Imbari City to Imbari City, 11.5 km
Almost a rest day, but we did the long day yesterday so they average out into two normal days if we’d been able to secure accommodation in the optimal locations. Tonight we are in a entire house rented through booking.com, and there’s no mood lighting, baths with jets, or brochures with scantily clad young things to distract us. Mind you, the Riverside Inn did provide a decent room service breakfast of the western variety, so the day got off to a promising start.
It was a relatively short walk to Eifukuji, Temple 57, which was somewhat nondescript but busy with the morning rush of henros on wheels. It was a more taxing walk up to Senyūji, Temple 58, but it had a great view, a tranquil temple complex, and delicious mandarins for sale at $3 a bag! Judging by the new building canter-levered on the hillside, this temple is doing ok financially. Both temples are on the hills at the edge of the Imbari plain – temples on the flat lands are few and far between!
After we had some hiccups gaining access to our accommodation, we eventually got the code, and with time (and some energy) on our hands, we did a wee explore of the neighbourhood, visiting a couple of second hand stores (but not buying anything as we have a few hundred km to go!) and roamed the aisles of supermarkets, finding food for a second lunch, first dinner and breakfast. Food here seems remarkably cheap compared to Vancouver, and more than remarkably cheap compared to Auckland. We’re looking forward to a home cooked meal and an early night on real mattresses before we return to futon land.
