There are several attractive Japanese-era 台灣日治時期railway station buildings still in existence along the Coastal Line 海線. Tatu Station 大肚車站 isn't one of them.
From today's Japan Today ("Taiwan busts massive drug smuggling ring", AFP):
"Taiwan has busted one of its biggest drug smuggling rings in recent years, which police said Monday was responsible for transporting $70 million worth of narcotics to Japan and other countries.
A total of nine suspects have been arrested, including the suspected leader of the ring, 40-year-old Fan Chu-lin, the Criminal Investigation Bureau said.
'This is definitely one of the largest smuggling rings to be uncovered in many years,' bureau official Yang Ming-chang told AFP.
Over a 10-year period, the group allegedly smuggled hundreds of kilograms of ecstasy and amphetamines from Hong Kong and China to Japan, New Zealand and Australia.
It also smuggled large amounts of marijuana from Thailand and Holland into Taiwan.
According to preliminary estimates, the drugs smuggled by the group over the ten-year period totalled at least NT$2 billion ($69.4 million/￥5.3 billion), Yang said.
If convicted, Fan could face a minimum 20 years in jail under Taiwanese law."
If I didn't know any better, I would say that some of these drugs have been finding their way into the systems of some of the writers at Compass Magazine. How else to explain their visions of a beautiful, cosmopolitan Greater Taichung as anything other than chemically-induced hallucinations? Certainly the T'aichung 台中 depicted in the pages of the free monthly bears little resemblance to the ugly, parochial Taichung that I encounter on an almost-daily basis. Still, the publication serves a purpose, and from time to time I check out some the places they recommend visiting. This afternoon was one of those times.
Based on what I read in this article from the July edition, I took the train from Fengyuan Station 豐原車站, through some typically ugly suburban scenery, to the above-mentioned Dadu. From the tiny concrete box that serves a station (or, as Compass puts it, "A little station with the mingled scent of rice and books"), it was a short walk to the Huanghsi Tutorial Academy 磺溪書院:
From the Compass article:
"Built in 1888, it has been dedicated to developing local education. This Minnan 閩南-style building has elegant red-brick roof tiles and splendid 'dove-tailed' eaves, which are classic building design elements from the Ch'ing 清 dynasty. Although this is an academy, there is a Wen Ch'ang Temple worshipping Wen Ch'ang Tichün 文昌帝君 (God of Culture and Literature) here, which explains visits by many students praying for good results before big exams."
It is, admittedly, an attractive building, with a nice blend of wood and red brick:
The Wen Chang Temple, housing an image of the Culture and Literature deity:
Inside the temple, there are bundles of paper money left by students as offerings. The paper that the bundles are wrapped in are photocopies of the students' ID cards that they need to present at the time of their all-important school entrance exams:
The academy is very pleasant to look at, but nonetheless ranks as a minor sightseeing attraction. It would only be worth visiting if a.) you happened to be in the area, and had some time on your hands; or b.) like me, you've exhausted Taichung's already limited number of attractions.
The other thing that Compass recommends to do in the area is to ride along the bikeway that begins just across the road from the academy. I didn't have a bike with me, but I did the next best thing, which was to walk along part of it. Compass again:
"Along the way you can enjoy scenery of vast green rice fields and, sometimes, passing trains on the coastal railway."
True, there were vast green rice fields...:
...and at least one train passed by while I was out there:
However, in typical Compass fashion, the writer fails to mention that, in addition to rice fields and trains, you can also enjoy small, noisy factories, electricity pylons and a filthy-looking canal. Perhaps the trail is better done on a bike, but standing in the middle of nowhere, it was hard to see what the attraction was.
The verdict on Dadu Station and its surroundings? I most definitely didn't "discover how charming it is as you forget about the restraints of time and forge new connections with local culture and the rich past" (you know who again), but it wasn't a bad way to kill a couple of hours in the afternoon (and big kid that I am, I always like to ride on trains). The area map on the wall inside the train station listed a hiking trail that I didn't know about, so I might pay a visit to this area again in the near future to check that out. As for Compass Magazine, I'll keep reading it (hey, it's free), but with a big salt shaker on hand.
No comments:
Post a Comment