the end

it's been eight days since i finished the pilgrimage and i'm finally starting to acclimatize to this new old life that i have.

my muscles haven't gotten used to not walking quite as easily as i have. i've woken up every morning to leg muscles that are inflexible knotted balls of meat. everyday has started with a painful process of getting them stretched out. another adjustment has been my appetite. it is now nearly non-existant compared to my extreme hunger of a week and a half ago. i don't crave anything anymore and when i do eat, i don't seem to be able to eat as much as i used to. i think my stomach has strunk.

i have noticed changes in myself but from time to time i have caught myself attempting to fall back into old routines. habit must rival gravity as one of the most constant, subtle and powerful forces in the universe. i intend to follow through on those changes. i guess i haven't yet finished what i started. maybe when i have finished it will be time to do the pilgrimage again; gyaku-uchi (counterclockwise).

that is all. it's time for you to find 40 days to find yourself. everything you are and need is right in front of your eyes, but it takes a little time away from 'things' to realize it. ;)

cheers, colin

pictures, pictures, pictures

i have so many pictures from my trip on the computer now, about 480. i don't think i'll be able to share them all through this blog, but i hope to continue to developing my own website about the shikoku pilgrimage and my experience doing it.

i spent a lot of time during the trip wishing that i could post higher quality photos on the blog. well, here are a few from the temples that i visited. a temple 85's hondo (main hall), a temple 70's pagoda, and a temple gate's nio-mon (guardian diety).

snake count

the final snake count was 29!

i only managed to get four pictures of snakes during the trip and none of them were particularly spectacular. i was a bit of a sissy when it came to getting up and close for a photo.

here is one that i've taken off my camera.

this was an exciting encounter. it was on a narrow concrete path which had deep gutters on both sides. there seemed to be no quick escape route for the snake and no way around for me. it was a stand off, so i decided to take a picture. at this point the snake either didn't know i was there or was hoping that i had not yet seen it. after a few minutes i decided to poke it with my stick. it didn't move. it only gave up the pretense of hiding and turned to face me. another more tense stand off insued. i gave up and decided to find another way around. yes, i'm a sissy.

final contest results

hey, i'm back. it's been a crazy week, but i'll get into that in another post.

i'd like to announce the winner of the 'guess colin's weightloss' consolation prize.
as i said before, there were many guesses at my first two and a half weeks at weightloss and a lot of them were much to ambitious to be in contention for the prize. so, i gave those ambitious guesses a second chance with my 'final weightloss contest'.

my weight as recorded at dogo onsen was 104.7kg, a loss of 8.3kg from my previous weight.
the day after i returned from shikoku, i was able to record my weight at another onsen.
my recorded weight at the end of the trip was... 103.9kg. a total loss of 9.1kg from my previous weight.

i know. it was not what i was expecting either. i think my appetite did finally catch up to me, or maybe i had already finished losing all of the easy weight, or perhaps i dramatically put on 3 to 4kg of pure muscle in the last two weeks. :)

regardless, i feel great and as long as i don't fall into old habits the kilograms will continue to drop over the next few weeks.

so the winner of the contest this time around is auntie crystal from manitoba, canada! her guess was the best from those who haven't already received a prize or some sort of souvenir in the mail.

thanks again for all of the entries. the contest was a fun distraction during the trip.

i'm still not done. i'll put up a few more posts in the next couple of days.