Due to the fact that I started on Sunday instead of Monday, and as the hotel is booked until Saturday when I move on, I have a day without walking. According to my piedometer I walked 20 km anyway!
I didn’t set the alarm, and slept until 8am. So much for the theory that I would sleep less, when I had less to think about. The breakfast restaurant looks over the bus station, and whilst eating, I saw the three Germans I had met on day one and two, waiting for a bus. I had been wondering what had happened to them with their heavy backpacks, so it was good to see them, even at a distance. The picture below is one of the boards to help pilgrims get on the right bus to the right temple.
Today was clothes wash day, so I took all my dirty washing to the 5th floor where there are 4 space age washing machines that wash, tumble and dry, all in one machine. As I didn’t want all my clothes to be dried, I managed to select a wash only program, and came back 30 mins later to remove the clothes that shouldn’t be dried, and then managed to select the correct dry only program. Back again after 30 mins, and they were nowhere near dry. It took 3 times before they were almost dry. Whilst waiting I sorted the clothes that I will continue with on my trip, and those I will leave at the hotel for when I return in May.
Yet again, it was beautiful weather. I wanted to buy a pencil, one of the three things I have lost so far – the others being a sock, which must have fallen out of my bag at temple 20 or 21, and the extra iphone charger I brought along. The sock is by far the biggest loss, it is one of the really good socks I brought with me, so now I have two and a half pairs – and three other pairs that are OK for short trips. A temple I passed today in Tokushima.
I walked along one of the 3 or 4 rivers that pass through Tokushima, and ended up at a mall with a sports authority shop with an outdoor section. Unfortunately the biggest size sock they had was size 28, I use size 29, and the 28 I tried for size was far too small – but I found a pencil!
The food in the mall didn’t look great, so I ended up eating sushi again. I will have to widen my horizons! Back at the hotel, I packed my backpack, and pray it isn’t too heavy! My rain jacket is heaviest, but I daren’t leave it behind.
It would be so much easier to make sushi if you could buy the fish pre-cut like this in Denmark.
Saturday and Sunday I will be staying at a small Japanese B&B in Hiwasa, moving south and a change of scenery from mountains, city and forest, to coastal areas. It is supposed to rain from 3 ‘o’ clock tomorrow afternoon, so I will leave early, and try and arrive before the rain.
A number of people have asked me to post a picture in full pilgrimage attitre. I am sorry to disappoint, but I have decided not to walk in full attire. Up until I visited temple 1, I was considering wearing the jacket and carrying the stick. However, at temple 1 it was apparent how seriously many of the pilgrims take such a pilgrimage. They go through all the rituals, chant in groups and take plenty of time to walk around the temples. For many this is not their first pilgrimage and of course not all take it so seriously. As I am not doing this as a pilgrimage, but an adventure I have therefore decided that I didn’t want to look like I was doing something I wasn’t.
So, you’ll have to make do with my only selfie so far – taken yesterday, in the wind, between temple 21 and 22.
It will be a bit sad to leave Tokushima. Sitting here in Starbucks at 10 in the evening, it is full of school children and business men, both in their uniforms – and the business men look even more alike than the school children. Of the ca. 60 people in Starbucks, there 2 women and myself, that don’t fit in the school child/business man norm. It will be interesting to see what people are wearing tomorrow on a Saturday – although for many, Saturday is a normal working/school day.