2019-04-11: Day 28 – Temple 82 & 81 again.

The view from my room at the New Sunpia Hotel this morning was amazing. I enjoyed using the onsen at 6 am, which also has a view of the mountains and city below. The sun is shining, the birds singing and I had a wonderful sleep last night, what more could I ask for. As my friend Theresa, from NS, always says “everything happens for the best”. With the mix up yesterday, things turned out great.

Here is a picture of the view.

I had breakfast with Marie-Claude from Montreal and Ubasheba. I got a chuckle from her temple 13 story, where she was lost and tried hitch hiking. Finally a farmer in a white pick-up truck stopped. She said she kept saying Dianciji temple as she didn’t understand any other Japanese. He finally drove her to the temple instead of explaining how to get to it. I told her getting lost was part of the pilgrimage experience. I related to Linda and Christine getting a ride at the back of a white truck and my friend Bob getting lost and climbing a mountain before he realized something was wrong. We laughed about our pilgrimage experiences and brought back fond memories for me.

Breakfast was amazing. Here is a picture of the seto:

The good thing is since I was staying at the same hotel tonight, I could leave my day pack behind today. It was a wonderful walk in the mountain trail to Temple 82. The cherry blossoms are still in full bloom. Some petals are starting to fall when the wind blows. I call it sakura snow, as it is like snow in Ottawa gently falling. Here is a picture leaving the hotel and one during my walk today.

When I arrived at Temple 82, I ran into Ubasheba, and we hugged. As I was about to leave Marie-Claude arrived. Since I was in no hurry, I chatted with Marie-Claude who said she got lost trying to find the trail to Temple 82. Finally the shuttle driver from yesterday drove by and picked her up and drove her to the temple. The good thing we laughed about the experience and how the Japanese are so helpful and friendly when a foreign pilgrim is in need or lost. I waited for her to finish at the temple and then walked with her to get her on track to her way to Temple 83.

I showed her the nice rest hut near Temple 82. I found and showed her my friend Dara from Ottawa nameslip (who was a great help to me the first time I walked).

I told her we meet for breakfast to chat about our pilgrimage experience, along with Luc and Collette from Gatineau, who did the pilgrimage in the fall. I told her about the woman from Mont Tremblant I met on the pilgrimage and would put her in touch with her if she wanted to start a Montreal group.

Along the way I ran into Kazushi and there were high fives all around. I said I was glad he was still going strong. In some ways he reminds me of my Dad, not a big talker, but loves walking and being in the woods.

After departing from Marie-Claude and hopefully giving her good directions on getting down the mountain I ran into Noba, my Taiwainese/Japanese friend. It was a day of running into previous ohenros, or like old home week.

At Temple 82 there is a statue of a local monster legend. Here are a couple pictures of him and one with Marie-Claude looking on.

I walked back to Temple 81. When I arrived I saw an ohenro in a wheelchair. This is the second time I saw an ohenro in a wheelchair. The temples have many stairs, which would be impossible for a wheelchair to navigate. I thought it was amazing they were doing their best to visit the temples.

One last photo of some statues I like from Temple 81.

I stopped at the small cafe around 2:30 pm, even though I wasn’t hungry, to support the local business, admire the view and wait til my 3 pm check in time. I couldn’t believe it, I had these wonderful udoon noodles for 250 yen. I was able to use Google Translator camera function to translate the menu. I hope other ohenros support the local business, so they can be around for years to come.

Tonight was laundry night. The good thing is you can find a washer and dryer at all of the places I have stayed. So it is not a problem to wash your sweaty clothes after a day of walking.

Tomorrow will be an easy day walking down to Temple 80 and on to 83. I will then be back on schedule.