2019-03-20: Day 6 – Back to climbing mountains to Temple 20 and 21

The weather forecast on my smartphone called for a sunny day, which will be a nice break from the rain.

Since I didn’t get a chance to take my bath last night before the evening temple ceremony at 4:30 pm and was too tired before going to bed, I decided to take one at 5 am when I was wide awake. Usually you can only take the bath in the evening.

I thought, it is across the hall, has a shower, so as long as they haven’t turned off the hot water (which they do sometimes) let’s give it a try. I was in luck, there was hot water, so was able to take a nice shower, brush my teeth and get ready, just like I was back in Ottawa. I was quiet as a church mouse, to try and not wake up the other two ohenros. Afterwards I felt alive. Amazing how a nice shower in the morning makes one feel alive and ready to face whatever the day has to offer.

Breakfast was at 6:30 am. The staff at Temple 19 was very nice and one of them spoke very good English when explaining how the laundry machines work (as the buttons are in Japanese), where meals were served, where to take a bath, etc.

I had breakfast with Hiro and Ken. Hiro hurt has back when he fell on the climb to Temple 12 a few years ago. He now just visits the temples he likes. He spoke some English so could translate for Ken. It was nice having a morning chat with them.

Here are some of the pictures I took at Temple 20.

On the way down from Temple 20 all of a sudden there was a sharp pain in my right knee when I stepped down. I thought this is not good, so took smaller steps and it seemed to help. I was hoping it wasn’t going to develop in a knee injury. After a while the pain was gone, so I had to go easy on it to be on the safe side.

On the way up to Temple 21, it was so peaceful and the path followed along a crystal clear mountain stream. The sound of the water running and birds singing made it all worthwhile.

Along the trail there were a few statues, which gave an indication you were on an ohenro trail.

When I got to Temple 21 it was so peaceful and made the hard climb worth every penny.

From Temple 21 you could look across the valley to Temple 20.

I took my time enjoying the ambiance of the temple grounds and some of the beautiful statues.

For lunch I found a Royal Milk Tea in the temple vending machine, which I had with my protein biscuts and peanuts.

I was surprised to see some of the bushes and plants in flower. I enjoyed them very much.

While waiting to catch the ropeway down to my accommodation, there were many foreign ohenro who arrived, which I got to meet. There was Anna from Denmark, Peter from Polland, Linda from Virginia, USA, a lady from the Netherlands, who I didn’t catch her name, and the three Canadians from Victoria I met at Temple 13. It was like old home week. A few of us were staying at the same place at the bottom of the ropeway, so will get to see more of them at dinner.

Another wonderful day in the ohenro life. A nice sunny day helped in enjoying the day.