The Shelter Resident - T44

May 13 (13kms)

The halfway point provided much more of a test than merely being mocked by the locals…

The hotel was a delight but I still had my usual night of fitful sleep and odd dreams. My dreams were usually about feeling the pressure of leading people around the Temples and worrying about getting lost.
The rooms and bedding can be very hot and usually the pillows are a bean bag type so quite hard and noisy, however, I do still enjoy sleeping on the futon on the ground.

I was up early, so, even though I had said I would like breakfast around 7, I went down at 6:30 and the man had it on the table ready. Sometimes my hosts will cook a dish or two of more western style food ie: fried eggs or ham and coleslaw. Todays breakfast was one of these but, as good as the eggs looked, I couldn’t eat them because the whites on the top were still slightly runny and it was all I could do to eat the stuff around them and not gag.

I was on the road by 6:40.

It was drizzling and it wasn’t going to stop any time soon so I had all my wet weather gear on.
By the bottom of the drive to Temple 44 I was hot so I went up a little side path to a shelter. As I was walking up, a young guy sped past me with a bag of groceries and ducked into the shelter. As I removed my layers, I politely asked if he was going to Temple 45 today. He didn’t understand but curled his arm by his ear which is Japanese charades to indicate sleep. As I put my wet weather gear back on, I noticed that the shelter (like a country road bus shelter) had tidy stacks of things, a little broom, a pair of jeans tucked away and I realized he was telling me this was where he slept ie: lived. He had the translucent and blackened teeth I have seen in films that indicate come sort of drug intake.

The ‘archway’ (didn’t know its actual name) to Temple 44 was beautiful. When looking through it, there was a moss covered wall behind it making it very zen like. There was also a very loud resident frog but I couldn’t find it.

I went to the stamp office which was open but no one was there. I found an intercom and after 10 minutes, I pushed it and said Moshi Moshi - Hello Hello. A lady answered it but I couldn’t understand what she was saying so I just said ‘English’ and she hung up. A minute or so later she came in and stamped my scroll.

I consulted my map then headed up the road toward Temple 45.