Grateful for rice! Never thought I would say that as I don’t usually eat rice. Last night’s dinner was interesting. Raw fish, cooked fish, beef, soup, and mystery vegetables. I poured the broth from the soup over the rice and ate that and the beef. I gave my raw fish to our table mates.
Dinner conversation was so different from on the Camino. There were only two other young couples eating with us. All four were from other countries. We did very little conversation. They spoke English but I got the feeling conversation wasn’t welcomed. On the Camino we shared stories during meal times.
I miss welcoming other pilgrims with Buen Camino. To my knowledge they don’t have anything like that on this walk.
I was grateful for rice again at breakfast. Again I poured my soup over the rice. I didn’t recognize what else was served except for a scrambled egg-shaped weirdly. We were given our picnic lunch which is three rice balls wrapped in seed weed. I tried to give mine to the walkers but they didn’t want the extra weight as the trail is very difficult and steep today.
We left the hotel at 7:30 and walked to the nearest bus stop. We were there about five minutes and Nicole said it didn’t feel right. She walked down the road a bit and found the right stop. Not sure how she does that but I am grateful for her.
We took three different buses to the waterfall. Mother Nature at her best. We walked up to the observation deck and enjoyed the view. Lots of stairs up and down. The waterfall is 110 meters tall.
When we returned to the bus stop I finally convinced Nicole to walk by herself. There are several shrines she wants to see and she wanted to walk part of the trail. It is too hot for me again today. I was nauseated by the time we got back to the bus station and dripping wet.
I took a bus to where I need to walk to our hotel for the night from. Nicole was concerned I would get lost. It was the first stop so no worries. I need to figure out how to get to the hotel from here but I’m sure I can ask directions and find it. Nicole needed our only map more than I did.
The buses in the bigger cities translate the stops into English but these smaller rural areas do not. I pick out a simple symbol from the stop I want and look for that.
While I was waiting for the bus the kindest Japanese couple gifted me with a fan. They helped me get on the right bus and waved goodbye as if I was an old friend.
Sure disappointed in myself I can’t do much of this walk. Grateful Nicole went by herself so she can experience a brief time on the trail. It feels like that needed to happen but I don’t like it.
Nothing about this walk has been easy. The trail is not well-marked. You can tell they are still developing it for foreigners to walk it. The Camino is much better marked and the locals there seemed to watch out for the pilgrims more. I’m sure it is a cultural difference that makes the Japanese feel less helpful. They seem to mind their own business and not offer help. However when we have a reason to have a personal interaction with them they are very helpful and kind.
Nicole returned from her adventure around noon. We can’t check into the hotel until 3:00. We walked up towards the shrine but didn’t go all the way. Nicole had already done 48 flights of stairs. We did 16 more flights just killing time.
We ate at a little place. We had rice with chicken and eggs. We ask for hard eggs and they were very runny. The rice was good and if I was careful the chicken was good. We had an ice cream cone for dessert.
Long day of waiting today. Another very hot and humid day. I’m sure having second thoughts about going to Fiji. They have no A/C and thinking the temps are like Japan
We finally checked into our room. The A/C was off. Nicole finally figured out how to turn it on kinda. It runs for a moment then stops. We are on the second floor in an oven! Showers aren’t available until 4:30. We haven’t figured out how to claim our luggage yet.
We met up with two very fit 20 somethings that walked the trail today. We saw them last night as they stayed at our hotel too. They said the trail was brutal! So glad I didn’t attempt it.
Tomorrow we head for Kyoto. It will take five to six hours to get there. We will spend two nights there then go to the airport hotel for one last night before we fly home Sunday. What an adventure this has been.