Deluged - T18 & 19

May 7 cont...

There was a light mist when we got off the train but it was very warm – 20 degrees.
Not long after Temple 18, it started pouring down. I got out my $2 shop plastic poncho and threw it over myself and my pack then it really pelted down. We walked in thunder and lightening for the rest of the day.

Between Temple 18 - 19. Someone's idea of gathering riveting footage?

I provided little SOGO snacks all the way then we stopped at a tiny roadside place for lunch – almost a shed – run by an older peasant type woman and her elderly mother.
Taichi San ordered something and I drank the green tea (but couldn't eat the sickeningly sweet jelly bar) the daughter gave us as settai. The meal arrived and Taichi San shared it with me. It was the most delicious soup I have ever tasted and I only wished I had a bowl to myself!!

I’m glad we left when we did before I got cold in my wet clothes.

On our way to Temple 19, I saw huge frogs who were very shy, turtles coming up for air and scurrying down again and some large river fish. We also saw a little bright green frog jumping across the road. Taichi San said it was called a Rain Frog.

A pitiful puppy sheltering from the rain between Temple 18 - 19

Luckily Taichi Sans English was good enough that we were able to communicate adequately. He understood most of what I said but he was exceptionally articulate when he spoke. I found out he spent a month in Sydney learning better English.

Taichi San was 27. He had just finished his job and was doing the 88 temples before starting his next job working for his mother. She ran a furniture factory, with a warehouse in Thailand, which was where he would go and live in the Autumn. In his degree he majored in Physcology. I was surprised he hadn’t heard of Yahiro San, who was a physcology lecturer at a University in Nagoya where Taichi San was from. But then, I had no idea how many Universities there might be in Nagoya or even if Taichi San did his degree there or in another city.

At one stage, while we were walking, a car pulled over and I heard the magic word Settai. The man excitedly got out and gave us, and another Henro, a fresh jam bun and hot cans of drink. I said to Taichi San that I had read about people doing this but it was the first time I had experienced it.