Day 5, Our first Tsuyado

13	Dainichi-ji (大日寺)
14	Jōraku-ji (常楽寺)
15	Awa Kokubun-ji (阿波国分寺)
16	Kannon-ji (観音寺)
17	Ido-ji (井戸寺)

Distance according to book: 8.5 km (5.28 miles)

Distance walked: 9.2 miles, about four miles without pack

Temple 17, idoji

9:06 pm

It is raining cats and dogs outside our tiny tsuyado--free temple lodging. It is a tiny house just to the right of the Kobo Daichi Temple. It has lights, two outlets, a roof, and windows. We have sleeping bags and a futon to keep us cozy. To get to the bathroom, you must walk 100 yards across the temple grounds, past altars and monuments. Camping has never been so wondrous. Every day, many times a day, pilgrims stand right next to our hut and recite the heart sutra. The energy of this prayer permeates the space. 

Outside our hut

Pilgrim paraphernalia hanging to make room for beds 

We have a neighbor, Miko, who is also a pilgrim and sleeps in a tent underneath the steps leading to the kobo daichi temple. She speaks very good English and helped us plan our day tomorrow. We either "hitch"' a ride with a pilgrim to temples 18 and 19 or take the train. Then we walk 10 kilometers towards temple 20 and stay in a hostel she reserved for us.

We visited all five temples listed above. They are all in Tokushima, very close together, so we were done by 1:30 pm when we reserved our little Tsuyado. 

Day 4, Walking Between 12 and 13

Guidebook miles: 22.4 km (13.9)

actual miles: 14.0

Entrance to temple 12, Shojan-Ji to entrance of temple 13, Dainiichiji

No actual temple visits.

The snow had melted when we awoke at 5:30 am. The temple staff came around with breakfast at 6:40 am. The Japanese breakfast is so healthy and refreshing, the vegetarian meal included a hearty miso soup, a boiled egg, burdock, pickled daikon, rice, and seaweed. Knowing we had 13 miles, we headed out at 7:44 am, our earliest departure yet.

Much of our trip was downhill through bamboo and pine forests. We saw some shelf mushrooms (red-belted polypore, to be precise) and some unusual piles of scat. Big piles, an animal toilet for wild boar, which are common on the island. I was hoping they were monkey scat, but wild boar is okay, too.

We received Ossettai of Mikan in a village, and walked and walked. We eventually hit an urban area, and walked and walked. We finally found our minshuku at 4:00 pm. It only took seven hours to do the four-to-six hour walk.

The Minshuku was a relief, though shoddy and small compared to our first night.

The Lazy Henro Way

Temple 11 - Fujiidera walked more or less from 10

Shosanji - took a ride from a car Henro

Miles between temples according to guidebook 9.7 km (5.82) We got ride between 12 and 13, the most grueling part of the trail

Miles according to iphone: 6.1 

It's snowing outside as we sit in our tatami room looking out over the mountains. We sit on cushions with our legs under a heated table covered by blankets. We've just had a bath and we are wearing yukata and a quilted howri as we await the arrival of our vegetarian meals. 

Our Henro way involves flexibility.  We have met a number of European walking Henro who are sticking to walking the entire way. We, on the other hand, seem to have a very laissez faire attitude.  Laura's foot has been bothering her. The walking path between temples 11 and 12 involves six to seven miles straight up. And most importantly, we don't have time to walk the entire 700 miles and had always planned to bus it some of the time. This ascent is often the final day of the pilgrimage for dedicated pilgrims. Not so for us. We did walk to Temple 11, a mostly flat path walking through farms, across rivers and highways, and through neighborhoods until the ascent to the very modest Fujiidera. However, Laura has been worried about ruining her foot for the rest of the trip and I of course have been worried all along that I couldn't make it. 

Tree growing in middle of temple grounds

Problem solved, hitch a ride! We went to the temple office at 11 to ask if there was any place to stay to break up the ascent, but ended up asking if it was okay to solicit rides from car Henro. Within ten minutes, the temple clerk, who was very excited to speak with Americans, had arranged a ride with a Japanese couple our age. On the harrowing ride filled with hairpin turns, 1000 meter drops without guard rails and two-way traffic on a one-way road, Laura shared her bag of candy corn and almonds. On arrival at Shosanji we each gave the couple an ofuda -- the Henro's calling card and thank you note which has our name, address, and date. 

But let's get back to the cutting of corners as a pilgrim. Is it wrong? Most pilgrims take busses or drive their own cars. Our ride yesterday was planning to take a week to visit the 88 temples. So, we are walking half and driving half. We are half car Henro and half walking. I think it's okay. And in a way, our approach is novel. The guidebook never mentions hitching a ride between temples, but provides bus and train routes and phone numbers for local cab companies. Hitchhiking Henro?

Tonight we are in Shosanji-Ji temple accommodations in a lovely, non-greasy tatami room. The meals are vegetarian and vegan. I have been wanting to stay in a temple, so this was our chance. And with cherry blossom season coming, it is likely that temples will be full for the rest of our journey. Tonight the lodging is nearly empty because of the snow. Most lodging visitors are bus Henro. Given the narrow, treacherous roads, the bus would not be able to leave the temple in the morning as planned.

One of many steps up to temple

Tomorrow is 13.5 miles, mostly downhill, and it's currently snowing. This may not happen. We must be flexible. 

Shikoku Day 2

Temple 6 Anraku-Ji

Temple 7 Gokuraku-Ji

Temple 8 Juraku-Ji

Temple 9 Horin-Ji

Temple 10 (drove) Kiribati-

Miles between temples according to guidebook 8.1 km (4.86 miles) We got ride 3.9 km

Miles according to iphone: 10.8 (at least two without pack)

It went better today. Even though I slept little the night before, I started well rested. I took ibuprofen in the morning and the hip pain was less. Laura was also babying her Achilles heel and taking ibuprofen. The packs seemed less punishing.

We learned how kind people are on the pilgrimage. Once we asked to use the bathroom at a gas station. After the woman invite us into her tatami-matted home to use the restroom, she served us a special mochi and tea. I was overwhelmed with gratitude even though we were already well refreshed. A second time we were walking on a busy road and a man stopped to give us ginger candy. At the temples, Japanese people approached us asking where we were from, eager to practice their English.

We met a kind Japanese pilgrim who helped guide us and pointed out the signs in Japanese for walking pilgrims. He was exotically dressed with a brown pilgrim hat, white leggings, a brown long tunic, and a raccoon-skin hanging on his backside. We asked him the purpose of the raccoon skin and he sat down to show us that it was a wearable cushion! All this without words. 

We also met an older French man who had lived in Japan for 30 years. I wish I could have followed his conversation with "raccoon man." He did help us hitch a ride between temples 9 and 10. 

We were going to sleep in a hut, but when we arrived, realized it would be far too cold because the hut was open air and on the second floor. This would be a good sleeping spot in the summer, but not on a cold spring night.

We are staying at a more expensive but less pleasant minshuko where the tatamis are a bit sticky and the room smells of grease, although our rooms are huge. We opted for self catering today (partially due to the grease smell), so ate dinner and breakfast from the family mart instead taking the elaborate meals. It turns out that last night's 

Today we walk between 10 and 11 - 9.7 km, and will try to stay in a free place again. The next day, the most challenging day --  a 6 mile climb.

Shikoku Day 1 - Temples One to Five

No.	Temple	City	Prefecture	Notes
1	Ryōzenji (霊山寺)	Naruto	Tokushima
2	Gokurakuji (極楽寺)	Naruto	Tokushima
3	Konsenji (金泉寺)	Itano	Tokushima
4	Dainichiji (大日寺)	Itano	Tokushima (oops, skipped)
5	Jizōji (地蔵寺)	Itano	Tokushima

Total listed miles between temples visited according to guidebook: 6.2 kilometers (3.853 miles)

Total mileage on iphone: 6.4 

The packs, which were manageable yesterday, became nearly intolerable when water and food were added. We managed to get them on and walk quietly to Temple 1 with our hostess. She showed us how to perform the temple rituals which include:

- purify hands and mouth with water

- sound the gong

- light a candle at the main temple

- light three sticks of incense and place in a vessel filled with sand

- recite heart sutra

- climb up the main temple steps, give coin offering, place ofuda in the box

- repeat all but water purification and gong at the second, Kobo Daishi temple

Okay, there are ideas and words that I have not defined. I hope that as I have more understanding, explanations will follow. 

After being escorted to Temple 1, time to move on to 2! And of course we are immediately pointed in the wrong direction. Fortunately Laura looked at the map and decided this was wrong, so moved onto the actual trail. But soon, again, we were thrown off course. Oddly, in some places there were signs every few feet, but at forks in the road or intersections, none. We did eventually make our way to two and three, both stunningly beautiful. 

Pagoda temple 1

It was at Kosenji, at a picnic table of several westerners, we decided to skip the hike to Temple 4 and go straight to 5. The packs are too heavy! My hip hurts, my Achilles heel hurts, ow, and so on. And so it was, we were able to fine a bilingual guide to make reservations at a minshuko for the night, right outside temple 5.

Daikon growing in many of the gardens we passed

Minshuko are modest Japanese guest houses that offer a room with two meals.  Ours included a Japanese bath,laundry, and a good-sized tatami room. Hurrah, they serve tea on arrival and offer a Japanese bath. Dinner was generous with seven or eight (?) dishes plus rice. We sat with two French Canadian Women and two Japanese women. Conversation was sparse due to the language gap. It was hard to talk to the Canadians while ignoring the Japanese guests. At any rate, the meal was delicious!

At minshuko 

Tomorrow we try to beat both of our theoretical and actual times with a goal of Temple 8.

Travel Tokyo to Shikoku

Today we fly from Tokyo's Haneda airport to Tokoshima where we will bus and then train to our first guesthouse, which is close to Temple No. 1, Ryozenji. We are staying at a cheap guesthouse with no meals. Our 2800 yen guest fee includes lessons on saying the sutras at the temple and fortune telling. We don't believe a futon is included so I will be trying out my new sleeping mat.

Our hostess is Takahara-San, a Buddhist nun, who has walked the trail over 100 times. She shows us her stamp book and makes us miso soup and rice (not being ascetics, we supplemented from the convenience store).

She showed us her stamp book showing multiple stamps at each temple. At the Shikoku pilgrimage, pilgrims get their books signed and stamped at each temple. Takahara-San got the initial signature and stamp, and then added over 100 more stamps.

Tomorrow she teaches us temple rituals.

Tokyo

Laura, Me, Naoko in Oeno Park

This is my third visit to Tokyo in the last four years, so I am becoming slowly braver. This time I took the subway alone...well not alone alone, but with my cousin Laura, who is a first-time visitor. I'm practicing a little vocabulary, too.

Kanda from subway platform

Eating. We are staying at a friend's house near Kichijoji, a charming western suburb. You don't really need to leave the neighborhood. The Inokashira -koen park is nearby as is a shopping district that rivals many large American city centers. It contains all that you may need and more. Tonight we ate at a tiny noodle/hot pot restaurant with just a few tables. The restaurant, featuring an all-kanji menu, was sitting hated in a narrow pedestrian alley nestled amidst tall buildings. The contrast between the new and tall and the tiny and narrow makes the space all the more charming. We ate a lovely meal of tempura, seaweed, and a duck hot pot with hand-drawn noodles, made in the tiny shop every day.

Babe with hand drawn noodles

Tokyo is filled with these little restaurants catering to a Japanese-only clientele. It's as if a food stall, so prevalent in Southest Asia, perfected its craft over generations, found a permanent, but small home, and continued to do business, retaining the heart of the street vendor in its devotion to a small but perfect menu.

Closeup of noodles

Giant udon bowls at popular airport restaurant

Mochi

Communicating. Everyone here speaks a little English. The street signs are in the Latin alphabet and in  katakana (Japanese), or kanji (Chinese characters). In spite of this, much of our time here is consumed by clarifying conversations, work with translating applications, as well as conversations between Laura and I trying to decide what to do. It took two days to reserve our first lodging on the Henro trail. It may be slow going when we get to Shikoku!

Today, Laura and I take the subway to Asakusa to check out old Tokyo and window shop for used kimonos. Wish us luck!

Tree growing in the middle of street

Bangkok!

I have only scratched the surface, but every time I am here, alone, I see so much. Alone because it is so hot, I want to complain to someone, and being alone takes care of this. Today I did okay, but I pushed myself relentlessly to accomplish a few new Lonely Planet top tens. That's right, it has taken me years to go through even a few of the must sees. Prior to my last goal, the Golden Buddha, I swear I was swooning on my walk and hat to pop into a 7-11 for a water.

My goals:

• Wat Pho/Po (a repeat, but I loved it the first time)
• A massage 
• The Indian district
• Indian lunch
• The Golden Buddha
• Canal tour

All but canal tour complete!

To get to Wat Po from my hotel involves a 20-minute walk of danger, a 60-second boat ride across the Chao Phrao River ($.15) and a tourist or local boat (your choice, both cheap and inconvenient) upriver. I was shocked at the number of people, but it seems they were all there for the reclining  Buddha. The last time I visited, I was nearly alone. This may or may not be to the rise of Chinese tourism in the area. But my favorite part was less crowded....this is where you purchase a cup of tiny coins and make one hundred wishes, more or less,  by dropping coins into a series of 100 (maybe) vessels. Just so you know, I think I covered most of you in my prayers.

  

Reclining Buddha, back of head (too many people at the front)

How I wished you all well --dropping coins.

The rest of the temple complex was considerably less crowded, allowing me to locate my alma mater-- the Wat Po school of massage! The cost of massage is considerably more than I'm used to. I cheap out n. 30-minute Thai massage for 260 baht.. $8.00. But when you are used to one hour for $6.00, it seems like robbery! The massage was excellent, and air conditioned, a considerable upgrade from temple massages I'm accustomed to.

The Indian district -- who knew -- is in Chinatown. It seems to be a warren of fabric and notions shops connected to an Indian "department store," and of course connected to eating establishments. Hungry, I stopped in the first restaurant that was definitively Indian. Trust me, this is not crazy...so many dishes or so mixed up, how can you know for certain? I went to a South Indian place specializing in thali and dosas, and sweets!

There is a metal district in Chinatown on the way to the Golden Buddha. Some of these shops have gleaming brass hardware in the window. Others have piles of metal rods and the distinct smell of metalworking. Still others are filled with scrap metal, and in some cases it pours out onto the sidewalk.

The Golden Buddha at Wat Traimit is indeed a very large piece of gold --5.5 tons! The story is that the piece was forged in the 15th century and then coated with plaster to hide it from the Burmese. This strategy worked, but perhaps too well, for it was rediscovered in the 1950s when it was accidentally dropped.

A Trip to the Dentist

I get four teeth cleanings  a year and I am due, and won't be home for six weeks, so...I made an appointment at a place I passed frequently on the Thae  Pae Road. When I told people I was trying this, they all said, "and you got this dentist via a recommendation?" But no, it looked nice and clean and they were up front with their pricing. After all, it is only a cleaning, right?

My appointment started with the removal of shoes at the door. When was the last time you were   barefoot in front of your dentist? I filled out a short questionnaire that included my birthdate and passport number, and had the info of three others before me clearly visible. Two Americans 24 and 35, and a German, 45. Teeth whitening? I made up my own passport number, but perhaps could have sold the info of the others?

 They said up front it would be 600 to 1000 baht depending on the condition of my teeth. That is $18-$30, less than my co-pay at home. Lucky me, the dentist herself (who was shockingly young and beautiful) proclaimed my teeth cleaning to be worth only 600 baht.

Instead of goggles and an apron, they placed a cloth donut over my mouth. Dentist can get in, but any mess created is absorbed by the cloth. She used an ultrasonic cleaning wand...this is what my periodontist uses, which I believe is state of the art and not used by "regular" dentists in the USA. She did a tiny bit of mechanical scaling with an instrument and 20 minutes later we were done. It was not entirely pleasant, but not horrible either. My teeth are clean, and it cost $18.00. I'm not sure if I am yet ready for major dental work in Thailand, but am definitely headed in this direction.

Karen Weaving at the Thai Tribal Crafts Fair Trade Co., Ltd

Weaving is not for sissies. It is physical and repetitive, yet requires constant alertness lest you mix up your steps. Today we wove a piece of cotton fabric from what I think is called a body loom. The width of your piece is based on the size of a tiny Asian body. The length is enormous...many meters.

We started by spooling our thread onto a stick used to carry the weft. The warp had already been built...meters of it! This determines the ultimate length of your finished product.

To use this loom you sit on the ground and must have a stop in front of your feet to keep you still. You physically attach yourself to the loom and enhance different steps by pressing forward to loosen the tension and pressing back to increase it. There are a lot of moving parts that can cause this network of tiny threads to entangle or snap. I know, I caused a few snags and entanglements.

A helping hand from my teacher

View from weaver's seat

Street Food Tour

I don't know why I never did this before! There is street food everywhere and most of it I am maybe a little afraid to try. Our guide Koko took us first to the north gate, Chang Phuak, which means white elephant in Thai.

Note: I am having trouble posting photos along with text. Below are photos to which I cannot associate text. They are foods I ate or observed and include cameo of famous cowboy lady (Anthony Bourdain). Her food is good, but it is all exceptional.

Famous cowboy hat lady

Eggs emptied, mixed with soy and pepper, re-poured into eggs, and boiled

A Karmic Boost: Capture and Release

An older woman and her daughter walked ahead of me on the foot bridge alongside two adolescent monks. The novitiate monks wear the classic saffron robes which expose one shoulder. The woman carried what I thought was dinner-- two live fish in a plastic bag and a frog. I followed this quartet across the bridge...we were headed the same way after all. Off the bridge, I walked on the footpath by the river to avoid the heavily trafficked street, and so apparently did they. They, however, stopped by the river, releasing the fish and frog back into the river. One of the monks smiled at me, and the older woman also smiled, gesturing to make certain I understood that they were freeing the creatures, performing a positive act.

It is common to see little birds in tiny bamboo cages for sale in markets.  Other animals can be purchased as well, each type of animal representing a different type of karmic release. The buyer is to take the caged animal and release it into the wild to improve karma, heal illness, and so on.

Scientific American published an article about this practice in 2012, looking at the environmental impact. They counted 600,000 birds purchased and released in a year from only two markets! They also pointed out that the animals rarely survive. Almost as disturbing, birds are sometimes kissed before release, a practice that horrified the authors because many of the birds carry H1N1.

Scientific American Article

It is such a lovely idea, isn't it? But when examined in light of increased human populations and diminishing animals and habitats, the practice is undesirable. Scientific American, appreciating the cultural tradition, proposes that scientists work with Buddhist communities to maintain the practices while decreasing the environmental impact.

Grass Jelly

I wanted to try it, but was afraid of the brown gelatinous cubes jiggling on top of the icy drink. What is it? I bought my first from a street vendor outside of Warorat Market this afternoon when I was feeling parched and hungry after my 20000 step forced march.

The first sip of the drink was impossibly sweet---egads, thousands of calories! It tasted like molasses mixed with milk. The jelly itself had a smokey quality, was not sweet. Maybe like tobacco-flavored jello, but without the sugar? I decided I liked it. The jelly--not the sugar water-- filled me up.

Grass jelly is available all over Asia according to Wikipedia, but is served differently in each country. It is made from the platostoma palustre plant, which is a relative of mint. It is aged, oxidized, boiled with potassium carbonate and starch, and then poured and cooled. I suspect that the plant's ability to jell is its most attractive quality, but I am rather fond of the smokey taste.

The molasses I tasted in the drink was apparently a raw type of sugar and of course the ubiquitous evaporated milk finished off the flavor profile. I would order it again,  but hope the sugar water part could be toned down a few notches.

I am now a "Certified" Foot Massage Therapist

I couldn't write this before the class ended because I had approximately 785 steps to memorize for each side the foot in just four days.

Class began every day with a prayer. Everyone but me sits on their ankles on the low cots used for Thai  massage.  There is chanting, call and response, and finally a silent meditation.

Although a serious school,  it seems to be designed to meet the demands of capricious tourists. All you need to do is show up on a Monday to Saturday, present passport, credit card, and photos, and you can start day 1 of any of their programs. Sometimes you are in a class with others, sometimes it is just you and the instructor. I am the lucky only student of Net.

Net is from the Karen tribe, whose population is primarily in Myanmar and secondarily in Thailand. His village is right on the border. As a Karen, his only path to upward mobility, to education, was to join a monastery. If I understand correctly, he "escaped" from his family at the tender age of seven to join a monastery so that he could receive an education. The backstory here is a stepfather. At the monastery he learned Thai and eventually English. I also learned that Net is married and is the sole support of his wife, soon-to-be-born baby, and his elderly in-laws. He is 30.

The first two days of training were overwhelming. There was a tiny introduction to the manual and then I got a massage. So far so good. We went over portions of the steps. But then I was expected to remember the steps. In one day?

The manual: red annotations by instructor, the rest by me.

My version of the manual with notations.

On day 2 we started with an exercise where Net did the right foot of another instructor and I did the left. Again the expectation was that I would remember something. Next, my turn for massage, but I was asked to predict the next move. My mind was empty, I could remember nothing about foot massage. There was no hook for me to hang my memories...just blankness and an admonishments from Net that I'd better pull myself together because I would be expected to pass an exam. What?

So, I asked Net if he could help me organize my manual into bite-size steps. He had mentioned the bites, but not emphasized them. I then re-wrote the steps in my own words using my own notation system.

I started getting up at 4:00 am woke to work on memorization. It took me weeks to learn the basic salsa step, which is technically only three steps. Now I have to learn 785 x 2?

As a break from the pressure of attempting to activate my geriatric brain, I received a head and neck massage one afternoon, which hurt quite a bit, but eased my neck pain for a day. I got to be the demonstration student for a Thai massage by another instructor, who gave me a bonus massage. And of course I received at least one foot massage, sometimes two, every day.  So aside from the stress and lack of sleep, I felt great. Perhaps the course is not even doable without all the massages!

I was able, by trying very hard, to pass the practical exam, so I am therefore certified in Chiang Mai and can theoretically get a job paying less than $5.00/hour!

I am hoping my newfound abilities will make me popular on the upcoming pilgrimage, but who knows? I can't  carry a massage chair, towels, cream, and stick in my backpack!

Would I do it again? Probably not. It was a great cultural experience hanging out with real Thai people and I learned a bit about massage. However, I could have used more theory to understand why the order of the steps and the effect on the body. I guess that would be a two-week course.

Butterfly Pea Flower Tea

Tea break at the Lanna Folklife Museum Tea Shop!

Before: honey on bottom, vial of fresh lemon juice on the side. The tea is made from dried flowers, but  that's  a fresh butterfly pea flower on the tray.

After: lemon juice mixed and stirred. 

Tea changes color from blue to purple.

Delicious, tastes like a very light fresh lemonade.