On the back roads of Dakeng

This afternoon I took a ride on my scooter past the mountains of Dà​kēng​ 大坑 and into the hamlets of Chūng​hsīng​lǐng​ 中興嶺 and Hsīn​shè 新社​. While exploring, I found two back roads leading up to rear of the hiking trails - one that takes you right to the start of the 5-1 spur trail, and the other to the spot where the No. 3 joins the ridgetop No. 5 Trail. These new (to me) routes would certainly save a lot of hiking time, but as I relish the challenge of climbing up from the bottom (call me a traditionalist), I'll stay with the longer trails that I know best.

It's surprising how close the city of Tái​chūng 臺中​ is to the mountains. In less than 40 minutes of riding from Tūng​shān​ Road 東山路, I'd left the urban area far behind, and found myself facing the central mountains. On weekends, this area can be busy with Sunday drivers, but on this Tuesday afternoon I had the roads to myself most of time. It wasn't too difficult to figure out what the main cash crop (and tourist lure) was up there:

Despite being relatively far from the ocean, there was a surprising number of boats, and boat-related "objects", to be seen:

In addition to farms (leisure and otherwise), there were spas, restaurants and cafes, "homestays" (mín​sù​ 民宿), campgrounds, plum blossom viewing spots and military bases. I probably shouldn't have mentioned the last, but oh well...

The scenery was striking in several places, but unfortunately the haziness of this afternoon prevented the views from being as magnificent as they could (and should) have been:

My time was limited this afternoon, and there were plenty of interesting-looking side roads to explore, so no doubt I'll be back.

Speaking of being back, in central Tái​chūng (hey, it's all one big city now!), I took these photos of action Japanese:

A factory making miso 味噌, the traditional Japanese seasoning.

This odd poster on the wall of a gas station is from the city's Hsī​t'ún​​ District 西屯區 officials, urging the citizens to keep the area clean. For some strange reason, they give the Japanese pronunciations of several characters, presumably as part of a catchy slogan, though with a couple of errors: 清掃 should be "seisou" (""seisō"), while the reading of 教養 is "kyoyo" ("kyōyō").

 

 

(Above) The English promises a world of ecstasy, but the Japanese merely welcomes you to come in and shop; (Below) It's strong! It's new! It's now selling!

It isn't just language that's employed to make a store or business appear cooler. Sometimes place names are utilized, as in the example above. Omotesandō 表参道 is an upscale shopping district in Tōkyō 東京.