Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Cum on feel the noize どうしてラジオを持って来ていた

I went for a nice 2-hour walk this morning in the Tak'eng (Dakeng) 大坑 area of T'aichung (Taijhong) 台中. Thanks to yesterday's rain, the air today was relatively fresh, and a lot of birds and insects were out and about. And, as usual, so were the radios. I encountered several hikers on the trails decked out in full Taiwanese hiking gear - backpacks, boots, gloves, hats...and portable radios, putting out Taiwanese enka 演歌 or broadcasting political talk shows. As MJ Klein points out on The NHBushman.com, it's probably the lack of man-made sounds out in the mountains that induces feelings of anxiety in some locals, to the point where they need to bring along their radios to let them know they're "not alone out there". But still I find it hard to understand. After all, even on a weekday morning, the trails of Takeng are far from empty. In addition, planes and helicopters are continually flying overhead, and buildings are almost always visible off in the distance. What exactly is there to be afraid of?

In all fairness, the majority of people out walking/hiking in Takeng are sans radios. And those that do bring them along tend to keep the volume low. Still, do the latter people know what they're missing? I once was the only person who noticed a group of monkeys grunting and thrashing about in the bushes just off to the side of a trail, because everyone else that passed by was either listening to their portable radios, or too busy talking in loud voices with their companions, to notice what was going on just a few feet away. みんなは気がつかなくて残念ね。

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