Enjoyed the onsen last night at at 6 am this morning. As I was dropping off my key, who was at the check out counter but Marie-Claude from Montreal. She was getting them to make a booking for her for tonight. I am so glad and thankful Masa was able to make my bookings from Canada before I left. It makes it so much easier.
Since we were taking the train we walked together to the local train station.
Since Marie-Claude already did temple 84 yesterday, I got off before her to do my climb to Temple 84. It was a nice day, so made the climb and view nice. Since it was Saturday there were many non-ohenro also walking up to Temple 84.
Here is a picture of the statues and Tori gates at the temple.
The view before the climb down was beautiful.
I had to climb down and back up the mountain in the picture.There is a tram car that will take you up the last part of the climb, which I opted for. They give a 50% discount for foreigners who show their passport.
Here are some pictures of Temple 87 with cherry blossoms still in bloom and a Japanese pine tree being groomed to grow a certain way.
Today was a day of osettai. When I was lost trying to find the local train station, this little older lady came after me and explained where it was. She then gave me a paper with a note as osettai. Later I checked and it had 1000 yen note inside. Then at Temple 87, there was a bus group of ohenro. A lady broke away from the group and gave me an envelope (which I discovered later had 2000 yen in it). I gave her a Canadian flag pin and crest. We exchanged nameslips. Here is a picture of the osettai I received today.
The kindness and generosity of the Japanese is truly amazing.
I checked into my minshuko, which is next to Temple 87, had my bath and ready for 6 pm dinner. They have WiFi so get to work on my blog before dinner.
Tomorrow is on to Temple 88, which is hard to believe. I am still trying to decide which route to take, the big Henro-korogashi hard climb or an old country road, which is a more gentle climb. I will see what the weather brings…….forecast says intermittent rain.
So will sign off for now. Another great day on the ohenro trail.
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