Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Kamioka かみおか

Now that the public schools are back in session following the summer break, my teaching schedule has changed again. For the time being, I find myself with some free time on Monday afternoons, so today after lunch I rode out to the Chung-cheng (Jhong-jheng) Park 中正公園 area to do some walking. On the way out, however, I stopped by a nearby factory and took a photo. What caught my eye was the name "Kamioka" in roman letters. "Kamioka" is the Japanese reading of the characters for Shenkang (Shengang) 神岡, which is where both the factory and my apartment building are located.


Once in the park area, I tried to walk on an old path I used to take in the past. Bad weather had knocked down some trees and made the trail impassable, but recently it looked like someone had cleared away the obstacles, so I thought I'd give it a try today. Unfortunately, after being bitten mercilessly by mosquitoes and narrowly missing walking face first into a couple of webs guarded by giant spiders, I found the way blocked by vegetation. If only I had brought a machete! Who would have thought there was jungle-like adventure to be had in the modest hills and mountains of west-central Taiwan. Certainly not those big city wannabes and weekend warriors up in Taihoku (eh Channa?)!


A local branch temple of the T'ienti Chiao (Tiandi Jiao) 天帝教, or "The Lord of Universe Church (sic)"

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