The Naritan Waiting Game – Part I

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Narita was a short 20 mile ride from Togane, predominantly along a vicious route 409. Narita of course famed for its International airport, an airport situated just some 40 miles away from downtown Tokyo of which sees roughly 20,000 flights every month, that averages out at around 3 million travellers each and every month. So with a heavy bulk of tourism flowing through the region compacted with heavy commercial and industrial factions the roads around Narita City were a bit like cycling through a mosh pit of motor vehicles, every bit as vulgar as one might imagine. But apart from being a gateway to Japan, central Narita does hold an ambience of touristic antiquities. A place that if you had to while away a bit of time before a flight then one could quite easily do so. Narita-san temple being the big draw, the grounds within certainly encompassing a vast area with numerous buildings, monuments, gardens and lakes. It all sits prominently at the end of Omotesando Street, a 1km stretch of restaurants, traditional handicrafts and souvenir shops, more shops than one can shake a dick at. The temple itself was originally established in 940AD by a disciple of the Kōbō-Daishi, the grandmaster of Japanese Buddhist teachings, aka Shingon. A site dedicated to the fire God Acala, one of the five wisdom kings of the womb realm. Now I scarcely now what any of that means as I’m not really much of a religious buff, but I’m sure you’ll agree, it certainly sounds important!

Heavy rain was on the cards tomorrow and with all hostels and hotels within the vicinity of my price range booked up I had an interesting 48 hours ahead of me. I’d located a sheltered park bench on a hill which I’d decided I would approach again later during the evening with the likely hood of making it my home for the night. I guess in reality this would make me a hobo, but if I was to complete this journey with my limited funds then this was sometimes just the way it was going to have to be. As long as nobody gets hurt and I don’t have to blow anybody there was no real reason I could think of as to why I wouldn’t succeed in my said mission. I killed time before the inevitable by devouring a lonesome curry, a curry so large that I was almost convinced I’d ordered a portion to share between eight sumo’s. Regardless, I’d no doubt burn off a portion the size of my slightly smaller left bollock cycling the hill towards my homeless shelter, so it was all necessary fuel for my greedy pistons.

En route to my hobo shelter I’d found an outdoor shop where I was able to get myself an inner fleece for my sleeping bag. This made sleeping as a homeless person all the more exciting, its nice having new things, especially when you’ve got next to nothing, perhaps all I needed now was an undernourished dog to complete the picture. Upon arrival as I’d hoped my shelter was void of life, I was mildly fearful that other hobo’s or junkies might have had their eye on the shelter or still did. A bridge I would have to cross if I came to it. But for now the air mild, I nodded off with ease.



Stats:

Togane to Narita (Map here)

Time: 10:00 – 12:00

Sunny, slight wind, 24.6oC

ODO – 374.0

Today 27.4miles (44.10km)

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Comments

[Dancing Dave]

homeless person
I have been following your adventures on your wet ride through Japan Thought for a moment you would be joining a community of the homeless...around a campfire sharing international relations. But alas...another solitary park bench. Time to share yourself around...don't you think?

[dsd_uk]

Greetings from the park bench
It's ok Dave, I've made a few friends along the way! Although it still doesn't stop me from getting soaked most days unfortunately!