lorries and trucks along the road, making the air not very fresh!

When I was at the town centre, I went to the post office to send a postcard. The stamp for international was only 20yen differences from the local! Then, I passed by a restaurant and checked out the price. I had a set lunch for 840yen, and it was heavenly! The meat was great and the rice was special. I got to play cooking too!

After the meal, I thought I had some time to spare and looked for internet access. Found one to check my messages. And that was when I got some bad news. A few days ago, I heard a school mate was diagnosed with lung cancer! Today, my friends told me he could be at 3rd stage! My mood was different for the rest of the day. I wondered why such things happened to people like us. We were only 35 years old! I prayed he would get well soon!

It was getting late. I bought my dinner for tonight and breakfast at a supermarket before moving on around 1:30pm. I hit straight to some steep slope! Followed by uphill of 100m height and down again for several kilometers until I came to the final 1km stretch of constant upslope to 387m above sea level! After not going through slope for a while, it was pretty harsh to me! I was sweated all over! Before that, I even lost my way and went up a tough hike for 5 minutes, just to realize I was going to someone’s else plantation! After more than one and half hours, I eventually reached the peak of Matsuo-toge Pass and had my tea break.

Barely 15minutes, it was getting very cold and I had to start moving again. There was one point where I met two contradicting signs again. I wasn’t really sure where I was in the map, but it seemed more likely the one going straight. Perhaps, both ways would meet up again further ahead! Next, it was another 45 minutes walk until I reached my destination to finish off the day, at the onsen. I checked out the toilet close by and the handicapped toilet was decent enough, although not as big as what I had in previous days. Left my things and went to the onsen for my hot bath. Had my bread and can food there as well. The can meat was quite “terrible” after what I had for lunch this afternoon. Decided to keep the other one instead until I had a hot instant noodle to mix with. Luckily there was my favourite milk to cheer me up.

I finally remembered and called home. Mom wasn’t much surprised I didn’t call home for so long! But I was glad the aunts kept her accompanied. Didn’t even realize I was already backed at Ehime prefecture until I saw the public phone book!! I had in fact crossed over from Kochi-ken at the Matsuo-toge Pass!! I had left Kochi-ken for good and walked through all the prefectures!!!! Around 9pm, the onsen was closing and I went back to my “Toilet Hotel” and knocked off around 10:30pm. I could hear the fierce roaring of wind outside. Glad this toilet was very well located and sheltered from the ferocious wind!

Today was the 4th last day where I clocked 27.9km closer.

27th Dec – Day 51, Mihara Village (Shimizugawa-so)

Finally I had a warm night sleep, and woke up super fresh! Felt very confident that I could stay on the road for 8.5 hours today to complete the 34km distance! And so, I set off at 7am and was able to walk slightly faster again. The first 19km was actually going the opposite direction of what I had gone through the last couple of days. Around an hour later, an old lady stopped her car to say hi. She remembered me but I could not recall where did I meet her! She wished me good luck and drove on. I met her again later (She was driving the opposite direction this time round) and she waved and said “Goodbye”! That was when it brought to my mind that she was the old lady at the laundry near Temple 37!

After the 2nd hour, I stopped briefly to have some biscuits and a can of coffee! The next two hours, I felt like a marathon runner. Just concentrating fully on my breathing and the walk. At 11am (4th hour), I passed by the school where I spent the night 2 days ago and soon reached the convenient store to have my lunch. I had to buy my dinner and breakfast as well, since the map had nothing on food throughout the journey except at this store! Around 11:45am, I continued again and completed the first 19km 15minutes ahead of schedule! The remaining hours were essentially walking on the quiet Route 346 and Route 46. There were hardly any cars passing by.

Suddenly, I started to panic, realizing I was going to finish my pilgrimage but had not reflected anything on my life yet! It was like those school kids who were given the summer homework, but did not work on them until the last few days when the school’s new term was about to resume! But, In fact, I had already done my “homework” before the “holiday” actually started! Kind of know how to live the rest of my life. And being crazy… and stupid were definitely part of it!

In between the hours, I stopped another 15 minutes to have my tea break. Then, I met another road closure! And they made the pedestrians to detour for nearly 1km, following the path for the cars!! I wondered why couldn’t they just build a small path to cut through instead! One kilometer!! That was about 15minutes walk!! Very often, you could walk for 1 hour to the bath house or half an hour to the supermarket, but not 15minutes of detour!!

At 4:45pm, I finally made it to the lodging! The exterior wasn’t something I hoped for. There wasn’t anyone around but a phone number. I couldn’t find a public phone and had to make the call using my iPhone. The owner had left the key in the letter box! I went in, picked the best room that I like most, and enjoyed my hot shower! The washing machine and dryer was only 200yen! Today was the perfect day to do my laundry. While I was preparing some hot water, the owner came home. I returned his key and paid my money. He returned 500yen lesser. I thought he agreed to have it at 3000yen! He explained that the rate was after 6pm!! What a crap!! When I called using my mobile, it was already 5 plus!! And I swore that the longest sentence that he said this morning, (after I’d asked him to reduce to 3000yen), was only “Yes” and “Ok” in Japanese!! And that stupid public phone had even eaten my phone card still worth of more than 20 local calls!!

After dinner, I planned the remaining 4 days of my pilgrimage!! I couldn’t believe I had only 6 temples left, including the last unnumbered temple, Bangai 6 and Temple 43 where I started, in order to complete the circle!! 55 days seemed so short to me!! It looked as if I had just begun my walk yesterday!! I tried not to think about that for the time being and went to bed around 10pm.

Today was the longest walk that I had for this pilgrimage at 34.2km!

26th Dec – Day 50, Temple 38 (Kongoufukuji)

Thought I slept so early last night, I could not get enough rest. The alarm rang at 4:30am, but I set it to 5:30am again. I woke up around 6am instead, feeling very tired and didn’t have the right frame of mind to walk at all. My throat was very dry and looked like it was developing to sore throat! And that was not a very good sign! The whole day I wasn’t at my 100 per cent. Felt chilly and not very sound. The cold weather these two days must have been the culprit! I realized I wasn’t crazy actually, but stupid instead! I wondered why would anyone be so foolish to suffer the cold sleeping out, just to save some few bucks!

Though I woke up at 6am, I surprised myself for getting ready so soon and was already walking by 7:30am! The morning sun was very beautiful. Today was following Route 321 basically, before joining to Route 27 all the way to Temple 38. There were so many henro signs along the road. Some for old paths. Some for new ones. I was confused and thought I had missed a turn and went the longer way. Instead, I wasn’t at that point yet! When I was actually there, the sign pointed down to the beach. I hesitated and confirmed a few times with my map book, until a man came out from a small food stall. He later offered me to come in for a coffee and bought me a bread set! The stall owner also offered me a couple of oranges. Later, two of the other patrons there gave me more oranges! I thanked them all with my name slips. After the great snack, I moved on down to the beach! It was a short 15 minutes walk before I was directed back to Route 321.

Haven’t met a walking o-henro-san for a long time, until today. He was from Temple 45 going the opposite direction. Realized I hadn’t been calling home for a long time since the Love Hotel night and had forgotten again. I recalled the two ladies in the laundry on the day before Christmas’s eve, saying, “Your parents must be really worried about you!” Hadn’t been very filial all these years. Was always away from home since high school. Went to Melbourne to study and then worked in Singapore.

Suddenly, I heard “Ham!! Ham!! Ham, ham!!” A dog was barking very strangely, that literally sound like that! Around 12pm, I reached a small town, Kubotsu and glad to stop for lunch. The set meal was wonderful and the rice was pretty close to the one I had at the lodging on Day 38, that I had a second bowl! The batter was so fresh that I could taste the smell of the flour! The owner later gave me a treat on the extra bowl of rice and another piece of bread as “o-settai”!

After that, I continued for an hour and reached the cheap lodging that I planned to spend the night. I informed the owner that I would be back around 5pm. I noticed the place was not bad and thought I could have a nice sheltered place tonight finally! It was only now that I felt more like myself. Probably because of having 70 lemons!! That was what the label said on my bottle of “C.C. Lemon Super Vitamin C” drink! I walked much faster and within an hour, I reached Temple 38 at 3pm. And so, I spent 4 days to make it to the temple, only to spend 14 minutes there! Almost forgotten how to go through the temple etiquette! I quickly walked to the store nearby to get my rations and rushed back to the lodging again, before it got dark! It had been a cold day and for the first time in my pilgrimage, I had both jackets on for the whole day!

The owner was a young guy. He was waiting for me. There were actually two options. The hut outside cost half the price at 500yen only, but the light was very dim and I thought the room inside would be more cozy, with a heater. So, I opted for the 1000yen and was happy with it, except the shower which was done outdoor!! The hot water was kept separately in a big bowl, which I needed to scope it out and mix with cold water from the tap. And it was a mistake to wash my hair! Luckily the heater in the room was strong enough to warm up the room!

After some planning, I decided to walk the longest day of my pilgrimage tomorrow at 34km, in order to stay at a paid lodging instead. Hence, I went to bed earlier so that I could start my walk sooner tomorrow morning!

Today I was another 26.4km closer to end my pilgrimage!